FF7 Multi Patch 1.1.1

[Cyrus XIII]

Hi folks,
I put together a couple of modifications for FF7 and wrapped them up into an easy to use setup routine. About two years ago, I released something similar here on Qhimm but the files went down pretty soon due to hosting issues and the installer wasn't as advanced as I'd have liked it to be anyway. Now with Advent Children on our doorstep, I felt like giving it another shot and after a few nights of testing and tweaking the package is probably as ready as it will get for a public release.

Please note that I have no intend to reap fame or attention from the people who did the groundwork for this release. My part in this isn't really all that big, just an effort to make playing FF7 a little easier for people who don't want an all too technical approach. If someone feels his/her work might be violated by this patch or just not properly credited, please contact me through the means I have listed in the readme below.


[Edit]
Just finished version 1.1.1.
There's not much new, check the changelog for details.

Code: [Select]

-----------------------------------
Final Fantasy VII Multi Patch 1.1.1
-----------------------------------


Changelog
---------
2005.08.28 - Ver. 1.1.1
           - High-Res Patch updated to version 0.98
           - discovered bug added to PSX Music section

2005.08.20 - Ver. 1.1
           - added The SaiNt's High-Res Patch
           - FF7.exe is now IPS-patched during setup (reduces size of the
             installer quite a bit)
           - bugfix: being prompted to "choose at least one component",
             even if you did

2005.08.14 - Ver. 1.0 (initial release)

---------------------------------------


This patch makes a couple of changes to FF7:


PSX Music
---------
Tired of messing with soundfonts or MIDI in general?
The patch makes use of Ficdula's FF7Music and replaces roughly 98% of the
music with the original score as heard on Sony's PlayStation. (Performance
may varry though and the feature still needs testing.)

Known bug: FF7.exe might still be running after exiting the game. Check the
Task Manager, especially before uninstalling the patch (see 'Notes' below).


Hi-Res Mode
-----------
Play the game at a resolution of 1280x960.
Since this is still heavily work-in-progress, please be considerate if you
run into a bug. Go the long way and do a test with The SaiNt's own patcher
first before either contacting him or me about the issue.


GeForce Fix
-----------
This addresses the garbled text/menus you may encounter using hardware
acceleration in NVIDIA/TNT mode. Basicly disables 8bit palettized textures
for DirectX 7 applications and thus saves you from installing RivaTuner
just for fixing this issue. A reboot might be required though.


Win2000 Fix
-----------
Try this, if your game tends to crash a lot, especially during/right after
a fight. Implements a few Windows Compatibility Fixes ("EmulateWriteFile",
"Shrinker", "VirtualRegistry" and "Win2kPropagateLayer") for the FF7.exe.
ANY FF7.exe run or your system (no size or CRC checks), so you can use it
with any patch combo you prefer, not just the stuff included here. Could
also work on WinXP, but I still need feedback on this.

------------------------------------------------------


Notes
-----
The executable included here is the official 1.02 version and gets patched
during setup (at least with the Chocobo Patch, a Win2k/XP crashfix for the
chocobo races). All features mentioned above are optional and should unin-
stall cleanly. Please do not install this patch over itself though, if you
would like to change the features installed, do an uninstall first (unless
you feel like messing up your FF7 install). And of course, do not apply or
remove anything, while the game is still running.


Special thanks
--------------
- Ficedula, creator of FF7Music, the respective Cetra patch and the Cetra
  tool itself
- Neill Corlett, creator of the PSF ("PSX Sound Format") and UIPS
- The SaiNT, creator of the High-Res Patch
- Qhimm & Jedwin, for the Chocobo Patch
- other FF7 fans I do not remember by name (or nick), who dug up all the
  information regarding the GeForce and Windows Compatibility issues
- the people at Quimm's and the NSIS forum for feedback and ideas


This patch was created by Cyrus XIII (that's me) using NSIS ("Nullsoft
Scriptable Install System"). Feedback is welcome, please contact me via
eMail ([email protected]) or ICQ (74062151).


