Final Fantasy 7 Retropie

Hell and Heaven Net (HHN) is a fansite serving the community since 2001 dedicated to the Final Fantasy series, Kingdom Hearts series and other games from Square Enix. Hell and Heaven Net is in no way associated with Square Enix and other companies. RetroPie PCSX-ReArmed r22. I've tried everything. Final Fantasy 7 is the only game where I cannot get any controls to work and thus I cannot get past the intro credits screen. Using an iNNEXT N64 USB controller. I've tried setting all pad types to analog and standard, I set all device types to RetroPad and RetroPad w/ Analog, nothing.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Years and all that good stuff. I recently got a Raspberry Pi and am very excited about it. I have looked at many projects online for which to use the little bugger and have settled on at least one for now. This will of course tie into my Final Fantasy addiction as it will be a retro gaming machine. But before i get into the ins and outs of how I will get my Retropie gaming on i want to give you a little background on Final Fantasy And I.

It was many years ago i witnessed a friend of mine playing Final Fantasy VII on his PSX(1). I sat and watched for hours. Little did I know that Cloud Strife and his band of friends would go on to be one of the most geeked on Final Fantasy installments ever. Heck i didnt even know what Final Fantasy was until that day. The elaborate and gorgeous (for the time) battles, and of course the engaging story line which i think hoked me more than the 'prettiness' of the game. So i Promptly went home and bought a PSX and with it Final Fantasy VII. I don't think my parents (yes i lived with my parents back then) saw me for several days. It took me a while but I beat the game, and even got into some of the Hidden treasures in it. I loved everything about the game back then. I could raise chocobos, race them and reap the rewards. Not to mention battle Dragons and monsters more evil and beautiful than i could ever imagine. Of course the spirits i summoned and the battle scenes they produced were the toppers. I beat this game (the final battle gave me a bit of a tough go), and couldn't wait for the next one…heck there were 7 already the next one shouldn't be far behind…….. and it wasn't.

I don't know if Final Fantasy VIII (FF8) was already out or not but shortly (if i remember correctly) after i finished VII I had FF8 in hand and was playing. I played for about a week, and stopped. I didn't finish it (still haven't), and i hadn't touched a Final Fantasy game since. I do remember it not being as good as FF7 but thats not usually a deterrent for me. I start a game that is good (and according to millions of people, FF8 is good) I finish it. I do not remember if it was a girl, a job, my social life or what have you, but i stopped. Fast forward 12 or 13 years and i get into emulators. I replayed Basewars for the NES, Shadowrun For SNES (in it's entirety) and then started on FF8 for PSX. Again I stopped, this time because at this point in my life when i get into a game that sucks the hours out of you, I have to walk away before it becomes a habit and my family starts calling me names, and Heckling me for being the Video Game Addict that i am. I wish I had the time just to get lost in that stuff but responsibilities call. Usually when i walk away it ends up being for a good bit, and If i do revisit it im usually better. I have gotten the sensation of full immersion out of my system and i can handle limited doses. Not to mention my wife will destroy anything that keeps me from my duties so i have that for incentive. This works well for me when it comes to games Like Civilization, Age of Empires, Railroad Tycoon, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Diablo III and Sim City. I am still Playing all of those off and on, in small doses. Ive learned to take my medicine on schedule as ive grown older. So now Ive Got this great little tool that i can dedicate to retro gaming. so I think i will re-kindle my love for Final Fantasy as the first Project. as for a why, because at Christmas i Got FFX X-2 HD for PS3(10 & 10-2). I started playing and realized I hadnt even finished 8 let alone started 9. So i stopped all together and strarted my Raspberry PI Project. But what about 1-6 you ask? Oh yeah ill visit them as well since i can emulate all of them. But 8 and 9 come first because I need to get them out of my system.

