Could we get an HD texture pack for the PC?

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Originally Posted by bass9020

Until they state that its for time management or low staff reasons then I'm going to keep the assumption its laziness and console whiners. Lots of other games give an option for a high end mode so I don't see the issue. Even then I still won t be happy about whatever they say so I guess it doesn't really matter :)

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They did state the reason lol. They want all platforms to look and play the same lol.

As much as I would like it I would like them to focus on different content with some added horizontal feature tbh but it be nice.

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Originally Posted by Gralna

Maybe in the future when PS3 support is dropped, and FFXV, FFXII HD, and FFVII remake projects are done, and we hopefully get a larger dev team, then maybe, it'd be time to add a UHD texture pack.

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We are playing FFXIV, not FFXV or FFXII HD or whatever else. As someone who plays none of those games (and never intends to), I definitely want to advocate for SE spending more time and funds in the game that I do play.

Yes to an HD texture pack, please!

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Originally Posted by bass9020

Until they state that its for time management or low staff reasons then I'm going to keep the assumption its laziness and console whiners. Lots of other games give an option for a high end mode so I don't see the issue. Even then I still won t be happy about whatever they say so I guess it doesn't really matter :)

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You're refusing to accept any perspective but your own limited one - of course you don't see the issue.

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Originally Posted by ChocoFeru

The HD textures already exist! This "option" should be easy to implement.

The only downside effect that can be considered here, is the server traffic needed to download all the huge data (and the additional cost).

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Even implementing HD textures would need to be optimized and tested based on a specific hardware range.

I'll keep repeating this until it sinks in, since people continue to think that it's as simple as adding high resolution files to the game via a download and calling it a day.

Take Skyrim, for example - it's not a graphically demanding game (without extensive modding, of course). However, without proper optimization of what is and isn't rendering on the screen, and the textures of those various items being rendered, you can end up severe performance issues just by facing one area instead of another. While the engine isn't used isn't the same, the concept is still very much there (and is it will be for any game in any engine - optimization, even for the beefiest hardware, is a thing).

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Originally Posted by odintius

As much as I would like it I would like them to focus on different content with some added horizontal feature tbh but it be nice.

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The whole argument is mainly how giving this option really shouldn't be that much work in the first place.

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Originally Posted by Jynx

The whole argument is mainly how giving this option really shouldn't be that much work in the first place.

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As a general rule, if the internet thinks something in a game is easy to add/isn't much work...

They aren't correct.

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Originally Posted by Galgarion

Why is the Dev team so small? This game is the golden goose, you'd think Square would go out of their way to make sure it kept churning out a tidy profit by making their player base happy.

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Same reason SOE squandered revenue from EQ on lots of projects that flopped or were very marginal.

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Originally Posted by Berethos

As a general rule, if the internet thinks something in a game is easy to add/isn't much work...

They aren't correct.

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As a general rule you shouldn't "Assume" you are correct. it's be proven time and time again by game developers that it's often fairly easy to hand out high resolution texture packs as an optional download. It's pretty common in the PC gaming space to have adjustable texture resolution in your game.

but you know.

Rabble rabble it must be hard because they don't do it! Rabble rabble.

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Originally Posted by Jynx

As a general rule you shouldn't "Assume" you are correct. it's be proven time and time again by game developers that it's often fairly easy to hand out high resolution texture packs as an optional download. It's pretty common in the PC gaming space to have adjustable texture resolution in your game.

but you know.

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I'd point out that there's generally a lot of work that goes into getting those high resolution texture packs ready for the consumer - which is why nearly all of them arrive some time after the release of said game, usually following complaints that the game doesn't look as good as people thought it would and the developer typically responds with how they are working on getting it sorted so that it doesn't cause significant performance issues - but I have a feeling you've convinced yourself they just wait around until someone complains enough and just have to move a couple files around and upload the textures and call it a day.

It should be common sense that there's work that goes on behind the scenes that the consumer generally never sees, and things like optional texture packs are no exception - as I've mentioned several times, even assuming that the way their game is set up can handle more than one texture pack, which it may not be - ever notice that there's not an actual "texture resolution" option in the graphic options? The only two that do are the shadow resolution option and the map resolution option, everything else is options for real time reflections, and anti-aliasing, grass quality, parallax occlusion, tessellation...there is the option for bilinear, trilinear, and anisotropic texture filtering...

But no actual option change texture resolution. So everyone of you that says it should be an easy thing that they are too lazy too implement are ignoring that the system may not actually be set up to do two texture resolution options...

