Final Fantasy VII

2014-06-23 01:49:39 am

I see. Well, cool. I actually wanted to do it for what I defined as my 100% run (which is basically "All Weapons", except it also includes recruiting all characters and doing all the sidequests), so thanks a ton Kynos! This is all incredibly AWWWWWWESOME!!!

Goran

2014-06-28 04:32:34 am

Okay so i listen to what Wypy said and i got this http://www.twitch.tv/goran360/c/4553059 it saves small amount of time.It would save more if that NPC comes faster.

FionordeQuester

2014-07-02 09:35:32 pm

Aye aye aye, that Emerald Weapon...tried to kill that thing, and while I could reliably keep everyone alive and kill those eyes (using your suggestions of course), I couldn't finish it off in under 20 minutes. Is that realistically doable without Omnislash (in a FFVII All Weapons run), or would you need to get the Underwater Materia?

Kynos

2014-07-02 09:57:15 pm

Yes, I was never having issues with the timer.
Did you turn down the Battle Speed?

You should expect to attack 3-4 times with Cloud for each of Emerald's turns after initially setting up the Hero Drinks etc.
Have a look at this (starting at 2:53:19 for the set-up, battle is 2:53:55 - 3:08:53): http://www.twitch.tv/xerokynos/c/4202535

SevenS1ns

2014-08-06 03:30:39 am

Final Fantasy Speedrunner

What's up folks!

Figured I'd share with you something I've come across in my last few attempts and my latest PB; 40 breaths on Priscilla! (Technically still 41).

I don't fully understand how it works, but if you wait until the slider goes all the way to the top, and wait a little bit longer before confirming the 10 breaths (like, we're talking frames here) you can get a graphical glitch on the slider where it immediatly drops rather than slides down, and you get 11 breaths in. It works on any of the 4 attempts so technically you could play it safe 3 times making it quite an easy timesave.

I estimate it saves about 3~5 seconds for skipping clouds exhale/shrug/inhale animation when he starts up the 5th breath.

Also I imagine that it's not a PSN only thing, but if someone with a PS2 could confirm this works, that'd be awesome!

I highlighted it here: http://www.twitch.tv/sevens1ns/c/4832284

SevenS1ns

2014-08-06 01:24:56 pm

Final Fantasy Speedrunner

Seems it's not entirely fool proof. If you let the 11 breath thing run too far it'll fail to register any breaths at all.

It might be more frame perfect (and I might've been more lucky) than I realised!

BZero

Edit history:

BZero: 2014-08-09 10:34:10 pm

BZero: 2014-08-09 09:40:24 pm

BZero: 2014-08-09 09:38:36 pm

BZero: 2014-08-09 09:38:23 pm

BZero: 2014-08-09 08:39:03 pm

BZero: 2014-08-09 08:38:05 pm

BZero: 2014-08-09 08:01:36 pm

2014-08-09 07:42:04 pm

I have a question about preparing the necessary save files for the YW+ route: How do you get a dead party on the first screen in the crater where the party splits up, before the party actually splits up (I saw in Kynos' and Neohart's runs that Tifa, Red and Cid are standing around on the first split-up screen on the save file where the party is dead)? PHS doesn't work in the crater, and as far as I know, you can't warp a dead party into the crater. I tried switching party members when splitting up the party to create a dead party that way (no characters present on the split-up screen that way), then ran back and saved at the save point, but that caused a soft-lock after Yuffie warping (when trying to split up the party). You can't possibly run all the way from the beginning of the crater to that spot without getting an encounter, right?

Edit: Apparently a level 2 Enemy Away Materia decreases the encounter rate to 1/8th of normal, much less than I thought. Still, is that enough to get to the spot where you guys save with a dead party?

Edit 2: Well, never mind, that was totally enough. Leveled up my Enemy Away Materia and tried, and got there on the first attempt. I have Vincent on this file though (I noticed Kynos and Neohart don't), hope that doesn't screw up anything. Don't feel like racing chocobos for an eternity again to get another Enemy Away Materia on my Vincent-less file.

Edit 3: Seems to work fine. I tried to run all the way down to get the Mystile and Speed Source, then all the way back to the Highwind. The only thing different is that Vincent is just standing there on the first split-up screen. He doesn't say or do anything and I don't have to tell him which way to go. He's not in my party.

Just have to do some Sneak Attack Materia grinding now, and I should be ready to do some YW+ runs.

Edit 4: Now my next problem is that the Vincent Mug glitch doesn't seem to be working for me...