August 28th, 2005


[Canim]

THX for your work, going the patch with the german version too???


WBW Canim

[jamesyfx]

Nice patch.

.. But after enabling it, it made my movies upside-down. X.x

I only installed the music bit.

[Cyrus XIII]

That's curious, I didn't know the upside-down movies where related to the versions of the executable. Anyway, it's a known and common issue, patch that will fix it can be downloaded here.

@ Canim
The patch was created using the English version, so I cannot guarantee that it will produce any desirable results with the German one. You may give it a try though, worst that may happen is that you'll be wasting some time installing and uinstalling it (the patch, not the game).

[jamesyfx]

MMh, that movie patch doesn't seem to work - the setup file, that is.

Something just flickers and nothing happens.

[CkRtech]

Can the sound patch work with the saint high res patch?

[Cyrus XIII]

Unfortunatly not or at least not that easily.
You see, the PSX Music option will replace the FF7.exe with the 1.02 version of it, with the neccesary patch for FF7Music already applied, plus the Chocobo Patch. (Don't worry, your old one is safely backed up and will return upon uninstall.) Now if you try to patch this executable with the Hi-Res patch, it will do nothing since it requires a crisp/new/virgin FF7.exe with no patches applied whatsoever.
What you can do is getting the exe from the offical 1.02 patch (you probably already have), apply Saint's patch, then the FF7Music patch with Cetra, then the Chobobo Patch. It works, though it's hardly the simplicity I tried to implement.

The obvious question is: Why didn't I include the Hi-Res thing in the first place? Well for once - because I cannot have my installer apply any of these patches silently during setup - that would make the Multi Patch about twice as big, since it would simply have to come with more pre-patched executables. And while I really like what Saint has accomplished so far, his patch still has a couple of bugs and is very limited resolution-wise. Not everyone can sport a display capable of 1280xsomething yet. So for now, I decided not to include Hi-Res.

To wrap this up, here are a couple of things that could happen, in order to solve this little problem:
* Other patch creators could send me command-line versions of their patches in order to have them applied during setup.
* Saint could make his patch adaptive like the Chocobo Patch already is, not requiring a fresh FF7.exe anymore (to be fair: I have no idea how hard this might be to implement) or at least have it recognize those with common patches applied as well.
* People could bug me long and persistently, that they don't give a damn about the Multi Patch's size, as long as it does more things.

[Aaron]

You may be able to find a utility that will patch one file to another (kind of like an IPS patch or Cetra (?)) -- i.e., give it the original FF7.exe, give it the "target" FF7.exe, and it will come up with some kind of difference file you can use to repeat the patch -- and get this to run silently on the user's FF7.exe, instead of just including a whole FF7.exe.  Would help keep the size down but include whichever patches you want (and even stay out of the tricky legal area of distributing a whole FF7.exe, but I guess even Eidos is doing it with their 1.02 patch ).

(I know utilities like this are around, however, I don't know of one that will run silently off the top of my head.)

[Cyrus XIII]

Sounds good to me (though direct input from other developers would be great anyway) and they really just have to be command line driven to be "silent".

[The SaiNt]

The thing is that my patch covers alterations to the executable all over the place and there are times when I have to alter the order and the way that they are done in order to fit the additional code. Sadly there will never be a way to do adaptive patching as it's not a single byte patch like the chocobo patch.

[Cyrus XIII]

Ok, the patch has been updated and thx to Aaron's great advise it's a lot more functional now (while even a lot smaller). Hope this works out for more people.

[CkRtech]

Hey there. (fyi - spoilers are probably in this message for those of you who haven't finished the game.)

Thanks for combining the patches, but I am encountering lockups quite a bit now. I have had quite a few in sector 8 - when you last encounter the Turks & can either fight them or choose not to, it almost always locks up right when the music is about to stop. (Turks then enter & then the Turk theme begins shortly after)

I tried all sorts of patch combinations to get this to work, but had no luck. At one point, I even managed to come off the ladder and walk up to the next screen without even encountering them! At some point, I managed to get it patched with high res + sound & encounter the Turks...but it locked up later on after a simple battle.