And even if it was something already built into the system, just something hidden from the user point of view, there's still the work that has to go into optimizing it so it doesn't run like crap (rarely a small task, especially when you're talking about MMOs).

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Originally Posted by Berethos

Even implementing HD textures would need to be optimized and tested based on a specific hardware range.

I'll keep repeating this until it sinks in, since people continue to think that it's as simple as adding high resolution files to the game via a download and calling it a day.

Take Skyrim, for example - it's not a graphically demanding game (without extensive modding, of course). However, without proper optimization of what is and isn't rendering on the screen, and the textures of those various items being rendered, you can end up severe performance issues just by facing one area instead of another. While the engine isn't used isn't the same, the concept is still very much there (and is it will be for any game in any engine - optimization, even for the beefiest hardware, is a thing).

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A perfect example of this would be going to download the 4k mods on Nexus while running a GPU nowhere near capable of rendering 4k quality textures. Now toss in a grass texture mod on top of that and your FPS will spike to absurdly low levels. In an MMO, servers have to presume everyone can render the game at relative max settings. I suspect said servers couldn't handle the upgrade nor would the PS3 come even close. That said, SE does need to consider graphical improvements as this game will start to look dated if they don't. So while not the simple fix some suggest, it's one SE should be moving towards in the future.

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Originally Posted by Bourne_Endeavor

A perfect example of this would be going to download the 4k mods on Nexus while running a GPU nowhere near capable of rendering 4k quality textures. Now toss in a grass texture mod on top of that and your FPS will spike to absurdly low levels. In an MMO, servers have to presume everyone can render the game at relative max settings. I suspect said servers couldn't handle the upgrade nor would the PS3 come even close. That said, SE does need to consider graphical improvements as this game will start to look dated if they don't. So while not the simple fix some suggest, it's one SE should be moving towards in the future.

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Agreed - I definitely believe it's one they can work toward in the future, and in a number of ways they already have - the current lighting options we have (among a few other things) are relatively recent additions (came with Heavensward, I believe). It should be something they work toward, but it's definitely not a simple change.

I'm aware it's not a hidden option or something and it's not a breeze to do.

But the point remains it's nowhere near the daunting task you paint it to be. It would be a big oversight for them to have designed the entire engine and not allow better textures. He'll it's apparatus when some items exist with textures of varying resolutions as it is.

Look at any gear you slap your FC emblem on you get a crisp badge ontop of your muddy armor texture it almost looks fake how stark the difference is. That's just an extreme example but many weapons have varying texture quality as well. Most 1.0 errs items retain decent textures where new models are a mixed bag.

HD textures would just consume Graphic card's RAM. It would lower the FPS count if you reach the cap on your RAM, that's all.

That's why on Skyrim mods you need a card with at least 4 GB of graphic RAM.

Anyways, back on 1.0 we had HD textures, and they weren't "HD" at all, but it was better than now.

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Originally Posted by Berethos

You're refusing to accept any perspective but your own limited one - of course you don't see the issue.

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Thats nice thanks.

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Originally Posted by ChocoFeru

HD textures would just consume Graphic card's RAM. It would lower the FPS count if you reach the cap on your RAM, that's all.

That's why on Skyrim mods you need a card with at least 4 GB of graphic RAM.

Anyways, back on 1.0 we had HD textures, and they weren't "HD" at all, but it was better than now.

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That's why it's optional lol. If you can't run it, leave the option off or get a GPU with more Ram.

There are many texture packs made by a single person manually for a whole game. A game with millions of subscribers can afford to make new texture packs, even if manually like when someone outside the company makes it.

Multiple texture packs can be offered for different computer specs.

Graphics are important to many people. You may not care for it, but countlezs millions buy expensive gpus for only one reason: graphics. Ever since starting the game I have admired the lighting enhancement that came with heavensward almost every time i play. I gladly run my gpu at 90% instead of 60% for all the nice eyecandy of dx11 max setting ff14, and i would gladly upgrade if there was a texture pack upgrade my gpu cant handle.

If a game has good graphics or improved graphics it could draw in many new players. Just look at skyrim, many play it just for eyecandy mods.

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Originally Posted by MikeWW

There are many texture packs made by a single person manually for a whole game. A game with millions of subscribers can afford to make new texture packs, even if manually like when someone outside the company makes it.

Multiple texture packs can be offered for different computer specs.

Graphics are important to many people. You may not care for it, but countlezs millions buy expensive gpus for only one reason: graphics. Ever since starting the game I have admired the lighting enhancement that came with heavensward almost every time i play. I gladly run my gpu at 90% instead of 60% for all the nice eyecandy of dx11 max setting ff14, and i would gladly upgrade if there was a texture pack upgrade my gpu cant handle.