So onto the RetroPie Project. I know i Have a computer thats more capable than the Pi. Smartphones are even more capable. But I've wanted to tinker around with a Pi for a while now and now i have an excuse. RetroPie is also the Perfect thing for a non programmer like myself to do first. So far i have had little problems to set it up and the ones i have had were easy to resolve, well mostly. I am a computer Professional but mostly hardware, and windows. Very little Linux experiences have come my way. Linux (a flavor of it at least) is the OS that is requried to run your raspberry pi. PI has a neat boot loader image where you can select your OS Flavor, which you have to download and out on a SD card. But a lot of Projects have specialized images. Like RetroPIe. As far as I can tell it is built off Raspbian (one of the flavors). You can download the image for it over at the RetroPie site. There is also great tips for Setup on its Forum. But thats not what this post is about. Maybe when i get better at the Whole Pi thing ill do some inscrutables or a DYI post. So just today Ive got RetroPie up and running like i want it, with a PS3 third party wireless controller, and i must say it is definitely geared to the emulators before PSX. The Playstation Emulator is a good one its just the hardware has trouble keeping up. The 700mhz ARM processor is very overclockable and can handle it, i have mine at 900mhz. I just don think the graphics hardware is up to the task, well at least not for Final Fantasy VIII. Its not Horrible its just not 'complete' for instance when a monster attacks and it cuts to the fighting part. The transition to the combat that happens is less than desirable and choppy. Also when using a GF in battle the animation is choppy. Ive tried different Roms too so i know its not that. there may be more 'tweaking' that i can do, but i haven't found it yet. Other than those things it plays fine. and I will suck it up to complete my goal of Finishing FF8 and Final Fantasy IX . On a side note my wife was caught playing Bugs Bunny from NES. The SNES and NES emulators play great, wich is what leads me to believe that the Hardware isnt up to task for the PSX.

If you are interested in buying a Raspberry Pi they are sold EVERYWHERE on the internet, but Amazon is a good start. I think i might do some updates on my progress with Final Fantasy (so far im still on 8 and in the beginning). But i also want to look into starting another Pi project. This one a little more serious and less laid out for me. I was thinking about a Jukebox for my man cave (that i dont have yet). One like you find in a bar, an internet jukebox i believe they are called. There are plenty of projects out there for meda streamers and internet radio streamers, but thats not what im going for I want it to be just like the ones in the bars even accepting coins and bills. If you have any ideas for My PI or comments please leave them below!

Final Fantasy 7 Retropie

The PlayStation is a 5th generation video game console released by Sony in 1994.

Emulators: lr-pcsx_rearmed, PCSX-ReARMed, lr-beetle-psx.

lr-pcsx_rearmed

Recommended for Raspberry Pi 2-4. The features of RetroArch combined with PCSX-ReARMed's excellent Dynamic Recompiler allow for an adequate PlayStation emulation experience, though expect some inaccurate emulation.

PCSX-ReARMed

Recommended for Raspberry Pi 0/1 due to its lower system requirements, though expect some inaccurate emulation. Additionally, setting the resolution via Runcommand to a low 4:3 resolution is recommended for faster emulation and correct aspect ratio, though 480i (CEA-6) is the lowest recommended 4:3 CEA resolution due to CEA-2 causing visual issues and CEA-1 causing the system to lock up entirely.

lr-beetle-psx

Recommended for more powerful x86 systems. It is accurate and includes several enhanced graphical features. Not available for ARM systems (like the Raspberry Pi) due to its poor performance on ARM.

ROMS

Accepted File Extensions: .cue .ccd .chd .exe .iso .m3u .pbp .toc

Place your PlayStation ROMs in

.bin Only ROMs

If you only have a .bin ROM and no .cue file, generate it via:

• Online or Offline

ECM Compression

Final Fantasy 7 On Retropie

If your PSX game has an .ecm extension, it's a compressed file that needs to be extracted.

Directly on RetroPie, input to terminal:

Alternatively, on Windows, use ECM Decompressor, or on Ubuntu 19.X+(or derivative), install ecm from the ubuntu archive with the following:

CHD files

All supported PlayStation emulators have support for the CHD (V5) archive format. This is a lossless compression format which can be useful to tidy up multi-.bin ROMs into one file. See Creating CHDs from CD-ROMS.

Multi-Disc Games

.pbp format ROMs can package together multiple discs in one file. To change the disc through RetroArch, from the 'Quick Menu', enter 'Disk Control', use the 'Disk Cycle Tray Status' to open the virtual disk tray, change the disk number to the correct one, then use the 'Disk Cycle Tray Status' to close the virtual disk tray.

M3U playlists for .cue & .bins, or .chds

For multi-disc games on .cue & .bin ROM pairs or .chds, you can create a .m3u playlist file to enable you to change discs by the above method. Replace the .cue or .chd extension for each disc of the game with an appropriate .CD1, .CD2, etc so that EmulationStation will list only the .m3u and not the individual discs.

Example for Final Fantasy VII:

Folder Structure:

Final Fantasy VII (USA).m3u's Text Contents:

BIOS

Place BIOS in

While both lr-pcsx_reamrmed and PCSX-ReARMed have an emulated BIOS to fall back on, it has limited compatibility so most games will have issues running with it (or not work at all), and all games that use memory card saves are prone to save corruption. It should be considered mandatory to manually install an official BIOS.

lr-pcsx_rearmed

The following BIOS are supported:

If more than one of the BIOS above is provided, then the latest revision of the BIOS available is automatically chosen.Note: psxonpsp660.bin is a BIOS dumped from the PSP's PlayStation emulator. It is said to improve performance for certain PlayStation games as is a streamlined version of the BIOS, lacking irrelevant features like the built-in CD Player and Memory Card manager.

