Final Fantasy 7 work status 'OK' ?

[MotM]

According to the game compatibility list, FFVII US works fine. But I think it should also be noted that sound is messed up. FFVI and VIII have the same issue but that's stated already.

[Ultima]

Being a bit more specific with your report would be helpful, though.

[MotM]

Like I said, VI and VIII have the same issue which are stated on the compatibility list. I mean most of the sound is cut off, sometimes misses the echo effect. But generally yeah, sound is messed up.

EDIT:
I start playing FFVII again, will try to report every possible compatibility issues here.

[MotM]

So far...
1. Sound cut off at the end (When recieving items, most kinds of *ching* sounds)

2. Sometimes after you win a battle, and exit, the screen fades black (normal), but music keeps playing for no more than 10 seconds. The game then continues.

3. Once you reach the point in game where the Sector 7 pillar is being raided, fps drops seem to occur. Laggy animation. FPS drops are gone once you enter the stairs (have savegame).

[smegforbrain]

It's been awhile since we had a report on FF7, and from that last report pSX Author had done some stuff specifically to get FF7 working better (ie, the sounds were a problem in the earliest versions).

It's possible those problems have been reintroduced in more recent versions, or they just weren't picked up in the last reported versions (1-3-1.4). I suppose it's also possible that due to some other factor, like a sound card, some of us are possibly stuck with the sound being a little off from what it is supposed to sound like on a Playstation.

I personally also have to consider the fact that I'm playing the game with stereo speakers, something I never did with a real Playstation, so the fact that some sounds are only coming out of the right or the left side is probably normal.

So far, the only sound I'm hearing which might be off is the one for transition to combat. There might be a couple of other, minor sound effects that are off still, too. I don't even remember how far into the game the pillar sequence is.

Also, which region of the game are you playing with?

[MotM]

Well I'm pretty sure it ain't my sound boxes. I have 5.1 sound, before I had plain stereo set and the problem was noticable. On ePSXe, you can hear all sounds coming out perfectly.

I'm playing the NTSC region (SCUS_941.63).

[Gamesoul Master]

I have the game... let me get it really quick and test it (it's the original disc in perfect condition, as a note). Before I test the first disc, I'd like to say that I played it on the third disc about a week ago and had no problems at all (on pSX v1.8 of course, using default settings and SCPH1001... the usual stuff).

My credentials are also more than enough, as I've played FF7 on the real hardware more than almost any other game (500+ hours would be an understatement), so you can be sure I know the game, its sound, and everything else quite well (the same goes for just about every other FF out there).

@smegforbrain: Some sounds coming out of the left or right speakers only is indeed normal. The game actually makes good use of stereo sound.

Edit: Here is what I have so far:
- Final Fantasy VII (SCUS-94163), playing from original disc
- pSX v1.8
- Relevant settings:
BIOS: SCPH1001.bin
Graphics: Bilinear, VSync
Sound: "same as emulated machine"

-- The chime you hear when a file is successfully loaded is about a 1/4 second longer than it should be. The same thing occurs with the sound you hear when actually using an item from the menu. This applies to anytime that these two specific sounds are heard.
-- The sound effect when a battle is initiated is a tiny bit distorted.
-- The sound of Cloud's standard attack (when it's a critical hit) lasts about 3/4 to a full second longer than it should. When it isn't a critical hit, it's fine except for a little distortion.
-- The sound of jumping on/off a ladder (or anything you jump over/off/on) lasts about a 1/2 second longer than it should.
-- An almost unnoticeable distortion occurs at the end of the sound effect when a sliding door opens (like the doors that Jessie open at the very beginning of the game).
-- A few magic spells and enemy attacks (most notably elemental ones) are slightly distorted or slightly different than they should be.
-- There is a slight distortion at the end of the sound you hear when starting any limit break.

Other than these very minor sound problems, I haven't come across any gameplay or graphical problems. Would it be possible, MotM, for you to upload that savegame where the fps problem occurs?

[patrickp]

motm said:

Well I'm pretty sure it ain't my sound boxes. I have 5.1 sound, before I had plain stereo set and the problem was noticable. On ePSXe, you can hear all sounds coming out perfectly.

I'm playing the NTSC region (SCUS_941.63).