If a game has good graphics or improved graphics it could draw in many new players. Just look at skyrim, many play it just for eyecandy mods.

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Apparently its game content and fps only! But yes a good majority of FF fans play them for the amazing scenery and quality of graphics, having the option to make things look better is always nice.

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Originally Posted by Bourne_Endeavor

In an MMO, servers have to presume everyone can render the game at relative max settings. I suspect said servers couldn't handle the upgrade nor would the PS3 come even close. That said, SE does need to consider graphical improvements as this game will start to look dated if they don't. So while not the simple fix some suggest, it's one SE should be moving towards in the future.

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Uh, what? What do the servers have to do with this and why do you think it's necessary that everyone can run at max settings? Graphics are rendered on the client side, not the server side. Optional options are optional. If your computer can't handle it then don't turn it on.

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Originally Posted by FallenArisen0990

They did state the reason lol. They want all platforms to look and play the same lol.

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But they don't, do they? The DX11 mode on PC gives some visual improvements the PS4 version does not have I thought?

Yes, please.

FFXIV is their top money maker but why they can't put more people in the dev team?

All of our subscription fees went to FFXV budget or something? It's not fair to us XIV players.

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Originally Posted by Zeno_McDohl

But they don't, do they? The DX11 mode on PC gives some visual improvements the PS4 version does not have I thought?

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I feel DX11 was a step in the right direction and shows that we can have certain perks that the consoles can't (mostly ps3) so heres to hoping we see some more pushes from yoshi and team to give us better textures and the like for 4.0!

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Originally Posted by Evangela

Yes, please.

FFXIV is their top money maker but why they can't put more people in the dev team?

All of our subscription fees went to FFXV budget or something? It's not fair to us XIV players.

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And it'll go into Kingdom Hearts III and Re: Final Fantasy VII, I hear FF Record Keeper and the new Brave Exivus is making SE money too.

I would really like this!

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Originally Posted by Galgarion

Why is the Dev team so small? This game is the golden goose, you'd think Square would go out of their way to make sure it kept churning out a tidy profit by making their player base happy.

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Some people have claimed some reasons akin to syphoning budget away from FFXIV...

Like below....

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Originally Posted by Evangela

Yes, please.

FFXIV is their top money maker but why they can't put more people in the dev team?

All of our subscription fees went to FFXV budget or something? It's not fair to us XIV players.

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Originally Posted by Yasuhiro

And it'll go into Kingdom Hearts III and Re: Final Fantasy VII, I hear FF Record Keeper and the new Brave Exivus is making SE money too.

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I've also heard a theory that based on the joblistings that remain available for some time they just have trouble finding people to fill the positions that are qualified for it.

Some have suggested there's not as many Japanese speaking people that are qualified for the positions they're looking for.



Personally, I have no idea.
We can just read all these theories and don our tinfoil hats.

Having a dev comment on this would be really great! Why can other games have options for higher graphics all around but we can't get any options for this game? If people have PCs that can handle these types of upgrades they should be in the game.

We've been asking this for years. I really hope one day we get the fidelity of 1.0 back because I'm sick of all my armor being pixelated to the void.

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Originally Posted by Sensual

"Oh hey this set looks awesome" then you zoom in and just "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah nevermind"

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And it sure doesn't help when cutscenes zoom into your character or an object with low detail.

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Originally Posted by Gramul

We've been asking this for years. I really hope one day we get the fidelity of 1.0 back because I'm sick of all my armor being pixelated to the void.

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This 100%.

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Originally Posted by Evangela

Yes, please.

FFXIV is their top money maker but why they can't put more people in the dev team?

All of our subscription fees went to FFXV budget or something? It's not fair to us XIV players.

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This sort of thing happens all the time. I remember reading once how Sega didn't put in too much effort in their Sonic spin off games and those were nothing more than quick cash grabs to help fund for main Sonic game development. As long as FF14 is making enough money for Square-Enix, I don't think we are going to see this game make any big leaps and bounds in content and QQL anytime soon.

How much FPS would an HD texture pack take?

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Originally Posted by RobbieH

Once they drop PS3 support i'm sure we'll get better textures, however i don't know if they'll do that starting with everything from when the PS3 support was dropped or if they will already have high res textures but haven't released them yet.

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PS3 support has zero impact on optional HD textures.

For a start the original artwork and models already exist at far higher resolutions, but have been scaled and massaged down to fit specific memory budgets. If they could put higher definition textures into the PC/PS4/Mac client without impacting other development efforts, I'd be all for it.

