FF7 on Win2k

[Zero007 0]

Ive been trying for a few days now to get FF7 to run on Win2k, ive got Sp2, and DosFreaks XP AppCompat tool Beta2 and if i try to access the menu, or finish a fight, it freezes, if anyone has a fix for this i would love some help, thanks

 

csargent@intrex.net

[Xiven 0]

Try this:

 

http://www.ntcompatible.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=14382

 

Someone has already reported problems with the solution, so I'll look into that.

[Zero007 0]

Ive tried all of those fixes, and i still have the problem with the game freezing after battles, or trying to access the menu

[Xiven 0]

I'm working on it.... patience please

[Zero007 0]

Thanks a whole lot

[Poxnor 0]

I would like to thank Xiven for his post regarding how to get FFVII running in Windows 2000 Professional.

 

Unfortunately, the solution didn't work for me either

 

Xiven, could you please include the following information in another post, so that I could try and figure out why it's not working <sob>

 

- What version of slayerui.dll you are using (that file was no where to be found in my apppatch directory, so I had to use another file of the same name from a different directory)

- Exactly what check boxes are marked off in QFixApp (which fixes -- because it seems odd to me that emulating a Windows 2000 compatibility layer in Windows 2000 would solve anything, hehe)

- And which version of the Whistler Application Compatibility toolkit you're using.

 

I know this is a lot to ask, but I would appreciate it very much, as I would like to get FF7 working on my computer

 

Thank you!

[Xiven 0]

I know what you mean. This is getting really frustrating now

 

I tried the same method that I used to get it working on my machine on someone else's machine and it worked fine. Then I tried installing win2k on another hard drive in my machine, and tried to get FF7 to work and failed. So something that I've done to the other install is making FF7 work and I'm now tearing my hair out trying to figure out what it is....

[Poxnor 0]

Hmm, this could get tricky, hehe.

 

Do you think you may be able to pass on the information I was curious about earlier? Maybe I'll be able to turn up something once I know a few specifics

 

Thank you very much for all your help, Xiven

[Xiven 0]

I'll post the information you want when I get home.

[DosFreak 2]

Don't use the Whistler App kit in Windows 2000. Use the 2k App kit 1.5 for Windows 2000 for now.

 

I'm currently analyzing the diff between 2k Compatibility & XP Compatibility. So far it looks like 2k has 130 compat options while XP has 184. Going to play around with porting it to 2k tonight.

[Xiven 0]

Yeah, I'm trying both the 1.5 and the 2.0 at the moment. This is really going to bug me now.

 

Poxnor:

The version of slayerui.dll is 1.0.0.1

Check boxes marked are:

Shrinker

VirtualRegistry

Win2000VersionLie (probably not necessary)

[Xiven 0]

Oh, and I received this e-mail from someone else who's trying to get it to work:

 

Quote:

Well I've actually gotten it to work, mostly. I uninstalled the latest

win2k compatibility update and then reinstalled it, then reinstalled the

compatibility toolkit and it works. Every once and awhile it still crashes

if I use directx mode. I'm running dx8 with a voodoo3500. If I switch into

software it works though. So nice to be able to play it again If only I

could get hardware working...

 

btw, thank you so much for posting your successes, I looked everywhere for

answers until I found your post on nt compatible.

[Poxnor 0]

Bingo, I have it working! (I hope)

A special thank you to Xiven for answering my requests and helping me along with information and ideas

 

I'm not quite sure what exactly got it going, but I'll post, in order, everything I did:

 

1) I uninstalled the Whistler Compatibility Pack

2) I uninstalled the March 2001 Compatibility Update for Windows 2000

3) I uninstalled Final Fantasy 7

 

4) I reinstalled the March 2001 Compatibility Update for Windows 2000 (reboot)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/tools/appcompat/

 

5) I downloaded and installed the Windows 2000 Compatibility Pack 1.5 (Thank you DosFreak for the suggestion!! And thanks to Wolf87 for the link!)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/defa...ompositedoc.xml

 

6) I enabled Compatibility Mode Technology: (Start -> Run...)

regsvr32 %systemroot%\apppatch\slayerui.dll

(Many thanks again! See http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q279/7/92.ASP for more details)

 

7) I reinstalled Final Fantasy VII (reboot)

 

8) I ran QFixApp from the ToolKit

- Use the browse button to select ff7.exe as the program to run

- Under Layers, choose Win98

- Then (to make my joystick work in-game), I had to switch to fixes and disable EmulateJoystick (ironic, eh?)

- Finally, I hit "Run..." and Final Fantasy VII worked!

