Geomancer makes me sick :(

[Jem]

I have been anticipating GEO for a long long time. I love the lore for the FFXI version and I think the job sounds very fun. I even had gear ready to level it without abyssea burning.

But, now that the expansion is out there is one major problem, I CAN NOT play GEO!
The constant swirling animation of the GEO's sphere effect causes me to have motion sickness, and so far I have been unsuccessful in turning the effect off.

I have talked with friends and while I understand this may not effect everyone I have been getting feedback that others are getting headaches or motion sickness as well.

I would hate to never be able to experience this content because of this, so I ask can the effect be able to be turned off for a short term fix and maybe options later to reduce the elaborateness of the effect of maybe the transparent value of the animation.

[Demon6324236]

Turning it off would make no sense as it would leave you without being able to see its range. However I do think they need to make an option that changes how it looks, one option that has it looking like it does now, and the other which has it as a basic bland colored sphere. The bland sphere would not be moving colors like this one is, and would be a single color which can be seen through that makes a very noticeable line on the ground where it intersects. That would make GEO much easier to work with for everyone I think.

[Hawklaser]

I do agree there should be a toggle to simplify the effects of the Geo/Indi- spells. One as is, and as Demon said, one that just clearly indicates the edge of the bubble.

I don't get sick from them yet, but there are some that I can see inducing sickness easier than others. Just compare Voidance to Poison for an example.

[Luvbunny]

Yes I totally agree with this, the bubble sphere is a total annoyance, they should give us another option to turn this off or change it.

[Limecat]

Maybe just a large glowy ring?

[Merton9999]

I absolutely agree with this. The still shots looked luminescent. The animated footage looks like sewer gas. Beyond aesthetics I'm also tired of party members insisting I need to eat less beans.

Seriously though, the spheres are distracting at best, sickening at worst. They're also difficult to make out when the color of the sphere blends with the zone terrain. I was hoping myself for an option that allowed them to appear as a simple 2D solid colored circle.

[Jem]

for now the option to turn them off, maybe filter or via txt command would still be helpful. Most players know what 6 yalms is by now and don't need the effect to know if they are getting the buff much like the invisible sphere effect from pulse armor. And again this would be something they can add quickly before this becomes a permanent stain on the way players view the job.

[Crimson_Slasher]

I personally have no issues with this but i can see where some may, so i am not against a flat display for this, and other select effects (ice-spikes, enspells, etc) that tones them down visually.

[Imakun]

They should just tone it down a little, with an aura up and weather I can barely see my character lol

[SpankWustler]

There should definitely be a graphics setting to tone these effects down. I can understand why there isn't one yet, as only a handful of people had looked at the effects for a lengthy period of time, but I'd love to have such an option by the next update or two.

In addition to the lag that almost any lighting or glow effect can cause because FFXI is coded weird, the constant motion of the auras bothers some people on a physical level. That's really not okay. I get that it wasn't foreseeable, but still, totally not cool.

[Harle]

Yea the bubble is fine in open field but in confined spaces like cave or dungeon, it really gets in the way.

It's hard to look at my screen when everything is swirling and blurry. It really does make me dizzy.

I think they really should change how the effect looks. Maybe change it from a bubble to a ring.

[Delvish]

I think having a simplified effects option is in order such as the ring that has been mentioned. Thankfully in most scenarios the most you're going to have in one group is 1 geo and one luopan unless the buffs start looking real nice for everyone. Then as many as 6 bubbles in one alliance. Tack on WS/spell/ja animations and you can kiss your frame rate goodbye.

[Jem]

the request to change this should be simple, and It needs to happen soon. I was in a GoV party on RUN and after a time the effect from the GEO that was there started to make me sick. I politely told the GEO that i was going to fight away from the party because the effect was getting to me, she then proceeded to follow only me around with the effect ignoring the group until i had to leave, without any way for me to stop her, so we can now add harassment to the list of reasons we need a change to GEO buff animations :(

Personally all I want is a /geomancer animation off/on/high/low txt command.

