The FFXI PC

[Ryce]

I was going to post in response to one of the latest "Drop PS2" threads, but I thought this could be a valuable resource on it's own (if anyone responds).

We hear over and over again on these forums that it would be dirt cheap to buy a PC for FFXI, and PS2 users should make the switch. I built a PC for FFXI when it was first announced (I currently play on Windows 7 on my MacBook). I know they can be cheap and easy to make. I'm wondering if a few community members will share their cheap configurations or recommend a cheap pre-built PC that can run FFXI effectively.

Knowing that these affordable options are out there (specifically) may prompt some PS2 users to make the switch... especially if it increases the likeliness of new content.

[Inafking]

www.pricewatch.com

in a hurry but found this real quick

http://www.ascendtech.us/customkititems.asp?kc=DTBBIC780MA2545

KIT PRICE: $ 305.79
The Items of the kit are shown below
Amd Socket Am2+ Am3 Athlon Ii / Phenom Ecs Ic780m-A2 Amd 770 Am3 Ddr3 Sataii Mb
Amd Athlon Dual Core / Phenom Quad Core Amd Phenom Ii X2 545 3.1ghz Processor
Ddr3 240-Pin Desktop Memory 4gb(2x2gb) Ddr3 1333mhz Dual Channel Kit
Pci Express Video Card Adapters Nvidia Geforce G310 512mb Pci-E 2.0 Card
Additional Storage 500gb Serial Ata Sata 7200rpm Hard Drive
Internal Drives And Burners Dvd±Rw Dvd Burner / Dvd Reader Drive Ide

More than enough to run the game at full settings through a hdtv. Just gotta use ubuntu or buy / pirate windows. Also would need to buy a mouse and a cable to connect it to a hdtv. Could use KB from PS2. But cheapest way is to dumpster dive or get spare parts from PCs others throw away.

[Kagato]

Anything pre-made and store-bought can run FFXI atmax settings. I bought a $500 laptop earlier this year for college and it's built with a GeForce graphics card equivalent to a 7900 or so.

Back when FFXI first came out, the graphics card I had was a GeForce Ti 4600. Guess how much that card is worth now? About $10-50 depending on where you buy it online. This card is almost 10 years old and it can run FFXI at near-max, if not completely max. Just need enough RAM and CPU power to keep it smooth and since PCs for the last 5 years come with about 2GB or ram built-in and Core 2 Duo or higher CPUs, you'll be fine.

The worst I have ever run FFXI was with the GeForce Ti 4600, 2GB of Ram and a Intel Pentium 3 CPU. That crap set-up was enough to play FFXI just fine and almost very smoothly, only showing some slow-downs during very packed cities and during certain cutscenes. All of that is worth about as much as the stuff you drop in the toilet.

Just a rule of thumb. The more recent your computer, the less you'll have to spend to upgrade, but if your PC is no more than 4 years old without upgrades, especially laptops, chances are you can already run FFXI at decent to high settings.

[slakyak]

I got an acer tower earlier this year for under £300 that wouldn't run it as it has on board graphics (don't laugh!). Luckily a £30 PCI-E card sorted that... Still not convinced it's running at full but the monitor is oooooold.

[Gennadi]

I hacked my timex watch and now i can play ffxi easily. So ya down with the ps2

[Alhanelem]

Even a modern netbook should be able to run the game decently (even integrated graphics in newer machines should have the T&L that the game requires), and you can find those for less than $300. Some onboard intel chipsets might not work. For those that don't, I believe there is some tool out there that can emulate it.


This card is almost 10 years old and it can run FFXI at near-max, virtually any chipset except for some intel integrated chipsets made in the last several years will work fine. FFXI barely utilizes any functions of the video card whatsoever other than T&L. Take a look at your driver's control panel while the game is running- the GPU utilization will generally be very low.

[Zemarin]

Tahngarthor is very informative, does that "bench mark test" help find out ifI can run it on my pc >.>?

[Dmer]

I bought an Asus 1005HA netbook last year to use just for lugging to classes for taking notes so I didn't have to take my full size Asus laptop that I play FFXI on with me. last month I figured I'd see if it would run the game at all, just for shits and giggles. it runs great. no frame rate issues, no crashes, and no screwed up polygons.

The only problem I have is that I am a controller user, and mine is a PS2 controller that I use an adapter to USB that I bought at Radio Shack 5 years ago. The controls lag big time when I use the controller, but not so bad when I use the keyboard. Unfortunately, I suck hardcore at using the keyboard, especially one so small. So even though WHM is my main, I refuse to play WHM when on the netbook because people would die horribly.

I do use it for exping on DD jobs, and working on magian trials and stuff that doesn't need instant responses to monster actions. Those who are comfortable with a keyboard as the only input, and aren't bothered by the keyboard size and lack of a num pad could probably do just fine on it.

The netbook cost me around $400.00 US at the time. It's running Woindows 7 Starter Edition, and has not had the RAM upgrade from 1gig to 2gig.

