Final Fantasy 7 - What if...?

[Final_Figue]

Greetings everyone.

I have been working on a mod called "Final Fantasy VII – What if…?".

Spoiler: show

Before going into details, I would like to give credit to the following authors for their contributions to this project, and of course, thank them for allowing me to use their material and for answering my questions:

- Kaiseran
- Cosmos
- Sega Chief
- Death Unites / 4-8Productions
- Markul
- CAulin

Regarding Aeris:

Spoiler: show

This mod is an alternative version of the original game, exploring the possible path the story might have taken if Aeris had survived.

To achieve this goal, the following elements have been edited:

3 videos:

- The opening
- The moment where Sephiroth attacks Aeris in the Forgotten Capital
- The ending (500 years later)

Credits to Cosmos for allowing me to edit his HD 30fps videos.

The event at the Forgotten Capital:
Both before and after the battle against Jenova, the events have undergone significant changes. The post-Jenova sequence, including the ideas, code, and dialogues, belong to Kaiseran from his ROM "FF7 Survivor". I added some extra elements, but the entire foundation comes from "FF7 Survivor".

Sidequest:
On disc3 Aeris has her own sidequest. Rewards: Her Ultima Weapon and Limit level 4.

New dialogues:
In this section, I also need to credit Kaiseran. I added some extra content, but I worked based on his original idea.

Pictures:



You can now use Aeris as a tank or knight, thanks to her new weapon, Save the Queen.

Gameplay and new options:

Spoiler: show

This mod introduces the following new features:

- New Materia
- Armors
- Accessories
- Weapons

Here are just a few examples:

Materia:
- AP Plus
- Amplify

Armor:
- Nullveil Harness
- Titan Guard

Accessories:
- Mako Crystal
- Dual Ring
- Cloud has an exclusive accessory "Ribbon of Memento".

Weapons:
- Materia Blade

In some cases, there are references to other games in the series or to FF7 Remake itself.

Difficulty:
It`s based on Vanilla.

Skipping scenes:
In this section, I must give credit to Sega Chief and Death Unites / 4-8Productions. The code was taken from the mods "FF7 New Threat" and "FF7 Definitive Mod".
Scenes such as the Gold Saucer date and the Lifestream sequence with Tifa can now be skipped, among many others.



Fort Condor:
The rewards have been significantly changed. I recommend not skipping any of the battles.

New battles:
There are more fights against the Turks. The code was taken from New Threat 1.5 and 2.0, but the stats and abilities are different.

Morph:
Now "Work Glove" of Tifa and "Superball" of Yuffie have the same effect of "Conformer". You can find both weapons on disc1:



Cloud’s Masamune and Aeris’s Save the Queen can now use Morph:





Mimic Chests:
There are 7 Mimic chests throughout the game.

One will be friendly, 5 will be enemies, and one will be a boss-type Mimic.

Here is just one example:

I recommend saving your game before opening any of these chests.

Visual changes:

Spoiler: show

New indicators and timer:
Credits to Satsuki and Aavock. I worked based on their HD designs.





Battle UI:
I edited the Battle UI, aiming to create something similar to the "The Reunion" mod.
I worked on the mod by KWRRK, and also edited code from TrueOdin, Chrysalis, and DLPB.



New avatars:

Credits to Satsuki and Aavock for the images in HD.

Tips & Recommendations:

Spoiler: show

This mod is not compatible with the following mods:

- KACTUAR – Controller and Keyboard Icons
- AavockESUI
- Finishing Touch
- Retouch

I just want to clarify that these mods are fantastic—in fact, when I played New Threat, I always used them. However, these mods were not designed to be used alongside this mod.

FF7 What if...? Is now compatible with Enhanced Stock UI:
* Credits to Chrysalis for the compatibility.







Cosmo Memory:
If you use this mod, please disable the "Movie Sounds" option, as it interferes with the new videos.


Recommendations and how I play:

Very Important: Put FF7 What If...? on top of the list.