[Quetzacoatl]

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/430/877/271.gif

[Elphy]

http://i.imgur.com/XXbuEnn.png

SE's inspiration for GEO :D

[Mahouko]

I'm having the same problem sadly :/
I was in a Gusgen mines GoV group earlyer and after 2-3hours i had to leave because i noticed i was getting a really bad headacke... i felt like an old nanny for having this complaint but i'm happy to see that some others are having the same

[acekasbo]

I agree that it can be a little annoying, perhaps just a ground level effect would be nicer.

[Vagrua]

Yeah, I did receive a few headaches while leveling it for 2-3 hours in gusgen mines from the sphere effect.

[xiozen]

I completely concur. Even though I don't experience any of the problems as stated in previous posts; there are those of us that may play the game and have health conditions which could be adversely affected by the animation of the Geomancer job...and in order to ensure those players have a fair shot at game play, Square Enix should be committed to adjusting this aspect of Geomancer's animation.

[Delvish]

I wonder if you get enough GEOs in the same place casting the same indi-/geo-spells on themselves, if the sphere will become opaque...

[Kincard]

Maybe just a large glowy ring?

This is the correct suggestion. This should've just been the default effect, it fits in with the lore just as fine anyway. I think it should just look like the summoning ring. It's not hard on CPUs, it takes away the headaches, and it accomplishes gameplay considerations. Make the inside of the ring look fancy if you want to.

[Luvbunny]

It's getting really annoying now with all those Geo skilling up in Abyssea with their noxious cloud of death, You can imagine how grating this when they start swarming the Reive events and bring more lag on already very laggy events..... Maybe the purple butterflies will go straight for them since you know, AOE bubbles of death, at least they will hit the dirt faster than you can say, god bless!

[Ophannus]

Its annoying for party members of the GEO because it envelops our entire screen when the GEO is in range, especially when the GEO has up both a Geo and a Indi spell in close proximity, then I have to see two intersecting domes of two different colors/patterns/speeds/effects on my screen, one is large and green and the other is reddish brown and the animations are on top of eachother and annoy me, I can't even see what I'm fighting. Need to change the opacity of the GEO's sphere effects by a much wider margin, they're not translucent enough. Few suggestions:

1) Make the opacity lighter to make the dome more translucent.
2) Instead of making it a constant animation, make it pulse on and completely off every 10-15 seconds so it's less obnoxious.
3) Make the animation a circle on the ground(energy eminating from the earth rather than an awkward dome). The circle on the ground animation can look like the Summoning Magic sigil that appears on the ground when an Avatar spawns, only larger and less complex. Making the GEO's spells a 2-Dimensional circle on the ground is way easier to judge its range than a giant bubble.

[Miiyo]

I saw this at first and though, "how stupid." Sure enough I jumped on Geo and i'm ready to gag and i have that motion sickness-like headache. I think i would just prefer a very thin, glowing ring.

[Rambus]

Turning it off would make no sense as it would leave you without being able to see its range. However I do think they need to make an option that changes how it looks, one option that has it looking like it does now, and the other which has it as a basic bland colored sphere. The bland sphere would not be moving colors like this one is, and would be a single color which can be seen through that makes a very noticeable line on the ground where it intersects. That would make GEO much easier to work with for everyone I think.

I had a hard time right now finding when I am in effect or out of the effect >.>

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/41664/preview
I played wow among other games and I never got motion sickness or whatever the GEO spell is doing to make me ill. How come blizzard can make sphere spell effects easy to see that don't make people ill?

I think that is causing it is the size of it (it reaches high in the air) with the long stripes of empty space with sudden colors that consistency move. If it was more of a sold color like anti magic barrier it might solve the issue. Regardless after doing a 30 minute einherjar I refuse to play the game with one. In fact it is 2 hours later and my head is still spinning. I am ticked off that SE seems to be lacking in the testing department.

I did not notice there was another thread already about this, I was so ill I loged off, poped on the forms, made the thread and layed down. This has NEVER, NEVER happened to me before on a game.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/32090-specific-Geomancer-grapic-turn-off.

Does anyone know if the other language forums has a thread on this issue?

[Merton9999]

Does anyone know if the other language forums has a thread on this issue?

