In need of FFVII help please

[Kuja]

I've owned my copy of FFVII since it was released almost 10 years ago, and played through it and beat it on my old pc many years ago, but recently I decided to install and play it again on this computer since it's the 2nd G.O.A.T. FF imo(after FFIX, *equips flame shield*).  I recently downloaded and installed the 1.02 patch, saint's high resolution, and reunion patches, and all work fine. I can get to the first battle screen, but then the game freezes then crashes. I tried installing the XP patch 1.4 but that seemed to make things worse, making the whole background turn black. I was also wondering if the reunion and NPC recon. patches do the same thing and to get both or just go for the NPC reconstruction.

I'm currently running:
XP pro
Radeon X800 XT with the latest catalyst driver (1280 x 1024 if that matters)
Direct X 9.0C with the latest updates
I set the compatbility mode to win98/me 256 colors
and of course I do have an original, legit copy of the game

edit: When I put in the FFVII cd and try to play the movies in media player, they're upside down but I did read there is a patch to fix this, I'm not sure if this would effect the crashing at all though?

[*:.Griever.:*]

For a start, I think your XP 1.4 patch is a lot of your troubles, that would be the VAMP patch, correct?
If that's the case, it does damage your game, I had loads of trouble until I came to these forums and someone told me that.

As for the upside down FMV's, the patch does fix it, and you can get it from FFShrine, FFCathedral, or any place like that, easily enough.  As for your crashes, have you tried just setting compatibility mode to 98/ME?

[Kuja]

I uninsstalled the 1.4 patch and set the compatbility to 98/me 256 colors, still wont work

[*:.Griever.:*]

You could always try rolling back your GPU drivers to an earlier version.  I have read elsewhere that newer drivers for some video cards can cause problems with FF7.

[dziugo]

So it's "enter the battle, characters & GUI appear and crash" or "crash when entering the battle - at the beginning of the battle swirl"? Upside-down movies when playing in WMP is normal, as long as there are no problems in game.

[Kuja]

I dont even see the battle screen, it freezes right before the swirl

[dziugo]

Install MiniGamesPatch from here - it contains the battle swirl fix.

[Kuja]

I thought that was for people that actually see the swirl? i dont see a swirl at all

[auxili160]

You should still install the patch..

[dziugo]

I thought that was for people that actually see the swirl? i dont see a swirl at all

And the chocobo patch is for the people who actually see chocobos at the startline?

You should still install the patch..

Definitely.

[Kuja]

alright thanks i'll give that a try and post back later to see if it works...

Do I need the reunion patch before I download the NPC construction patch? are they the same or do I just need NPC construction? and is it the same process as the reunion patch(regarding char.lpg etc.)

[auxili160]

They are the same, from what I recall. They are just installed differently.

[Kuja]

Alright, I decided to reinstall freshly and give this another shot, I followed the step-by-step directions from miracle flame on this board: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=6238.0 , but I'm still having a few weird problems.

I installed everything in that order, and installed:
the k-lit codec/true motion codec and disabled in ffvideo decoder config
Saint's resolution 1.0 that had the chocobo patch integrated
YAMP with minigamespatch and transparentdiagbox
higher quality cloud
.6 NPC reconstruction patch
and advent avatars

I also reenabled windows98/me compat mode with 256 colors.

The problems I'm now having is the intro credits are completely warped and that IMMEDIATELY after the train fmv stops, the screen goes black and i hear very limited sound, see nothing except the text box. When I move forward, the battle screen commences and everything(except the music which I don't hear) is fine, then after that the game is fine. However, when I get to the next FMV after opening the door and look up to the tower, cloud like floats into the air.

edit: Maybe my cd isnt fully functional? It has some minor scratches. Also, in the game menu i cant adjust sound/volume settings, is this because I didnt install the yamaha synth and is this why theres no music perhaps?

[*:.Griever.:*]

Reunion and Npc-rp are differnet.

Reunion doesn't have as many battle to field models as the NPC-rp.
So go with the NPC-rp.

[Kuja]

hate to keep posting, but I did fix the problem(at least half of it).

I googled and found this on gamefaqs: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=130791&topic=43107068

Even though it says for Vista users, I tried it anyways.

It says disable AVI filtering(gabbest) in the k-lite codec pack

Now, after the train screen EVERYTHING works fine.

However, During the intro credits everything is still warped.

Would the files that were tampered with when I installed (but later uninstalled) the animevamp (1.4 fake XP patch) have anything to do with this, the minor scratches, or something else? I dont think its necessarily the few scratches, because the intro credits looked fine before I installed any of the patches/mods

[auxili160]

Stuff won't visually warp is a cd is scratched. They'll just load slowly, get choppy, or won't be able to be read at all.
Not sure what your problem is, but I doubt it's the scratches. Try uninstalling K-Lite, maybe something else is interfering.

[CLobo]

I linked a fix to the battle swirl, but you aren't seeing it, maybe thats not it. But try this anyway http://savvygeek.com/2007/10/05/final-fantasy-vii-in-restored-glory/, near the bottom of the guys explanation are a few fixes he has. Hope this helps!

CLobo