 

9) If this works for you too, you can make it so that you don't have to use QFixApp everytime you want to play FF7:

- After inputting your settings as in point seven, click "Advanced"

- Toggle one checkbox on for how the patch will recognize the file FF7.exe (Filesize works well enough)

- Click "Create Fix Support," and choose Yes to install it.

- Close QFixApp (~NOT~ by clicking cancel <laugh> Use the X in the upper right hand corner)

Now, each time you run FF7.exe, the fix will be in place

 

***Important***

I DID NOT use the Riva TNT patch! Even though I have a TNT, I am relegated to using Software Mode. The moment I installed the TNT patch, this method went to heck and just stopped working (even when the TNT checkbox in FF7config was off!) So don't patch the game, if possible ;(

(Note that this wasn't because the filesize changed -- I tried the fix from scratch without setting a filesize as in point nine, and it still didn't work with the TNT patch installed)

 

***Request***

Could someone please post a savegame from Final Fantasy in which they're at, say, at Icicle Inn? I want to try the snowboarding with this method.

I read in some different posts that certain fixes had trouble running the 3D minigames. I would like to see if this fix works with the minigames. Thank you to anyone who is able to provide this for me to test

 

***Conclusion***

It's complicated, ugly, and restricting, but I hope this fix works for other people too. I'll work a bit more on trying to narrow down exactly what step it is that's decisive in making FF7 work, but for now my above nine point-list is about as specific as I can get.

Best of luck to everyone in getting this wonderful game to work!

And, if you have any questions, concerns, or feedback to improve this fix, please feel free to post it, for both myself and for everyone else who's looking to run FF7

[Zero007 0]

Thanks, finally got this game to work, tho it freezes when i try to adjust the joystick controls inside the game (im using an MS Sidewider) If anyone knows how to get the game working with the TNT patch, that would be great, im going to try to get it to work, but im stil pretty new to all of this, so if anyone knows how, im sure it would benefit a lot of people

thanks again

[Xiven 0]

You DON'T install the TNT patch

 

You install DirectX 8 which should enable hardware acceleration without the TNT patch (cos with DirectX 8, it passes the 8-bit paletted texture test)

[Xiven 0]

Poxnor - I'll post my saved game files up later. Just go to the gold saucer and you can test all of the sub-games there

[Poxnor 0]

Thank you muchly Xiven! I'll give the mini-games a try and pass on the results to everyone

 

Though I'm still unable to use hardware acceleration, even with DirectX 8.0a installed (it still fails the 8-bit paletted texture test). I think it might have something to do with my using an older version of the drivers -- I'm using the Creative Labs driver 6.34 with Blaster Control version 4.28.05.

 

I tried installing nVidia's refrence drivers, but any version beyond Detonator 11.20 (which was a mucked up version anyhow -- textures were all miscoloured in games like Half-Life) that I could find would cause Windows 2000 to blue-screen crash on me during the bootup. I don't understand why. Maybe it's the card itself (Creative Graphics Blaster Riva TNT) that just wasn't designed to work with the newer drivers?

[Xiven 0]

If you still want a saved game, mine's at http://www.ffseven.com/saves/save01.ff7

[Xiven 0]

Did you try the 7.xx series of nvidia drivers?

[Zero007 0]

Thanx for your help everyone

The reason I asked about the TNT patch Xiven is because the game can get a little choppy on my machine (566 Celeron, 128 ram, Geforce 2) especially during movies, but the tnt patch fixes all that

[Poxnor 0]

Thank you for your saved game, Xiven! I'm happy to report that the minigames worked perfectly

 

However, I tried out the 7.xx driver series (Detonator 3, v7.76 specifically), and though it worked properly (no mucked up textures, as far as I could tell), there was still no support for 8-bit paletted textures

[Xiven 0]

Oh well. Must be a limitation of the TNT then . Works on a GF2.

[DosFreak 2]

You can see wether 8-bit palettized textures is enabled by using RivaTuner.

[Mostly Harmless 0]

Nothing yet has got FF7 working under Win2k for me, but XP RC1/2 have run it fine, except one little thing...the chocobo races don't work. All the other sub games seem to, but the chocobo races drop out as soon as you try entering one.

 

Under Win2k I just get it locking up during fights.

 

Sigh, wouldn't it be nice to get some fixes from Eidos/Square

[Dajukka 0]

Mostly Harmless I have the same thing happening in Win2k using DosFreaks Whistler toolkit. I will try the 2k 1.5 toolkit maybe today if I have time. I´m in the spot where you HAVE to race with chocobo. And in 2k if it crashes in the battles or after them, put checkmark on EmulateWriteFile, worked for me.