Improving FF7 graphics with ReShade

[Great Dragon]

Hi,

If you are seeking for a way how you can improve FF7 outdated graphics without using custom graphical packs and do not brake achievement functionality, seek no further.

With the help of ReShade you can turn FF7's graphics into TV like picture. That is what the game was designed for.

I want to emphasize that this won't make FF7 look HD. If you want fake picture clarity you better use Remako Graphic Pack or anything similar.

I'm going to provide two solutions for you. The detailed one for those who would like to know all the steps and have a full control over the process. And the easy one for those who just want ready to go solution.

Detailed solution:

1. Install Reshade with Direct3D 10+ support into game's directory where ff7.exe is located. There are plenty of tutorials how you can do it on the internet. I've tested it with version 4.3.0
2. You don't have to download all the shaders available. Just select GaussianBlur and FilmGrain2 (you may skip FilmGrain if you don't like this effect.)
3. Download CRTLottes.fx shader from here[github.com] and copy it to "reshade-shaders/shaders" directory where Reshade is installed (Game's directory)
4. Download CA.fx (Cromatic Aberration) shader from here[github.com] and copy it to "reshade-shaders/shaders" directory where Reshade is installed (Game's directory)
5. Run the game, press "Home" (default button for Reshade menu) to configure your shaders with the folowings settings:

PreprocessorDefinitions=CA_Blurring=1

[GaussianBlur.fx]
GaussianBlurRadius=1
GaussianBlurOffset=1.000000
GaussianBlurStrength=0.300000

[CA.fx]
Green_Y_Offset=-1.000000
GreenFocalOffset=0.000000
Red_Y_Offset=-1.000000
RedFocalOffset=-0.500000
Green_X_Offset=1.000000
Red_X_Offset=-1.000000
BlueFocalOffset=0.500000
Blue_Y_Offset=1.000000
Blue_X_Offset=-1.000000
OffsetSamples=2
LensShape=2.000000
LensFocus=1.300000
BlurFocus=5.000000
Strength=0.500000
VignetteBlur=1
CABlur=2
BlurStrength=1.000000
DebugMode=0

[CRTLottes.fx]
resX=640.000000
maskLight=1.500000
video_sizeY=480.000000
resY=480.000000
video_sizeX=640.000000
shadowMask=4
hardScan=-8.000000
hardPix=-3.000000
warpX=0.000000
warpY=0.000000
maskDark=0.500000
scaleInLinearGamma=1.000000
brightBoost=1.000000
hardBloomPix=-1.500000
hardBloomScan=-2.000000
bloomAmt=0.400000
shape=2.000000
doBloom=1

[FilmGrain2.fx]
grainamount=0.040000
coloramount=0.600000
lumamount=1.000000
grainsize=2.000001

This is a piece of config file you can copy-paste into a preset file using notepad or just do it through the ReShade UI changing corresponding parameters.

6. Done. You should have a picture that looks like this:
https://youtu.be/RwQUBsxK6JA

EASY WAY solution:

1. Download and extract the following archive into the game's dir. That's it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I1kmwBNqxr8qXhzdKuslqHM7uGyLps1U/view?usp=sharing

[Isharu Matsu]

It kinda looks nice but that fuzziness needs to get shut off lol, it makes it look like someone slapped it in 640x480 and stretched and blurred the crap out of it.

[Great Dragon]

That is exactly what I was trying to achieve with those shaders. a TV-look which has around 640x480 "resolution". A picture like this doesn't look great on a regular LCD monitor if you sit 1-2 feets away like people usually do.

You have to sit 2-3 feets away from a computer LCD monitor (~24") or 5-6 feets if you have a big screen TV (40"+). Only in this case you will get a proper look with this shader.

[Fishsticks]

I know that this is really late but if you guys want it to be less blurry, just increase the resolutions (resX,resY, video_sizeX and video_sizeY) in [CRTLottes.fx]

[Zero McDol]

Lowers the FPS too much - Too blurry (worse than the PS1 era)

[Great Dragon]

Originally posted by Zero McDol:

Lowers the FPS too much - Too blurry (worse than the PS1 era)

Your memory are playing tricks with you. It can't be less blurry during PS1 era as all the TVs during that time had approximately 640x480 resolution screen. And you connected your PS1 through composite connection most of the time and not through RGB. Which can technically improve visial presentation but not resolution.

So no. This shader looks better than it was looking on TVs back in the days.

[Ashenran]

better without it

[Zero McDol]

Originally posted by Great Dragon:

Originally posted by Zero McDol:

Lowers the FPS too much - Too blurry (worse than the PS1 era)

Your memory are playing tricks with you. It can't be less blurry during PS1 era as all the TVs during that time had approximately 640x480 resolution screen. And you connected your PS1 through composite connection most of the time and not through RGB. Which can technically improve visial presentation but not resolution.

So no. This shader looks better than is was looking on TVs back in the days.

I believe that I agree with that, considering that it's been a very long time since I've played anything on a CRT TV and have now gotten used to higher resolutions.

[metroidsnes]

Thanks for the tutorial, I really like the look of it. I'm using CRT-Royale with RetroArch but it's nice to see that it's possible to achieve good results also with ReShade.

[.rodro//]

THANK you

[uuPedrin]

Thanks 😔🙏

[Korana Noth]

This looks pretty nice. You make all the right points about sitting a little further from the screen for the full CRT effect. With a console the closest you would probably sit to your TV would have been 3-4 feet. This shader was originally made for an emulator I believe. There's also an NTSC one I like, it reminds me of the color fringing I got when I ran everything through the back of the VCR. All it's missing is a slight warping effect from the convex shape of a CRT screen.

[arumoenari]

I think it looks great.

But I dont remember exactly what the look on a CRT was.

[kliriat]

tysm <3