These are the mods I currently use:



Regarding "Postscriptthree’s Gameplay Tweaks", I only have the following options enabled:

Gameplay Adjustments:
- Limit Command Rework
- Two Accessories (option set to "ON")
- Counters Add Effects
- More Materia Pairs

Quality of Life / Convenience:
- Sense Adjustments: Auto and Show Steals/Morphs
- Show Bonuses on Equip Screen

Balance Adjustments:
- Easier Steals: Double Base Rate and Level Impact

The mod already includes by default:
- AP Plus
- Morph As Well
- Fix W-Item Glitch

Credits to Postscriptthree for his code.

Extra pictures, Info, Minor spoilers:

Spoiler: show

Fort Condor Rewards in order:

Spoiler: show

1- M.Comb
2- Peace Ring
3- Defense Veil
4- Titan Guard
5- Mind Source
6- Mind Source
7- Super Ball
8- Turbo Ether
9- Turbo Ether
10- Speed Source
11- Speed Source
12- Speed Source
13- Protective Boots

New Materias:
* I will mention them, but I won’t reveal their locations.

Spoiler: show

;============================;

- Hydro
- Heartmess

;============================;


;============================;

- AP Plus
- Morph as well
- Initiative

;============================;


;============================;

Separated Materias:
- Slash-All
- Flash

;============================;


;============================;

- Enemy Magnet (Effect increase in compare with Enemy Lure)
- Gil Up (Don´t confuse with Gil Plus)
- Exp Up (Don´t confuse with Exp Plus)
- HP&MP
- Amplify
- Amplify+
- Amplify++
- Overdrive

;============================;


;============================;

- Fat-Chocobo

;============================;

Updates:

Spoiler: show

;======================================================================================;
Ver.1.3:
- The Princess Guard weapon now has all slots unlocked
- A new weapon for Aeris is available: Save The Queen
- Cloud’s Masamune can now use Morph normally
- A new armor is available: Viral Armor
- The Gold Armor now has double growth
- Four new accessories are available: Defense Veil, Glass Buckle, Princess Ring and Tiara
- Now Hypnocrown/Coronet can be found on Disc1
- A new materia is available: Overdrive
- Mega All can be found earlier
- Now Amplify++ increase HP and MP by 05%
- Now Chocobo Lure materia has three stars
- Some bosses now have new item drops and stealable items
- The sell prices of the new Materias have been corrected
- Default BattleUI Alignet issues have been fixed
- Minor bugs has been fixed
;======================================================================================;
Ver.1.2:
- Vincent’s weapon “Peacemaker” is no longer found in Kalm
- The final reward from the Fort Condor battles has changed (Disc 2)
- A description has been added to the “Materia Blade”
- Some Materias can now be found earlier in the Icicle Area and on the Gaia Cliff
- Cid or Tifa have an exclusive battle while they are party leaders in Disc 2
- Two new Materias are now available: “Initiative” and "HP&MP"
- The “Slash-All” and “Flash” Materia are now separate
- Two more Mimic chest are now available
- One additional slot has been added to Cid’s “Scimitar” and Cloud’s “Ancient Sword”
- Dialogue formatting has been fixed, and texts and colors have been updated
;======================================================================================;
Ver.1.1:
- Compatibility with Enhanced Stock UI.
* Credits to Chrysalis.
- The visual appearance of the Materia Blade and Enhance Sword has been fixed.
- The effect of the Chocobo Lure materia has been internally increased.
- Now Enemy Lure materia is called Enemy Magnet and the effect has been increased, It will take more AP to master it.
- The "Ancient Bracelet" has been changed to "Ancient Armor" to prevent a visual error in the Chocobo races.
- Minor bugs has been fixed.
;======================================================================================;

I hope you enjoy this mod. Once again, many thanks to all the authors mentioned throughout this post—without their contributions, I wouldn’t have been able to work on this mod.
Enjoy!

Link:
Gdrive:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1efR8zxPRXF7Out5NJBgBvnTqedmJpksO/view?usp=drive_link
MEGA:
https://mega.nz/folder/UvwXwaYA#W8-NTwSb9gDGVmc6d-oVYQ

[ScepticJamurai]

Thank you, and everyone involved, for making this mod!
How long did it take to make this?

Pretty cool concept and the execution seems promising.
Will try it out in (one of) my next playthroughs.

I can manually up the difficulty with the PS3 Gameplay Tweaks mod, right?
Haven't tried that mod before.

[Final_Figue]

Hello ScepticJamurai.

