FF7 Installation Problems

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BigRedPK

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I've owned this game for years, still have the original CDs and have installed it on XP before. But for some reason, I just can't get the install to start!

So, in trying to get it to work, I tried copying the contents of all CDs into one folder on my HDD, since I have had success with other games doing this (namely FEAR), but still no luck. I'm almost positive that the installer is 16bit which explains why " wowexec.exe" is running in my process list. With this knowledge, I have made sure that the folder has no spaces in it which I know causes problems with 16bit programs. Well, none of that worked, so I terminated the process and tried a few more things.  First I tried all compatibility options, none worked. Then I disabled visual themes and text services and again nothing worked.

I've restarted the computer and tried again, nothing. I've done everything I can think of, but I can't get the installer to work!

If you need more info:
After clicking install (or simply running FF7inst.exe) " wowexec.exe" & " ff7inst.exe" both show up as processes. The installer itself never shows itself.

Windows XP SP2 (all latest updates)
AMD Athlon X2 6000+ (3.0 GHz)
2 GB Memory
nVidia 8800 GTX Vid Card
I am using 2 monitors (surely that can't be the problem? Maybe I'll try it with one disabled).

Next thing I'll try is installing in Safe Mode.

Any ideas?
 
i might have an idea. I had a similar problem with many other installers and it was caused by a process that got something to do with my WLAN, when i terminated this process, installing worked again...so you should close all unneeded processes and see if that helps, it worked for me :)
 
Well, for those interested or having a similar problem...

OK, I tried your idea TTK_86, but that didn't really help. In fact, I closed all non system processes and services and still wouldn't work. However, booting into safe mode made the installation work just fine..

Now the question is, why!? I'll have to look further into this, but before that, I'm going to make a backup of the current installation (including registry entries) so that I can easily fake install the game..

Thanks for the idea though, TTK_86.

[EDIT 11-12-07]
Ok, I can't figure out why it didn't work. So in the interest of helping those with a similar problem, I created an easy way to bypass the normal setup. Using NSIS, I created a new installer. In order for it to work though, you must copy the install cd to a folder on your hard drive. This installer assumes that the movies will also be run from the hard drive, so simply copy the movies from the other 3 cds to the data folder. Or you can skip that step altogether and edit your registry to have them run off the cd (steps for that below). After you've copied everything, place the NEW installer file in the same folder. You can safely overwrite the old setup.exe or simply replace the ffinst.exe. It's totally up to you. I personally deleted both and just placed this one in there.

After installing, you can safely delete the folder you just created. If you want to create a totally new install CD (like I did), there's more instructions at the bottom.

Here's the setup file: http://rapidshare.com/files/68673231/Setup.exe (If that link dies, PM me and I'll either reupload it, or upload it to a perm server).

If you are running movies from the CD follow these steps:
- Start>Run (Or Windows+R on the keyboard)
- Type 'regedit' without quotes and click OK
- Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII'
- In the right pane, locate 'MoviePath' and double click it
- Change the path to your cd drive + ff7\Movies\ (For example D:\ff7\Movies\)
- Click OK & Close

If you want to create a new install CD follow these steps:
- With the new installer, you do NOT need anything that is not currently in your installation (C:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII) folder. However, to make things super simple, I'll just explain what you need to make an easy new cd.
- Download the new setup file
- Rename it to FF7inst.exe
- Copy FF7inst.exe
- Navigate to the previously copied folder
- Paste and overwrite the old FF7inst.exe
- Copy all other CDs to this same folder overwriting everything as it asks
- Burn to CD

Optional (Deleting unneeded files)
- _ISDEL.EXE
- *.dll (meaning all dll files)
- *.bmp
- layout.bin
- *.cab
- SETUP.ini
- *.dat
- _INST32I.EX_
- directx (folder)
- drivers (folder)
- dxmedia (folder)
- SFMan (folder)
- Yamaha (folder)
- setup.ins
- setup.lid
- DATA.TAG

I hope this helps someone!
 
Last edited:
if I am not wrong, you can only copy DATA from install CD and add some entries to registry.

"MoviePath" can lead to CD, to movies
"AppPath" can lead to your FF7 folder
"DataDrive" is patch to your FF7 CD(patch to cdrom)

other should be overwrite be FF7config...