[wish12oz]

You're all forgetting that you don't need a PC that runs FFXI at max settings for it to be better than PS2, PS2 graphics for this game are the lowest settings PC offers, any PC that is less than 10 years old can run FFXI better than a PS2. You could buy a PC on ebay that would play FFXI for less than it costs to ship it honestly.

Like this one:
$60 buy it now with free shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-170L-2-4ghz-1GB-40GB-XP-Pro-Computer-/330607954876?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item4cf9c50bbc

That would run FFXI better than a PS2, and it's $60.

[Ryce]

Like this one:
$60 buy it now with free shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-170L-2-4ghz-1GB-40GB-XP-Pro-Computer-/330607954876?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item4cf9c50bbc

That would run FFXI better than a PS2, and it's $60.

That's cheap! You could double that 1GB of RAM and still have this set up for under $100.

Can anyone recommend a netbook that they have played FFXI on? Say, under 12" and under $300?

[FrankReynolds]

Here's a cheap laptop: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=LATITUDE-D630-PB-3R

Here's a cheap pc. Might need a graphics card for it.: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=DC5750SFF-A6424-MAR-R&cat=SYS

Also I know a few people on the other threads said they don't trust these websites. I am the IT manager for a nation wide insurance company. I buy replacement workstations form Geeks all the time. They are legit.

[Alhanelem]

Tahngarthor is very informative, does that "bench mark test" help find out ifI can run it on my pc >.>?
Was there really any reason for that? No, there wasn't (Unless my sarcasm detector is broken and you weren't being sarcastic). I was being vague for a reason- it matters very little what PC you buy. Most of them can run an 8 year old game, even if they weren't built for games.


You're all forgetting that you don't need a PC that runs FFXI at max settings for it to be better than PS2This is barely an issue because almost any PC that can run the game can do it better than a PS2. The PC settings that make the game equivalent to the PS2 version are the near minimum settings. Any resolution above the minimum makes it automatically better than the ps2 version. You have to go up a bit higher to beat the default xbox settings though.

[Yarly]

That's cheap! You could double that 1GB of RAM and still have this set up for under $100.

Can anyone recommend a netbook that they have played FFXI on? Say, under 12" and under $300?

Any netbook with an AMD C-series processor would work very well.

[wish12oz]

This is barely an issue because almost any PC that can run the game can do it better than a PS2. The PC settings that make the game equivalent to the PS2 version are the near minimum settings. Any resolution above the minimum makes it automatically better than the ps2 version. You have to go up a bit higher to beat the default xbox settings though.

It's funny how you quote me then expand on what I said, but what you expand into was stuff I also said in my post but you made it long winded.

[Alhanelem]

I read it wrong, okay? But I'm happy it provided entertainment for you.

I somehow took it to mean "You need a PC that can run the game at max settings for it to be better than ps2"

[wish12oz]

I read it wrong, okay? But I'm happy it provided entertainment for you.

I somehow took it to mean "You need a PC that can run the game at max settings for it to be better than ps2"

Yes, that's why I posted a link to a $60 PC on ebay, because that can run FFXI at max settings.

[Inafking]

Yes, that's why I posted a link to a $60 PC on ebay, because that can run FFXI at max settings.

I just want to clarify that max settings includes windowed mode and the ability to skype / vent and use a web browser with the thing I put together. Not sure how well some of the other stuff posted would hold up to that.

[Inafking]

That's cheap! You could double that 1GB of RAM and still have this set up for under $100.

Can anyone recommend a netbook that they have played FFXI on? Say, under 12" and under $300?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/390342052434

This is simmilar to one I use:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01297145&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3647212

But you will be much happier with it if you replace Vista with 7 like I did. Used to use Ubuntu but Linux was more of a pain in the ass than putting on 7. It's also bigger than requested.

[FrankReynolds]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateway-NV52-Notebook-Working-Tested-Laptop-Computer-/200648057568?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item2eb78e62e0#ht_502wt_1139

I ran it on one of these for like a year. I used to hook the HDMI out to my 53" LCD TV, plug in a wireless keyboard and play it from my sofa all the time. Also used it for work, movies etc. you can find em for less than $200 on ebay usually.

[Modoru]

I used an Aspire One Netbook to play FFXI, and it worked great, sans for extremely over-populated areas, but that was easily fixed with decreased character loading.

I'm pretty sure that says a lot. :C

[Harukusan]

Anyone reading these forums is more than likely on a PC that can run FFXI... >.> ...Better than PS2

[Runespider]

As someone that has setup a lot of new pcs to run XI for family and myself over the years I can say it's not hard to get a cheap pc to run FFXI (at ps2 settings anyway.. ), it can be hard to get the drivers right (cause Square don't upgrade the game to take account of new video cards etc) and to fix the problems you get with conflicts on laptops that cause silly (fixable) lag but thats about it.

If you buy a laptop and notice really horrible lag just ask for help fixing it on forums, just need to disable some things within windows. HID devices/infrared etc.

