Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain

And bump again. Haven't checked the latest patch if they changed anything (I assume not) but I also dont feel like logging in, especially with this stalker incident recently.

Who's excited for the upcoming LL ....

Yeah me neither

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Originally Posted by Emitans

There is a permanent blur filter on the game if you set resolution scaling to 100. Or a sharpening filter below 100.

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I had the same issue but it was resolved after switching the AA option to FXAA. Which AA are you using?

Up we go again

Making use of these free login days by bumping the thread.

To reduce eyestrain and headaches, we'd need the following settings and/or changes to all platforms (PC, Mac, PS4/5 and Xbox):

- allow the players to reduce and completely remove the bloom/glow effects
- reduce the flashiness and brightness of enemies' attacks and field effects in battles
- reduce the flashiness and brightness of players' attacks (own, party, and alliance) when battle effects are set to any of the three settings (Full, Limited, None)
- allow players to turn off the new wind effects when using flying mounts

These changes would allow us to play the game again without eyestrain and headaches.

Thread is too low. Going up

bumping this

Upwards againwards

Up we go!

To reduce eyestrain and headaches, we'd need the following settings and/or changes to all platforms (PC, Mac, PS4/5 and Xbox):

- allow the players to reduce and completely remove the bloom/glow effects
- reduce the flashiness and brightness of enemies' attacks and field effects in battles
- reduce the flashiness and brightness of players' attacks (own, party, and alliance) when battle effects are set to any of the three settings (Full, Limited, None)
- allow players to turn off the new wind effects when using flying mounts

These changes would allow us to play the game again without eyestrain and headaches.

Re-upped my FFXIV sub because I was disappointed to keep missing event items and emotes on the chance that things get fixed and I can play properly again. After all the months unsubbed it's still so painful to see the new graphics, I feel sick just looking at them.

I'm also still having terrible eyestrain and headaches from playing more than 20-30 minutes, and now I'm getting motion sick too, even turning off all the tilt nonsense. So I suppose I have a subscription to keeping this thread up. I'm pretty sure they'll keep ignoring the accessibility issues they've created at this point, but here we go back to the first page.

Back to the first page for more visibility, which we'd all really love to have.

And to the front page we go!

Front page again, for all of us who'd like to be able to see this game we bought....

Pre-DT graphics I could play as long as I liked, and now I throw up halfway through a dungeon. No acknowledgement of the accessibility issues, silence from emailing where we were TOLD to email regarding accessibility.... at least, unlike all those currently unsubbed due to not being able to play, I can put the thread back on the front page of the forums for a bit so... up we go.

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Originally Posted by zipkin

Pre-DT graphics I could play as long as I liked, and now I throw up halfway through a dungeon.

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Same for me: could play however long I wanted before DT and had no problem with any kind of effects, but after the graphical update I can play just older content and with limited battle effects, and that's if I've brought down the contrast and brightness of my monitor. It doesn't help that us Playstation players have even fewer graphical options than PC/Mac players. Have also delayed leveling up my casting classes, since even the full battle effects are now eye-searingly blinding, and playing those classes without the magic effects feels pretty pointless.

I noticed last time I was poking around the graphics that there was the option to turn off Radial Blur now. I don't remember seeing that before.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

I noticed last time I was poking around the graphics that there was the option to turn off Radial Blur now. I don't remember seeing that before.

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>: I was excited to try and see if that was there to fiddle with, but it is not an option on PS4.

Back to the front page we go!

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Originally Posted by Ainariel

Same for me: could play however long I wanted before DT and had no problem with any kind of effects, but after the graphical update I can play just older content and with limited battle effects, and that's if I've brought down the contrast and brightness of my monitor. It doesn't help that us Playstation players have even fewer graphical options than PC/Mac players. Have also delayed leveling up my casting classes, since even the full battle effects are now eye-searingly blinding, and playing those classes without the magic effects feels pretty pointless.

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I can't even play the older content. I haven't touched DT at all, I'm getting eyestrain headaches from stuff like trying to do seasonal event quests. If I'm walking through a zone and it turns night or starts raining, forget it. I literally went out to my car for sunglasses to try and manage to get through a trial, and I've got all the ability stuff turned as off as options allow. I definitely also miss the effects though, like you said playing magic classes without any magic is pretty sad. Wearing sunglasses to try and play a game is also pretty sad, but at least it's a quicker adjustment than finagling my monitor settings AGAIN for a five minute thing. There's no actual brightness setting that solves the FFXIV graphics issue for me, trying to tone down the bright stuff makes the dark stuff way too dark, the contrast is ridiculous.