I have a question about preparing the necessary save files for the YW+ route: How do you get a dead party on the first screen in the crater where the party splits up, before the party actually splits up (I saw in Kynos' and Neohart's runs that Tifa, Red and Cid are standing around on the first split-up screen on the save file where the party is dead)? PHS doesn't work in the crater, and as far as I know, you can't warp a dead party into the crater. I tried switching party members when splitting up the party to create a dead party that way (no characters present on the split-up screen that way), then ran back and saved at the save point, but that caused a soft-lock after Yuffie warping (when trying to split up the party). You can't possibly run all the way from the beginning of the crater to that spot without getting an encounter, right?

Edit: Apparently a level 2 Enemy Away Materia decreases the encounter rate to 1/8th of normal, much less than I thought. Still, is that enough to get to the spot where you guys save with a dead party?

Edit 2: Well, never mind, that was totally enough. Leveled up my Enemy Away Materia and tried, and got there on the first attempt. I have Vincent on this file though (I noticed Kynos and Neohart don't), hope that doesn't screw up anything. Don't feel like racing chocobos for an eternity again to get another Enemy Away Materia on my Vincent-less file.

Edit 3: Seems to work fine. I tried to run all the way down to get the Mystile and Speed Source, then all the way back to the Highwind. The only thing different is that Vincent is just standing there on the first split-up screen. He doesn't say or do anything and I don't have to tell him which way to go. He's not in my party.

Just have to do some Sneak Attack Materia grinding now, and I should be ready to do some YW+ runs.

Edit 4: Now my next problem is that the Vincent Mug glitch doesn't seem to be working for me...

Kynos

2014-08-10 03:25:50 am

If I read correctly, after those edits, the only question you still need an answer to is about why VMG does not work, right?
VMG only works with 5 specific weapons: Shortbarrel, Long Barrel R, Winchester, Sniper CR and Death Penalty. So, make sure that Vincent is equipped with one of these weapons to be able to trigger Vincent's Mug Glitch.

BZero

2014-08-10 08:06:04 am

Yeah, I read that in the FF wiki. I have the Winchester. I'll get the Death Penalty (that's what you use, right?) and see if that works.

Kynos

2014-08-10 10:55:27 am

I use the Death Penalty, yes. But I have also used the Winchester with VMG myself. Are you sure you did not just skip the animation of an attack that had no visible effect? For instance, you can VMG the Iron Man's Adrenaline attack.

BZero

Edit history:

BZero: 2014-08-10 07:59:53 pm

BZero: 2014-08-10 03:18:48 pm

2014-08-10 03:17:16 pm

Yeah, I guess something like that must have happened, because it's working now. :p

Edit: How many Sneak Attack Materias do you recommend that I master? 4?

Edit: I mastered 4 Sneak Attack Materias and now all my set-up saves should be ready. Finally I can start practicing the actual run.

Kynos

2014-08-11 02:18:01 am

You will need 1 Sneak Attack Mug combo. The amount of Sneak Attack Exit combos depends on your personal preferences as Sneak Attack, when mastered, only has an 80% chance to be triggered. I use 3, which should make the failure of all 3 as unlikely as 1/125. On the other hand, a couple of days ago, I saw Turbodog get that event (all 3 mastered Sneak Attack materia linked to Escape did not activate), so I might switch to using 5 mastered Sneak Attack materia overall.
Also, you probably know this but just to clarify: The order in which counters in FF7 (like Sneak Attack) are executed is fixed. If all the counters you have is Sneak Attack(s) on a single characters, the order in which they will be released is Weapon slots left to right, then Armor slots left to right.

puwexil

Edit history:

puwexil: 2014-08-18 07:09:50 pm

puwexil: 2014-08-18 07:09:16 pm

2014-08-18 07:06:06 pm

Professional Second Banana

Quote from Kynos:

Have you checked how fast FF7 runs when you are not streaming it?

The easiest way to do that would probably be using software that allows you to display the framerate (you could, I believe, use the trial version of Fraps to do that).

Here are the FPS values the steam version of FF7 should run at:
Field: 34
Battle: 15
World: 30
FMV: 15

From my own experience, the main issue is the field framerate as streaming usually lowers it. Some settings even seem to cap it at 30.
Apparently, you also have issues with the in-battle framerate as you mention slow battle animations. The only time I have ever experienced in-battle slowdowns was when I was using rather resource-intensive recording software at the same time (like recording with Fraps).

