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Final Fantasy VII

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games

This page is for the original 1998 version. For the 2012 re-release, see Final Fantasy VII (2012). For the 2020 Microsoft Store version, see Final Fantasy VII Windows Edition. For the remake, see Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.

Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII cover
Developers
Square Enix[1]
Publishers
Eidos Interactive
Release dates
Windows June 25, 1998
Reception
IGDB 85
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase
Modes Singleplayer
Pacing Continuous turn-based
Perspectives Cinematic camera
Controls Direct control, Menu-based
Genres JRPG, RPG
Vehicles Flight, Motorcycle
Art styles Pre-rendered graphics
Themes Cyberpunk, Fantasy
Series Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy VII on HowLongToBeat
Final Fantasy VII on IGDB
Final Fantasy VII guide on StrategyWiki
Final Fantasy VII on MobyGames
Final Fantasy VII on Wikipedia
Final Fantasy VII 1998
Final Fantasy VIII 2000
Final Fantasy XI 2003
Final Fantasy XIV Online 2010
Final Fantasy VII (2012) 2012
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn 2013
Final Fantasy VIII (2013) 2013
Final Fantasy III (3D Remake) 2014
Final Fantasy IV (3D Remake) 2014
Final Fantasy XIII 2014
Final Fantasy XIII-2 2014
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years 2015
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD‎ 2015
Final Fantasy V 2015
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII 2015
Final Fantasy VI 2015
Final Fantasy IX 2016
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster 2016
Mobius Final Fantasy 2017
World of Final Fantasy 2017
SaGa (series)
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age 2018
Mana (series)
Final Fantasy XV 2018
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition 2018
Dissidia Final Fantasy NT 2019
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered 2019
Final Fantasy VII Windows Edition 2020
Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster (series)
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade 2021
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin 2022
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion 2022
Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis 2023
Final Fantasy XVI TBA

Final Fantasy VII is a singleplayer cinematic camera JRPG game developed by SquareSoft (now Square Enix) and published by Eidos Interactive in the west. It is the seventh numbered entry in the Final Fantasy series.

This is the original PC port of the 1997 PlayStation game, released in June 25, 1998, that served as the basis for the 2012 remaster, which itself served as the basis for the Microsoft Store version of the game. The original game also received a partial remake in Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, the first part of a planned trilogy of remakes, released in 2021 on PC.

The original PC port used MIDI music with a custom soundfont, however due to PlayStation and PC differences the resultant music is not the same. It can be replaced with the FF7Music mod. While the original PlayStation version ran at 60 FPS, the PC port runs at different framerates at different parts of the game, breaking the combat camera and some menu mechanics, requiring the The Reunion's 60 FPS BATTLES mod to mitigate the issues.[2] Just like the PlayStation release, the resolution of the FMVs in the game are 320 x 224.[3]

General information

Qhimm Final Fantasy Mod Forums
Manual

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
DRM: Simple disc check, no physical copy protection.
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

The official 1.02 patch fixes various bugs and is required for running the game on modern Windows.

TrueMotion 2 codec

Required by modern Windows versions to view FMVs, otherwise the screen will remain black during playback.

The Reunion

A fan-made mod pack with a host of tweaks and fixes.
Not compatible with 7th Heaven.
  • BEACAUSE: In-game text translation fixes.
  • MENU OVERHAUL: Updates the font, menu and battle UI.
  • 60 FPS BATTLES: Corrects the battle frame rate of the PC versions to be 60 FPS, the same as the original PlayStation version (15 FPS animations, 30 FPS camera, 60 FPS menus).
  • WEAPON: Adjusts various aspects of the game's difficulty to be smoother.
  • MODEL OVERHAUL: Attempts to improve character models in the game.
  • MEMORY PATCHES: Various memory patches, such as cheats et al..
  • 1:35 SOLDIER QUEST: "99 1:35 Soldiers will be hidden throughout the world as collectables."

7th Heaven

A mod manager that allows downloading and installing enhancement mods.
Allows use of the custom video driver FFNx via downloading through the mod manager, allowing the game to be ran through a variety of rendering backends such as Vulkan.
With the 60/30 FPS Gameplay mod, true 60 FPS can be achieved throughout the whole game including the overworld.
Not compatible with The Reunion.