Also some things Square added are terrible for lagging out your machine, notably telepoints and abyssea confluxes. You can easily change the dat for conflux to get rid of that though.

Once you play on PC you will never understand how you played on anything else, dat modding alone makes it worthwhile for the fun it adds to the game (different hair styles/armors etc). FFXI on pc is so much better than on console, it's crazy how much more enjoyment you get from the game that way. If you're a graphics whore then setting max settings on FFXI will blow you away at how nice the game can look.

[Inafking]

BTW, anyone migrating from PS2 to PC should probably get one of these. It helps a lot if you're like me and don't like playing games with mice.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270795755733

[Alhanelem]

BTW, anyone migrating from PS2 to PC should probably get one of these. It helps a lot if you're like me and don't like playing games with mice.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270795755733
Nobody plays FFXI with the mouse. the controls are so badly designed that the mouse is completely useless.

That said, for games, mainly shooters and RTS games with well made controls, a mouse is far superior to sticks.

If you want a demonstration of why typical RTS games are bad for consoles, I point you to Starcraft 64. Yeah, imagine playing starcraft with an analog stick.

[Feynman]

Seems like an appropriate place for my question. I recently switched from ps2 to PC. I've never played a game on a PC before so I'm not sure what the best graphics settings are. I've tweaked them, and keep playing with them more each time I log in. Any suggestions on what the best graphics settings are?

I had to disable my NVIDIA card just so playonline wouldn't crash so I'm running on the integrated graphics. The main problem I'm having is the the backgrounds/environments look better than what I saw on the ps2 but the text, equipment and status icons look pretty bad. More blocky/pixelated. Any suggestions?

And no I'm not sure what my current settings are. Like I said I'm playing with them each time I log in. But what I described is standard. Seems to be the same regardless of the setting I have tried.

[Alhanelem]

change screen resolution in the config tool. Only thing that can make the text look bad.

[scaevola]

An iPhone with an appropriate graphics card could probably run FFXI. That said, probably the single best thing about FFXI from a practical standpoint is the mouse functionality is so useless that the game itself ends up being more playable on a mouseless laptop/netbook than 95% of the PC games out there.

Basically all of my FFXI time is spent on the couch with my old lady while she watches trashy TV or does homework, or outside on my deck. It's wonderful.

[Feynman]

I'll give that a shot tonight. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Juilan]

An iPhone with an appropriate graphics card could probably run FFXI. That said, probably the single best thing about FFXI from a practical standpoint is the mouse functionality is so useless that the game itself ends up being more playable on a mouseless laptop/netbook than 95% of the PC games out there.

Basically all of my FFXI time is spent on the couch with my old lady while she watches trashy TV or does homework, or outside on my deck. It's wonderful.

A 60 gig iphone could, If you're less than 20 gig you most likely can't get text messages on the thing

[Zumi]

Whats kind of bad is FFXI doesn't even run on well at all on current gen video cards, like the nvidia 400 or 500 series. SE really doesn't update FFXI to make it work with these cards. Usually they see stuff like 2 fps and graphical glitchs that make the game unplayable.

It requires major tweaking, driver downgrades, custom drivers ect to even run at all. FFXI is such an old game and its SE doesn't want to spend the money to keep up with new technology. Its a major pain to get FFXI to run on any new self built gaming PC. Even pre builts that use newer cards will have problems running it without a lot of tweaking.

[Eric]

I agree, Zumi. I have had to downgrade my video card drivers so much that I can't play FFXIV, just so that I can avoid having my FPS drop to 12 FPS around Veridical Confluxes. It's almost impossible to climb Parradamo Tor if confluxes lag you, because there's a turn where a conflux is located and it lags me so much that I end up falling off no matter how careful I am.

[Tsuneo]

I'm running a Radeon HD 6850 and I've never had FPS issues near confluxes. My old PC had an issue at telepoints, but that one was a piece of crap.

[Greatguardian]

It's an Nvidia issue, not something that FFXI/SE caused or created. ATI cards run the game fine. Nvidia has just stopped giving a crap about releasing drivers that actually work with older games.

[Zumi]

It's an Nvidia issue, not something that FFXI/SE caused or created. ATI cards run the game fine. Nvidia has just stopped giving a crap about releasing drivers that actually work with older games.

Its true that ATI cards work better then Nvidia cards however FFXI is an mmo and thus should be updated to work with the latest apis so problems like this shouldn't occur.

I am not an ATI fan myself I always have bought Nvidia so buying ATI is pretty much out of the question for me.

[Gokulo]

Its true that ATI cards work better then Nvidia cards however FFXI is an mmo and thus should be updated to work with the latest apis so problems like this shouldn't occur.


Read once again the first sentence of the post you quoted. The issue lies with Nvidia and them alone. S-E can't really do anything about that. The "update" you're talking about would probably take writing the whole game anew to work around the issue.

[Alhanelem]

It's rather ironic that the game had an NVIDIA endorsement (e.g. "The way it's meant to be played" logo) but its competitor's cards (or more accurately their drivers) run the game better.