Regarding the current issue in FF11

[Pudringchumenes]

Thank you for posting in the Final Fantasy XI Technical Support Forums!

Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Unfortunately, the information provided in the original post does not follow the Technical Support forum posting template. To help us investigate the issue more effectively, we kindly ask that you create a new thread using the template outlined in the following forum post:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/t...wfull=1#post80

When resubmitting your report, please be sure to complete the template in full and include the affected system's CPU (processor) model and GPU (graphics card) model, as this information will be necessary for our investigation.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. We look forward to your updated report so we can continue investigating the matter.

This thread will be moved to 'Closed Concerns'.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XI Technical Support Forums!

[Zhexos]

Greetings Eelet and Jomiru,

First off, thank you both for bringing this issue to our attention. As you may have seen on the Japanese forums, we’re still looking into this matter, and Yoji Fujito has posted a follow-up with additional information. I wanted to share that information in English below.

I went ahead and reopened this thread as well, so please feel free to provide the additional information requested here:

Thank you all for your reports and cooperation in the investigation, and my apologies for the inconvenience caused by these issues.

Many incidents and hardware details related to the issues have been shared in this thread. This information have been immensely helpful for the Development team and I'd like to express my appreciation for your continued reports.

Our investigation and analysis are still ongoing, but unfortunately, we haven't been able to reliably replicate the reported occurrences or determine the root cause.

That said, we believe the issues can be categorized several different patterns based on the information we've received so far. Below are the patterns we've identified and our current investigation status for each.

----------------

• Excess load when loading and processing item data
  For cases where load occurs when displaying item lists or retrieving item information, such as immediately after changing areas, we located a point of concern in the item processing program and are currently moving forward with countermeasures.
  These countermeasures will be implemented in the August version update.
  
  
• Heavy lag immediately after launching the game, or excess load persists regardless of situation
  As for cases where the game cannot be launched normally, or there is persistent load that seems unrelated to a specific operation, we have not been able to reproduce the issue in the development environment at this time.
  We are continuing our investigation while also considering the possibility that environment-dependent factors, such as specific hardware configurations or driver versions, may be involved.
  
  
• Stuttering every few seconds at fixed intervals
  If your game is stuttering every three seconds or so, we've confirmed that this can happen when the “Use Gamepad” setting in FINAL FANTASY XI Config is enabled, while no gamepad is actually connected.
  If this symptom seems familiar, please check your settings, just to be sure.

----------------

We are continuing to test with various hardware and operating environments, which remains a high priority for us; however, information from our players is still very crucial in identifying the conditions and underlying cause.

If you are experiencing similar issues, we would appreciate if you could provide the following details.

• When the issue occurs
• Frequency of the issue
• PC configuration *
• Graphics driver version *
• Whether or not you use a gamepad
• What kind of operation you were performing when it occurred

* On Windows, you can check your PC configuration and graphics driver version using the following steps.
1. Enter "dxdiag" in the search bar of the Start menu or taskbar.
2. Select “dxdiag” from the search results.
3. In the "DirectX Diagnostic Tool" menu, select "Save All Information…" and save the text file.

Open the saved text file, and include the following information in your post.

• "System Information": Please copy the full list and paste it in the "PC configuration" section of your post.
• "Display Devices": Please copy the "Card name" and "Chip type" and paste them under the "Graphics driver version" of your post.

Also, if possible, we would be grateful if you could include a video of the issue occurring.
If you're able to record the issue, please upload the video to YouTube as “Unlisted” and include the video URL in your post.

Every report we receive will be read thoroughly and referenced in our investigation.
We'll be continuing our efforts to determine the underlying cause and make improvements as soon as possible, and your continued support would be greatly appreciated!

[fieldcraft]

　Since the July version update, some players have reported problems such as "sluggish performance hindering gameplay" or "the client failing to launch entirely." After gathering information and conducting my own tests, I have found the following:

1. No issues occur with CPU-based (onboard) graphics output.
2. No issues occur with Radeon-series graphics cards.
3. Reports are coming primarily from users whose video processing relies on NVIDIA GeForce drivers.

　I confirmed these symptoms with members of my regular group—with whom I have other means of communication—specifically the issue where the FF11 game client fails to launch (even though the POL launcher starts up).

