Fixing and enhancing Final Fantasy XIII

This is my first time writing a guide and it can be a bit amateurish. so please bear with me if its phrased and written weirdly.

This guide's main purpose is to make sure players have the best experience of this game without facing technical issues like lower frame rate, crashes, and other odd visual bugs that can ruin the gameplay experience. The guide also covers some visual enhancements that can be applied to the game by tweaking some graphic driver settings from the graphic driver and with mods.

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Pre requisites

Before proceeding with this guide, I recommend to start afresh with a clean game install mostly to avoid issues that can arise with previous mod installs and modifications done to the game files.

Make sure that you are using the latest version of Windows 10 operating system with up to date graphic drivers. I am not recommending Windows 11 as its an new operating system which probably might have compatibility issues with this game.

If you want you can still install the game on windows 11 and follow this guide. but if you encounter any issues with the mods and patches linked in this guide, then I won't be able to assist you properly in solving the issues.

Once you are sure that your Operating system and drivers are all updated and running the correct versions, you can now proceed to the next step.

Checking your Installation

I suggest installing the game on a drive that is not the C or the windows root drive. certain PCs might have restrictions placed on this drive which in turn can prevent some of the patches and mods from not working properly with the game.

Steam by default will set up an directory in the C drive when you begin installing the game and you will have to change that directory in the installer window to another drive on your PC.

Now If you had already installed it to your C drive, then you can move the game folder to the other drive with the Move install folder option.

You can access this option by right clicking on this game title from the left side of your steam library, select Properties. then in the new window that opens, click on the LOCAL FILES section. this option should be present here.

If you do not see your drive in the drop down box then you can follow the instructions from this page here:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4BD4-4528-6B2E-8327

Verifying Game Integrity

We will use the Verify Integrity of game files..option to check if all the files are properly downloaded and installed.

You can access this option by right clicking on this game title from the left side of your steam library, select Properties. then in the new window that opens, click on the LOCAL FILES section. this option should be present here.

Doing this verification should check your game files and re download only the files that were modified, got corrupt somehow due to download..etc thereby making your game installation clean.

The Launcher

When you launch the game for the first time, there will be a launcher that you can use to customize the visuals, and the audio language.


If you want the game to run in fullscreen or windowed mode, then there are options for that in the Screen settings. this setting has to be set to Fullscreen Display Mode as the windowed mode option limits you from customising the resolution.

There is the Resolution settings tab which allows you customise the game resolution.

If you want to play with English or Japanese audio, the option to do so is in the Sound settings tab. This option is not available if you got the ASIA region version of the game.



Here are some settings that could help in getting the game look good as well run better if you have a low end hardware.

Anti aliasing
The Anti aliasing setting is the least demanding setting in this game. You can crank it up to higher values if running on your native screen resolution, to reduce the jagged lines seen on the edges of 3d models and objects.

Note: if you intend to follow the DSR method in this guide, then set this to 2x as you will end up hurting performance, if set to x16.

Shadow resolution
Shadow resolution is the setting that you might need to do a bit of tweaking to get it looking right.

At lower settings, the shadows will look softer but jagged at the edges with the shadow volume having noticeable artifacts. as you go to higher settings the jagged edges and the artifacts on the shadow volume reduces, but the shadow volume starts to look hard and dense making them look quite blocky.

I would suggest setting this to 4096 x 4096. this setting produces shadows that do have jagged edges but thankfully it is not easily noticeable. the benefit with this setting is the somewhat softer and neat shadow volume which makes the shadows look a bit better when they are cast on the character's face.

Caution: if you intend to follow the DSR method in this guide and have an slightly mid end GPU, then set this to 4096x4096 itself as the higher 8192x8192 setting will end up in lowering the framerate of the game significantly.


Once you are done setting up in the launcher, Untick the checkbox that says Do not show this Window again, and click on the Start game button for a test run.
This is to see if the game opens correctly and if in case it doesn't open, then skip to the next section of this guide.

If the game opens correctly, then Skip the Intro cutscene by pressing either the ENTER key on your keyboard or the A or Cross button on your controller.

Once you are in the main menu, press the ESC key and select the Yes option in the small window with your mouse cursor to close the game.

The Problems

Severe Problems

- Inconsistent 60fps

- Sudden and unexpected Crashes

- Lacks Vibration support that is present in the console versions

- Playing at a resolution higher than 1280 x 720 can cause a few issues with scaling of some graphical elements in the game such as:
* Portion of enemy intel will be missing in the Libra menu,
* The glowing effect inside the stars when you get five stars in a battle will be missing, &
* Animation effects inside all text boxes will be missing

- Constant Stutters

- Macro-blocking like artifacts on character hair

- Crash before playing the first cutscene in Nautilus

- Abnormal Eyelashes and character hair

Non severe Problems

- Poorly encoded Pre rendered cutscenes, making it slightly inferior compared to the PS3 and Xbox one X versions

- No English audio option for Asia/Japan version of the game

Important Fixes

This section would ensure that you are all quickly set up to have an decent playable experience. After following the steps in this section, you should be good enough to properly play the game from start to finish without facing any technical issues.

The FF13 fix

Most of the technical problems can be solved with this fan made fix made by rebtd7. thank you so much for this fix if you are reading this guide rebtd7.


- Download the latest version of the fix from their github releases page:
https://github.com/rebtd7/FF13Fix/releases

- After the file is downloaded right-click on the file and extract it with WinRAR software's Extract Here option.

