Upgraded texture pack?

[Zeroe]

This game needs this bad

[Secondplanet]

i think SE should test the waters with this. Make an optional 360 & PC update pack ($10) or $9.99 since they like that for just to upgrade our characters and gear only, If it sells good then look into doing more like the monsters for another $9.99. After that maybe do zones for free if you bought the first 2 packs.

[oliveira]

It doesn't do everything on the CPU, it just only uses DirectX 8 functions. If it was software rendering then it wouldn't need T&L, wouldn't use DTX1 texture compression, and it wouldn't use Shader Model 1.0 (disable any of those things and FFXI will not run) In fact it would not need a 3D card at all and could run on an old S3 VGA card.

It may not do everything, but it does a lot of stuff using the CPU. In fact it mimics what a PS2 does, which is render and apply textures to the graphics using the "CPU". The PS2 does not use it's main CPU for that as it's not fast enough but it has two very powerful programable Toshiba DSPs (Vector Units) inside of the CPU die just for that. Also, there's a graphics chip there called "Graphics Synthesizer" which does lighting and particle effects after the bulk of the rendering is done and sent. Data rate on that system is like 35GB/s so it does not suffer slowdown/framerate drop with too complex geometries (like dust, rain, snow, confluxes, telepoints).

So the game stutters when you stand by a conflux because DX8 is a old unwanted API, Nvidia and AMD do not care about it at all. The game uses it to perform the lighting and particle effects that on the PS2 would be done in the GS chip.

Newer graphics cards are not capable of processing DX8 data natively, which means the driver will push the conversion task onto the CPU (which is already busy doing the rendering of the ~125 player characters standing around Joachim at Port Jeuno or those transparent shades of the veridical confluxes) because the graphics card need the data to be translated for it's native format prior to processing...
You end needing a (|Incredibly Tough|) PC to play decently.


I'm not posting this just to disagree or anything of that sort. I can only agree that the PC version of the game need to abandon that "PS2 compatibility" model so it can finally run in the PC in a more efficient way.

I have a GTX280 on my PC... (it's G200 based, so not as bad as G400/Fermi based cards for FFXI)
I can hear it whistle when I stand by a veridical conflux...


They would maybe get working on that if they see this thread. One can hope lol

[Anapingofness]

I would welcome this, no doubts about it.

The game could use a little facelift after all of these years.

[Dragoy]

Should have waited a bit more for the 1 year anniversary of the thread. :Ð

A-ny-who, it would obviously be nice if they went even further with them improvements, but alas, I have but little hope left in me.

Impossible is nothing, however, and as long as there are people hoping for it, there is a speck of a possibility even if it is hidden in the shadows of the past, waiting to be revealed by adventurers far and nigh, fearless of the perils that have been, and will be, that is, the future.

What?

I actually don't like the FFXIV characters... Be it the design or the modern looks, I do not know (the emotes are just creepy), but I do know I like the FFXI ones better...

[saevel]

They would need to first update the GFX engine to be at least DX9 native (its DX8 now). Then they could add higher quality textures to the game. Honestly do both and release it as a graphics update.

[Kuvo]

This would be great if they did it and I would pay for the updated HD as well but this is SE we're talking about. When did they really give their fans what they wanted. How long have their fans asked and demanded an updated graphics FFVII and up until a few weeks ago they weren't going to do anything extra for that game. Lets see it took them 11-12 years to re-release FF7 so with that logic we still have another few years to go for FFXI to be updated the way we would like. Not holding my breath.

Also I loved the little teasers they did for FFXI saying there updating graphics... but when u would read what they actually did was update how an icon looked or your name display. I remember being sooo sad that it wasn't an overhaul of graphics updates. Oh well.....

[Shewp]

I think we'll get a graphics update... eventually. Especially now with Tanaka out. We've seen updated spell icons and higher resolution font. I hope the next step will be higher resolution spell effects and then textures! ffxi WILL outlive the PS2, it just might take another decade because SE is SE.

[Phogg]

I'd not pay for it, frankly i don't think I should have to pay for every single upgrade in FFXI. (do other games charge for texture packs?)

But i would very much welcome something like this, and would not object to it. However if it did cost, I don't care enough about how pretty my pixels look enough to pay for it, I can enjoy a game just fine without it.

I don't play it, but I understand Cataclysm or whatever from WoW was basically an expansion that also simultaneously revamped all the previously existing zones to higher resolutions and subtle changes because the game "jumped" in time or something.

That was around the same time FFXIV came out I think and after trying that horrible game I really wished they would have just done something similar to what WoW did with FFXI.

[Kanjitai]

It would be nice to see this. They could do this for PC and Xbox. I know this would cause PS2 players to groan but it might move them to change platforms.