Graphical Issue Problems.

[Zamalymo]

I have recently came back to the game, but I'm currently trying to resolve an issue I have with the graphics of the game, which, for the most part, are fine, lovely and crisp, however I have noticed during cutscenes, certain areas of the game, mostly outdoors like outside Aht Urghan, or Adoulin, and certain pieces of gear - mostly headbands, seem to be flickering black, and rather rapidly, it's rather noticeable, and quite glaring, and I've been trying to solve the issue to, not much luck, I'm not the most tech savvy person in the world hehe

Platform: PC
PC Manufacturer: home-build.
Operating System: Windows 10.
Graphics Card: Geforce GTX 750 Ti.
ISP: BT
Type of Connection: Ethernet.

Sorry I'm not a frequent forum poster, but I hope everything is in order, any assistance would be appreciated. :D

[Zirconian]

there used to be a setting to stabliize graphics on ffxiconfig but im not sure what it turned into

[Zehira]

Hi Artello.

What you are experiencing is Z-Fighting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-fighting). Since FFXI runs on Direct3D8, there is no solid solution to fix it. It's a common thing when people play the old game at higher resolutions than what its engine is capable of displaying. There are several things to try.

You might want to set mipmap to 4 but it won't solve 100% though. Change your graphics high or low. Rollback your Nvidia driver version to 375.70 and see if it can solve. However, reducing Z-fighting is not known. It is only based on your own hardware.

Some people like me learned to live with it. :(

You may want to search for Direct3D8 to Direct3D9 Proxy and see if it can fix your problems even it can be done with vanilla. I doubt we are allowed to talk about any wrapper/third party tool on this official forum though.

Sometimes I wonder what your CPU is because AMD and Nvidia aren't friendly toward each other but you can try this thread to FFXIAH.

[Zamalymo]

there used to be a setting to stabliize graphics on ffxiconfig but im not sure what it turned into

I think what you're referencing is the legacy setting "optimise for certain graphics cards" which for me is set by default so I don't think it's that. :)


Hi Artello.

What you are experiencing is Z-Fighting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-fighting). Since FFXI runs on Direct3D8, there is no solid solution to fix it. It's a common thing when people play the old game at higher resolutions than what its engine is capable of displaying. There are several things to try.

You might want to set mipmap to 4 but it won't solve 100% though. Change your graphics high or low. Rollback your Nvidia driver version to 375.70 and see if it can solve. However, reducing Z-fighting is not known. It is only based on your own hardware.

Some people like me learned to live with it. :(

You may want to search for Direct3D8 to Direct3D9 Proxy and see if it can fix your problems even it can be done with vanilla. I doubt we are allowed to talk about any wrapper/third party tool on this official forum though.

Sometimes I wonder what your CPU is because AMD and Nvidia aren't friendly toward each other but you can try this thread to FFXIAH.

Hi, Appreciate the response! very helpful. I at least know what it is that I'm dealing with hehe. I think the only thing I can try is lowering my graphics setting, I have it set to custom, I put it to ultra, but because it's been suggested to set background resolution to 4096x4096, as for mipmapping, I believe that's the draw distance option in the config? which is just a tick box now, so I don't think I can sort that I'm afraid. :(

As for drivers, I'm not sure what it is to check, but if you can tell me how, I'd appreciate it, not sure how well to sort that, computer stuff like this always worries me haha. as for my CPU it's an Intel i5, not sure on generation, but I'm guessing it's recent since I got the PC built only in like summer of last year.

I've tried a few different resolutions, mostly the larger ones, mostly the larger ones, (so something like XXXXx1000 or above, since the UI graphics go blurry for me below that.) and if it helps, I play it in windowed mode.

[Zehira]

As Wiki has stated, Z-fighting cannot be entirely eliminated. Only to be reduced for you to accept the way it looks. I have a similar problem in my game but it is not really bothersome. :)

To check your Nvidia driver version, simply right-click on your desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel. From the NVIDIA Control Panel menu, select Help > System Information. The driver version is listed at the top of the Details window. Someone on the steam forum has said version 375.70 made flickering go away. I don't know if that would help. You are using GTX 750 Ti so why not try an older version if you care the only game FFXI. X3

I found the other post that explained better than me.