You can see the below image for reference:


If you are using 7Zip software then right click, select 7Zip and the Extract Here option.
You can once again see the image for reference:


- Go into the extracted FF13Fix_164 folder, and select all of the files inside it. right click and select Copy.


We will now have to copy these files to the location where the game's main executable file is present. the location is give below:
"steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XIII\ white_data\ prog\ win\ bin"


To get to this location first select this game title on your Steam library, right click and select Properties. then in the new window go to LOCAL FILES and select the Browse... option.

This should open the root directory from where you can get to the bin sub folder where the main executable file is present.

You can now follow the screenshots linked below to get to the bin folder and paste the files there.

- Open the white_data folder


- Open the prog folder


- Open the win folder


- Open the bin folder


- Right click and select the Paste option here. that should copy the fix's files in here and it should look like this after copying the files:



And that's it.

If you want to turn off vibration, decrease the vibration strength (max 2.0) or cap your frame limit to 30 or 60, then you can do all of this by editing the values in the FF13Fix.ini file that you copied here.
There's information provided in the ini file itself on what values to edit and what to change, so please follow that correctly if you want to make any changes.

If you are using an AMD RDNA GPU, you can set this DiscardUIVertexBuffer option to true and see if it improves the performance a bit.
Be warned that this particular option is still experimental and if its causing any graphical issues in game, then set it back to false.

Crash Fix

The game allocates just 2gb of memory to use due to the large address aware bit value not being set in the main executable file. because of this bit value not being set, the game will start crashing as soon as it exceeds 2gb of memory usage.

This 4gb patcher program will set the large address aware bit value in the executable file, thereby allowing the game to use more than 2gb of memory.

This game unfortunately has an additional DRM that prevents the installation of this patch and so with the help of the FF13Fix, this patch can now be installed on to the game. so make sure that you have installed the FF13Fix before proceeding any further.


- Download the file FFXIII - 4gb Patcher (v1.1) from this website:
https://mega.nz/file/r9ICiS5B#fT1qlbSemSq7PjPtlMddKDzsUKSmNEFkZ0ySDdxOJiQ

Note: Steam's automatic redirection removes the decryption key from the link. to ensure that this does not happen, select the link text by highlighting it, then right click and select copy. now open a browser of your choice and paste the link in address bar of the browser. then press enter and you should be taken to the mega page from where you can download the file.


- Right click on the downloaded zip file and select properties.



- Then in the bottom of the properties window, untick the Unblock checkbox and then click on the Ok button.



- Now extract this zip file with winrar or 7zip software and you will get these following files



- Click on the FFXIII4gbPatcher application file and a program should open along with a message box, prompting you to select the FFXiiiLauncher.exe file.



- Click Ok on the message box and in the small window that opens, navigate to your game's root directory which is the FINAL FANTASY XIII folder. the FFXiiiLauncher.exe file is present inside this folder.



- After selecting the launcher file in the small window, click on the Open button at the bottom of the window and you will be presented with three options.

The first two options are for installing or removing the patch, while the last option is for exiting this installer program.



- Press the 'p' key and the patching process will begin. once the patch is done installing, you will be prompted with a message box saying that it has finished installing the patch. click on the Ok button in the message box and that should close the program.

If you are planning to use the Nova modding framework, then move the extracted files of this patcher program to a different folder. we will be making use of the remove function of this program, to remove the applied 4gb patch from the executable file. this is a necessary step to be done for the Nova modding framework.

If you are not planning to use the Nova modding framework, then you can select all of the extracted files, then right click and select the delete option.



This should fix the crashes.

(Continued)

More Performance stabilization

This is an additional step only for Nvdia Card users which makes sure the game's performance at 60fps is a bit more consistent.

- Right click and Open the Nvidia Control panel.
- Select Manage 3D settings and go to the Program settings tab in the menu. click on the drop down list at the center and selectFinal Fantasy XIII(ffxiiiimg.exe).
If this game name does not appear on the drop down list, you will have to add it by using the Add option.
This option will open the Add window where you have to add the game executable which is the ffxiiiimg.exe file, by using the Browse option and then navigate to the location of the ffxiiiimg.exe file.
this file is in the same location, where you copied the FF13Fix files which is:
" \steamapps\ common\ FINAL FANTASY XIII\ white_data\ prog\ win\ bin"

- Scroll down through the set of options in the list and set the Power management mode option, to Prefer Maximum performance.

- Click apply at the bottom, wait for the screen to flicker and after the apply and close dialog box disappears, close the Nvidia control panel. This should give you an even better performance.

Abnormal Eyelashes and character hair

Only if you face this issue, do the following fix steps

Due to MSAA completely disabled, some of the stuff like eyelashes and hair render very weirdly and it just looks bad. This can happen:
If Anti aliasing is set to off in your Graphic card control panel settings.

the exe file which is ffxiii.img.exe is found in:
" \steamapps\ common\ FINAL FANTASY XIII\ white_data\ prog\ win\ bin"

For Nvidia users
- Right click and Open the Nvidia Control panel.

- Select Manage 3d settings and go to the Program settings Tab.

- In the Program Settings tab, click on the drop down list at the center and select Final Fantasy XIII(ffxiiiimg.exe).
If this game name does not appear on the drop down list, you will have to add it by using the Add option.
This option will open the Add window where you have to add the game executable which is the ffxiiiimg.exe file, by using the Browse option and then navigate to the location of the ffxiiiimg.exe file.
this file is in the same location, where you copied the FF13Fix files which is:
" \steamapps\ common\ FINAL FANTASY XIII\ white_data\ prog\ win\ bin"

- Set the Anti-aliasing Mode option to Application Controlled from the set of options in the small drop down list.