Actually, AFAIK Playstation games were all stereo, MotM; there wouldn't be much point in more channels because a Playstation wouldn't output them. So it shouldn't make any difference whether you use a 5.1 sound system or a stereo one. Any differences are in the way your system may process it, not in the actual sound output.

hoshikuzu said:

Edit: Here is what I have so far:
- Final Fantasy VII (SCUS-94163), playing from original disc
- pSX v1.8
- Relevant settings:
BIOS: SCPH1001.bin
Graphics: Bilinear, VSync
Sound: "same as emulated machine"

-- The chime you hear when a file is successfully loaded is about a 1/4 second longer than it should be. The same thing occurs with the sound you hear when actually using an item from the menu. This applies to anytime that these two specific sounds are heard.
-- The sound effect when a battle is initiated is a tiny bit distorted.
-- The sound of Cloud's standard attack (when it's a critical hit) lasts about 3/4 to a full second longer than it should. When it isn't a critical hit, it's fine except for a little distortion.
-- The sound of jumping on/off a ladder (or anything you jump over/off/on) lasts about a 1/2 second longer than it should.
-- An almost unnoticeable distortion occurs at the end of the sound effect when a sliding door opens (like the doors that Jessie open at the very beginning of the game).
-- A few magic spells and enemy attacks (most notably elemental ones) are slightly distorted or slightly different than they should be.
-- There is a slight distortion at the end of the sound you hear when starting any limit break.

Other than these very minor sound problems, I haven't come across any gameplay or graphical problems. Would it be possible, MotM, for you to upload that savegame where the fps problem occurs?

I seem to recall pSX author saying at one point that it was difficult to know how to set reverb for pSX, GM, and also suggesting that he might sometimes tend to overdo it. That could explain sounds lasting longer in pSX than they would have on a Playstation.

[MotM]

I was actually stating the fact that it doesn't make any difference if you're stereo is working fine or not. Sounds are coming from both L and R channels. With the 5.1 sound I got not long ago, I was 100% sure it wasn't the sound output being the problem but the way it was processed.

The savegame is here.

The problem doesn't seem to be there when you load the game, but when you enter this part of the game before saving and load again, it happens. If you get to this point of the game, try to have a close look at animation smoothness.

[Gamesoul Master]

patrickp: It seems that would be the most likely cause. I'm probably going to bed soon, but I'll run a thorough test when I wake up (testing without reverb enabled, and playing the game up to that point when Aerith is taken to see if the fps drop occurs for me).

MotM: So what I guess you're saying is that testing the savegame is probably pointless, cuz it only occurs when you play straight up to that point without stopping (meaning at least a few minutes before, of course)? Meh... I'll test your save and test my own new game when I get there (playing through this point when my earliest file is at the end of the first disc feels so tedious).

If it's any consolation, MotM, I understood what you meant about the speakers (which is why I didn't mention anything about it)...

[MotM]

My bad, I was pointing to smegforbrain's post earlier.

But yeah... savegame is useless to test, now that I know the problem doesn't happen after loading. But at least, you now know when you can expect this occurance.

[MotM]

It seems that alot of sounds are messed up... IRQ issues?

Sounds that's not right:

Cross Slash limit break

Hand Grenade attack (stutters and doesn't play off an 'explosion' sound).

Elevator sounds.

Cover - I don't remember this one well, but when you have Cover materia equipped and during battle the wearer blocks an attack, the sound of the attack hitting the cover don't seem right.

[Gamesoul Master]

All the limit breaks have distorted sound. I had no problem with *any* of the grenade sound-effects. All sliding doors (which does include elevators, but isn't specific to them) have distorted sound. I would test the Cover materia, but I don't think it really matters. What matters is that we have a strong idea of what sound effects are messed up and in what way they're messed up (distortion and prolonged sounds). I'm gonna run some more tests right now, so I should have a little more info in a little while.

Edit: Well that was a pointless test. What I ended up finding out is that most of the game's sound (including music) won't even play without the Reverb setting on. And out of the sounds that *did* play, the ones that were previously distorted (like Cloud's standard sword attack) still had the same distortion. I guess it's worth mentioning that every sound that drags out longer than it should isn't heard at all with Reverb off, so patrickp's thought that it has to do with the Reverb processing is most likely correct. I guess the best way to figure it from here (in reference to the *distorted* sounds) would be to test them using a customizable plugin with ePSXe and see if I can get the problem to occur by changing the sound settings/hacks.

Edit 2: I hope ePSXe dies a slow and painful death. Not one of the sound plugins could provide me with decent sound for Final Fantasy VII. And the closest one (the emulator's own SPU plugin) had a reverb problem worse than the one we're facing here (while the other plugins, no matter the reverb setting, had no problems).

pSX: 3, ePSXe: 0... I don't think ePSXe will ever be of much use to me, except for testing purposes.

[smegforbrain]

Alright, I'll include the note that we've got minor sound issues with this game.

Something I'd like to toy with for the next update is whether I can include links to specific threads on this forum that are clickable within the list, so people can have a reference for what's going on... wouldn't do it for all games, but it would be useful for ones like this, where there's a number of minor sounds affected.

[Gamesoul Master]

I think that is a good idea. I see no reason why you couldn't do it. You could just throw a little comment at the end of the description like "(see thread for details)" that contains the link. It'd be a nice little addition, like you said, for games like this one where a summed up statement of the problem would be too generalized.

It might be a while before I can confirm the problem with the fps at that spot in the game, as I have other games I'm playing, and I'm feeling a bit lazy right now to play up to that point in one sitting. I'm sure I'll get there within a few days, though.