What you're experiencing is Z-Fighting, and while the prevalence of this issue could be partially related to drivers, it isn't entirely. There is no permanent solution to this problem, as part of it lies within the game itself.

Although FFXI's engine is capable of displaying the game at higher resolutions than what its configuration GUI allows, the game wasn't tested nor marketed with those settings in mind. Therefore, the models and textures were never tested with them. Because of that, polygons which wouldn't exhibit sorting problems at lower resolutions may at higher ones, as they were never meant to be displayed that way.

To provide a bit of credence, before I became a journalist in the gaming industry, I worked in different aspects of it, including various positions involving development. A lot of problems were revealed in testing using resolutions that were ultimately listed as unsupported, while some were just left alone, as they were too complicated to fix. This included big games like "Call of Duty 4," to note, so it's unsurprising FFXI would have the same issue, especially considering its sheer size.

I run at high resolutions, and occasionally get flicker on random pieces of gear, or scenery. I personally suggest living with it, but you can indeed try different driver editions, and see if it changes somewhat.

https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/92891-FFXI-textures-flickering

[Zamalymo]

As Wiki has stated, Z-fighting cannot be entirely eliminated. Only to be reduced for you to accept the way it looks. I have a similar problem in my game but it is not really bothersome. :)

To check your Nvidia driver version, simply right-click on your desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel. From the NVIDIA Control Panel menu, select Help > System Information. The driver version is listed at the top of the Details window. Someone on the steam forum has said version 375.70 made flickering go away. I don't know if that would help. You are using GTX 750 Ti so why not try an older version if you care the only game FFXI. X3

I found the other post that explained better than me.



https://www.bluegartr.com/threads/92891-FFXI-textures-flickering

ah, thank you for telling me, apparently it's 441.1 so, quite a difference. hehe, unfortunately, FF11 isn't the only game I play on the PC. so messing with the drivers may not be the best solution. I appreciate the assistance though, thank you. :D

[Zehira]

ah, thank you for telling me, apparently it's 441.1 so, quite a difference. hehe, unfortunately, FF11 isn't the only game I play on the PC. so messing with the drivers may not be the best solution. I appreciate the assistance though, thank you. :D

Anytime! I am glad you have learned the hard way. <3

Let's just live with it though!

[Alhanelem]

Z fighting isn't some D3D8 exclusive thing. It can happen in almost any 3D game engine when multiple polygons overlap on the same plane (coordinate in the third dimension) (we call it "Z fighting" but it can occur on any axis) FFXI just happens to be a pretty egregious offender of it for a professionally produced game.

[Dragoy]

I'd be interested in steps to reproduce this.

I can't remember seeing anything weird with headbands, or other equipment for that matter, but maybe I forget things.

I'm currently playing with a resolution setting of '2560x1440' and drawing precision of '5120x2880', and the only obivous weird thing I can remember is parts of water in Bastok Markets.

I play via Wine on Gentoo Linux though, so that might make a difference. :]

[Alhanelem]

One of the most notorious graphical issues in the game is the mog house window. You can't even see the window frame unless you look at it at just the right angle on PC, even though it looked fine on PS2.

[Dragoy]

Ah, the window. Yeah, I remember that now. Probably got so used to it that I didn't even think of it... but I also remember thinking that I didn't see it before (this thinking being years ago). Probably just a false memory (or a different world). Curiously enough, as I go look at it right now, it looks just fine no matter the angle.

I think I now also remember the watery areas at Beaucedine showing the issue, though right now they too seem quite fine to me. I can still see a little bit of a battle around where the water meets the ground, but not quite as I remembered it. Could be regression in Wine, though I also did recently switch from NVIDIA to AMD in the graphics department, so hmmm... got some testing to do.