What should I do after installing FFVII for the first time??

[Metallica_Band]

Hey there...Last night I wanted to finally install Final Fantasy VII on my PC and play it all over again...I had played and won it about 5 times on the PS before FFVIII came out...

I ran into the problem of not being able to play in hardware mode...it would only do software...I did some research and found that there wwere MANY patches going around and all kinds of probs with the game...stoopid Eidos did a crappy job at porting the game...they should all be smacked with a wooden stick for there laziness

Anyways I wanted to know, before running into all the different probs myself and ruining the experiance, what I should do before playing the game...like what patches should I apply and what tweaks should I do to make my first FFVII PC experience go well???

Here are my goals:
I want to be able to play in hardware mode
I want the game to be able to load all the FMV's from the HDD instead of the CD
I want all sounds to work correctly

I haven't applied any patches or tweaks yet...I don't know what things I should do first before I start playing the game so I don't have a crappy experience like many other ppl have had before me...

Here are my specs copied & pasted from a sig in a different forum):

Thermaltake Xaser II A6000A Case | Pentium4 2.53B | Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-8IHXP | TDK 48/24/48 CD-RW | Teac 1.44MB
Samsung 512MB Rambus memory | AOpen 1640 Pro-A DVD-ROM (REGION FREE) | PowerColor ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
160GB Maxtor &  200GB Western Digital | 6-Port Baybus | SwiftTech MCX4000 heatsink | Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum
Enermax 550 w/ adj. Fan | ProMedia Klipsch 5.1 Sound System w/ ProMedia DD-5.1 | Two Multi-Colored CCFL (RGB) and two UV's
Fans - Antec TriLight, 4 Thermaltake Smart Case Fan II, Vantec Tornado (All 80mm)
As of 7-15-02 ALL of this (except the sound card, sound system, and the decoder) costs only ~$2,300...now THAT'S a good deal!!!

Anyone wanna help me make this experience a good one with hopefully no problems??? THANX
C'YA     ?:-D

EDIT: I have Final Fantasy VII Platinum Edition (English) if that makes any difference

EDIT 2: I've also heard of problems coming up with the snowboard, chocobo, and sub things in the game...does it happen for everyone???

[Metallica_Band]

Awwww...come on...doesn't anyone of you 16 ppl who have read my post want to help me out???  :weep:  :weep:  :weep:

[Nori]

The Great FF7 FAQ - By Aaron and Members...
http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=2670

Did you follow their procedure???

[Metallica_Band]

It says that the 1.02 Patch is corrupt when I try to open it...anyone else getting this prob??? I got it from the FAQs mentioned above

[Aaron]

Gah!  Download Winzip 9 or WinRAR 3.30 and try again.

[J*** H*******]

Message

[Metallica_Band]

I tried again...got this:

!   E:\ff7_1.02.zip: Unknown method in ff7.exe
!   E:\ff7_1.02.zip: Unknown method in FF7Config.exe
!   E:\ff7_1.02.zip: Unknown method in readme.doc
!   E:\ff7_1.02.zip: Unknown method in readme.rtf
!   E:\ff7_1.02.zip: Unknown method in readme.txt
!   E:\ff7_1.02.zip: No files to extract


I have a registered WinRAR 3.20...doesn't wanna open it for some reason...no probs opening other zips and rars  

[J*** H*******]

Message

[Metallica_Band]

So who wants to redo it??? I wanna play this game BADLY!!!

[Aaron]

3.30.  I said 3.30.  If your WinRAR is really registered and not pirated, you should have no problem upgrading.

Yeah, actually you can unzip these in Winzip 8.1 but I made them with Winzip 9 (enhanced deflate), in an effort to save a little space...  If it's too much of a problem, I may switch back.
(Notice the newest news post on the FFSF frontpage)

[J*** H*******]

Message

[Metallica_Band]

Oh yes...self extracting executables are good...don't have to have any software to extract them...hence the name self extraction...BUT I do also know that many ppl get nervous around downloading executables from the internet...maybe allow both ways an option???

In the mean time I will consider updating my WinRar...THANX
C'YA   ?:-D

[Qhimm]

Twelve posts in as many hours, with plenty of revived threads and double-posting... You're new, but please stick to the rules anyway. (the site does say to check the FAQ forum before posting...)