The recognized name can be all uppercase OR all lowercase.

PCSX-ReARMed

The following BIOS is supported:

Place BIOS in

The recognized BIOS filename is case-sensitive (must be in all uppercase).

lr-beetle-psx

The following BIOS are supported:

The BIOS is automatically chosen based upon the region of the ROM.

The recognized BIOS filename is case-sensitive (must be in all lowercase).

Controls

lr-pcsx_rearmed & lr-beetle-psx Controls

lr-pcsx_rearmed and lr-beetle-psx utilize Retroarch configurations.

Add custom retroarch controls to the retroarch.cfg file in

For more information on custom RetroArch controls see: RetroArch Configuration

PCSX-ReARMed Controls

PCSX-ReARMed controls and configurations are located in

You will need a keyboard to press Escape on to access the emulator's menu so that you can then configure your controller: a controller with a Home/Guide button that can be a dedicated Open Menu button is required to use this emulator with just a controller.

The Controller Problem: Digital-Only & Analog

A common issue people using RetroPie have with PSX emulation is their analog sticks do not work. The reason for this is related to a default lr-pcsx_rearmed core setting, and there is a very good reason the setting is the way it is that we will get into later.

Change the Core Options for Pad 1 Type and Pad 2 Type from standard to dualshock. See Setting Core Options.

After the previous two settings have been changed, back out to the Quick Menu so that you can enter the Controls section. In Controls, you need to change all controllers from 'RetroPad' to 'RetroPad w/ Analog', then use the 'Save Core Remap File' function to save this setting as a default for all games.

After a complete exit back to EmulationStation, all games that should work with the analog sticks will function correctly, however, we have just created a problem: roughly 1/3 of the PSX library will no longer accept any input whatsoever.

The reason for the problem is due to the PSX originally being released with a controller that didn't have analog sticks so the games released for the system before the analog sticks were added to the controller only accounted for the standard controller: these games are generally referred to as Digital-Only games.

Unfortunately, this is a problem that doesn't have an easy solution. The reason the emulator was set the way is was is because that was 100% compatible even if it removed all analog functionality. If you want all your games with analog support to work correctly, you will have to manually fix the Digital-Only games one by one.

The process of fixing a Digital-Only game is to set per-ROM Core Options, changing Pad 1 Type and Pad 2 Type back to standard. See Setting Core Options per-ROM.

With those three things done, now we need to go back to the Quick Menu and go into the Controls section. In Controls, change all RetroPad w/ Analog back to RetroPad, change all Analog To Digital settings for each controller from None to Left Analog, then use the Save Game Remap File.

After a complete exit back to EmulationStation, the game you've manually fixed will function correctly plus you will be able to use the left analog stick for upto 8-way movement if you want to. Keep in mind the 'Analog To Digital' step is completely optional and included for those that may want to still use an analog stick for movement in games that didn't support it originally.

For a decent list of which games are Digital-Only, check the spreadsheet and website found in the 'Game Specific Control Information' section below.

The negcon setting found between pad type is for the NeGcon.

While this section does focus on lr-pcsx_rearmed, what is done in this section could be done in PCSX-ReARMed's menu as well if not visually different.

Game Specific Control Information

The main purpose of this section is for users to be able to identify Digital-Only games in their library and fix them as detailed above in the 'The Controller Problem: Digital-Only & Analog'

If you have a limited input method such as an SNES-style controller or handheld, then the spreadsheet below will also help you figure out which games you will be able to play.

If you want to improve the spreadsheet, then request editing permission and you will be approved in a timely manner.

For a more complete resource, please check the PlayStation DataCenter.

Multitap (3-5 Players)

lr-pcsx_rearmed has support for multitap, but not all games read input when a multitap is connected, so a per-ROM Core Options file should be created for multitap compatible games. Set the Core Options for Pad 3 Type, Pad 4 Type (and so on, depending on how many players are supported by the game) to the relevant Controller Type that the game supports. See Setting Core Options per-ROM.

Tweaks

lr-pcsx_rearmed

Performance - PSX CPU Clock

The clock speed percentage of the emulated PSX hardware's CPU can be adjusted by the user. While the default setting of 57 is decent, it does cause some games to exceed their intended framerate and the setting of 55 is recommended to reduce this from happening in more games. Some games, such as 'Final Fantasy 7' and 'Final Fantasy Tactics', may need even lower CPU speeds. See Setting Core Options per-ROM.