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Originally Posted by zipkin

I can't even play the older content. I haven't touched DT at all, I'm getting eyestrain headaches from stuff like trying to do seasonal event quests. If I'm walking through a zone and it turns night or starts raining, forget it. I literally went out to my car for sunglasses to try and manage to get through a trial, and I've got all the ability stuff turned as off as options allow. I definitely also miss the effects though, like you said playing magic classes without any magic is pretty sad. Wearing sunglasses to try and play a game is also pretty sad, but at least it's a quicker adjustment than finagling my monitor settings AGAIN for a five minute thing. There's no actual brightness setting that solves the FFXIV graphics issue for me, trying to tone down the bright stuff makes the dark stuff way too dark, the contrast is ridiculous.

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As you wrote, lowering the brightness only does so much: it may make some of the bright stuff bearable, but in turn it turns the other parts so dark that you can't see any details. I'd like to unlock and play through the Arcadion raids, but I've heard they're really flashy and no brightness setting can conquer that.

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Originally Posted by Ainariel

As you wrote, lowering the brightness only does so much: it may make some of the bright stuff bearable, but in turn it turns the other parts so dark that you can't see any details. I'd like to unlock and play through the Arcadion raids, but I've heard they're really flashy and no brightness setting can conquer that.

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Parts of it feel like P3 all over again. It isn't seizure-inducing like Tower at Paradigm's Breach, but I imagine it'd be unbearable for anyone with bad photosensitivity.

In the hope of all of us being able to play through Arcadion & the latest MSQ dungeons/trials, and playing with our battle effects on again -> back to the front page.

Up we go, back to the front page again.

Bumping the thread back to the front page. Still not so much as an acknowledgement of the accessibility issues created by the 'graphics update' last June. As Ainariel shared back on page 30, we've been advised to contact the Accessibility team at contact-accessibility@eu.square-enix.com in regards to this issue, as well as communicate via the forums, which this thread is for.

If you've got a spare moment, consider leaving a like on the thread in support. If you're experiencing similar issues, and have the energy for it, consider contacting the Accessibility team as well. We just want to play the game we've played for years, without pain, without eyestrain, without headaches, without nausea and motion sickness.

It'd be nice if they'd at least SAY something, instead of apparently hoping we'll all just stop asking them to fix it. Fixes might take time, but any acknowledgement of the issue would be a lot better than the continued silence :/

Lucy Pyre mentioned this thread in a video and I'm very thankful for that, because there is only one other content creator that has and his take was "Well, I don't know what they want the devs to do, they're not going to undo the graphics update." even though he'd taken the time to read a bunch of other threads, he didn't take the time to look at any of the suggestions people have left here in the thread, and it was really heartbreaking.

Don't really care much for the opinions of "content creators" but it is sort of cathartic to see someone talk about this, even if it's just to point out the double standard of people saying that FFXIV is dumbed down for accessibility, when clearly the devs do not care about people having accessibility issues when we have been ignored completely for nine months now.

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Originally Posted by UNDEAD10000

I have extremely low hopes of Dawntrail graphics problems getting fixed in patch 7.2 when it's being around 8 months now and none of the problems with graphics haven't being fixed.[...]Ever since release of Dawntrail, i always wished them to revert graphics back to 6.0 graphics and spend at least 1-3 years more to improving and fixing the graphics update when current graphics update is clearly unfinished and rushed.

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I'm right there with you. I really, really wish they'd go back to the old graphics and save these "new" graphics for a new mmo in the future. These are just so poorly implemented...

My static has just been doing old content or farming EXs during the wait for the next raid tier. But that has even been impeded by this issue. Because then stuff like this happens:

DRK: Would anyone be up to run Zoraal'ja?
RPR: That fight makes me really motionsick, can we do a different fight?
DRK: Hm, well we've already done a lot of Valigarmanda, so how about Sphene?
WHM: I can maybe manage one or two clears, but that fight really makes my eyes hurt.

So we ended up just farming Endwalker and older fights to get people mounts because 2 of the 3 current EX trials are nearly unplayable for two of our members. It's never been an issue until 7.0.