I reverted to the unpatched 1.02 exe, got past the big "Gya haha Kya haha" monster, saved, repatched, and then had it lock up after walking up the stairs to fight Hojo.

I uninstalled again & then patched with the Saint High res 0.97 patch. (seperately from the multi installer).

So now I am back to high res with regular MIDI and things seem to be just fine. (Just saved at the start of disc 3)

Note that using the multi-installer and only installing the high res patch will still cause lockups - I had to use the seperate installer for the high res patch in order to get it to work.

Any idea what might be up with all of this? Did the PSX music patch modify midi.lgp? I noticed that it is dated 08/21/2005 on my machine & remains that way despite uninstalling the patch.

[Cyrus XIII]

It indeed modifies the midi.lgp in order to mute all the MIDIs that can be replaced with PSFs. If the MIDIs play fine after uninstalling the patch, it has been correctly replaced (the date change could then have been triggered by the name change from "data\midi\midilgp" to "backup\midi.lgp.bkp" and back). After a crash - and this goes for everyone - you should always check wether FF7.exe has terminated correctly (use Windows' Task Manager), before uninstalling anything. If the uninstaller cannot write to FF7.exe, since it is technially still in use, things are likely to get messy.

Did you, by any chance backup a couple of savegames for this passage or tried to combine patches yourself with the original patch tools (Cetra and the Chocobo patch)?

[CkRtech]

I was playing somewhat late, so I didn't tweak it much - however I did retain some savegames.

Top savegame in 3rd save bank should be it.

Save Bank 3

[Modem]

Hiya
  I have a couple of (pretty minor) issues with this thing.  It's great, mind you, since I've always loved the original PSX music, but issues nonetheless.

My monitor (Viewsonic 19" LCD) can't display 1280*960 very well, in any game whatsoever, or even windows (though for some reason I have a option for 1280*800).  Stuff just gets stretched off the screen.  I can't even get it to display properly even if I try to manually adjust the monitor.  I do know that 1280*1024 would look a bit stretched, but I was wondering if there were any plans on making perhaps 1024*768, or possibly 1152*864 resolution(s)?  

My other issue was the loading time.  I have a 3.2grz P4 w/ 1gb pc 3200 and a GeForce 6800GT, and the loading time is near PSX loading in some areas (such as the very beginning of Disc 2, when I'm at the ice mountain, about to start snowboarding down at around a thousand miles n' hour, heh heh).  Is it the music that causes this or something?

I just reformated (it's a every 6 month thing), so every driver is freshly installed and working properly, and even faster than before the format, so I'm guessing that it's not much of a system issue.

This thing is awesome, by the way.  It's SO appreciated that you and other people are making this stuff.  This is one of my all time (if not the) favorite games, next to FF2(4) and FF3(6).  Keep up the awesome work.  
  - Modem

[The SaiNt]

My monitor (Viewsonic 19" LCD) can't display 1280*960 very well, in any game whatsoever, or even windows (though for some reason I have a option for 1280*800).  Stuff just gets stretched off the screen.  I can't even get it to display properly even if I try to manually adjust the monitor.  I do know that 1280*1024 would look a bit stretched, but I was wondering if there were any plans on making perhaps 1024*768, or possibly 1152*864 resolution(s)?  

Your monitor is capable of 1280x1024, apply the 1280x1024 patch in this thread.
This will add a black bar at the bottom of the screen, thus retaining the correct aspect ration (aka, not stretched).
Also, read through that thread for more information about the patch.

[Modem]

Thank you very much.  I appologize, I didn't see that thread.

EDIT:  
 Cool, that's great.  Back to normal.  Now to read up on the slow issue.  Thank you again.  

