Final Fantasy XIII

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Final Fantasy XIII

Developers
	Square Enix
Microsoft Store Launcher	Virtuos
Engines
	Crystal Tools
Release dates
Windows	October 9, 2014
Reception
Metacritic	65
IGDB	81
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Continuous turn-based
Perspectives	Third-person
Controls	Direct control, Menu-based
Genres	JRPG, RPG
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Fantasy
Series	Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy XIII is a JRPG developed and published by Square Enix that released on PC in 2014.

Originally released in 2009 on the PS3 and Xbox 360, the game offers radical changes of gameplay compared to past titles, such as the streamlining of elements like exploration and combat. The PC version also offers the previously Japanese-exclusive easy mode.

The game has some visual glitches on resolutions higher than 720p, but unofficial fixes could help alleviate the problem. Originally designed for the PlayStation 3's Cell processor, this port incorrectly processes all game logic on a single thread rather than the multitasking used for the PS3. The engine's resource management could also be broken, leaving the CPU and GPU to be underutilized.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		XIII + XIII-2 double pack available in Europe
Publisher website		European store
Publisher website		North American store
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Microsoft Store
Steam
Amazon.com (unavailable)

Version differences

The Windows Store version has a different build of the game featuring a new launcher along with the addition of a "Quit Game" option, added to the game's party menu and pause menu screens.

Essential improvements

FF13Fix

Not compatible with the Windows Store version due to UWP restrictions

A mod that fixes low framerates on capable machines and uncaps framerate, features include:

• Removes aggressive frame pacer (works like a proper triple buffer implementation).
• Disables constant checks for input devices.
• Uncaps framerate, also properly utilizes the display's refresh rate.
• Fixes the slowdown when 2D elements are drawn in the HUD
• Fixes missing text on enemy scans.
• Enables vibration support.
• Works around the screen glitches when using 2560x1440 resolution

Remove unused pre-rendered cutscenes to free up space

The game features dual audio for the ROW release and has a separate pre-rendered cutscenes for both audio languages. Removing these cutscene files for either of the audio languages frees about 20 GB of space.

Verification and updating by Steam will redownload the files.

Remove English or Japanese cutscene files
Go to <path-to-game>/white_data/movie/ Arrange list by file size making biggest files to show up first. Ignore the 1KB files. To remove the Japanese cutscenes, delete the 18 files without the us suffix. To remove the English cutscenes, delete the 18 files with the us suffix.

Game data

All in-game configurations are stored directly in the saved game data. Changes made while in the title screen are not preserved after loading a saved game.

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\setup.xml
Microsoft Store	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Square Enix\FFXIII\MS\config.json
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/292120/pfx/

Save game data location

The Steam folder is used when Steam Cloud is enabled; otherwise, the Windows folder is used.

System	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\SquareEnix\FinalFantasyXIII\save\
Microsoft Store	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\39EA002F.FFXIII_n746a19ndrrjg\SystemAppData\wgs\<user-id>\
Steam	<Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/292120/remote/
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/292120/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud		Up to 100 save files (29.3 MB) can be synced.
Xbox Cloud

Video

Launcher options in ROW version.

In-game options in ROW version.

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Use Final Fantasy XIII Ultrawide Fix to force any screen resolution.
Multi-monitor		Pillarboxed 16:9. Use Final Fantasy XIII Ultrawide Fix.
Ultra-widescreen		Pillarboxed 16:9. Use Final Fantasy XIII Ultrawide Fix.
4K Ultra HD		Use Final Fantasy XIII Ultrawide Fix to force any screen resolution.
Field of view (FOV)		Use Final Fantasy XIII Ultrawide Fix.
Windowed		Set in launcher or see Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Use the GPU control panel or a tool like GeDoSaTo.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 8x MSAA. DSR or VSR can be forced through the GPU control panel.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Always on. See Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS		Frame rate is capped at 60 FPS.
120+ FPS		Uncapping the frame rate causes facial animation bugs during in-game cutscenes.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Windowed

Force windowed mode
Install FF13Fix. Open FF13Fix.ini. Change ForceWindowedMode = false to ForceWindowedMode = true.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Force borderless mode
Install FF13Fix. Open FF13Fix.ini. Change Borderless = false to Borderless = true.

Vertical Sync (Vsync)

Example of pixelated and jagged shadows at lower shadow resolution.

Force Vsync off
Install FF13Fix. Open FF13Fix.ini. Change PresentationInterval = 1 to PresentationInterval = -1.

Pillarboxing on ultrawide monitors

Pillarboxing (black bars) will appear on ultrawide monitors.

Use the Ultra wide fix

Download and install Final Fantasy XIII Ultrawide Fix. Unpack the archive and open the Settings.ini file through a text editor like Notepad. Change Fullscreen = 0 to Fullscreen = 1 and specify the width and height of the ultrawide monitor's resolution. After specifying the values, save the file and copy all files to the following two locations: "\FINAL FANTASY XIII\" and "\FINAL FANTASY XIII\white_data\prog\win\bin\" This should remove the black bars

Shadow rendering imperfections

Shadow rendering is slightly different compared to the console versions. At lower shadow resolutions, shadows appear pixelated and jagged at the edges while at higher shadow resolutions, the shadows do not look pixelated and the jagged edges are gone, but the shadows start to look hard and dense.

