Please do something about direct x problems on newer laptops/desktops

[Calypsx]

My gtx 970m is just not working with the game. I've tried so many things but the game just doesn't detect my card. It's a choppy mess in game when I try to play no matter what the setting.

I really want to play and I'm sure there have probably been plenty of potential players who've been turned away from the game due to lack of optimization.

There probably is some hidden and huge complicated work around but players shouldn't have to jump over those hurdles just because they have a newer computer.

[Alhanelem]

(Edit: I realized that this is a different issue, but I'll leave it here for others that might be having problems- In your case,y ou may just need to update your graphics drivers.)

there isnt a huge and complicaetd workaround but there is a simple one.

In winsows 8/8.1/10, go to Settings -> System -> Apps and Features. Click the link "Manage optional features". Look for "Graphics Tools" in the list and install it. This installs older directx components that are no longer installed by default in Windows.

In windows 7, you can find this in control panel -> Programs & Features, and click Turn Windows Features on or off. It's under the Legacy section.

I know several people that couldnt get the game to work and this solved their problem.

You do realize though, that this game is and always has been a choppy mess compared to games today right? No matter how old or new your system is, the FPS drops a lot when things get busy, and the FPS is capped at 30 anyway, so even at its best it will look choppy comopared to modern games.

[Calypsx]

You do realize though, that this game is and always has been a choppy mess compared to games today right? No matter how old or new your system is, the FPS drops a lot when things get busy, and the FPS is capped at 30 anyway, so even at its best it will look choppy comopared to modern games.

I played the game on my old laptop with no issue. However on my new system things are pretty much semi slideshow status.

Thank you I'll try the graphic tools recommendation.

[Teraniku]

You also want to make sure that the game is using your 970m and not the intel graphics solution on the processor

Right Click on your desktop and select nVidia control panel, Under 3D settings select "Manage 3D settings, select the "Programs Setting" tab click the "add" button, select "All Play Online Games" from the drop down menu. Then make sure 2. "Select preferred graphics processor for Program" is set to either "Auto Global Select (NVidia GPU)" or "High Performance nVidia processor"
This helped me out with some of the issues I was having on the laptop, my frame rate improved quite a bit and the game pad I used was more responsive after switching over.

[Catmato]

You also want to make sure that the game is using your 970m and not the intel graphics solution on the processorI came here to post this. Your video driver likely doesn't detect FFXI as a game as it's a 14 year old game.
and the FPS is capped at 30 anyway, so even at its best it will look choppy comopared to modern games.Not a console gamer, eh?

[Calypsx]

Tried everything but nothing is really working. It's still kind of slide show status.

Might be some other thing like firewalls or it's just not detecting it despite the settings change, I give up for now and will try again later in the future.

[Alhanelem]

Not a console gamer, eh?
I don't get your meaning?

The difference between 30fps and 60fps is night and day. Unless your video card is crap virtually any PC game can play at 60fps (or more); I have a Wii U and all the games I play on it do 60 FPS.

FFXI isn't a console game (anymore) so why would I compare it to consoles anyway?

[Catmato]

I don't get your meaning?

I was making a jab at console games. Many, many console games max out at 30 fps. Framerate isn't a priority for many developers, just flashy effects. It's one of the biggest points for the "PC master race" crowd.

[bungiefanNA]

I don't get your meaning?

The difference between 30fps and 60fps is night and day. Unless your video card is crap virtually any PC game can play at 60fps (or more); I have a Wii U and all the games I play on it do 60 FPS.

FFXI isn't a console game (anymore) so why would I compare it to consoles anyway?

https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/125391-Famitsu-Interview-with-Matsui-and-Saito-Vana-diel-Project

What do you mean that it's all integrated?
Matsui: When we designed the development tools, we created an integrated environment so that we could control all of the resources on PS2 development equipment. All of the graphics resources and music were also made relative to the PS2, and those were then transplanted to the Windows version.
Saito: The PS2 environment is at the heart. So even if we remove that support, we're stuck with it. We once thought it would be good if we could specialize on the Windows version, but we weren't really able to pull it off. Since it was originally released as a PS2 title, the PS2 environment was the primary focus. The camera functionality and even event scenes were made on PS2 equipment. But as the equipment is aging, we're not left with much to develop on.

The limitations from it being developed with PS2 devkits are inherent to the core game infrastructure. It is still a PS2 game ported to PC, coping with embedded limits in the program from the PS2 version, and with none of the original PS2 dev staff around to fix the issues now. One of those limitations is that the game is coded to run at no more than 30 FPS. The way to force it to run at 60 is glitchy.

The DirectX problem is because the game is coded for DirectX8.

http://www.rpgamer.com/games/ff/ff11wog/ff11woginterview.html

Is a DirectX upgrade still in the works?
For us to upgrade to the latest version would also take too long to develop and then to debug, so we are just working on improving the existing DX8 setup.

This was in 2007, when the game still had full development staff and many of the original programmers. They felt it was too expensive and time consuming to upgrade to newer DirectX then. Newer graphics cards don't natively support DirectX8 or 9, and send those calls to the CPU or the GPU built into the CPU. nVidia cards on laptops now all use Optimus, linking the nVidia GPU through the Intel CPU's built-in GPU, and sending DirectX 8 and 9 calls to that instead of using the nVidia GPU. This is a hardware path, so it can't be overridden. FFXI is a DLL file launching from another application, so the override in the control panel doesn't work. Graphics hardware has grown past good compatibility with software this old. The whole game would have to be overhauled to be brought up to DirectX11 or 12, which would require a lot of financial investment, and time with a full development staff, and revitalizing an old MMO to make it attractive to new players hardly ever works. It's a big risk with a low chance of payoff. FFXI Mobile has more chance to pull in new players, since it is releasing on a platform, and in countries, where a lot of people don't have an opinion of the game.

[Alhanelem]

https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/125391-Famitsu-Interview-with-Matsui-and-Saito-Vana-diel-Project

Stuff

I'm not sure why you quoted me? I've r ead and seen all this information before and it doesn't really seem like a response to my post.

[Diavolo]

The whole game would have to be overhauled to be brought up to DirectX11 or 12, which would require a lot of financial investment, and time with a full development staff, and revitalizing an old MMO to make it attractive to new players hardly ever works. It's a big risk with a low chance of payoff. FFXI Mobile has more chance to pull in new players, since it is releasing on a platform, and in countries, where a lot of people don't have an opinion of the game.

They could also go the route of paying Nexon to use their Unreal Engine 4 mobile version of the game and simply optimize it for PC. Such a relaunch could give the game a whole new lease on life if accompanied with media exposure and a beefed up dev team. Wishful thinking of course, but the option is there if they believed they could rekindle enough interest in past subscribers along with drawing in new ones.

[Catmato]

I'm not sure why you quoted me? I've r ead and seen all this information before and it doesn't really seem like a response to my post.

He's probably trying to imply that it IS a console game at heart.

[Alhanelem]

He's probably trying to imply that it IS a console game at heart.
I can understand that, but it's not li ke I"m not aware of that- what I said is technically true. Yes, its a game built for PS2 running on a PC- but it's still a PC game in the absence of being available on consoles.

[Teraniku]

Did some tweaking on my Laptop, if you are having choppy frame rates try lowering the background resolution to the same resolution as your screen. Running through Juno, the results allowed significant improvement to where it was rendering every frame, instead of the choppiness I was getting. (Screen Resolution @ 1920 x 1080 / Background Resolution was @ 4096 x 4096, switched Background to 1920 x 1080 same as Screen Resolution)

960m 4GB, and 16GB System memory