Last I checked the JP GEO forum there was just one big GEO thread. I perused it and found some references to epilepsy and 3D sickness.


noxious cloud of death

I laughed. I think Spank called them Lagopans...lol

I think SE got sick of trying to smoke people out of XI and into XIV with rng events and finally decided to pull out the tear gas. The spheres were just annoying at first, but in certain confined areas they are actually making me ill.

[Rambus]

confined areas like einherjar?

This is the only place I really seen a GEO (my playtime is a lot less then it used to be) just wondering if I match the confined area complaint.

[Delvish]

Try leveling in Crawlers' Nest. I was in there with myself as GEO and 3 other GEOs. That adds up to 8 effects going at one time. The sad part is at that level we don't even have 8 effects to split between people evenly and the bonuses of the effects don't stack, so we had people with luopans up just to have them up. @.@

[Jem]

I completely concur. Even though I don't experience any of the problems as stated in previous posts; there are those of us that may play the game and have health conditions which could be adversely affected by the animation of the Geomancer job...and in order to ensure those players have a fair shot at game play, Square Enix should be committed to adjusting this aspect of Geomancer's animation.

This is a very good point. I have actually been in Linkshells with members that had health conditions and treatment/medicine has vertigo as a common side effect. MMOs are a great escape for these players i can imagine, and i would hate for any of them to have to log off because of the GEO animations making them dizzy; ;. Linkshells might have to end up banning GEO from events to make these kinds of players feel welcome.

Hopefully SE does something quickly, the last thing they need is a reddit story about someone puking after playing FFXI >.> it will be the 18hr AV fight all over again.

[Rambus]

Someone told me that getting sick from the spell is a player problem not a GEO problem.

Is it normal to feel offended by such a statement? I am ticked.

[Hawklaser]

After playing around with Geo more, and being around some. There does need to be something to adjust level of display of the Geo's auras. As depending on location and what aura is up, depends on how bad things get. Not too bad for me, but after a while in some spots they do start to bug me.

[Okipuit]

Sorry for the delay! Due to the special nature of geomancy spells’ effects, it took some time to check up on this.

We are currently working on making it so can toggle the effect of the Indi- geomancy spells ON/OFF. As long as there are no major issues, we are aiming to implement this feature during the version update, which is scheduled for the end of this month.

[Kaisha]

Sorry for the delay! Due to the special nature of geomancy spells’ effects, it took some time to check up on this.

We are currently working on making it so can toggle the effect of the Indi- geomancy spells ON/OFF. As long as there are no major issues, we are aiming to implement this feature during the version update, which is scheduled for the end of this month.
Any longer-term plans like offering an optional simplified version of the spherical effect for both performance reasons, and being able to see what you're doing?

[Merton9999]

Sorry for the delay! Due to the special nature of geomancy spells’ effects, it took some time to check up on this.

We are currently working on making it so can toggle the effect of the Indi- geomancy spells ON/OFF. As long as there are no major issues, we are aiming to implement this feature during the version update, which is scheduled for the end of this month.

Thank you! This is a good start. I agree with Kaisha, though. The optimal solution is a an option for a simplified ring that still allows the aura border to be visible.

[Alhanelem]

I'm a little puzzled what it might be about the aura effects that would trigger epeleptic events, there's nothing particularly flashy or intense about the visual effect. Motion sickness makes more sense; the game doesn't have many other visual effects that are continuous.

Regardless, good on SE for putting in the opiton, since we can toggle most other visual effects as well. I haven't really had performance issues myself but I've seen quite a few people talking about it.

[Harle]

Sorry for the delay! Due to the special nature of geomancy spells’ effects, it took some time to check up on this.

We are currently working on making it so can toggle the effect of the Indi- geomancy spells ON/OFF. As long as there are no major issues, we are aiming to implement this feature during the version update, which is scheduled for the end of this month.

What about geo- spells ... The luopan aura is just as sickening as the geomancer's ...

[Alhanelem]

What about geo- spells ... The luopan aura is just as sickening as the geomancer's ...
Might be a little more complicated b/c its a pet or something. IDK, but hopefully they can sort it out.

[Kitkat]

Sorry for the delay! Due to the special nature of geomancy spells’ effects, it took some time to check up on this.