First of all, thank you very much for your words.

Making this mod took me between 6 to 8 months. There was a lot of trial and error, and I practiced a lot by editing Survivor, since that ROM is very close to what I was looking for: keeping Aeris alive while staying true to the classic game.

The community-made tools make editing much easier, and that is a huge advantage.

The last thing I edited was the videos. It was exhausting, but I finally managed to finish them.

Regarding the "PS3 Gameplay Tweaks mod", I only use it for the "Save Anywhere" option, for editing purposes and, of course, for convenience.

Once again, thank you for your kind words, and I hope that when the time comes, you enjoy this mod.

[Template]

Hello!

I'm so excited to playthrough using your mod Thanks so much for making it.
I was doing some preliminary testing and found that it doesn't seem compatible with at least some features of Enhanced Stock UI mod (the item icons go to blank). I wondered if it's known what all mod incompatibilities will exist?

Thanks again!

[Final_Figue]

Hello Template.

Thank you for your words, I hope you enjoy it.

About mods like Enhanced Stock UI, indeed, doesn`t work. In the first post, under the "Tips & Recommendations" section, I left a list of mods that are not compatible. If you want to edit the visual aspects, such as the Battle UI, a good alternative would be Ifrit and the mods by Satsuki and Aavock.

[Template]

I've found a potential frequent issue in that the default position for the FMV mods tends to be at the top of the list for some reason, or at least SYW Unified FMV does this because it's listed as miscellaneous mod type. But What If? needs to be ABOVE the FMV mods so that you see the videos that are specific to this mod. Users either need to move the FMV mod below What If? manually, or What If? can have lines of code added to mod.xml to force its position carefully in the mod loading order.

[Final_Figue]

Hello Template.

Good point, it’s recommended that What I...f? goes first, at the top. By the way, keep this in mind when manually sorting the mods:



Thank you very much for your comment.

[dwyane_yao]

Hi there,

Thank you so much for creating this mod — I really appreciate your work! I’d love to translate it into Chinese. Please rest assured that I will not publish or share the translation anywhere without your permission. If possible, I can also send the translated files to you once I’ve finished.

Since I haven’t worked with FF7-related mods before, I’m not sure how easy it is to extract and translate the text (I’m a bit worried that some parts might be hard-coded). Would it be okay for me to translate your mod? And do you know whether the text can be translated directly?

Thanks again for your time!

[Template]

Thank you very much for your comment.

Absolutely. I am really enjoying this mod, I think it is TOP NOTCH, amigo!

I might recommend for future update to add the following lines to your mod.xml and to change the category to Miscellaneous to force What If? to the tippy top of the mod order: 
  <OrderConstraints>
    <Before>50000000-5555-ff75-5775-734000000005</Before>
  </OrderConstraints>

The string there is the mod ID for SYW Unified FMV.

[Final_Figue]

Hi Template.
Thank you very much once again for your kind words and for taking the time to test the mod. Thanks as well for your suggestion — I will definitely keep it in mind.

Hi dwyane_yao.
Thank you very much for your kind words. Go ahead, I have no problem at all with the translation. The program that would help you change the text, dialogues, and more is Makou Reactor, but I’m not sure whether it supports changing the text to Chinese. However, if the program is able to do so, then by all means, go ahead.

* I have updated the information in the first post, adding details about “Morph” in the “Gameplay and new options” section, as well as in the “Tips and recommendations” section. I only added the detail about how important it is to place the mod first in the list. Once again, thanks to Template for the reminder.

[yukare]

Please, can you put a more detailed list of changes ?

For example: the new materias and where you can get then?

The new rewards for fort condor ?

Can you play with Aeris until the end of game ?

[Final_Figue]

Hello Yukare.

I’ll leave you some new details here:

Spoilers of the game:

Spoiler: show

Aeris comes with the “Amplify” materia and an exclusive accessory: Cetra Ring. Yuffie and Cid come with new materias: Exp UP (Cid) and Gil UP (Yuffie). I recommend going for Yuffie as soon as you reach the forest area on the outskirts of Junon.

Personally, I think AP Plus is one of the best materias in the game. It’s not hidden; it’s in Junon, where the second “Enemy Skill” used to be. By the way, in Wutai you can buy as many “Enemy Skill” materias as you want.