Finally getting around to testing this offstream, and according to FRAPS I'm getting 30 FPS for field and 12 FPS for battles (which makes battles look like they're underwater). PC I'm running it on has Windows Aero enabled and is using the below game settings; and turning off FRAPS didn't make any noticeable difference. Any suggestions? I figure it has to be a graphics setting somewhere, since I've now had the same FPS issues on both a PC and laptop with decent specs (Core i7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M).

[quote="Kynos"]Have you checked how fast FF7 runs when you are not streaming it?

The easiest way to do that would probably be using software that allows you to display the framerate (you could, I believe, use the trial version of Fraps to do that).

Here are the FPS values the steam version of FF7 should run at:
Field: 34
Battle: 15
World: 30
FMV: 15

From my own experience, the main issue is the field framerate as streaming usually lowers it. Some settings even seem to cap it at 30.
Apparently, you also have issues with the in-battle framerate as you mention slow battle animations. The only time I have ever experienced in-battle slowdowns was when I was using rather resource-intensive recording software at the same time (like recording with Fraps).[/quote]
Finally getting around to testing this offstream, and according to FRAPS I'm getting 30 FPS for field and 12 FPS for battles (which makes battles look like they're underwater).  PC I'm running it on has Windows Aero enabled and is using the below game settings; and turning off FRAPS didn't make any noticeable difference.  Any suggestions?  I figure it has to be a graphics setting somewhere, since I've now had the same FPS issues on both a PC and laptop with decent specs (Core i7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M).

[img]http://i.imgur.com/eQ7YdEJ.png[/img]

Neohart

Edit history:

Neohart: 2014-08-18 07:46:47 pm

2014-08-18 07:38:12 pm

Final Fantasy VII Fanatic

Quote from puwexil:

Quote from Kynos:

Have you checked how fast FF7 runs when you are not streaming it?

The easiest way to do that would probably be using software that allows you to display the framerate (you could, I believe, use the trial version of Fraps to do that).

Here are the FPS values the steam version of FF7 should run at:
Field: 34
Battle: 15
World: 30
FMV: 15

From my own experience, the main issue is the field framerate as streaming usually lowers it. Some settings even seem to cap it at 30.
Apparently, you also have issues with the in-battle framerate as you mention slow battle animations. The only time I have ever experienced in-battle slowdowns was when I was using rather resource-intensive recording software at the same time (like recording with Fraps).

Finally getting around to testing this offstream, and according to FRAPS I'm getting 30 FPS for field and 12 FPS for battles (which makes battles look like they're underwater). PC I'm running it on has Windows Aero enabled and is using the below game settings; and turning off FRAPS didn't make any noticeable difference. Any suggestions? I figure it has to be a graphics setting somewhere, since I've now had the same FPS issues on both a PC and laptop with decent specs (Core i7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M).

What kynos said about how fast the game runs is true, those are the values you are aiming to get at optimal performance.
Here is what my game runs at (according to fraps, streaming and not streaming)
Field: 32
Battle: 15
World: 30
FMV: 15
Menu: 60

System Specs: Windows 7 Aero on. AMD 8350 cpu, Nvidia gxt 750 ti graphics card. I've been told that the game favors either CPU. I use OBS to "Game Capture"

Yes, my field maps run 2 fps slower then Xerokynos. It does reflect in game with time lost. (most of the game is in field maps) I have not found ANY way to increase my fps when streaming and when not streaming the game.
I sometimes however get a "slow down" effect where the fps drops a bit (going down to 25 field, 45 menu) I have found 0 ways of increasing it. I've tried shutting down every program running that is non essential for computer/streaming...

I would say in your case if you have not already shut down most programs that could be using a significant amount of resources do so. I'm not a tech expert in anyway and would love to solve my own issue to get optimal performance, but I believe hardware is a serious issue with the game. Hard to believe tho with the game being so old on PC, but the remake has been updated for newer hardware vs the old original PC version.

I've also had people I know that have bought the Steam version of FF7 to check their FPS with various computer specs, I never found anyone with '34' FPS field maps regardless of how powerful their system was. Also had people use SSD to see if they could gain any advantage in loading, none at all.

Here is my screenshot (dont want to spam the page) of max fps I get on field maps. http://puu.sh/aYq52/18e620fe50.jpg

[quote="puwexil"][quote="Kynos"]Have you checked how fast FF7 runs when you are not streaming it?

The easiest way to do that would probably be using software that allows you to display the framerate (you could, I believe, use the trial version of Fraps to do that).