Code: [Select]
Code: 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc.][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII]"DataDrive"="LETTER_OF_CD-ROM_WITH_FF7:""AppPath"=".\\""DataPath"=".\\Data\\""MoviePath"=".\\Movies\\""DiskNo"=dword:00000000"FullInstall"=dword:00000001[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII\1.00][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII\1.00\Graphics]"DD_GUID"=hex:"DriverPath"="""Driver"=dword:ffffffff"Mode"=dword:ffffffff"Options"=dword:ffffffff[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII\1.00\MIDI]"MIDI_DeviceID"=dword:ffffffff"MIDI_data"="GENERAL_MIDI""MusicVolume"=dword:00000064"Options"=dword:00000001[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Square Soft, Inc.\Final Fantasy VII\1.00\Sound]"Sound_GUID"=hex:"Options"=dword:00000000"SFXVolume"=dword:00000064
 
Well, for those interested or having a similar problem...

OK, I tried your idea TTK_86, but that didn't really help. In fact, I closed all non system processes and services and still wouldn't work. However, booting into safe mode made the installation work just fine..

Now the question is, why!? I'll have to look further into this, but before that, I'm going to make a backup of the current installation (including registry entries) so that I can easily fake install the game..

Thanks for the idea though, TTK_86.

[EDIT 11-12-07]
Ok, I can't figure out why it didn't work. So in the interest of helping those with a similar problem, I created an easy way to bypass the normal setup. Using NSIS, I created a new installer. In order for it to work though, you must copy the install cd to a folder on your hard drive. This installer assumes that the movies will also be run from the hard drive, so simply copy the movies from the other 3 cds to the data folder. Or you can skip that step altogether and edit your registry to have them run off the cd (steps for that below). After you've copied everything, place the NEW installer file in the same folder. You can safely overwrite the old setup.exe or simply replace the ffinst.exe. It's totally up to you. I personally deleted both and just placed this one in there.

After installing, you can safely delete the folder you just created. If you want to create a totally new install CD (like I did), there's more instructions at the bottom.

Here's the setup file: http://rapidshare.com/files/68673231/Setup.exe (If that link dies, PM me and I'll either reupload it, or upload it to a perm server).

If you are running movies from the CD follow these steps:
- Start>Run (Or Windows+R on the keyboard)
- Type 'regedit' without quotes and click OK
- Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII'
- In the right pane, locate 'MoviePath' and double click it
- Change the path to your cd drive + ff7\Movies\ (For example D:\ff7\Movies\)
- Click OK & Close

If you want to create a new install CD follow these steps:
- With the new installer, you do NOT need anything that is not currently in your installation (C:\Program Files\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII) folder. However, to make things super simple, I'll just explain what you need to make an easy new cd.
- Download the new setup file
- Rename it to FF7inst.exe
- Copy FF7inst.exe
- Navigate to the previously copied folder
- Paste and overwrite the old FF7inst.exe
- Copy all other CDs to this same folder overwriting everything as it asks
- Burn to CD

Optional (Deleting unneeded files)
- _ISDEL.EXE
- *.dll (meaning all dll files)
- *.bmp
- layout.bin
- *.cab
- SETUP.ini
- *.dat
- _INST32I.EX_
- directx (folder)
- drivers (folder)
- dxmedia (folder)
- SFMan (folder)
- Yamaha (folder)
- setup.ins
- setup.lid
- DATA.TAG

I hope this helps someone!
Click to expand...
I had to register just to thank you man. I couldn't get FFVII to install on XP despite the fact that it worked in the past. Thanks man!
 
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TSR9PVGN
http://rapidshare.com/files/228810190/Setup.exe
http://www.burningstormstudios.com/downloads/Setup.exe
http://ww2.mushroomgames.com:8080/downloads/Setup.exe

I've gotten a few PMs regarding this alternate installer and the link dieing. So I've reuploaded to two free servers, and hopefully two permanent alternate servers I own. If it dies again, please don't hesitate to e-mail me and I'll reupload again. If you have problems with the 3rd and 4th link, try removing the Setup.exe from the url, load the downloads/ page and then retype the Setup.exe in the url. I do prevent hotlinking on both sites, but that will fix that problem.
 
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