Final Fantasy XIII

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.

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. The game also has some visual glitches on resolutions higher than 720p. The unofficial FF13Fix mod aims to alleviate many of the issues related to the port. Modifications could also alleviate the subpar reencoding of the full motion videos from the PS3 version.

The game was released on the Microsoft Store in 2021, featuring a different build of the game with a new launcher and a Quit Game menu option. Additionally, several issues present in the initial release were mitigated or fixed, such as stuttering and frame pacing in some situations, controller issues in menus, and crashes when saving. However, third-party fixes may be incompatible due to UWP restrictions.

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Publisher website		European store
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Microsoft Store
Steam
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Publisher website (unavailable)		North American store
(unavailable)

Essential improvements

FF13Fix

A mod for the Steam version which fixes several performance- and resolution-related issues, restores vibration support, etc.

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
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)		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Up to 8x MSAA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Use FF13Fix for triple buffering. See also Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS		Frame rate is capped at 60 FPS.
120+ FPS		Uncapped frame rate causes facial animation bugs during in-game cutscenes.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

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)

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

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 sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus		Can confirm with the left button and cancel with the right button, but it may require alt-tabbing first.
Keyboard and mouse prompts
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		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion		X-axis inversion also available

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers		Only through DirectInput.
Xbox button prompts		Game uses gray themed Xbox prompts. Use this mod for colored Xbox 360 prompts.
Impulse Trigger support

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers		BT support through DS4Windows or Steam input.
PlayStation button prompts		Use this mod.
Motion sensors support
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)		No rebinding.
Additional button prompts

Additional information
Controller hotplugging		Has to be disabled for haptic feedback through FF13Fix.
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback		Use FF13Fix.
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
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.
Czech				Fan - #1
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; download.
Polish				Fan translation, download.
Russian				Fan translation by «FFRTT.ru».
Spanish				Not available in Asia.

Issues unresolved

Shadow rendering imperfections

In-game shadow issues highlight

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.

Issues fixed

Game crashes

Allow game to access more than 2 GB of RAM

Copy ffxiiiimg.exe and paste in <path-to-game>\white_data\prog\win\bin. Rename it to untouched.exe (mandatory step). Patch the original ffxiiiimg.exe using 4 GB Patch. If you encounter Error 51 on boot up, make a copy of the original ffxiiiimg.exe and rename it to untouched.exe, then patch the ffxiiiimg.exe. Do not have merely the the patched one in the directory. Also try installing FF13Fix as well.

Work around crashes with AMD Navi cards
Install DXVK and FF13Fix. Rename DXVK's x86 d3d9.dll file to dxvk.dll (keep FF13Fix as d3d9.dll).

Inconsistent frame rate or stuttering

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

Use FF13Fix
Removes the frame pacer and fixes stuttering caused by new controllers being scanned every second. Improves the frame rate when 2D elements are on screen (i.e. minimap or battle menu HUD). Enables triple buffering and allows refresh rates above 60 Hz in full screen, which can improve frame pacing.

Pixelated graphics or misrendered text at high resolutions

Enemy scan text doesn't render properly above 1280x720 on the Steam version (1920x1080 for Microsoft Store).

Graphics look pixelated and screen space effects are misaligned at 2560x1440 resolution.

Use FF13Fix

Mouse cursor doesn't hide

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

Controller issues in menus (Steam)

Use Final Fantasy XIII Fixer

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

Enable Steam Input for the game

Artifacts on hair and/or eyelashes

When antialiasing is completely disabled through system drivers or external programs, features such as eyelashes and hair display abnormally. May occur on pre-Pascal Nvidia cards.

Fix AA setting(s) (Nvidia)
Launch Nvidia Profile inspector and select the game's profile. Under Compatibility, set Anti-aliasing fix to on. Set Anti-aliasing (MSAA) - Mode to Application-controlled, and apply changes.

Fix AA setting (AMD)
Open AMD Catalyst Control Center. In Global settings, set Anti-aliasing mode to Use Application settings.

Crashes during first cutscene in chapter 8

Temporarily change the resolution to a lower one

Launcher doesn't start

Install Microsoft Visual C++

Use Custom Launcher

Could not secure sufficient VRAM

Assign more RAM to the GPU

Continuous cursor cycling in menus

Disable HID-compliant gaming controllers in Device Manager

Crashes when saving (Steam)

Disable Steam Cloud[citation needed]
Disable Steam Cloud synchronization for the game. Copy saved data from Steam Cloud to save location.

Other information

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.

Command line parameters

See command line arguments on how to use the following options.

Parameter	Description
-Width -Height	Control the width and height of the display resolution.
-Shadow	Controls the shadow resolution (512, 1024, 2048, 4096, or 8192).
-Msaa	Controls the MSAA amount (2, 4, 8, or 16).
-FullScreenMode=Force	Forces full screen mode.
-Fullscreen=window-mode	Forces windowed mode.
-VoiceJPMode	Runs the game with Japanese audio.
-decidebuttonreverse	B button becomes decide. A button becomes cancel.

Remove unused pre-rendered cutscenes

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.

Modifications

Mods may not be compatible with the Microsoft Store version

Graphical

• The FF XIII HD Project Replaces many background textures with high-quality HD recreations.
• HD Models Plus Replaces all character models and textures with high-quality assets
• FF XIII HD Full Motion Videos Replaces the heavily compressed PC port's 720p FMVs with higher-quality FMVs upscaled to 1080p
• FFXIII Tools Adds camera and FOV control, HUD toggle, timestop, bloom and DOF removal.

Audio

• Higher quality cutscene audio (EN and JP) Restores the PS3 audio quality of the FMVs

Launcher

• Final Fantasy XIII series Combined Custom Launcher Allows launcher settings to go beyond the default boundaries
• Final Fantasy XIII Launcher Patcher Unlocks the option to swap Confirm/Cancel buttons

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
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	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)