Here are the FPS values the steam version of FF7 should run at:
Field: 34
Battle: 15
World: 30
FMV: 15

From my own experience, the main issue is the field framerate as streaming usually lowers it. Some settings even seem to cap it at 30.
Apparently, you also have issues with the in-battle framerate as you mention slow battle animations. The only time I have ever experienced in-battle slowdowns was when I was using rather resource-intensive recording software at the same time (like recording with Fraps).[/quote]
Finally getting around to testing this offstream, and according to FRAPS I'm getting 30 FPS for field and 12 FPS for battles (which makes battles look like they're underwater).  PC I'm running it on has Windows Aero enabled and is using the below game settings; and turning off FRAPS didn't make any noticeable difference.  Any suggestions?  I figure it has to be a graphics setting somewhere, since I've now had the same FPS issues on both a PC and laptop with decent specs (Core i7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M). [/quote]

What kynos said about how fast the game runs is true, those are the values you are aiming to get at optimal performance.
Here is what my game runs at (according to fraps, streaming and not streaming)
Field: 32
Battle: 15
World: 30
FMV: 15
Menu: 60

System Specs: Windows 7 Aero on. AMD 8350 cpu, Nvidia gxt 750 ti graphics card. I've been told that the game favors either CPU. I use OBS to "Game Capture"

Yes, my field maps run 2 fps slower then Xerokynos. It does reflect in game with time lost. (most of the game is in field maps) I have not found ANY way to increase my fps when streaming and when not streaming the game.
I sometimes however get a "slow down" effect where the fps drops a bit (going down to 25 field, 45 menu) I have found 0 ways of increasing it. I've tried shutting down every program running that is non essential for computer/streaming...

I would say in your case if you have not already shut down most programs that could be using a significant amount of resources do so. I'm not a tech expert in anyway and would love to solve my own issue to get optimal performance, but I believe hardware is a serious issue with the game. Hard to believe tho with the game being so old on PC, but the remake has been updated for newer hardware vs the old original PC version.

I've also had people I know that have bought the Steam version of FF7 to check their FPS with various computer specs, I never found anyone with '34' FPS field maps regardless of how powerful their system was. Also had people use SSD to see if they could gain any advantage in loading, none at all.

Here is my screenshot (dont want to spam the page) of max fps I get on field maps. [url]http://puu.sh/aYq52/18e620fe50.jpg[/url]

[img]http://puu.sh/aYp8I/ebbf341ab5.jpg[/img]

Kynos

2014-08-18 08:13:14 pm

I have read your posts and through your settings here but I cannot think of an explanation. Personally, the 12 FPS framerate in battles seems the strangest to me. I will talk to some of my more tech-savvier friends in the next few days to see if they can come up with something. Additionally, I can try installing FF7 on another PC and test if I can get it to run at the same framerate I get when running it on this laptop.

Potato Handle

Edit history:

Potato Handle: 2014-08-19 01:39:33 am

Potato Handle: 2014-08-19 01:34:06 am

Potato Handle: 2014-08-19 01:29:53 am

Potato Handle: 2014-08-19 12:47:10 am

2014-08-19 12:13:50 am

Plays games quickly. Eventually.

Just to further complicate things, while I've only done a couple of Midgar runs; I know that my PC runs at a steady 35fps on the field (Accoding to Fraps) or 30fps with Aero off. My computer is nothing to shout about either. Old-school i7 laptop with 8gb ram and built-in graphics on Win 7; and I play and stream from the same PC.

The only thing I would point out is that mine wasn't the Steam version, it was the digital version direct from Squeenix; although I'm sure they are fundamentally the same. Been a while since I've done a run, but I can double-check my settings and the like and report back if that's of any use to anyone, hehe.

EDIT: Just got home and retested, still sitting pretty on 35fps, tried a few different resolutions all to the same effect. The world is obviously telling me to finish learning this run. Tongue

http://i.imgur.com/WIKCp3h.png
EDIT#2: Steam version also runs at 35fps.

puwexil

2014-08-19 10:54:44 am

Professional Second Banana

Running the game in fullscreen mode is giving me the same framerate as Neohart. Game definitely looks ugly in 16:9 resolution; but looked OK to me resized to 4:3 within XSplit (http://www.twitch.tv/puwexil/b/559622884). Maybe I'll try dxwnd (or whatever that app that allows fullscreen games to be run windowed is called) and see if that helps.