Copying movies to hard disk

Performance can be improved by playing video files directly from the hard disk.
Running movies from hard disk[4]
  1. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII\ and create a folder called Movies.
  2. Copy all AVI files from the Movies folder of each CD to C:\Program Files (x86)\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII\Movies.
  3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII.
  4. Change the value data of MoviePath to C:\Program Files (x86)\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII\Movies\.

Aali's custom driver

Renders the game with OpenGL and enables rendering at higher resolutions with other options. Also avoids graphical issues and artifacts with some modern GPUs. There are two methods of installation:
  1. Directly (direct file link for 0.8.1b). Follow the steps precisely or it will not work.
  2. Via a third party installer (direct file link for 0.8.1). Put this and the above direct archive in the same directory and run the installer. This automates the steps and is recommended over the direct method.
Make sure your GPU drivers are up-to-date as the default Windows GPU drivers have poor OpenGL support.
Introduces some bugs into the game, and currently has a small black bar at the bottom.

FF7Music

Replaces the PC's midi soundtrack with an emulated version of the original PSX soundtrack.
Incredibly small file size.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII\1.00\[Note 1]
With modern versions of Windows it may be in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII\1.00\Graphics which takes precedence if both registry keys exist.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\save\[Note 2]

Video

Supported resolutions: 320x240 (Full Screen), 320x240 pillarboxed in 640x480, and 640x480 (Full Screen).
Graphics in Configuration.
Graphics in Configuration.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
See Aali's custom driver for a workaround, though it currently has a black bottom border.
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
See Aali's custom driver
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
High-fidelity upscaling
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS
Combat and FMVs are capped at 15 FPS, menu screens are capped at 60 FPS, and everything else is capped at 30 FPS. Use The Reunion for 60 FPS during combat.
120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

No in-game mouse support.
Uses the numpad for keyboard input.

Xidi

Adds full DirectInput controller support for modern XInput-based controllers.
Adds optional and customizable haptic feedback.
Run the game by using Xidi
  1. Download the latest version of Xidi and extract its contents.
  2. Open the Win32 folder.
  3. Copy dinput8.dll and Xidi.HookModule.32.dll to <path-to-game> and the folders where Launcher.exe and IncPC.exe are located, respectively.
  4. Run the launcher and rebind controls from the Gamepad binding tab.

Audio

Sound in Configuration.
Sound in Configuration.
MIDI in Configuration.
MIDI in Configuration.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
MIDI music slider only
Surround sound
Subtitles
All dialogues are text-based
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Game audio mutes when focus lost; MIDI music does not.
General MIDI audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English

Issues fixed

Game immediately quits

Install official 1.02 patch

FMVs display a black screen

Install TrueMotion 2 codec

Graphical issues

Use Aali's custom driver
Switch to Software Renderer

Notes

May be necessary to run the game at 320x240 or 640x480 (Quarter Screen) to prevent choppy FMVs playback.

Error: "There is insufficient swap space to play FF7"

Enable and/or increase virtual memory

Other information

Running from an ISO or another drive

By default, the game uses the first CD-ROM drive location for checking CDs or ISOs. To use another drive, modify the registry.
Edit Windows Registry
  1. Press Win+R.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter.
  3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII and change the values data of DataDrive and MoviePath to the drive letter occupied by the CD or ISO.
  4. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII\1.00\Graphics and change the value data of DriverPath to the drive letter occupied by the CD or ISO.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 5
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 95
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 133 MHz[5]
Intel Pentium 166 MHz[6]
System memory (RAM) 32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 260 MB
Video card (GPU) 2 MB of VRAM
DirectX 5.1 compatible
Other DirectMedia 5.2
4x CD-ROM


Notes

  1. Applications writing to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE will be redirected to other locations based on various criterias, see the glossary page for more details.
  2. When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

  1. Q-Gears: "Unlike what people think, Square did the port, not Edios. Edios was just a publisher who gained the rights to the game."
  2. Qhimm Forums :: 60FPS BATTLES - last accessed on May 2023
  3. Qhimm Forums :: FF7 - Technical Discussion on Game Resolution and FMV - last accessed on May 2023
  4. Playing FMVs from hard drive? - last accessed on May 2023
  5. 5.0 5.1 with 3D accelerator
  6. without 3D accelerator