I can't even get FFVII to start.

[futuramafreak]

I installed FFVII (maximum install) and when I click the shortcut to open the game, it says "Please insert FF7 Game Disc 1, 2, or 3 and try again."  This happens when I insert any of the three game discs.  After I click OK, I get a hanging black window by the name of DEFAULT and no sound, video, or anything else.  I installed the 1.02 patch and checked the box for nVidia.  The Riva and TNT settings both show the same results.  I went into RivaTuner and I don't have 8-bit textures.  I went into ffdshow and disabled the Truevideo codecs.  I downloaded the upside-down movie patch and ran it.  After all this, I restarted my computer, got the same result, and made this topic.  I tried to find someone else with the same problem, but everyone else's problems seemed to start after the game started.

[nfitc1]

We'll need a little more information before anyone can help. What version of windows are you running? What are your system specs? Are you putting the game discs in the same cd as the one you installed from?

[dziugo]

Do you insert the CDs into the same drive you installed FF7 from?

[*:.Griever.:*]

Are you using real CDs, or Image CDs?  Image CDs for FF7 didn't work for me.  I made Image CDs so as to keep my originals in good nick.  But they wouldn't work, so I ended up using the real ones, and it worked fine.

[futuramafreak]

I'm running Windows XP Media Center 2005, 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 processor, 1 GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 6800.  The only CD drive I have is a 24x CD/CD-R/RW.  I ran the install disc from an ISO file, but my 3 game discs are real.

[Tsetra]

Your registries are probably looking in the wrong spot for the disk. This can happen even if you install the game from one drive and try to play the game with the disks in that drive still. It shouldn't matter whether or not you use ISOs or the real CDs, because I've used both.

Go run, type in regedit. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Squaresoft > FF7 or something like that, and locate the entry where it shows the drives looked at for FF7 data files. Make sure the drive letters match the drive you attempt to use. If not, edit as needed. As you installed from ISO, it's probably looking at the virtual drive and not the CD drive, so you'll need to change it probably.

[futuramafreak]

Perfect!  Thank you very much.