Next step is figuring out a better audio setup. The game's massively louder than any of the console games I normally stream with my setup - to keep from being deafening loud on stream and make my mic audible over it I had to turn the game down to 1% in Windows audio mixer, turn the in-game music/SFX volume down to 25% (which muted basically all sound effects outside of battles), lower the main stream audio level, AND double the gain on my mic.

Kynos

2014-08-19 12:36:43 pm

Have you tried running FF7 in fullscreen mode Potata Handle? As you generally get higher framerates in fullscreen for FF7, I wonder what framerates you could get then.

Potato Handle

2014-08-19 03:37:43 pm

Plays games quickly. Eventually.

Nah, still 35 in fullscreen. I also double-checked the other frame-rates just for completeness, and the rest are the same as yours, Kynos.
Field: 35
Battle: 15
World: 30
FMV: 15
Menu: 60

Kynos

2014-08-19 07:23:12 pm

I talked to some people who are more familiar with the technical workings of the PC version of FF7 than I am. They told me that this field framerate issue is caused by framelimiters which are inherently broken in the re-releases. Consequently, depending on one's machine, one will be able to get all kinds of field framerates, 24 and 35 FPS being the lowest and the highest values, respectively, I have heard of so far.

Now, there are ways to somewhat circumvent this broken framelimiter issue and basically force one's game to run at a fixed field framerate. However, they require one to edit one's FF7.exe file and I cannot decide what to think about that.

BZero

2014-08-21 11:31:39 am

Seems like I am getting the correct FPS with the Steam version, streaming or not.

Field: 34
Battle: 15
World: 30
FMV: 15
Menu: 60

Windows 7 Aero enabled, Intel Core i7, Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M.

I guess I'm almost ready to start doing runs now, just need to practice source duping and the final battles a bit more first. Not even gonna bother with step counting until I have mastered everything else. :p

puwexil

2014-08-21 01:12:44 pm

Professional Second Banana

Quote from Kynos:

Now, there are ways to somewhat circumvent this broken framelimiter issue and basically force one's game to run at a fixed field framerate. However, they require one to edit one's FF7.exe file and I cannot decide what to think about that.

Game modification that fixes what's basically a PC compatibility defect within the game is technically against SDA rules; but is one of those gray areas where if the final video is completely indistinguishable from the unmodded game running at intended framerate, it's not going to trigger rejection (kind of like using flash/repro cartridges for console game runs).

I did some testing last night running the game in fullscreen mode and using DxWnd to convert to a 1024x768 window; and it looked to still be giving me the normal fullscreen framerate for my PC (32 field with occasional dips to 31 or 30 & 15 battle, compared to 30 field and 14 battle in windowed mode). Downside to this setup is DxWnd having a splash screen that will cost 1-2 seconds on every reset.

[quote="Kynos"]Now, there are ways to somewhat circumvent this broken framelimiter issue and basically force one's game to run at a fixed field framerate. However, they require one to edit one's FF7.exe file and I cannot decide what to think about that.[/quote]
Game modification that fixes what's basically a PC compatibility defect within the game is technically against SDA rules; but is one of those gray areas where if the final video is completely indistinguishable from the unmodded game running at intended framerate, it's not going to trigger rejection (kind of like using flash/repro cartridges for console game runs).

I did some testing last night running the game in fullscreen mode and using DxWnd to convert to a 1024x768 window; and it looked to still be giving me the normal fullscreen framerate for my PC (32 field with occasional dips to 31 or 30 & 15 battle, compared to 30 field and 14 battle in windowed mode).  Downside to this setup is DxWnd having a splash screen that will cost 1-2 seconds on every reset.

KartSeven

Edit history:

KartSeven: 2014-08-21 03:36:28 pm

2014-08-21 03:35:23 pm

Kart for SMK, and Seven for FF7.

I'm trying Steam version and I'm at 32 fps on field. I don't really care by having 34-35 fps, as my aim is getting 30 fps. But despite all the parameters I changed on Nvidia, I'm still at 32. Sad

Any idea ?

(mandatory : playing with windowed mode, not fullscreen)

(oh, and I even forgot to say I got 7:42:11 yesterday for PS2 Single Segment No Slots speedrun ^^)

neoslash72

2014-08-21 03:38:41 pm

WR breath of fire III

GG kart

BZero

2014-08-21 06:11:14 pm

Decided to do a YW+ run off-stream just for fun/to get splits, and just barely got sub-3 with 2:59:32. Really surprised I got a sub-3 on my first attempt. I still definitely need to practice some stuff more before I start streaming, though. Here's my twitch BTW: http://www.twitch.tv/bzeromus