Fortunately, since the CPUs involved supported onboard graphics, I was able to verify that the game launches and runs without issues if you go to the NVIDIA Control Panel, select "pol.exe," and set it to output using "Integrated Graphics" (though, naturally, performance is somewhat slower due to the use of onboard graphics).

I would like to gather a larger sample size of these cases. If you are experiencing this problem, please report which CPU and GPU you are using.

AMD 7950 X3D
Gigabyte B650I
GSkill TridentZ 64GB DDR5 PC6000
RTX 4090
Samsung 990 PRO, 980 PRO, 970 PRO
3840 x 1600 (144hz) G-Sync/V-Sync disabled

experiencing random slowdowns, sometimes hanging on cutscenes and game freezes and have to restart / redo cutscene, major slow mo / gameplay pacing issues on Besieged (Treasures of Aht Urhgan)

NVIDIA Driver Versions tested:
610.88
610.47

[radar]

This is kind of unrelated, but there is an issue with "black zone" where a player will zone and the entire area will be black but players will still be around and moving. This appears to be caused by some kind of memory issue, either a memory leak related to swapping characters or assets not properly clearing from memory when they should due to a emulated directx (windows 11).

If a player zones into a "black zone" this is because the game ran out of allowed memory usage and could not load the zone into memory, so it shows as black.

[BobbinT]

This is kind of unrelated, but there is an issue with "black zone" where a player will zone and the entire area will be black but players will still be around and moving. This appears to be caused by some kind of memory issue, either a memory leak related to swapping characters or assets not properly clearing from memory when they should due to a emulated directx (windows 11).

If a player zones into a "black zone" this is because the game ran out of allowed memory usage and could not load the zone into memory, so it shows as black.

This happens to me as well, albeit not that often. Was easy fix tho, only need to go back to main menu, not all the way to POL, then enter the game again to have the game load properly.

btw, on Win10 with nvidia 3060 12gb, so far very minimal issues, unless it's Mireu. Then again... there was that issue where there's rare occasion the object I need to target didn't render & have to walk back more than 20 yalms then re-approach to properly render them, it was happening on Crag crystals for entering Reisenjima, & again... Mireu. These issues only began around the time servers being locked down, including mine Bahamut.

[Azyreborn]

Platform: Windows PC
OS: Windows 11, 64-bit
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Motherboard: MSI PRO B650-VC WIFI II (MS-7E18)
Storage: T-FORCE TM8FPZ002T 2TB NVMe SSD
Controller: Wired Xbox/XInput controller


Issue:

Since the recent FFXI updates, I have been experiencing intermittent controller failures while playing FFXI. The problem appears to happen particularly often while running or using autorun.

When the failure occurs, my character may continue running/autorunning into a wall, but the controller becomes completely unresponsive. The Xbox light remains solid, so the controller is still powered.

I tested the controller in Windows immediately after the failure using joy.cpl. The controller is also completely unresponsive there — neither sticks nor buttons register — even after I have tabbed out of FFXI.

However, Windows still shows the controller as connected:

Xbox Gaming Device remains present in Device Manager.
XINPUT compatible HID device remains present.
Device Manager reports “This device is working properly.”
There is no new disconnect/error event in the device's Events tab when the failure occurs.

The device path while failed remains:

AMD USB 3.10 eXtensible Host Controller → USB Root Hub (USB 3.0) → Xbox Gaming Device → USB Input Device → XINPUT compatible HID device

XINPUT Hardware ID:
HID\VID_045E&PID_02FF&IG_00

XINPUT driver:
xinputhid.inf
Version 10.0.26100.7705
Date 1/26/2026

Xbox Gaming Device driver:
Microsoft
Version 10.0.26100.8972
Date 7/22/2026

Controller firmware reported by Xbox Accessories:
4.0.4632.208

Troubleshooting performed:

Tried multiple USB ports.
Tried another USB cable.
Disabled USB selective suspend/power-saving settings.
Disabled “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” on the USB Root Hubs.
Updated AMD B650 chipset drivers.
Disabled/re-enabled the XINPUT HID device and restarted Windows.
Completely uninstalled Xbox Gaming Device, unplugged/reconnected the controller, and allowed Windows to recreate the device.
Confirmed the controller works normally in Xbox Accessories and joy.cpl after reconnecting.