We are currently working on making it so can toggle the effect of the Indi- geomancy spells ON/OFF. As long as there are no major issues, we are aiming to implement this feature during the version update, which is scheduled for the end of this month.

Would be better if you could set up another effect that is still visible when the spell effect is turned off. Something like a visible ring that shows area of effect. Due to the nature of the job it goes without saying that the player needs to have some tool to know they are within range for the benefits of the spell to be gained by other players. It should not be left up to players to have to go through trial and error to figure this out, or deal with effects that cause motion sickness, or even resort to 3rd party tools to know they are within an established distance for the effects to work. A simple on/off switch is not exactly what the players want..they want to avoid the issue the animation causes, but still have something to tell them if they are within range or not.

[Yinnyth]

I'm no expert on the topic, but I'm pretty sure a visible ring rendered at ground level around the caster would eat up as much processing power as a sphere around its center. Yes, a circle is simpler in nature than a sphere, but ground is uneven, so that's a calculation which must be made based on the current terrain. A sphere, however, is always a sphere.

Edit: except for when it's a hypersphere. But your eyes can't comprehend that anyways, so meh.

[Delvish]

What about a half sphere, essentially cutting off the animation at ankle or knee height. This would give you the circle effect on the ground regardless of terrain, and give off the vision that the effects are being drawn from the earth.

[Demon6324236]

I'm no expert on the topic, but I'm pretty sure a visible ring rendered at ground level around the caster would eat up as much processing power as a sphere around its center. Yes, a circle is simpler in nature than a sphere, but ground is uneven, so that's a calculation which must be made based on the current terrain. A sphere, however, is always a sphere.Its not about lowering processing power, but making the effect not hurt peoples eyes or head.

[Yinnyth]

Its not about lowering processing power, but making the effect not hurt peoples eyes or head.
I was responding more to this post, but was too lazy to quote:

Any longer-term plans like offering an optional simplified version of the spherical effect for both performance reasons, and being able to see what you're doing?

As for the motion sickness issues... I'm no doctor, I don't understand the mechanics of how motion sickness works in detail, and I don't get motion sickness from these spheres so regrettably there's nothing I can really add to the conversation.

[Infidi]

Wonder how they do the Sphere: effects from armour that has it without having the effects GEO has? Meaning... Wonder if could do it like them in some regards?

[Jem]

Sorry for the delay! Due to the special nature of geomancy spells’ effects, it took some time to check up on this.

We are currently working on making it so can toggle the effect of the Indi- geomancy spells ON/OFF. As long as there are no major issues, we are aiming to implement this feature during the version update, which is scheduled for the end of this month.

It's a start! I might be able to level GEO now if I don't use Geo-spells. But until Geo-spells are also filtered or long term fixes are in place Geomancers might still be asked to come other jobs to do content.

[Arkista]

Couldn't they do something along the lines of how they do Sphere Effect bodies?

[Okipuit]

What about geo- spells ... The luopan aura is just as sickening as the geomancer's ...

The Geo- spells are somewhat tricky due to the fact that they are treated as pets, so we would have to take a different approach to make graphical adjustments due to this special characteristic.


What about a half sphere, essentially cutting off the animation at ankle or knee height. This would give you the circle effect on the ground regardless of terrain, and give off the vision that the effects are being drawn from the earth.

While we can't promise anything, we will continue to look into ways to improve the geomancer's spell graphics and let you know once we have an update.

[Alhanelem]

Couldn't they do something along the lines of how they do Sphere Effect bodies?
That's essentially how they work. That has nothing to do with graphics- Sphere bodies have no graphic indicating their area of effect.

Anyway, they should have been able to optimize these effects better. While every kind of spell effect should have a toggle for various reasons, they should have tested this more thoroughly so that they could give us an indication of effect radius without hurting FPS on low end machines (I've had no issues with this personally and my machine isn't exactly top of the line, but if you're playing on a PC made for the game when it was new, I can see that)

Hopefully they can do something without making drastic alterations, because I like the current spell effects. It's just a shame there were some unintended consequences.

[Zirael]

Sometimes the simplest of solutions work the best.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4420/spellaoe.jpg

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab88/yogisheriff/W.jpg

[Kojo]

The Geo- spells are somewhat tricky due to the fact that they are treated as pets, so we would have to take a different approach to make graphical adjustments due to this special characteristic.

