PS2 Limitations: What are Rumors, What is Truth?

[rog]

Kind of curious where you got the source code to know that the supposed area limit is hard coded? Hard coded, of course, meaning it's in the source code opposed to an external .DAT. And that's something that would only need to be loaded into memory upon changing zones, while a bunch of other much more memory intensive things are being unloaded from memory, so there should be no issue with memory that causes an area limit.

Check the memory? Your current area was stored in a 1 byte variable, which limits it to 255 possible values. According to someone in another thread this was changed recently, so the new the cap would be 65535, which obviously will never be reaches.

And no, it can't just be checked when zoning. It needs to constantly be in memory, just like your x,y,z position.

[Gwynplaine]

According to someone in another thread this was changed recently, so the new the cap would be 65535, which obviously will never be reaches.

What is the other thread or reference you're talking about? Is it on this forum or somewhere else?

[rog]

What is the other thread or reference you're talking about? Is it on this forum or somewhere else?

On here. Not sure what thread it was. May have been deleted even, not sure.

[Firesped]

imo, I think the solution is to port the game to the ps3 with a native client that uses the same .dat files. And if that is done, can the "code" be expanded or fixed from there? Which brings up the questions. How hard is this to do? How much will this cost to do it? Are the FFXI players willing to buy the ps3 version to pay for these costs?

The PC version has proved that the design of the game can be pushed graphically past what was done on the ps2. I have had friends watch me play and say that this game looks awesome.

The design and background of Vana'diel seems that it has many more areas that can be opened for future expansion but it saddens me that this would be cut back by ps2 HDD limitations.

I hope this this post fits with this topic.

[Yarly]

Do people think that FFXI will magically be super pretty/optimized and *** like newer games if PS2 support is dropped?

[rog]

Do people think that FFXI will magically be super pretty/optimized and *** like newer games if PS2 support is dropped?

I'd settle for 100+ inventory slots.

[Nathos]

Well if PS2 were dropped, we could maybe have an actual expansion with new zones, art, story, graphical engine upgrade, auto-translate update, and so on.

Hard to do tho due a lot of Japanese ppl still play on PS2 and other ppl around the globe. They would have to do something to convince ppl to move to new systems, like a PS3 downloaded version or even some type of discount with Sony on PS3 or something.

[rog]

Well if PS2 were dropped, we could maybe have an actual expansion with new zones, art, story, graphical engine upgrade, auto-translate update, and so on.

Hard to do tho due a lot of Japanese ppl still play on PS2 and other ppl around the globe. They would have to do something to convince ppl to move to new systems, like a PS3 downloaded version or even some type of discount with Sony on PS3 or something.

Auto translate is the only one of those that are being held back by the ps2.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

Dropping support for the PS2 is a red herring.

Final Fantasy XI is first and foremost a PS2 game, it was written for that platform first. And when it came to other platforms, the game wasn't rewritten from the ground up, but was instead ported to the PC (and from the PC to the Xbox 360). No matter what you're playing FFXI on, everything under the hood of the game, from mechanics to graphics, is at its core PS2 code. Simply disallowing PS2 hardware will not change the PS2 legacy for PC and 360 players.

So, really, what you're asking for is one of two options:

1. A kludge fix, on top of a kludge, on top of another kludge, all onto a system of code already being held together by liberal amounts of duck tape and chewing gum. You're talking about a game written for the PlayStation 2 and then ported to Windows 98. At best, solutions won't be as elegant as you would prefer. Realistically, there will be new problems caused in the name of "trade-offs," and the "solution" may be worse than the problem.

1. A total rewrite of the code base from the ground up, a "Final Fantasy XI All-Stars" or "Final Fantasy XI: The Wiley Wars." It involves almost as much work as making a new game entirely. It involves almost as much money as making a new game entirely. And this for a game that has a declining player base, in spite of a price tag as low as $10 (or $5 digital download)? Even if the publisher in question weren't hemorrhaging cash on Final Fantasy XIV, Adam Smith would have words for you.

Final Fantasy XI is almost a decade old. It's showing its age. Continued support of the PS2 isn't your problem, the passage of nine years is your problem. And unless you have a flux capacitor lying about, there is no fix for that, not even if you scapegoat PS2 players.

"If only id would drop support for DOS, Doom II would look and play like Halo!" It doesn't work that way.

[rog]

Of course. No one expects the game to be rewritten like that. But it would solve the problem of being limited to 32mb of ram.