Performance - Disable Vibration

Vibration is known to cause slowdown in some games. Disabling vibration in-game (if possible) is recommended if you notice this happen, or don't have a controller with vibration ability. See Setting Core Options.

Change Core Option Enable Vibration to disabled

Instances in-game where vibration occurs may still cause the slowdown even if vibration is disabled.

Video - Double Internal Resolution

lr-pcsx_rearmed has a Core Option Enhance Resolution (Slow) that improves graphical fidelity by doubling the normal resolution, producing a sharper 3D image, however all 2D bitmaps and texture maps retain their original resolution. It can present some (sometimes game-breaking) visual glitches. It should be used in tandem with the Enhanced Resolution (Speed Hack) for best performance, but this can increase the glitches. See Setting Core Options.

On a Pi 2 it can introduce performance issues, even with the speed hak, but on a Pi 3 and up it should be perform better, sometimes even without the speed hack. To disable these options for games which exhibit issues, or to only enable it for games that perform well, see Setting Core Options per-ROM.

Video - Disable Dithering

The PSX had a dithering trick that blended colors together in an attempt to make games look more colorful. On modern TVs this effect can be less desirable. To disable, set the Core Option Enable Dithering to disabled. See Setting Core Options.

Audio - Switch Interpolation to Gaussian

Some games like 'Spyro: Year of the Dragon' have audio corruption issues using the default Core Option Sound: Interpolation value of simple. The alternative gaussian setting fixes audio issue with minimal cost to performance. See Setting Core Options.

Memory Card and Save State

lr-pcsx_rearmed

Memory Card saves have the .srm extension and are located in

A new memory card .srm file with the same name as the ROM is created for each game as needed.

Final Fantasy 7 Rom Retropie

PCSX-ReARMed

Memory Card saves are located in

Their naming convention is cardX.mcd where 'X' is a number between 0 and 9. Numbers 0 and 1 represent the first 2 Memory Card slots respectively.

Save States are located in

Importing Save Files

On sites like GameFAQs you can find many save files for PlayStation games. Different emulators often use different save file formats, so you must convert such files to a suitable format.

For more information on custom RetroArch controls see: RetroArch Configuration

PCSX-ReARMed Controls

PCSX-ReARMed controls and configurations are located in

You will need a keyboard to press Escape on to access the emulator's menu so that you can then configure your controller: a controller with a Home/Guide button that can be a dedicated Open Menu button is required to use this emulator with just a controller.

The Controller Problem: Digital-Only & Analog

A common issue people using RetroPie have with PSX emulation is their analog sticks do not work. The reason for this is related to a default lr-pcsx_rearmed core setting, and there is a very good reason the setting is the way it is that we will get into later.

Change the Core Options for Pad 1 Type and Pad 2 Type from standard to dualshock. See Setting Core Options.

After the previous two settings have been changed, back out to the Quick Menu so that you can enter the Controls section. In Controls, you need to change all controllers from 'RetroPad' to 'RetroPad w/ Analog', then use the 'Save Core Remap File' function to save this setting as a default for all games.

After a complete exit back to EmulationStation, all games that should work with the analog sticks will function correctly, however, we have just created a problem: roughly 1/3 of the PSX library will no longer accept any input whatsoever.

The reason for the problem is due to the PSX originally being released with a controller that didn't have analog sticks so the games released for the system before the analog sticks were added to the controller only accounted for the standard controller: these games are generally referred to as Digital-Only games.

Unfortunately, this is a problem that doesn't have an easy solution. The reason the emulator was set the way is was is because that was 100% compatible even if it removed all analog functionality. If you want all your games with analog support to work correctly, you will have to manually fix the Digital-Only games one by one.

The process of fixing a Digital-Only game is to set per-ROM Core Options, changing Pad 1 Type and Pad 2 Type back to standard. See Setting Core Options per-ROM.

With those three things done, now we need to go back to the Quick Menu and go into the Controls section. In Controls, change all RetroPad w/ Analog back to RetroPad, change all Analog To Digital settings for each controller from None to Left Analog, then use the Save Game Remap File.

After a complete exit back to EmulationStation, the game you've manually fixed will function correctly plus you will be able to use the left analog stick for upto 8-way movement if you want to. Keep in mind the 'Analog To Digital' step is completely optional and included for those that may want to still use an analog stick for movement in games that didn't support it originally.

For a decent list of which games are Digital-Only, check the spreadsheet and website found in the 'Game Specific Control Information' section below.

The negcon setting found between pad type is for the NeGcon.

While this section does focus on lr-pcsx_rearmed, what is done in this section could be done in PCSX-ReARMed's menu as well if not visually different.