- Click apply at the bottom, wait for the screen to flicker and after the apply and close dialog box disappears, close the Nvidia control panel.


For AMD users,
Refer this guide and the anti aliasing section.
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/dh-012#faq-Accessing-Radeon-Settings-Gaming-Options
Create a custom application profile for this game by adding the game's exe file from from the top right option in the panel.

Set Anti aliasing mode to Use application settings if it is set to any other option.
Apply the settings, and close the panel.

This should fix the issue.

(Continued)

Fixing the macro blocking like artifacts on character hair

This issue seems to occur only on certain Nvidia cards. AMD cards may or may not have this issue.

Its confused with the broken transparency issue that causes glitched out eyelashes and character hair.
When you move the character or the camera around them, you would notice small squares flash on the hair. It would feel as if its an shimmering effect cause of the jaggies but on closer observation it reveals an entirely different issue.

What's causing the issue here ?
It seems to be that some of this game's visual elements are being stored in a format that is not behaving properly when the GPU is trying to smooth them out with the MSAA Anti aliasing.

Disabling MSAA would fix this issue but it would break the whole alpha to coverage graphics technique which the game heavily uses to render the hair and eyelashes for the character models.

Here's a solution for that.
Download the latest version of Nvidia Profile inspector from the releases page . thanks to Orbmu2k for this amazing tool.
https://github.com/Orbmu2k/nvidiaProfileInspector

Now extract it anywhere u want. I would prefer documents. launch the profile inspector and wait for it to quickly load some stuff.

-This will be the starting window

-Now select Final Fantasy XIII from the drop down list

-In the Anti aliasing fix option, set it to on from off


-Now click apply changes on the top right corner and close the tool.

This should fix the macro blocking issue on the hair.

Crash before playing the first cutscene in Nautilus

Can happen only for some users and not for everyone.
The game crashes before the first cutscene in Nautilus when playing in certain resolutions.

Here are the resolutions on which the game crashes:

• 1366x768
  
• 1600x1050
  
• 2103x1183
  
• 2351x1323
  
• 2715x1527
  
• 3325x1871

Before proceeding further to trigger the cutscene, save the game and set the resolution from the game launcher to a resolution that is not there in the above list.

Launch the game after setting your resolution and play through the cutscene.
Once the cutscene has finished playing save the game and close it. then set the resolution back to whatever you had set before and continue playing the game.



Applying all of these important fixes should ensure that you have an optimal and decent playable experience.
You can follow the Enahncements section next to slightly increase the visuals or you can just close this guide and have fun playing the game, if you are extremely bored and tired.


But if you want to mod the game and enhance it even more, then stick around as we still have a lot more stuff to do and have an even more awesome experience with this game.

Enhancements

This section of the guide covers the Enhancements that can be applied to the game to make it look better.

Anisotropic filtering

For Nvidia Card users

- Right click and Open the Nvidia Control panel.


- Select Manage 3D settings and go to the Program settings tab in the menu.
Click on the drop down list at the centre and select Final Fantasy XIII(ffxiiiimg.exe).


- In the below submenu, select Anisotropic filtering, and set the value to whatever you prefer. (x8 or x16 is better) hit apply on the bottom right corner of the control panel.




For AMD card users
I don't own an AMD card and can only point you to this page on how to get Anisotropic filtering working on your GPU. Follow the Anisotropic filtering section.
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/dh-012#faq-Anisotropic-Filtering


This should give you sharp and good looking textures for this game.

Downscaling

Warning: GeDoSato is not supported with the FF13 fix and so I am not recommending to use it for this game in this guide.

Nvidia DSR and AMD VSR does just what GeDoSato does. Unfortunately not all cards support this feature, which is why many still use GeDoSato for older games and for this one as well. I will assume that those playing this game has a modern GPU capable of doing this and won't recommend GeDoSato over the FF13 fix if your card doesn't support DSR or VSR respectively. just play the game with higher AF x16 at your native resolution.


For Nvidia Card users

First check if your graphic card supports DSR in this webpage.
https://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/dsr/supported-gpus?field_gpu_type_value=desktop-gpus

Older laptop dedicated graphic cards with Optimus technology do not support DSR.
You can check if your laptop supports DSR by right clicking on the desktop and opening the Nvidia control panel. then check the left side of the panel and see if you have the Display and Video categories apart from the Manage 3D settings category.

If your graphic card supports DSR then follow these steps.


- Right click and open the Nvidia Control panel.


- Select Manage 3D settings and go to the Global settings tab in the menu.
Here, scroll down and select DSR Factors.


- On selecting it, click on the Off button which will bring a small drop down list of resolutions to scale the game up to.


- I will recommend the 4x one if you are having a 1080p screen. Your choice if you want a lower resolution. after checking it, the DSR Smoothness option should be clickable.


- Set the DSR smoothness to 0%


- Hit apply at the bottom and wait for the screen to flicker. after the apply and close dialog box disappears, close the Nvidia control panel.



For AMD card users

I don't own a AMD card, and can only point you to the related page on how to do it. follow the Virtual Super Resolution section and the game exe is the ffxiiiimg.exe located in the
" FINAL FANTASY XIII\ white_data\ prog\ win\ bin " directory.

https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/dh-010



Using DSR / VSR resolution in your game
After enabling DSR for your respective graphic cards, open the FFXiiiLauncher.exe file located in the FINAL FANTASY XIII folder.
This is the same root directory folder where you had deleted the setup.xml file from before to reset the launcher settings.

