modding FF7, and loving it.

[Future^Bacon]

Hi guys.
This is my first post, and I'm stoked to be here.
I first played FF7 in 1997 when I was 17 on my PS1, and I still remember to this day being completely blown away by the cutscenes and the massive world. It's funny how a game gets stuck in your mind. I have often thought about that story and it gives me warm fuzzy feelings.

Recently I overheard some people on another mod site, which shall remain nameless, and they were talking about FF7...! I couldn't believe it. 15 years later and people are still talking about this game, I was told that yeah, people are actually modding it and loving it, and as soon as I heard that, I knew I had to do it too... so here I am. I purchased a copy of the game, which I am waiting to arrive, and I'm here (amongst other places) to get the lowdown, find out whats good and whats not, so I can begin to revamp my FF7 experience.

So say hello, because you'll probably get some dopy questions from me from time to time

Cheers

(Oh and for anyone who may know me from nameless site, I'm MisterPoint )

 

[Future^Bacon]

So my discs should arrive tomorrow. I found a copy in AUS for $70 I have to say I was surprised to see this game still selling for so much but whatever. Got it express posted.

I have started collecting the stuff I need to mod. I have the 1.02 patch, and Aalis graphic driver and I am fairly up to speed about how to get it to that point. What are the best mods for improving the appearance of the game?

I know that it's gonna be a '97 special (i.e blocky low res bleh) so I want to get the models and textures looking nice, also the FMV sequences. Not too concerned about audio just yet, I figure I'll get it looking nice first before I fiddle with sound.

Any pro-tips?

 

[Gabe]

ahyouprobablyshouldn'tbedoubleposting, ehem.

But there's not much in terms of choice for making the graphics look better in the PC version. A really good addition I found was the mod that will swap the overworld/out of battle character models with your in-battle character models that are extremely detailed. I'm not sure why they just didn't use those throughout the game instead, so it really makes things look better. It doesn't feel like lego anymore. I'm not sure what it's called but I remember there being a 'compilation of Final Fantasy VII improvements and mods' somewhere on the net. You can try googling for those words. I remember there being tons of great additions on one page.

 

[Future^Bacon]

(Sorry about the double post, I just thought since there was no other activity it wouldn't really count as a bump nm I'll keep it in mind.)

Thanks for the tip, I'll get on google.

 

[Gabe]

Here's some pictures of the mod I was referring to:

 

[Future^Bacon]

Nice screens.

If it replaces the field models with the battle ones, I'm guessing that a lot of NPC's would still have the original 'lego' appearance? I think that would seem strange to me. I'm not too fussed with the lego field models, but I'd like to improve the battle models.

I've had a look around, found some stuff by avalanche that replaces the GUI and fonts to a higher res, and Aalis graphic driver makes the models for the field a lot smoother... I think thats a good start.
I'd be interested to know if there's anything that improves the background images. From the screens I've seen they're still very low res. I could be dreaming here, but is that just a compression thing?

 

[Steve-O]

I remember seeing a mod once that adds (advent children) look to the characters...... i'll see if I can hunt down the video it looked very good really high detail

 

[Future^Bacon]

Would that be the 'phoenix rejuvenation project'?

Yes I'm eyeballing that one

 

[Setzer007]

Those are some very neat screens. never seen those before.

Future^Bacon- If you can show us some screenshots after you are done with the modding and playing the game, that would be righteous

-Setz-

 

[Future^Bacon]

I will start tomorrow, and I'll be posting screens for sure

(Edit) The discs are here!!! Installing

Ok I have it installed, with the 1.02 patch and Aalis graphic driver. Didn't have any major issues. I didn't take any vanilla screens, but I have a few at the stage I am at now, where the field sprites and battle sprites are much higher definition, which is a stark contrast to the overly compressed and pixelated backgrounds. I then installed the avalanche GUI mod, which made the vanilla fonts and menus much higher res, which I was surprised actually gave the game a much cleaner appearance and better feel.
Then I ran the avalanche high res.exe, which improves the magic effects and (supposedly) the BG's but to be honest I have not noticed much of a difference.
I got excited and forgot to take screens early in the piece, but I figure you guys know what vanilla FF7 looks like.
Have a look:

 

[Ethics]

These screens look nice, but...are there really no mods for touching up the enemies? I mean the blue soldiers in the post above this, they still look rather dating.

I have to actually disagree with Gabe, however, the battle backgrounds are tolerable with high res models of your sprites, but the overworld and any other map look absolutely terrible behind them (third picture posted on this page is perfect example). High res is good, but you just need to place it well.

 

[Future^Bacon]

These screens look nice, but...are there really no mods for touching up the enemies? I mean the blue soldiers in the post above this, they still look rather dating.

There are, I'm in the process of downloading and installing them now, I'll have some more screens for you tomorrow. Here are some more early versions to keep you interested in the meantime. I will be replaying and trying to capture the same screens when fully modified for comparitive purposes.

 

[ribbit]

Are you doing this for the PC version? That's the only version I've seen mods for, and unless there's a way to do it, I don't think you can mod PS1 games unless they're played on your computer.

 

[ribbit]

The PC version is the one I played first, and the sprites were more pixelated than normal so I was looking for a way to fix it. Found some site that listed most of the mods available.

 

[Future^Bacon]

Yeah, theres quite a bit out there... At present I'm picking through them, there is a compiler called 'Bootleg' that compiles and configures mods for you.

I'm going through the setup of this thing... it's quite laborious and many of the links to files it requires are broken (thanks FBI and SOPA). However from reviews I have read about this, it is the bomb. Nearly 10GiB download though. It's taking a while to get it all together...

It's not the way I would usually go about modding a game but hey.. if it saves sifting through countless outdated mods then I'm all for it.

 

[Future^Bacon]

Ok I'm gonna double post here, as it's been 48hours and I have updated information. Forgive me mods

I have installed the entire Bootleg, which took ages due to my appalling internet speed and 'rapidshare' which should be called something else. I played through the first reactor level, and the differences are definitely noticeable. I also noticed some glitches, missing textures etc. Wedge looks like the elephant man, and the field sprites for the red shinra guards have no heads, or their heads are very small, I have to look at the screens closer. The field backgrounds and battle BG's are noticeably sharper, in fact they look 'sharpened' via photoshop. Still much better imho.

Screens for comparison

Aeris in remastered opening sequence:

C'mon newcomer with comparison

First Battle with comparison

On bridge with comparison

Limit Break effect

Cloud meets Aeris

On train. you can see wedges messed up head here

Thats all for now, I'mma go play me some FFVII

 

[Rukai]

Lol poor Biggs, he looks totally deformed.
But yeah, it's a nice mod. I've seen some of the bosses replaced like Jenova being Minerva, etc.

But I still prefer the original one.