The problem eventually returned after all of the above.

Most interesting observation:

After uninstalling Xbox Gaming Device and allowing Windows to recreate it, I confirmed that the controller was working normally. I then launched FFXI. When I used autorun, the controller failed again almost immediately.

I have also experienced occasional significant stuttering/freezing in FFXI since the recent updates.

The controller has worked for extended periods (around two hours on one occasion) before failing, so the problem is intermittent, but running/autorun appears to be a frequent trigger.

I am currently testing FFXI while avoiding autorun to determine whether that prevents the issue.

I can provide additional logs/device information or perform specific tests if that would help identify the cause.

****Update*****

Quick update on the PC/controller problems I was having with FFXI:

I originally thought all of this might be related because I was having several problems at roughly the same time: my wired Xbox controller would randomly stop responding in FFXI, Task Manager started hanging, DxDiag was freezing, and Windows Reliability Monitor was reporting hardware errors.

### Windows / NVIDIA problem

Reliability Monitor showed repeated graphics-related LiveKernelEvents:

* LiveKernelEvent 1B8 — NVIDIA black-screen / dxgkrnl errors
* LiveKernelEvent 1A8 — Windows graphics/display-state / dxgkrnl errors

DxDiag was also reporting that it had previously encountered problems accessing Media Foundation and Direct3D, and Task Manager would open but then become "Not Responding."

I ran:

`SFC /scannow`

Initially, SFC found no integrity violations.

I then ran:

`DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth`

DISM reported that the Windows component store was repairable, so I ran:

`DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth`

That completed successfully. I then ran SFC again, which came back clean.

I also ran:

`chkdsk C: /scan`

That found no filesystem errors or bad sectors.

After that, I performed a clean installation of the NVIDIA graphics driver using the NVIDIA installer: Custom (Advanced) → Perform a clean installation.

After rebooting:

* Task Manager worked normally again.
* DxDiag successfully completed both the Media Foundation and Direct3D tests.
* DxDiag reported "No problems found."
* Restarting DxDiag no longer produced the previous Media Foundation/Direct3D warnings.
* I tested a modern 3D game (Onimusha) for about 10–15 minutes and it ran normally.
* No new LiveKernelEvent hardware errors appeared in Reliability Monitor.

So the Windows/NVIDIA problem appears to have been a combination of Windows component-store corruption and/or a bad graphics-driver state. Repairing Windows with DISM and clean-installing the NVIDIA driver appears to have fixed that problem.

### FFXI wired-controller problem

The Xbox controller issue turned out to be separate.

The controller worked wirelessly, but when connected by USB and playing FFXI, autorun would reliably cause the controller to stop responding.

When it failed:

* The controller light remained solid.
* Windows still listed the XINPUT-compatible HID device.
* Device Manager said, "This device is working properly."
* However, joy.cpl showed ZERO controller input. Sticks/buttons did nothing.
* Disabling the XINPUT HID device and scanning for hardware changes did not recover it.
* Physically disconnecting/reconnecting the controller and waking it restored input.

We also tested whether a recent Windows XInput driver was responsible. I rolled Windows back from xinputhid.sys 10.0.26100.9278 to 10.0.26100.8972, but the exact same FFXI/autorun failure still occurred. So the newer Windows XInput driver was not the cause.

USB Root Hub power management was also checked, and "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" was already disabled on all four USB Root Hubs.

Finally, I tested a different USB cable.

Same PC.
Same USB port.
Same controller.
Same XInput mode.
Same FFXI session.
Same autorun test.

With a short replacement USB cable, autorun worked continuously without the controller dropping.

I then immediately swapped the original long USB cable back in.

The controller dropped again.

So the wired-controller problem appears to have been a failing USB cable. Apparently the cable was continuing to supply power, which explains why the controller light stayed solid, while the USB data connection was failing. That also explains why Windows could still show the controller even though joy.cpl stopped receiving any input.

So there were actually TWO problems happening at the same time:

1. Windows/NVIDIA graphics instability — fixed with DISM/component-store repair and a clean NVIDIA driver installation.
2. FFXI wired Xbox controller dropping during autorun — isolated through A/B testing to the USB cable.

I'm replacing the long USB cable and will continue testing, but so far the replacement cable has been stable.