Select the new resolution listed in the screen settings option.

I had setup 4x more the resolution than my native 1080p resolution to upscale, which is 3840 x 2160 (4k) listed here in the launcher.

Set Anti aliasing to x2, as it can cause frame dips due to it being at x16 for our DSR resolution.

After you are done setting up in the launcher, tick the checkbox Do not show this Window again, and click on the Start game button.
You will get a small message box telling you how to alter settings again. click on ok and the game will launch.


The game will now look great on your screen due to the increased resolution boost provided by DSR / VSR.

Non Severe Problems

Pre rendered cutscenes are a bit poorly encoded for the PC version

The Pre rendered cutscenes (that makes this game a bit huge for its time on PC) are encoded at a slightly lower bitrate compared to the PS3 version. its not that big of an issue for new players, but it can be one for returning players from the PS3 version.

Please check the FFXIII HD Full Motion Video mod & 4k Pre-rendered Cutscenes with Higher Quality audio v2.0 mod mentioned in the Mods and more enhancements section of this guide.

No English audio option for Asia/Japan version of the game

There are three versions of the game that is being sold on Steam depending on which region you purchased the game from. these are the three versions that are available for purchase on steam directly. I am basing this with the help of Steam DB site:
FINAL FANTASY XIII - this is the NA version
FINAL FANTASY XIII (RU/IN/CIS) - this is the EU version and the one I have.
FINAL FANTASY XIII (JAPAN/ASIA) this is the Asian and Japan region version which does not come with the english audio.

If you want the English audio, then refund the copy of the game if you can on steam and get the version sold on Square Enix's online store. This version on the Square Enix store will give you an Steam CD key for the EU or NA version of the game. this is an legal method that I can recommend for those who bought the game, is in refund period and with a card or payment method that allows refund transfers to your card directly.

If you are stuck without the ability to refund then buy the game again on the Square Enix store or just play the game with the Japanese audio.

Mods and more enhancements

An mod manager application called Nova Chrysalia is available for modding the 13 trilogy. it comes with whole suite of tools and options that allows one to edit
and modify some of the game's files as well as manage multiple mod installs.

This guide will try its best to illustrate the mod management side of things to you readers which is important for installing mods in a compatible manner.

As this mod manager comes with its own modding framework to manage mod installs, it leads to some compatibility issues with mods that were not created
with this framework.

The mods that don't follow the framework of this mod manager are categorized as Non Nova mods while the ones that are made with this mod manager's
framework is categorized as Nova mods.

Some of the newer mods are made with this mod manager's framework and cannot be installed without Nova Chrysalia.

Here is a table of compatible mods that are available for this game:

Compatible Mods	Available Without Nova	Available for Nova
The FFXIII HD Project	Yes	No
FFXIII HD Full Motion Video	Yes	No
Gameplay Tweaks and Hard Mode	Yes	No
Display Any Weapon (requires Gameplay Tweaks and Hard Mode mod installer files)	Yes	No
Weapon Model Swap (requires Gameplay Tweaks and Hard Mode mod installer files)	Yes	No
Original Japanese BGM	Yes	No
*	*	*
*	*	*
PS3 and Xbox 360 Button Prompts	Yes	Yes
HD Models Plus	Yes	Yes
4k Pre-rendered Cutscenes with Higher Quality audio v2.0	Yes	Yes
Better Quality audio for Pre rendered movies	Yes	Yes
Change Victory Fanfare	Yes	Yes
*	*	*
*	*	*
Controller Prompts as Default	No	Yes
Paradigm Shift Quick Camera	No	Yes
13-1 Randomizer	No	Yes

From this table, I hope you have an rough idea on what all mods you want to install as well as decide which modding frameworks to follow. to keep it a bit neat, I have grouped the mods in two different sections according to the framework thereby making it easier to navigate and choose your desired framework to follow along.

There is also a way to have all of the mods from both the frameworks and this requires an specific mod installation order to be followed.
The order would be to install the mods that do not have a nova version first and later install the rest of the Nova mods with the Nova mod manager.

Non Nova Mods

The FFXIII HD Project

This mod by Team NGS, enhances the textures used in the game and makes it look even better than what the base game provides.

Compatibility notice: This mod is not available for installation via Nova Chrysalia mod manager. if you want to install mods from both the frameworks, then you can install this mod.


You can download the mod from the page linked at the end of this paragraph and in the Files section. please read more about the mod in the description page as well as the instructions mentioned there in the page.

If you want to install the HD Models Plus mod, then install this HD Project mod by using the "Install a category of Textures" option and make sure that you DO NOT USE
the last PCs category option.

Using the category method of installation would require you to open the mod installer multiple times after each Category is done installing.

Mod Page link:
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/17?tab=description

Make sure that you have installed the Crash Fix patch before installing this mod.

FFXIII HD Full Motion Video

This mod by Team NGS and MJB replaces the lower resolution FMVs or the pre rendered cutscenes that the PC version of this game comes by default with much higher quality
cutscenes.

Compatibility notice: This mod is not available for installation via Nova Chrysalia. if you want to install mods from both the frameworks, then you can install this mod.


You can download the mod from the respective page below and in the Files section and also read more about the mods in their respective description pages.

This is for the English audio version
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/18

This is for the Japanese audio version
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/20

These newly re encoded FMV's are much better than the original PS3 version and the new Xbox one enhanced version's FMV's and I would say it's a must have mod for this game on PC.

