FFVII Compatibility problem, assistance appreciated.

[Hello]

Hi,

As you may notice, I just signed up for these forums. There seem to be knowledgable people around, and seeing as how I've been trying for about a week now, I figured I could really use some help.

The thing is, I have Final Fantasy VII on my computer. I used to work fine on an older one, but since I tried to get it back on this one recently (I haven't played in 2 years) it didn't work. Now obviously that's because my computer specs are too new.

I have a 1700Mhz processor, with an Nvidia GeForce 2. About 500 mb RAM. So that should all be fairly sufficient.
I can run the install, but when I double click the execute, the game will start, loading the eidos and squaresoft logo. And from then on, the problems occur. I either don't touch a button and I'll keep a black screen with music playing on the background, or I press a button and I suddenly get an unspecified error.

I really looked forward to playing this game once again, and I have consulted many forums and FAQ's in search of the solution to my problem. But to no avail, the exact same thing keeps popping up.


Does anyone have a slight clue on what might be the problem? I'm getting desperate, and my limited computer knowledge isn't helping. I've been looking almost non-stop the last week, and I really don't know what to do.

Please, any help is greatly appreciated.

[JPWest]

You all patched up to date?

FYI I think Steele has all the patches on his site http://www.ff7-universe.com... And although I say all, I only mean the ones that make the game work not the mod-esque patches.

[Hello]

Yes, if 1.04 is the most recent one, I have it.

(Also, some site that it might prevent random crashes if I patched it with 1.02 first and 1.04 after. Well I did do this, but I don't suppose it'll make my game crash after hitting a key. After all, I had that problem from the start.)



I didn't see your added information untill after I posted, thanks, I'll check it out. I hope a fix to my problem is there as well. It seems to be less common (I haven't found many complaints like mine).

[JPWest]

I thought anything that wasn't 1.02 was a junk patch... and I can't remember where the thread is about that...

As I recall you had to uninstall then reinstall if you put the dodgy patch on... but it's been a loooooooooooong time since I checked.

[Hello]

Allright. Although as I suspected, there is no fix made for my problem.

I'll try applying the 1.02 patch again, maybe the other ones I had were buggy, you never know. Thanks.

*Edit: Which didn't work either *

[JPWest]

Like I said, I think you have to unistall the game if you applied a buggy patch.

[Hello]

First I tried it without reinstalling, but the same happened after reinstalling and only using that patch.

It must be a piece of software interfering in some way, but I have no clue on what it could be. Maybe someone who ahs had a similiar problem will see this topic and be able to help.

[EmperorSteele]

1.04 is either the animevamp patch (which we hate) or the DLed "Ultima version", which we also hate.

In either case, i'd urge you to get a legit/non-animevamp-ed copy.

[Hello]

I do have the original pc version itself. And I just searched for patches, I guess that AnimeVamp just came up after a while. And I assume you don't consider it strange that I take the latest patch possible, so that's how I got that one.
(As a sidenote, I must admit I tried downloading that ultima edition after a couple of days. The same error occured though, so I threw it away and started trying fixing the problem with my original disks.)

The bottom line, I really do have a non-pirated bought cd, and I can't get it to work because it quits when I touch a button. The various patches I tried to install didn't work, and my problem seems to not occur a lot. :weep:
So I guess there might be no fix available then.  

[Zack]

I used to have the same problem with geforce 2 in windows me. When I upgraded to windows XP the game worked fine

[Hello]

Oh really; I'm sort-of pleased to hear this isn't a one-of-a-kind problem then.

Although I am trying to run it on XP right now.
There must be a piece of sotware interfering then; and you probably got rid of that with the reinstall when putting on XP. I'll try some more, although I really have no clue what it would be. At least I know it can be solved then, thanks a lot.

[Threesixty]

I have a question..... are you attempting this in Software mode? You really shouldn't have a problem if you are. Try typing dxdiag in the Run menu of Windows... Go to the Sound tab, and put Sound Acceleration into Basic mode.


I have only two more questions...
In the 8 bit palletization test what does it say?
And what Video Driver are you using?
Those two questions are really related, BTW.

The 71.89 should work, I guess... but I don't know if the G2 has problems with that driver or not. I own a PCI-E 6600GT.

That driver has the 8 bit pallet disabled, so you must use the TNT patch, and check the Riva TNT option in the FF7config.exe to get hardware mode working. YOu can find the TNT patch in Eidos' support page.

Your also going to need the Chocobo patch, which can be easily found on Qhimm's webpage. But that patch won't fix the problem you have, currently...just fixes the Chocobo Races.

Oh and I believe it's safe to say, none of the regulars here, recommend the Anime Vamp Patch... it messes up the MIDI insturments of Windows. Any software that does that with out giving you an option of setting it back...is a virus in my opinion.