I had assumed Luopans were simply a stationary graphic that gives off the same aura graphic as a GEO PC.

[Kaisha]

The Geo- spells are somewhat tricky due to the fact that they are treated as pets, so we would have to take a different approach to make graphical adjustments due to this special characteristic.
Possible for the devs to make it apply for the avatar 'glow' effect also since it's all under Pets to begin with? Would be win-win for a lot of folks in terms of areas where the framerate on FFXI's engine struggles on modern hardware.

[Alpheus]

I think the less graceful on/off solution won't show its full potential until they also finish up making all the buff icons unique as they said they would like to do. Since I imagine at that point one would simply have to look at the icon displayed to know that they are still within range. Granted even at that point I can still see the need for a simpler graphical representation.

[Logandor]

Sometimes the simplest of solutions work the best.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4420/spellaoe.jpg

http://i852.photobucket.com/albums/ab88/yogisheriff/W.jpg

These would be nice to be done for those of us who do get quezzy from the aura effect. Mainly if we can do /geoaura off and these be the only remaining effects it would be nice.

[Kari]

I'm not sure why the current geo effect was ever approved. Some of them look cool, but for the most part they are really annoying to see in combat.

[Merton9999]

If the only options are on and off, can we at least get a log message when an indi aura wears off? Unlike buffing indis, where you can look for a status bar icon, debuff indis give no visual clue that the effect is active, other than the aura. With no log message either, we'll be stuck just watching the game clock for these.

[Alhanelem]

I'm not sure why the current geo effect was ever approved. Some of them look cool, but for the most part they are really annoying to see in combat.

I think they look fine. Obviously there is the health & safety issue presented in this thread, but ignoring that I think they look good.

[Quetzacoatl]

Did someone say low-end PCs and lag? I've got the perfect solution:

[Logandor]

Did someone say low-end PCs and lag? I've got the perfect solution:



No offense but I thought it may of been from me playing on windows xp so I spent a while uploading it onto windows 8 and guess what? Still can't play around with geo lol. So windows version is not the issue no offense intended.

[Alhanelem]

No offense but I thought it may of been from me playing on windows xp so I spent a while uploading it onto windows 8 and guess what? Still can't play around with geo lol. So windows version is not the issue no offense intended.
Who said anything about operating system? of course it's not the OS- it's the hardware in your system....

[Rambus]

What about a half sphere, essentially cutting off the animation at ankle or knee height. This would give you the circle effect on the ground regardless of terrain, and give off the vision that the effects are being drawn from the earth.

No ill explain with this reply why not:

I'm a little puzzled what it might be about the aura effects that would trigger epeleptic events, there's nothing particularly flashy or intense about the visual effect. Motion sickness makes more sense; the game doesn't have many other visual effects that are continuous.

Regardless, good on SE for putting in the opiton, since we can toggle most other visual effects as well. I haven't really had performance issues myself but I've seen quite a few people talking about it.

It has to do with the drastic color change. there is dence patches then all of a sudden you see no color.

cutting this off to be at knee level on a cheater might just make it worse because now you are starring at normal with the flash in flash out. It needs to be more "solid" and not moving. Like anti zone barrier in wow gave me no issues:

http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/41664/preview
if you do first person or angle the camera to be more behind the character you see the sphere lie ffxi.. only it does not make you sick..


Sorry for the delay! Due to the special nature of geomancy spells’ effects, it took some time to check up on this.

We are currently working on making it so can toggle the effect of the Indi- geomancy spells ON/OFF. As long as there are no major issues, we are aiming to implement this feature during the version update, which is scheduled for the end of this month.
can they make the filter labels not be confusing while they are at this? (well actually that is more for chat filters)

[Embryon]

Could I ask for some clarification on where the new filter is located? I'm playing on PC and I do not see anything under Config > Effects that has to do with Indicolure spells.

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

[Alpheus]

It's coupled with PC effects (player character) so if you see a Geo outside of party w/ that effect you'd want to click the "Non Party PC effect -> "w/e target they happen to target" "

[Rambus]

I thought this was supposed to be fixed?
Still happens.....