[Cyrus XIII]

@ CkRtech
Ok, I just updated the patch with the latest release of the High-Res Patch and used your savegame as testing ground. I ran into no irritations apart from known issues (like the upper left corner glitch and I believe SaiNt knows about the status icons in battle as well) while playing through the boss battles you mentioned and the following cut-scenes.

But please see for yourself, if the problems persist, we might need more troubleshooting.

[Sir_Brizz]

So just to make sure, you DID fix the patch so that Hi-Res and FF7Music can both be installed, right?

This is the bomb, this multi-patcher was an awesome idea!

[Cyrus XIII]

Give it a try.
Beside this discussion here, I have not received much feedback. So far, CkRtech's post and savegames where pretty much the best lead to do some decent testing.

[Beautiful_Intended]

One thing to notice:i've installed this patch on my FF7 especially the ff7 psx music.When you meet Youffie and finish the battle the Midgar music starts and then crashes...i unistalled the music patch and met Youffie again...and the game didn't crash..after all the music is different it mustn't be Midgar music...so this is a problem...anyway you've done a great work

[CkRtech]

Cyrus XIII -

Hey, thanks for your continuing work with this project. I will use the new multipatch and see what happens. I have a gold chocobo and am about to tie up some loose ends (weapons) before going on to complete the game. I'll let you know how things go.

btw - In order to keep all things consistent, let me say that I am also using the battle -> field conversion mod. I know that it deals with resource file hacking more than executable hacking, but - one always wants to know everything when trying to solve problems.

EDIRA:

Loaded it up, walked into Turk cutscene/battle....worked perfectly.

Died to reload it and see if it works again -

Reloaded save, walked into area.....it gave the dialog message (whatever it is...."Oh no! They're here!" or something) and then froze.

Dang it. You always hope these things happen all the time & can therefore point to a specific reason that the problem is being caused.

EDITAGA:

Okay. I restored the midi.lgp from the install disc and did a fresh patch. Cool....but still had problems.

I ended up running the config program (since it was patched) -

My midi was set on External Midi. That's odd. I can use external midi because I have a wavetable daughtercard on my soundcard, however I use the digital output to my receiver. If I use the daughtercard, I have to switch over to the analog output in order to hear it. (My soundcard won't convert the analog output from the daughtercard to digital and then pass it through the digital output all on the fly) I figured that the PSX sound patch was doing some sweet hacking (Napolean Dynamite voice) anyway, but it was obviously not using my external midi for anything because otherwise I wouldn't hear the music. (What does it do, anyway? Software-based PSX wavetable sound?)

I changed it over to the Microsoft SW synth just so the least amount of hardware was entering the picture during the game.

I played through the Turks scene three (maybe even four) times, and it never locked up. I have also been in and out of the game twice...AND... ff7.exe is properly terminating. Wow! This process has almost always been orphaned when I have left. I exited once with an alt-f4 and a second time using Menu->Quit FF7.

....weird. I'll let you know if anything happens, but otherwise....things seem to be okay. (but I won't bet my Gold Chocobo on that!)

[Modem]

One bug with the music I can't seem to fix is just after you get your airship (tifa wakes up, finds out that Meteor has been summomed, then you escape with the airship).  The music then changes on the world map.  The music out there is... how do I say this... scratchy.  It also makes all sounds done while that music is playing also scratchy.  It goes back to normal if I run into battle or any other music whatsoever starts playing.  I appologize if I wasn't supposed to report that here, I didn't see a thread specifically about music troubleshooting.  Thanks.  
  - Modem

[TheCrow]

Cyrus XIII
Can you make a patch FF7 multi patch for final fantasy french version please if you can ?

[burnzy]

i installed this patch today i am confused. could you please answer my questions.

1. Do i have to aply the patch to the "original" ff7.exe, because i have already patched it with the winxp patch before i even found this multi-patch.

2. Can i check the 2 boxes on the install "sounds" and "hi res" and have both good sound and hi-res graphics ? i tried it, and it got hi res graphics, but there was no music. Not even midi, in the field or in battles.

Please respond asap so i can replay this fantastic game on the pc instead of the psone