[Hello]

I did try to run it in the software mode, and had this problem with it.
Ok, sound acceleration is put all the way down now. Did you mean hitting the button next to the hardware acceleration slide bar with '8 bit palletization test'? If so, it just played some jungle sound and asked me if I could hear it, and I did, every time. Although in the end, it said my sound card can't support hardware buffering and sounds will only be played through software buffering.

EDIT: After pulling the slide bar all the way back, it doesn't even load the starting eidos and squaresoft movies any more.

I downloaded the latest Nvidia driver available. Also an omega driver, but the problem occured before using this one, so that can't have anything to do with it (I downloaded the omega driver to be able to switch the screen graphics rapidly).

I think I tried that Riva TNT patch, and read a lot about it as well, but after you mentioning it I can't find it on my pc any more. So maybe I skipped that one. I'll definately check it out. (By the way, wouldn't the ultima edition have this patch as well? If so, I already surely had it in a way when trying that one.)

EDIT: Although the patch seems to be removed from their site; only FF8 can be found. But that's ok, I can likely get it somewhere else. But I have yet to find it.

Yes, the Chocobo patch is already waiting for the complete game to work.

And I noticed the people here weren't too fond of the Anime Vamp



Thanks a LOT for your help, it's very much appreciated.

[Threesixty]

You have to type dxdiag in the "Run..." of Windows.
The Sound Acceration setting is in there. (not in FF7config.exe) I think it's buried somewhere in Control Panel as well.....not certain. But it's easier just typing dxdiag. And by Run menu I mean the Run... thing in your Windows' start button. There is a short cut for it, too.... But I don't remember the key combinations.


I don't understand your comment about pushing the bar all the way down... It has me confused.... If this is in Dxdiag...then I'll agree the game will not work if you push it to off.... but if your not inside the dxdiag program....I don't know what you did.

I Didn't say move it all the way down....one notch above... Basic Acceleration, two notches may work, too... Standard Acceleration. But I'd go with Basic. Full acceleration can cause problems with older games....throws off the sound with the FMV's or something, and cause's the computer to hang on some PC's.

As for the TNT patch search the NA-site.... North America didn't do FF8 in the States, that's how I know you didn't search the NA site.

...here:
http://support.eidosinteractive.com/GI/CustomerSupport/FaqSearchResults.jsp?problemType=13&searchText=&game=79&platform=3

I dont' know what an Omega driver is...and I have no idea what your talking about when you say Ultima edition.

As far as the TNT patch is concerned.... you never answered my question. Does your 8 bit pallet say Pass or Fail.

If it says Fail, you should be okay....but if it says Pass, I suggest just playing in Software mode.  If it is the latest driver, it should say Fail, anyway. All you'll need to do is put the two files in the directory, Go into FF7config.exe, and select the Riva boxes as well as your Hardware mode.

[Goku7]

I did try to run it in the software mode, and had this problem with it.
Ok, sound acceleration is put all the way down now. Did you mean hitting the button next to the hardware acceleration slide bar with '8 bit palletization test'? If so, it just played some jungle sound and asked me if I could hear it, and I did, every time.

No, he switched gears on you there.

The "8-bit palletization test" is refering to FF7's config program. The graphics part of the config program has this list on the right side, and the last entry lists the results of a 8-bit palleted texture test it ran when you started the config program.

Although in the end, it said my sound card can't support hardware buffering and sounds will only be played through software buffering.

This is normal, considering the setting you've selected with the sound acceleration slider, so don't worry that much about it.  FYI, when the directsound tests give you that message, it means your computer's processor has to literaly spoon-feed sound data and sound processing instructions to your sound card, and this is SLOW.  If you play any other recent or new games besides FF7, and you have a rather modern sound card (read: Sound Blaster Live! or Sound Blaster Audigy), you should re-set the slider back to Full before playing those other games -- they usually require so much sound acceleration that leaving it in Basic mode can potentially cause LOTS of stuttering during playback.

[Hello]

Yes, I knew what you meant with running dxdiag, and the steps to follow weren't that hard.

Thanks for the link. The riva patch still had no effect, but it's good you mentioned it should be in hardware mode; I can't believe I missed that. It seems to work now (well, the game started, I haven't actually played, but it should be fine since I was able to select 'new game'.

And yes, the 8-bit palletization test did fail. (The reason of confusion is that I live in Holland, with a corresponding Dutch windows edition.)

To clear things up; the ulitma edition is a pirated version that can be downloaded, and it's supposed to be patched and ready for use. I resorted to downloading it after not being able to get it to work, but that one didn't work either, so I got back to using my original disks and trying to fix whatever the problem with those was.



Thanks, I can finally play this once more. Much love.