Input

The menu section of Keyboard Settings.

The menu section of Gamepad Controls.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Movement and camera orientation keys are not remappable.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus		Can confirm with the left button and cancel with the right button, but it may require alt-tabbing first.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support		Launcher needs mouse or keyboard. Cannot exit the game normally using the controller.
Controller remapping		Confirmation and cancellation buttons can be swapped via the -decidebuttonreverse command line option of ffxiiiimg.exe. With it enabled (default for Asia) B is the confirm button and A is the cancel button, disabling it does the reverse.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		X-axis inversion also available

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		Only through DirectInput.
Xbox button prompts		Manual toggle in the settings: On-screen Button Explanations.
Impulse Trigger vibration

PlayStation controllers		BT support through DS4Windows or Steam input.
PlayStation button prompts		See Console button prompts.
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes

Generic/other controllers		No rebinding.
Button prompts

Additional information
Button prompts		The game comes by default with its own gray color Xbox styled prompts on PC. Alternatively, the Xbox 360 version colored button icons can be used as well, see Console button prompts. For DualShock button icons, see Console button prompts.
Controller hotplugging		Has to be disabled for Haptic feedback through FF13Fix
Haptic feedback		Can be modded back using FF13Fix.
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Console button prompts

The game comes only with gray Xbox button prompts, without differentiating colors. This mod restores PlayStation and colored Xbox prompts.

Unlock Confirm/Cancel button configuration

By default only the Asian version of the game has this option available. By patching the launcher, it can be unlocked for all versions of the game.

Controller vibration doesn't work

The game lacks the controller vibration support found in the console versions entirely.

This fix is incompatible with the Windows Store version of the game.

Use FF13Fix

Xbox One Controller bug in menus

This issue seems to happen when using the controller in wireless mode.

This issue does not occur in the new Windows Store version of the game.

Use Final Fantasy XIII Fixer
Run the utility before and alongside the game each time it is launched. This may be incompatible with FF13Fix.

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		See audio volume is low.
Surround sound		Up to 5.1. No in-game option.
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Loses focus by minimizing in windowed mode.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English				Worldwide (audio not available in Asia).
Traditional Chinese				Asia only.
French				Not available in Asia.
German				Not available in Asia.
Italian				Not available in Asia.
Japanese				Worldwide (UI and subtitles only available in Asia).
Korean				Asia only.
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation by Tribo Gamer
Polish				Fan translation, download.
Russian				Fan translation by «FFRTT.ru».
Spanish				Not available in Asia.

Issues fixed

Missing effects at resolutions higher than 1280x720

Display resolutions other than 1280x720 can cause certain text boxes to not render properly.

The Windows Store version of the game has this issue when the game is set to run in a resolution higher than 1920x1080.

Use FF13Fix
This fix is incompatible with the Windows Store version of the game.

Right analog stick doesn't move the camera and wrong controller bindings

The right analog stick doesn't move the camera, or other button assignments/bindings are completely wrong.

Enable Steam Input for the game.
Right click on the game in the Steam Library. Properties > Controller. In the "Override for Final Fantasy XIII" drop down menu, select "Enable Steam Input"

Inconsistent 60 FPS

While there are several workarounds and fixes for inconsistent FPS (an issue not entirely unique to the PC port), this may be due to issues within the game engine itself.

The game also uses a custom frame rate pacer that locks the frame rate to refresh rate intervals similarly to Vertical Sync, but much more aggressively.

The Windows Store version mitigates this issue to an extent, but the framerate is still inconsistent in certain sections of the game.

Use FF13Fix to immensely improve the frame rate
This fix is incompatible with the Windows Store version of the game.

Turn off the mini-map in-game
This isn't required to be done for the Windows Store version.

Constant stuttering in game

This issue is caused by the game's controller hot plugging function constantly searching if a controller is connected or not and timing out if it doesn't detect a controller, thereby causing the stutters. It fires an event every one second.

The issue has been fixed in the Windows Store version.

Use FF13Fix

Use vJoy to trick the game into thinking that a controller has been plugged if a keyboard and mouse is the preference for gameplay.

Macroblocking-like artifacts on character hair

This is a bug that can occur on pre-Pascal Nvidia cards causing small black square artifacts to keep flashing on the character's hair.

Use anti aliasing fix from Nvidia Profile Inspector
Download Nvidia Profile inspector from here. Select Final Fantasy XIII from the Profiles drop down list. Under "1 - Compatibility" section (top of the profile) set the Anti-aliasing fix option to on Hit Apply on the top right corner and close the inspector.

Abnormal eyelashes and hair

When antialiasing is completely disabled through system drivers or external programs, features such as eyelashes and hair display abnormally.