In this cave you’ll find “Added Morph,” but it’s not missable — you can also find it in the Sunken Gelnika.



FORT CONDOR Rewards in order:

1- M.Comb
2- Peace Ring
3- Silver Glasses
4- Titan Guard
5- Mind Source
6- Mind Source
7- Super Ball
8- Turbo Ether
9- Turbo Ether
10- Speed Source
11- Speed Source
12- Speed Source
13- Elixir x3

Regarding Aeris:
You play with her throughout the entire first disc. After the events in the Forgotten Capital, she will separate from the group, but she will return in Disc 3. You can fight Emerald Weapon and Ruby Weapon with Aeris in your party. However, she will not descend into the crater to fight.





Aeris has an exclusive sidequest. Go with her to this house and, of course, save before opening the chest. There you will find her ultimate weapon and her Level 4 Limit Break.



Cloud has an exclusive accessory: Ribbon of Memento, a gift from his mother. You can obtain the accessory after Cloud rejoins the group in Disc 2, following the events in the Lifestream with Tifa. The NPC even has new dialogue.



These would be some of the new features. I recommend using the Steal materia against bosses, as in some cases there are changes.

I hope you enjoy the experience.

* I have updated the information in the first post.

[Final_Figue]

Hello.

The first update is available, details here:

Ver.1.1:
- Compatibility with Enhanced Stock UI.
* Credits to Chrysalis.
- The visual appearance of the Materia Blade and Enhance Sword has been fixed.
- The effect of the Chocobo Lure materia has been internally increased.
- Now "Enemy Lure" materia is called "Enemy Magnet" and the effect has been increased, It will take more AP to master it.
- The "Ancient Bracelet" has been changed to "Ancient Armor" to prevent a visual error in the Chocobo races.
- Minor bugs has been fixed.

Pictures:







Please, if you found an issue let me know. Once again thank you to Chrysalis for work in the compatibility.

I hope you enjoy this update.

[Kaiseran]

Congratulations on finishing the mod, Final_Figue!
I hope it becomes a hit with the game's fanbase. 

[Final_Figue]

Hello Kaiseran.
Thank you very much for your words. Without a doubt, your contribution was a great asset to this project.

[Final_Figue]

Hello.

The update 1.2 is available, details here:

Ver.1.2:
- Vincent’s weapon “Peacemaker” is no longer found in Kalm
- The final reward from the Fort Condor battles has changed (Disc 2)
- A description has been added to the “Materia Blade”
- Some Materias can now be found earlier in the Icicle Area and on the Gaia Cliff
- Cid or Tifa have an exclusive battle while they are party leaders in Disc 2
- Two new Materias are now available: “Initiative” and "HP&MP"
- The “Slash-All” and “Flash” Materia are now separate
- Two more Mimic chest are now available
- One additional slot has been added to Cid’s “Scimitar” and Cloud’s “Ancient Sword”
- Dialogue formatting has been fixed, and texts and colors have been updated

* The information in the first post have been update.







I hope you enjoy this second update.

[Final_Figue]

Hello.

Working on "Save the Queen" for the version 1.3:

[Final_Figue]

Hello.

The version 1.3 is available, here more details:

Ver.1.3:
- The Princess Guard weapon now has all slots unlocked
- A new weapon for Aeris is available: Save The Queen
- Cloud’s Masamune can now use Morph normally
- A new armor is available: Viral Armor
- The Gold Armor now has double growth
- Four new accessories are available: Defense Veil, Glass Buckle, Princess Ring and Tiara
- Now Hypnocrown/Coronet can be found on Disc1
- A new materia is available: Overdrive
- Mega All can be found earlier
- Now Amplify++ increase HP and MP by 05%
- Now Chocobo Lure materia has three stars
- Some bosses now have new item drops and stealable items
- The sell prices of the new Materias have been corrected
- Default BattleUI Alignet issues have been fixed
- Minor bugs has been fixed

Pictures:







The first post has been updated with more information and photos. I hope you enjoy this version, let me know if you found any bug, please.