Game Specific Control Information

The main purpose of this section is for users to be able to identify Digital-Only games in their library and fix them as detailed above in the 'The Controller Problem: Digital-Only & Analog'

If you have a limited input method such as an SNES-style controller or handheld, then the spreadsheet below will also help you figure out which games you will be able to play.

If you want to improve the spreadsheet, then request editing permission and you will be approved in a timely manner.

For a more complete resource, please check the PlayStation DataCenter.

Multitap (3-5 Players)

lr-pcsx_rearmed has support for multitap, but not all games read input when a multitap is connected, so a per-ROM Core Options file should be created for multitap compatible games. Set the Core Options for Pad 3 Type, Pad 4 Type (and so on, depending on how many players are supported by the game) to the relevant Controller Type that the game supports. See Setting Core Options per-ROM.

Tweaks

lr-pcsx_rearmed

Performance - PSX CPU Clock

The clock speed percentage of the emulated PSX hardware's CPU can be adjusted by the user. While the default setting of 57 is decent, it does cause some games to exceed their intended framerate and the setting of 55 is recommended to reduce this from happening in more games. Some games, such as 'Final Fantasy 7' and 'Final Fantasy Tactics', may need even lower CPU speeds. See Setting Core Options per-ROM.

Performance - Disable Vibration

Vibration is known to cause slowdown in some games. Disabling vibration in-game (if possible) is recommended if you notice this happen, or don't have a controller with vibration ability. See Setting Core Options.

Change Core Option Enable Vibration to disabled

Instances in-game where vibration occurs may still cause the slowdown even if vibration is disabled.

Video - Double Internal Resolution

lr-pcsx_rearmed has a Core Option Enhance Resolution (Slow) that improves graphical fidelity by doubling the normal resolution, producing a sharper 3D image, however all 2D bitmaps and texture maps retain their original resolution. It can present some (sometimes game-breaking) visual glitches. It should be used in tandem with the Enhanced Resolution (Speed Hack) for best performance, but this can increase the glitches. See Setting Core Options.

On a Pi 2 it can introduce performance issues, even with the speed hak, but on a Pi 3 and up it should be perform better, sometimes even without the speed hack. To disable these options for games which exhibit issues, or to only enable it for games that perform well, see Setting Core Options per-ROM.

Video - Disable Dithering

The PSX had a dithering trick that blended colors together in an attempt to make games look more colorful. On modern TVs this effect can be less desirable. To disable, set the Core Option Enable Dithering to disabled. See Setting Core Options.

Audio - Switch Interpolation to Gaussian

Some games like 'Spyro: Year of the Dragon' have audio corruption issues using the default Core Option Sound: Interpolation value of simple. The alternative gaussian setting fixes audio issue with minimal cost to performance. See Setting Core Options.

Memory Card and Save State

lr-pcsx_rearmed

Memory Card saves have the .srm extension and are located in

A new memory card .srm file with the same name as the ROM is created for each game as needed.

Final Fantasy 7 Rom Retropie

PCSX-ReARMed

Memory Card saves are located in

Their naming convention is cardX.mcd where 'X' is a number between 0 and 9. Numbers 0 and 1 represent the first 2 Memory Card slots respectively.

Save States are located in

Importing Save Files

On sites like GameFAQs you can find many save files for PlayStation games. Different emulators often use different save file formats, so you must convert such files to a suitable format.

One such tool is Memory Card Manager 1.4 by Aldo Vargas. Download this and MSVBVM50.DLL, and run MemManager.exe:

Final Fantasy 7 Retropie

Press the New button at the bottom and create a file the same name as your PSX ROM. For example, if you are using Diablo.pbp or Diablo.cue then call the new memory card file Diablo.mcr. Ensure you select the Other - AdriPSX, FPSE, pcsx format in the dropdown menu, then press Save.

Press the >< at the bottom of the window which opens a second pane on the right. In the new pane, press the ... at the top and open the save file you have downloaded. Hopefully you'll see valid memory card blocks, similar to what you'd see on an actual PSX. (some saves may not show expected/valid contents, in which case you're probably out of luck trying to use that save file, download a different one)

Click on the block in the right hand column you wish to import, and press the < arrow to copy it into your new memory card on the left-hand column. The screenshot above demonstrates the way to select the correct block and the correct button to press.

In your memory card on the left, click Save As and save over the blank card you just created.

Quit MemManager and rename your new memory card from .mcr to .srm. Following our example above, we'd now have a file called Diablo.srm. Copy this memory card file to your RetroPie /psx/ ROMs directory.

The save file should now be available in your game.