If you want to install for both audio languages, then the size of the game will go up to 240gb which is quite a lot. so to save space, decide which audio language you want to play
the game with and then download your needed version accordingly.

If you have the ASIA/JAPAN version of the game and are okay with the Japanese language only restriction, then make sure you download the Japanese audio version of the mod.

The installation instructions for this mod is provided in the respective mod pages by the mod author. please follow them correctly to install this mod.

Gameplay Tweaks and Hard Mode

This mod by MJB allows you to modify some aspects of the gameplay as well as allows an hard mode like difficulty to be implemented into the game.

Compatibility notice: This mod is not available for installation via Nova Chrysalia mod manager. if you want to install mods from both the frameworks, then you can install this mod now.
Also this mod may not be compatible with the randomizer mod, so ensure that you install either this mod or the randomizer.

You can download the mod from this page below and in the Files section as well as read more about the mod in the description page:
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/5

The instructions for installing this mod is provided in the mod page by the mod author.
Make sure to retain this mod's installer files if you want to install the Display Any Weapon and the Weapon Model Swap.

Display Any Weapon

(requires Gameplay Tweaks and Hard Mode mod installer files)

This mod by MJB changes the weapon that is displayed on the character when outside battles and when you are moving through the world.
This does not give you or equip the weapon in combat, but just changes the weapon model that is displayed on the characters when moving through the world.

Compatibility notice: This mod is not available for installation via Nova Chrysalia mod manager. if you want to install mods from both the frameworks, then you can install this mod.

You can download the mod from this page below and in the Files section as well as read more about the mod in the description page:
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/28

The instructions for installing this mod is provided in the mod page by the mod author.

Weapon Model Swap

(requires Gameplay Tweaks and Hard Mode mod installer files)

This mod by Kupomiya allows you to change the weapon model displayed during combat to be that of a different weapon model. this only changes the visual aspect of the weapons and will not modify the weapon stats.

Compatibility notice: This mod is not available for installation via Nova Chrysalia mod manager. if you want to install mods from both the frameworks, then you can install this mod.

You can download the mod from this page below and in the Files section as well as read more about the mod in the description page:
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/31

The instructions for installing this mod is provided in the mod page by the mod author.

Original Japanese BGM

The Promise, The Promise - Sunleth Waterscape and Chocobos of Cocoon (chasing dreams) songs are different in the original PS3 Japanese release of the game.

Square Enix did not add these songs to the Japanese Voice Over language options on PC.
So no matter what language you choose to play the game in, the songs will always be the ones from the English version of the game.

This mod by vavrinko adds in those songs from the original Japanese release of the game to the PC version's Japanese Voice Over files.

Compatibility notice: This mod is not available for installation via Nova Chrysalia mod manager. if you want to install mods from both the frameworks, then you can install this mod.


You can download the mod from this page below and in the Files section as well as read more about the mod in the description page:
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/30

Follow the v1.1 instructions from the mod page for installing this mod.

Mods for both frameworks

PS3 and X360 button prompts

The PC version comes with Xbox based button prompts and although the prompts are correct, the icons lack the correct button colours which the 360 version of this game has. the game also does not come with the Playstation controller icons, which can make it somewhat difficult to play this game with a Dualshock controller.

This mod by Krisan Thyme, comes with the options to patch in either the 360 controller icons or the Playstation 3 icons in your game file.

Compatibility notice: The mod can be installed via the Nova Chrysalia mod manager. skip this if you want to install mods from both the frameworks as we will be installing the Nova version of this mod.


- Download the file FFXIII - Console Button Prompts (v2.1).rar from this webpage:
https://mega.nz/file/65gXWKBB#FoweChRFCiOBTNpShGK929BwOUarGCVUEp-2VLBUkLQ
Note: Steam's automatic redirection, removes the decryption key from the link. to ensure that this does not happen, select the link text by highlighting it, then right click and select copy. now open a browser of your choice and paste the link in the address bar of the browser. press enter and you should be taken to the mega page from where you can download the file.


- Right click on the downloaded zip file and select properties.



- Then in the bottom of the properties window, untick the Unblock checkbox and then click on the Ok button.



- Now extract this zip file with winrar or 7zip software and you will get these following files



- Click on the FFXIIIConsoleButtonPrompts application file and a program should open along with a message box, prompting you to select the FFXiiiLauncher.exe file.



- Click Ok on the message box and in the small window that opens, navigate to your game's root directory which is the FINAL FANTASY XIII folder. the FFXiii2Launcher.exe file is present inside this folder.



- After selecting the launcher file in the small window, click on the Open button at the bottom of the window and you will be presented with three options.

The first two options are for selecting the voiceovers and the last option is for exiting this installer program.



- Press the appropriate key that matches the voiceover by which you are playing the game and you will next be prompted with button prompts options.


Press the appropriate key that matches with the button prompts that you want the game to display. pressing either one of the keys, should begin the patching process.

Once the mod is done installing, you will be prompted with a message box saying that it has patched the button prompts. click on the Ok button in the message box and that should close the program.


- Now in the folder where you had extracted the zip file, select all of the extracted files, then right click and select the delete option.

HD Models Plus

This mod by MJB, replaces the default low poly 3D character models used in the game with higher poly models.

Compatibility notice: The mod can be installed via Nova Chrysalia mod manager. skip this if you want to install mods from both the frameworks as we will be installing the Nova version of this mod.

You can download the mod from this page below and in the Files section as well as read more about the mod in the description page.
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/11

The instructions for installing this mod are provided in the mod page by the mod author.

