Final Fantasy VII Gjoerulv Hardcore Mod

Make the game more of a challenge with Gjoerulv's Hardcore mod!

Basics

Note: I do not own nor did I create this mod in any way, shape, or form. This is merely a guide to point those in the right direction.

Description according to Gjoerulv:

"What it does:
Basically boosts the game difficulty. This mod mainly strives to refresh the gameplay by sticking to the original settings, BUT it also tweaks some enemy AI, spell effect, equipments, etc, for different reasons. For instance, there are quite a few bugs in the AI and field scripts. Most of these have been fixed (all I know of). Also, many equipments, spells and enemy skills are useless, gets obsolete and/or are overpowered or cheap. Thus some equipments and attack effects are tweaked in an attempt to balance things out. With the above said, keep in mind I try to keep all things as close to the original as possible while refreshing the gameplay. I don't want a new FF7, I want a refreshed, more difficult FF7.

This mod also add some new enemies and bosses to the game. Basically at every summon materia there is a new boss.
For more information, click the "info." button in the patch application."

There are at least two mods out there that I know of for FF7 that increase the difficulty of the game. Gjoerulv's Hardcore mod is what I have experience with, and I have to say that it breaths life back into the game. I've already played FF7 on the PS1, and a lot too. But this mod helps add improved AI, improved enemy stats, and various other modifications to the game to make it all the more challenging. As such I can really enjoy a unique and new experience. Here is an example of an easy boss fight in the original game made much much harder:

Just follow this link, and you can download the mod. It's pretty simple to install: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=6818.0

Just one thing, if you are playing the Steam version (as I suspect you are), install the mod under the settings of the 2012 PC release that SE had done a year ago.

In order to find the correct path for the installation just go to your Steam folder in Program Files (or wherever you may have it). Then go to steamapps. Then go to common folder. Then click on FINAL FANTASY VII folder. And finally you settle on the data folder.

If you have any problems then just leave me a comment, and maybe I can help. Or get into contact with the mod's creator.

Disclaimer: I in no way take any responsibility for any damages incurred by this mod.

For Boss Help: If you are having trouble on some of the bosses, I suggest looking up videos on Youtube of people playing the Gjoerulv Hardcore Mod. Sega Chief has many excellent videos with detailed information and strategies.

Possible Installation note (thanks should go to GAZar for this):

"The hardcore mod installer attempts to patch a number of files, including 'ff7exe'.
In my case, this file was actually called 'ff7_en.exe' in the relevant Steam installation folder, so it might be a possibility depending on the language or region of each user this may differ from person to person, assuming the game has been translated.

For example, Europe: 'ff7_en.exe' (English GB), 'ff7_de.exe' (German), 'ff7_es.exe' (Spanish), North America: 'ff7.exe' (English), etc." - GAZar

So be sure to rename the file in order for the mod to work correctly.

[St. Magus]

I must say that it has unfortunately been so long that I have forgotten. I'm sorry.

[Captain_dsz]

i know i am late to the party but you mentioned having known of 2 mods to raise difficulty, what was the other? (kinda hoping to find non 7th heaven essential mod installs as 7th heaven is not working for me... at all and believe me i've tried it all)

[St. Magus]

No, problem. I'm glad that you got it working somehow.

[dood]

thank you for your rely. i've figure out that my graphic mod and this mod is in conflict. and causes the crash. so i just use the upgraded graphics outside of battle and keep the old graphic during battle. but thanks again.

[St. Magus]

Could you perhaps provide more details? I'm not finding any exact details that match up with this problem. I will do my best to help, but beyond simply reinstalling the mod, I can only suggest posting on gjoerulv's thread at this moment considering the given info. The dude is still pretty active and I am sure he would have a pretty good idea what the problem might be right away.

[dood]

this mod cause the game to crush when i get in to a random encount at the beginning of the game in the area right before you get to the first boss. plz help.

[St. Magus]

Glad I can help man.

[kAzE]

Ohhh, I'm supposed to link to the the Data folder. no wonder. Thanks alot.

[St. Magus]

That's a new problem to me. I'm not sure how exactly to solve it at the moment. Are you sure you are navigating to the "FINAL FANTASY VII\data" folder? If you continue to have trouble try contacting gjoerulv on that thread in the link. Or you can contact him via his YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/gjoerulv . Last I checked, he was pretty active still. That was some months ago however. You may try contacting Sega Chief, who published a whole guide series on the mod, on YouTube as well, but I'm not sure how savvy he is with installation stuff: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgYVw1l9aci5RLOnGyCncrA . Keep me posted and let me know if you continue to have any trouble.

[kAzE]

Hi, I would really like to install this mod, but I'm having issues getting the patch to work. I'm on Windows 7 and I'm playing the Steam version. I ran the app as the administrator. I checked the 2012 remake box and navigated the "dir" to my FFVII folder in steamapps.

I also set the language to English, which is the version I'm playing.

When I click the button to patch, it immediately gives me an error. Here's what it said in the log:

Below log created: 11/12/2013 at 8:59:05 PM
PROGRESS:
Checking files.
File check-> C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FINAL FANTASY VII\lang-en\battle\scene.bin FAILED!

Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FINAL FANTASY VII\lang-en\battle\scene.bin'.
Patch finished.
Time spent: 0:03

I navigated to the folder it said, and the scene.bin was there . . . how can I fix this and get the patch to work?