The funny thing is that most of the media reviews of FFXIV talk about how good looking a game it is...already. Still HD textures to go with the lighting, shadows, reflections and atmospheric effects would be great.

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Originally Posted by Fevelle

How much FPS would an HD texture pack take?

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Depends on your GPU, and to a smaller degree, your RAM and CPU.

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Originally Posted by Fevelle

How much FPS would an HD texture pack take?

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Lol, coming from a pc enthusiast, this comment is way too adorable to pass up:). Your fps is determined by the specs of your computer. Your GPU (generally) is the most important, following your CPU, and then other factors that may limit performance (your RAM, and even your HDD/SSD for loading content). So the answer is there is no answer, it all depends on what you're running 14 on. If you have a GTX 970 or anything above that, and a decent CPU, then you'll be fine for any sort of graphical improvement square can throw at you. Hope this helps!

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Originally Posted by AkashiXI

Lol, coming from a pc enthusiast, this comment is way too adorable to pass up:). Your fps is determined by the specs of your computer. Your GPU (generally) is the most important, following your CPU, and then other factors that may limit performance (your RAM, and even your HDD/SSD for loading content). So the answer is there is no answer, it all depends on what you're running 14 on. If you have a GTX 970 or anything above that, and a decent CPU, then you'll be fine for any sort of graphical improvement square can throw at you. Hope this helps!

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Ok, thank you! I play on a pretty standard laptop (i7 2.8ghz/860M/16GB RAM), but I'm thinking about upgrading to a desktop soon, so I hope I can upgrade in time if they ever make graphical updates to FFXIV!

If we get HD textures for PCs, can we have them for PS4 Neo as well? It'll have a much beefier GPU, and faster memory and faster CPU cores with a newer AMD x86 architecture, it should be capable of supporting HD textures - among other things.

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

If we get HD textures for PCs, can we have them for PS4 Neo as well? It'll have a much beefier GPU, and faster memory and faster CPU cores with a newer AMD x86 architecture, it should be capable of supporting HD textures - among other things.

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Let the machines that can handle use it! If ps4 can push it then they should! We already know they can give us these things since we got the Dx11. Its just a matter of time of if and when they want to. But having some clarity on the subject would also be nice but I feel that won't happen.

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

PS3 support has zero impact on optional HD textures.

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Yes it does, but when they made 2.0 they didn't make high res textures, and PS3 is the reason.

PS3 has 512MB RAM, and that was the reason we didn't see high res textures, i don't see any other reason besides it, PC has more than support for them and so does PS4.

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Originally Posted by Leonesaurus

Let the players make them and share them with each other. Would support this similar to simple texture mods for games like Skyrim and Fallout.

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My thoughts exactly. I'm almost certain enhancing the PC graphics wouldn't break TOS. However, those mods are mostly single player games where you can go in and tweak transparency, specular effects, bumps/normal, the world etc. I'm not aware of anyone being able to mod those same things in an MMORPG without the settings already being part of the existing design. Is it even possible on a MMO without adding to processing and latency with servers. Wouldn't it also create a backdoor for infecting clients through the servers?

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Originally Posted by Kotemon

Is it even possible on a MMO without adding to processing and latency with servers.

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Textures and things like that are all "Client Side" meaning you don't actually interact with the server when loading them besides the server telling the client what textures to load. Take FFXI for an example it had a thriving community of .dat moders (.dats are the games basic files for thing like textures, animations, models all that fun stuff)

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a91...ornewbs/11.jpg

With enough experience and guidance you could even modify existing textures and add higher resolution to them. It was a bit of a "Underground" thing though as people did also use .dat swapping to do things like make monsters in certain areas of the game stand out more when they shouldn't such as making mimics always show that they were a mimic or normally (Mostly) invisible mobs like Chigoes appear larger than they are naturally so you wouldn't accidentally step on them wich often meant certain death in FFXI.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...ojectclose.jpg

This custom set of armor by Mooshy sported a higher texture resolution than the rest of items in the game due to using some hex code editing to force the game to render it correctly.

To throw my opinion in the ring:
I will state immediately that I'm all for having the option to go to the 1.0 graphics or something similar. I do understand that some manpower would have to be dedicated to the task however, if having a small team is such a huge issue for this game, than more people should be brought into the fold slowly because we all have to recognize it takes time to train them how to work on this game specifically to keep the quality of the game up. Another thing to note, simply giving the modding community the ability to do the task themselves would probably be enough to make it happen if it seriously is too much of an issue for them to do on their own.