Install this mod separately after installing the HD Project mod. once again make sure that you have installed the crash fix patch before installing this mod.

Better Quality audio for Pre rendered movies

This is a mod I made that replaces the lower quality audio tracks of the PC version's pre-rendered movie files with better quality audio files from the PS3 version.

Compatibility notice: The mod can be installed via Nova Chrysalia mod manager. skip this if you want to install mods from both the frameworks as we will be installing the Nova version of this mod.

Warning: If you are going to download the 4k Pre-rendered Cutscenes with Higher Quality audio v2.0 mod, then do not download this mod.

You can download the mod from the link below and from the Files section.
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/34

The instructions for installing this mod is provided in the mod's description page. please follow the Packed IMG installation method to install this mod.

(Continued)

4k Pre-rendered Cutscenes with Higher Quality audio v2.0

This mod by No_One✔, replaces the lower resolution FMVs or the pre rendered cutscenes that the PC version of this game comes by default with much AI upscaled 4k resolution cutscenes.

Compatibility notice: The mod can be installed via Nova Chrysalia mod manager. skip this if you want to install mods from both the frameworks as we will be installing the Nova version of this mod.

This mod is available only for English voice overs and is still being worked on. it requires a lot of free space more than the Full HD mod and its recommended to download this only when you are sure that you have enough space on the drive on which you have the game installed.

You can download the mod from this page below and in the Files section as well as read more about the mod in the description page.

https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/24


Make sure to download the files marked with version 2.0 or above and the 4k Movie Installer file. after downloading the FMV files, follow the Installing using 4K Movie Installer [for v2.0+\Packed Files Only] instructions from the mod's description page to install this mod.

Change Victory Fanfare

This mod allows you to change the default victory fanfare to a select list of fanfare from other FINAL FANTASY games.

Compatibility notice: The mod can be installed via the Nova Chrysalia mod manager. skip installing this mod now if you want to install mods from both the frameworks as we will be installing the Nova version of this mod.

https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/32

The instructions for installing this mod is provided in the mod page.

Nova modding framework

Important 4gb Patch Clean Up

To use the Nova modding framework, we will have to remove the Crash Fix patch that we applied to our executable from before.

So when installing the crash fix patch, I mentioned to move the 4gb patcher files to a different folder if you are gonna be using the Nova modding framework. lets now open the patcher program again.

If you have deleted the patcher files, then you can re download the file from the link present in the Crash Fix section, and follow the same steps given there till the launcher file selection part.


- Now after selecting the launcher file in the small window, click on the Open button at the bottom of the window and you will be presented with three options.

The first two options are for installing or removing the patch, while the last option is for exiting this installer program.


Press the 'r' key and the removing process will begin. when the patch is removed, you will be prompted with a message box saying that it has finished removing the patch. click on the Ok button in the message box and that should close the program.


- Now in the folder where you have extracted the zip file, select all of the extracted files, then right click and select the delete option.



And that's it. you can now proceed to the next section

Setting up Nova Mod manager

You will have to join the Fabula Nova Crystallis Modding Community discord server to download the Nova Chrysalia mod manager.

Here is a invite link for the server:
https://discord.gg/NZzNVesvsB

The link for the mod manager download will be in the latest message in the # announcements channel on the server.

- Click on the link under the text Nova Chrysalia and that should take you to another site from where you have to download a zip file.


- Extract the zip file that you downloaded with WinRAR or 7Zip software and make sure to select the Extract to Nova Chrysalia 1.0.1 option.


- After the extraction is done, right click on the extracted folder and select Cut.


- Go the same drive where you have the game installed and in there right click and select Paste. this will paste the Nova Chrysalia folder in the drive or folder.
Since I have the game installed on drive S: I pasted the folder in this drive.


- Click on the NovaChrysalia.exe file and this should open the Mod manager.


- This is how the Mod manager will look when you open it the first time.


IMPORTANT: Under any circumstances, do not launch the game now through the mod manager. we will launch the game after we are done reading the Unpacking sections in this guide.


- Set the Install directory for the games that you own by clicking on the Browse button and navigate to the respective game's directory or the root folder.
For this game it's XIII-1 and the install directory will be the FINAL FANTASY XIII root folder.

- Once you have located the folder in the small navigation window, click on it and then click the Select folder option in the navigation window.


- In the Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 settings row, customize the graphic settings for your game as well as the Voice over settings too.
if you have the ASIA/JP region of the game with only Japanese voiceovers, then set the voice over settings to Japanese.


- Then in the last row, set the Filesystem to Unpacked mode.


We will need to unpack the game's files to use mods from the nova framework and this unpacking will require some free space in the drive where you have the game installed.
For XIII-1, you will need about 110gb of free space and this is including both the voiceover data. If you are going to unpack only for a single language option like only for English Audio, then the size is going to be reduced and be around 80gb.

Unpacking steps (for Nova framework):

These set of steps are only for those who are exclusively using the Nova framework for all of the mods. DO NOT follow this if you had installed mods from the other two frameworks written here before the Nova framework.

- In the same row where you had set the Filesystem mode, you will see two options Unpack Game Data (EN Audio) and Unpack Game Data (JP Audio).


If you are playing with English voice overs, then click on Unpack Game Data (EN Audio) option.
Or
If you are playing with Japanese voice overs or have the ASIA/JP region version of the game, then click on Unpack Game Data (JP Audio) option.