[Sora1236]

Hello I downloaded your rom hack and its on 7th heaven I am using but I get a crash because on the train doing the lockdown the NPC that would give you an item shows no way to make a choice as then it crashes even if I dont talk to the NPC I get off the train and it still crashes. What's going on I do have screenshots as well. Cant post them here. Also I have your what-if at the top. Great work on this hack.

[Final_Figue]

Hello Sora1236.
I'm glad you're enjoying What If. Regarding what you mentioned, it has never happened to me despite finishing the game several times. During the train section while you're trapped, I always pick up the three available items: the two you get by talking to the NPCs, and the one you get back after speaking with the thief. What I can recommend is checking the "Tips and recommendations" section in the first post, and also trying to disable one mod at a time so you can identify the problem. If you enable the "Save anywhere" option from the "Gameplay Tweaks - Qhimm Catalog" mod, it may help you avoid such a long replay section.
I hope these recommendations help you. Let me know how it goes, okay?

[Sora1236]

I tried disabling all my mods and it still happened I have DX12 running for it usually auto by default and using AMD system which is an issue, everything else before the train was fine even choices I was able to pick except on the train it would be easier to show ya then to tell you since I cant post S on here of the error or the log. I do have new threat as well but that is off when playing yours and it still happened. But I can try to see my list of mods is almost the same as yours and what ifs at the top of the list.

[Final_Figue]

Hello again.

I have this configuration:





Let me know if this helps you.

[Not Interested]

Your mod crashes the game when trying to fight Lost Number at Shinra Mansion.
Edit: Okay so using ESUI somehow fixed it for me. Minor gripe is that the UI element for the numbers on the safe is now cut off for me.


Edit 2: Going into ESUI, Field Options and setting "Field Dialog Box Style" to "Stock" seems to fix the issue. Wish there was a way the game wouldn't crash without using ESUI because I prefer the default UI.

I think being able to configure the mod to disable certain features, namely UI ones, would go a long way for troubleshooting issues in the future for other users.

Furthermore, I had an issue a few days ago where only Cloud's animation speeds were insanely fast, I solved this by putting 60fps Gameplay and 60fps for ChaOS above your mod and ignoring the warning 7th Heaven gives and starting the game anyways. This issue also happened without ChaOS so just putting 60fps Gameplay above What If should work.

Good mod so far though, enjoying it. Thanks for the hard work.

[Final_Figue]

Hello Not Interested.

First of all, thank you for reporting the issues you found and for your kind words about the mod. I hope you enjoy it until the very end. When I saw your screenshot and read what you mentioned, I ran some tests and I want to show you the result:



I remember that in the past, while playing other mods, I also had visual issues or cases where the game would automatically crash. I suppose that with so many different PCs, configurations, and operating systems, there will unfortunately always be a tendency for errors to appear in certain situations.

What I can tell you is that every time I release a new version of the mod, I always play through it completely beforehand. I think that for version 1.4 I will remove the "Timer" and "Indicators" mods and let each user decide whether to add them or not, since they may also be causing some issues.

Regarding the "Chaos" mod, yes, the solution is proper load order placement. In other mods I played, when the Chaos mod was placed incorrectly, I also experienced what you described — a Turbo Mode Cloud. I’m sharing a screenshot of the load order I use for the Chaos mod:



Thank you very much again for taking the time to make the report and for your kind words. I hope these inconveniences do not prevent you from reaching the end of the game, or from continuing to play future updates of the mod.

[Not Interested]

I remember that in the past, while playing other mods, I also had visual issues or cases where the game would automatically crash. I suppose that with so many different PCs, configurations, and operating systems, there will unfortunately always be a tendency for errors to appear in certain situations.

What I can tell you is that every time I release a new version of the mod, I always play through it completely beforehand. I think that for version 1.4 I will remove the "Timer" and "Indicators" mods and let each user decide whether to add them or not, since they may also be causing some issues.

Thank you very much again for taking the time to make the report and for your kind words. I hope these inconveniences do not prevent you from reaching the end of the game, or from continuing to play future updates of the mod.

Yeah fair enough, I'm using a lot of other mods so I didn't think everything would be smooth sailing all the time. The UI changes sound like nice options. I'm gonna continue playing tonight, I'm at the Temple of the Ancients!
I'll make another post if I encounter more issues. I'll look forward to further updates, thanks for the prompt reply!