MSAA is required for proper alpha-to-coverage on hair and eyelashes. On certain PC's the option is disabled from the driver side, resulting in this bug.

Ensure Anti-aliasing mode is not disabled or set to Override in the control panel

For Nvidia Cards Open the Nvidia Control Panel. In the Program settings Tab, add the exe file of the game which is named ffxiiiimg.exe from the drop down list in the center. Set the Anti aliasing mode option to Application Controlled if it was previously set to Off or Override application setting from the set of drop down options below. Hit apply, and close the control panel. For AMD Cards Open the AMD Radeon Settings Select the Global settings tab and here in this section, set the Anti-aliasing mode option to Use Application settings from the set of drop down options below. Close the Radeon settings panel

Game uses incorrect refresh rate

By default the game forces a 60 Hz refresh rate in full screen mode.

Use FF13Fix
Edit FF13Fix.ini to specify a custom refresh rate. This fix is incompatible with the Windows Store version of the game.

Pixelated screen bug when using 2560x1440 resolution

2560x1440 resolution breaks the game, making it look more pixelated than it should.

Use FF13Fix
This fix is incompatible with the Windows Store version of the game.

Mouse cursor stays on screen

The mouse cursor may appear on program launch and will not disappear.

This fix is incompatible with the Windows Store version of the game.

Use FF13Fix
Install FF13Fix. Open FF13Fix.ini. Change HideCursor = false to HideCursor = true.

Game crashing on Chapter 8: City of Dreams (Nautilus)

The game crashes on certain resolutions when it begins playing the first cutscene in Nautilus.

Here is a list of resolutions on which the crash occurs:

• 1366x768
• 1600x1050
• 2036x1273
• 2103x1183
• 2351x1323
• 2715x1527
• 3325x1871

Change the resolution temporarily to a lower supported one
Set the game to run at a different screen resolution that is not mentioned in the above list of resolutions from the game launcher. Play through the area where the crash occurs and watch the cutscene. Save and close the game. Change back to the previous resolution and continue playing.

Launcher doesn't launch

Bypass the launcher and run the program directly

Run <path-to-game>\white_data\prog\win\bin\ffxiiiimg.exe with the desired command line arguments: -Width=1920 and -Height=1080 controls the width and height of the display resolution. -Shadow=512 controls the shadow resolution (512, 1024, 2048, 4096, or 8192). -Msaa=4 controls the MSAA amount (2, 4, 8, or 16). -FullScreenMode=Force runs in full screen mode. -Fullscreen=window-mode forces windowed mode. -VoiceJPMode runs the game with Japanese audio. Without this setting, the game has English audio instead.

Use Final Fantasy XIII Combined Custom Launcher
Use it instead of the official launcher. It also provides more options (e.g. more Windowed mode resolutions)

Could not secure sufficient VRAM

This issue occurs when launching the game due to the inability to allocate the required VRAM.

This error seems to occur if the game is launched with high graphics quality settings, 4 GB Patch applied, and the computer doesn't have enough system RAM to be able to handle the game.

Assign more RAM to the GPU
This is a method for just one particular setup. Other setups may vary. Restart and enter the BIOS configuration when starting up, typically by pressing one of the F1 - F12 or DEL keys. Under "Peripherals" then "GFX Configs" ensure that "Graphic Interface" is set to "Force". An option to assign RAM should appear. Select a sufficiently higher value from the list such as 512 MB.

Continuous cursor cycling in menus

Symptoms of this issue include continuous cursor cycling through menu entries as if the user was pressing a directional button.

Disable offending HIDs in Device Manager
Go into Device Manager and start disabling Human Interface Devices (HIDs) one by one until the one is causing the issue is found. It's been reported that redundant HID-compliant gaming controllers are usually the issue, often created by third party accessories such as DolphinBar.

Crashes when saving

The game can crash on certain configs when saving with Steam Cloud synchronization active. This can also result in corrupted save files.

This issue does not occur in the Windows Store version of the game.

Disable Steam Cloud synchronization for the game[citation needed]
Right-click the game in the Steam library and select "Properties". Uncheck/deselect "Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for FINAL FANTASY XIII" under "Steam Cloud" in the "Updates" tab. Copy the saved data from Steam Cloud to %LOCALAPPDATA%\SquareEnix\FinalFantasyXIII\save\.

Other information

Modding

A tool which allows the game's camera to be unlocked is available here.

A mod which allows for subtitles in any language in any version of the game is available here.

Mods offering improvements like higher quality models, higher resolution textures and 4K cutscenes are available on Nexus Mods.

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Cutscenes	Bink Video	Out-of-engine and few in engine cutscenes.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP2	Vista, 7, 8
Processor (CPU)	2 GHz dual core	Intel Core 2 Quad (2.66 GHz) AMD Phenom II X4 (2.8 GHz)
System memory (RAM)	1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	60 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 8 Series ATI Radeon HD 2000 series 256 MB of VRAM	Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 AMD Radeon HD 5870
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0c compatible	DirectX 11 compatible
Other		XInput controller (map DirectInput controllers using drivers)