- On clicking either of the options, an prompt will pop up with a Yes or No options. Click on the Yes option and the unpacking process will start.
This process will take some time to complete and once the unpacking process is complete, an prompt will pop up saying its done unpacking. click on the Ok button to close this prompt.

Click on the Launch game option from the mod manager and if the game launches and functions till the main menu properly, then we are all set to install Nova mods to our game now.

You can exit the game now and proceed to the Installing nova mods section in this guide.

(Continued)

Unpacking Steps (for installing mods from both frameworks)

This small transition program linked below should help in properly unpacking the game data that has all non nova mods installed to the files. by unpacking the game data with this script, you will be able to use mods made for the Nova modding framework along with non nova framework mods as well.

This means you can use mods like The FFXIII HD Project, FFXIII HD Full Motion Video, Gameplay Tweaks and Hard Mode, etc along with Nova framework mods.

- Download the file 13-1 Unpack GameData script_v1.3.7z from this website:
https://mega.nz/file/P4AmUZpa#4siTdztwhvFtPZuBB0gJ7Ze9uz-pusMXE033iyrkUDQ

Note: Steam's automatic redirection removes the decryption key from the link. to ensure that this does not happen, select the link text by highlighting it, then right click and select copy. now open a browser of your choice and paste the link in address bar of the browser. then press enter and you should be taken to the mega page from where you can download the file.

- Right click on the downloaded 7z file and select properties.



- Then in the bottom of the properties window, untick the Unblock checkbox and then click on the Ok button.



- Now extract this zip file with winrar or 7zip software and you will get this following folder.



- Go into the extracted folder and click on the FFXIIINovaTransition application file.



- On clicking the application, a program should open along with a message box, prompting you to select the FFXiiiLauncher.exe file.



- Click Ok on the message box and in the small window that opens, navigate to your game's root directory which is the FINAL FANTASY XIII folder. the FFXiiiLauncher.exe file is present inside this folder.


- After selecting the launcher file in the small window, click on the Open button at the bottom of the window and you will be presented with three options.
The first two options are for selecting the voiceovers and the last option is for exiting this installer program.

Press the appropriate key that matches the voiceover by which you are playing the game and the unpacking process will begin. this will take some time to complete depending on your disk speed and during this process, please make sure that you do not interfere with any of the files on the drive where the game is installed.

Once the process is done, you will be prompted with a message box stating the following:
Finished unpacking game data and movie data. Transition is complete.

- Now in the folder where you had extracted the 7z file, select the extracted folder, then right click and select the delete option.

You can now proceed to the Installing Nova mods section in this guide.

Nova Mods

Installing Nova mods

There are mainly two types of Mods that are made to work with Nova Chrysalia's Unpacked filesystem mode function.

- Mod files that are packed in a .NCMP file format which has to be installed through Nova. this is the format that is used by most of the Nova mods.
And
- Mod files that modifies the unpacked files. the Better Quality FMV audio (standalone) mod functions by modifying the unpacked files and as of writing this guide is the only mod that works this way.

All of these mods will only work if the game is launched through Nova, with the Filesystem set to Unpacked Mode.

We will first look into installing some of the core mods via Nova mod manager. this installation will give you an idea on how to install NCMP mods via Nova Chrysalia.

Core Mods:

This section will include the installation of the PS3 or Xbox 360 Button Prompts mod as well as the Controller Prompts as Default mod.

- From the same # announcements channel in the discord server where you had downloaded Nova Chrysalia, click on the link under the text Core Mods and that should take you to another site from where you have to download a zip file.


- Extract the zip file that you downloaded with WinRAR or 7Zip software and make sure to select the Extract to Nova Chrysalia - Core Mods v1.0.0\ options.


- Now in Nova Chrysalia mod manager, go to the ModPack Manager tab.


- Click on the Add ModPack option and navigate into the folder where you had extracted the Core Mods zip file.

- Once you are inside the extracted Core mods folder, you have to click and add the files that begin with [FFXIII] in the filename. the starting name in the file is used to identify the game name for which the mod is supposed to be installed.

PS3 / Xbox 360 / Controller Prompt as Default mods:

- If you are using a Playstation type controller, then double click on the PS3 Button Prompts ncmp file as shown in the image.
Or
If you are using an Xbox type controller and want coloured button prompts, then double click on the X360 Button Prompts file.


- The mod will be added in the ModPack manager as seen in the image.


- I suggest adding the Controller Prompts as Default mod the same way that you added the PS3 or X360 Button Prompt modpacks.


- Now you will have to double click on the mod from this list to select it.


- Once you see the preview image of the mod appear on the right side, click on the Install Mod option and you will be prompted whether to install the mod or not. Click Yes and wait for the "Installation successful" prompt to appear.
If that prompt appears then the mod has installed correctly.

- You can now double click and install the Controller Prompts as Default mod from the mod list, the same way by which you installed the button prompt mod.

- Go back to the Game Launcher tab in Nova Chrysalia and launch Final Fantasy XIII via the Launch Game option.
Your respective button prompt mod that you installed via the mod manager should now appear in game.

Hopefully with these steps, you should now be able to install any NCMP type mod to your game.

The mods installed through this mod manager will only work if you launch the game via the Mod manager's Launch Game option.
if you launch it directly from steam or any other means, then the installed mods will not appear ingame.

(Continued)

Paradigm Shift Quick Camera

Normally when you initiate a Paradigm Shift for the first time in battle, a long and drawn out
sequence occurs where the camera will pan between party members. every time afterwards the shift sequence is much shorter.

This mod by Peklo forces the shorter sequence to always play instead of the longer sequence.

Just like how you installed the Nova version of the PS3 / X360 prompts mod, we need to add the NCMP file into the Nova mod manager with the Add ModPack option present in the ModPack Manager tab.


Once its added into the manager, click on the mod and then click on the Install Mod button. this will install the mod to your game.

13-1 Randomizer

This mod by Bartz24, allows you to randomize certain aspects of this game making it to a bit more interesting than the base game.

Warning: The Randomizer is in a alpha state and a lot of bugs do occur. this randomizer may or may not be compatible with the Gameplay Tweaks and Hard mode mod. if you have already installed that mod, then do not use this randomizer.

I suggest trying this randomizer only after finishing the base game once or after the main story is done. if you really liked this game and want to replay it with a bit more variety then you can use this randomizer when replaying the game.

https://github.com/Bartz24/FFModdingWPF/releases

Expand the Assets option in the webpage above and click on the FF13Randomizer0.7.3.1.7z file. as of writing this guide, the version of the randomizer is 0.7.3.1.

After downloading the file, extract it and you will get few files. open the README.pdf file and follow the instructions in the pdf to setup the randomizer for this game.

Guide for installing Nova version mods that also have non nova version mods

HD Models Plus

From the Files section download the files have - Nova Chrysalia at the end of the filenames.

https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/11

Extract the zip files after its downloaded and you will get NCMP files. you will had to add these NCMP files individually with the Add ModPack option present in the ModPack Manager tab in the Nova Mod manager.

When you click on the Install Mod button, you will get a command prompt window with some options. follow the instructions that is displayed in the command prompt and the mod will be installed to your game.

Better Quality audio for Pre rendered movies

In the mod page's description, follow the Nova mod manager Installation method and go directly to the Installing the mod portion.

https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/34

4k Pre-rendered Cutscenes with Higher Quality audio v2.0

Warning: This mod will take a lot of space and its recommended to download this only when you are sure that you have enough space on the drive on which you have the game installed.

Download the files marked with version 2.0 or above. there is a optional 60fps cutscene only for the Pre-Credits FMV and you can choose whether to download that one or not based on your preference.

https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/24

After downloading each zip file, extract them individually and you will get NCMP files.

You will have to add these NCMP files with the Add ModPack option present in the ModPack Manager tab in the Nova Mod manager.

Once you add each NCMP file into the manager, you have click on them from the list and then click on the Install Mod button. this will install this each FMV set remastered by this mod into your game files.

Credits

Thanks to these amazing individuals and teams:

rebtd7 for the FF13Fix

Nvidia Profile inspector tool creator Orbmu2k

Krisan Thyme and the rest of the Nova Chrysalia development team for the Console button Prompts mod and the Nova Chrysalia Mod Manager

Team NGS and MJB for their really cool mods

No_One✔ for the 4k FMVs mod

Peklo for the Paradigm Shift Quick Camera mod

Bartz24 for the 13-1 randomizer mod and

The PCgaming wiki site community for having written solutions for the Macro-blocking and other issues with this PC port

[Gazz ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

Thank you for this guide. I think I did it correctly, but the controller vibration still not working. I'm using a controller with X-Input.

[Number Eight]

@SoyPoker If you followed instructions provided in FF13Fix readme about applying 4GB patch and created backup for the game .exe, all you need to do is to delete the patched one and rename the backup to it's original name. Otherwise, you can always verify the game integrity through Steam client to re-downoald the original unmodified files.

@Surihix I actually never had any problem with this game besides DEP and broken UI in 1080p resolution, which was resolved by adding exception in Windows settings and applying FF13Fix respectively.
I'm just trying to be of some help to others, saying what worked for me when I applied mods. I only applied 4GB patch as precaution to avoid crashes when using HD models in times before I moved to nova modding framework. I'm sorry if I cause confusion instead.

[Succubus Nirriti]

I deleted my previous comment: The hair FIXES WORK!! <3 TY SO MUCH! Now Tsundere WAIFU Lighting looks all pretty.

[Surihix]

Sorry for the late reply

@SoyPoker, @Straxis, & @Number Eight

Since you all had issues with the 4gb patch, I would like to know if you all are trying to install this patch on a device that is not running windows OS like the steam deck ?

These programs are all written with windows OS in mind and it probably won't work on linux OS.

[SoyPoker]

I got a question. I wanted to install the Nova Launcher, and in order to do so I need to remove the 4gb patch. However, the program doesn't prompt me the menu to remove the patch, and instead it only patch the game again. Can I get any help with this?

[Number Eight]

@Straxis In case you are talking about Nova launcher, it does not apply the 4GB patch same way as standalone tool does.
It apply it's own "temporal patch" upon launching the game, thus the game .exe is supposed to be unaltered in order for everything to work as intended.
If I'm not mistaken, then the only thing you have to apply manually is FF13Fix.

[Straxis]

@Surihix the 4gb patch won't do its thing when I open the launcher I don't know what the problem is do you have any clue about it?

[Number Eight]

@RogueRen Nova Crysalia have many mods converted to new framework including 360/PS3 controller buttons and controller prompts as default mods for unpacked game client available on discord channel (weren't uploaded anywhere else afaik)
I have no idea how SteamOS work though, to run the game through Nova launcher, unpack the game data and install mods.

[RogueRen]

Is there a way to do the button prompts without the .bat file? I'm playing with Proton on SteamOS and bat files can't see the directories they need so they're basically useless

[Casualcat]

@Surihix I have followed the pre requisites but I still do not get 60fps, what do I do please?