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Originally Posted by CuteBucket

My static has just been doing old content or farming EXs during the wait for the next raid tier. But that has even been impeded by this issue. Because then stuff like this happens:

DRK: Would anyone be up to run Zoraal'ja?
RPR: That fight makes me really motionsick, can we do a different fight?
DRK: Hm, well we've already done a lot of Valigarmanda, so how about Sphene?
WHM: I can maybe manage one or two clears, but that fight really makes my eyes hurt.

So we ended up just farming Endwalker and older fights to get people mounts because 2 of the 3 current EX trials are nearly unplayable for two of our members. It's never been an issue until 7.0.

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And that's completely unacceptable! People shouldn't have to miss out on fights because the game physically makes them ill...

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Originally Posted by CuteBucket

My static has just been doing old content or farming EXs during the wait for the next raid tier. But that has even been impeded by this issue. Because then stuff like this happens:

DRK: Would anyone be up to run Zoraal'ja?
RPR: That fight makes me really motionsick, can we do a different fight?
DRK: Hm, well we've already done a lot of Valigarmanda, so how about Sphene?
WHM: I can maybe manage one or two clears, but that fight really makes my eyes hurt.

So we ended up just farming Endwalker and older fights to get people mounts because 2 of the 3 current EX trials are nearly unplayable for two of our members. It's never been an issue until 7.0.

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Can you develop on what specifically makes them motionsick in the fight ?
Usually specific elements are to be targeted, and maybe there are accessibility tools that could be developed around those.

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Originally Posted by Sekundessounet

Can you develop on what specifically makes them motionsick in the fight ?
Usually specific elements are to be targeted, and maybe there are accessibility tools that could be developed around those.

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If you're wanting details, folks have shared different things they've noticed throughout this thread. Some of the issues mentioned around motionsickness seem to be potentially something to do with the blur/sharpen around movement, background motions (like plants/shadows), and a bit of the character movement itself. There were a lot of folks dealing with motionsickness with the mount tilt feature as well, which was fortunately given a toggle, but some of what they described in that thread might be related to the current motionsickness issues if you're looking for additional details.

I wasn't really having much motionsickness or nausea back in June, mostly because the eyestrain pain got to be too bad before I got sick (learned that the fun way trying to push through whoops). One of the updates since then seems to have changed SOMETHING with the movement, even after turning off the character tilt options I still get queasy after a short while playing the game. I wish I could offer something more specific, but, for me, it's hard to look at the game for very long and I'm struggling to pinpoint the exact problem (kinda feels like a combo of things tbh). I just know I never had the issue before the graphics update, and the motionsickness is worse since a more recent update. I stopped playing for a while on account of the 'not being able to play without pain' thing, so I'm not 100% on which patch it was, but my guess is the one where they added the character tilt toggle.

A friend of mine gets vertigo in certain dungeons, which could also be something translating to motionsickness in other people, but I'm not familiar enough with those dungeons to speak on it.

I'm not sure what's making CuteBucket's friend sick during the fight, but I get sick just walking around. I definitely feel sick faster if I'm doing combat-type things, but, for me, it's not caused by something in the combat stuff, just exacerbated by it. The eyestrain/pain is still a more significant issue for me, but I've thrown up a few times trying to get through MSQ so :x

Oi, thread. Back to the front page with you. Your graphics still need more accessibility options, you slackers.

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Originally Posted by Anarnee

Lucy Pyre mentioned this thread in a video and I'm very thankful for that, because there is only one other content creator that has and his take was "Well, I don't know what they want the devs to do, they're not going to undo the graphics update." even though he'd taken the time to read a bunch of other threads, he didn't take the time to look at any of the suggestions people have left here in the thread, and it was really heartbreaking.

Don't really care much for the opinions of "content creators" but it is sort of cathartic to see someone talk about this, even if it's just to point out the double standard of people saying that FFXIV is dumbed down for accessibility, when clearly the devs do not care about people having accessibility issues when we have been ignored completely for nine months now.

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I know which other content creator you're talking about and I was disappointed by that too. I mentioned it in his comments in a prior video hoping that someone with a bigger platform might shed a bit more light on this. At the same time, most of the recent posts in the thread have just been bumps so there wasn't much to go on. There was more productive discussion right after 7.0 released and plenty of examples have been brought up from many different people using different platforms. That doesn't happen that much these days.

The reason is simple: People affected by these graphical issues have quit the game. They've outright said it. Why pay for something they can't even play?

I unsubbed from the game for my first time ever but came back after seeing comments that some of the issues had been fixed. I've been able to play for longer and even managed to get through the rest of Arcadion normal. The arena was so bright and the bloom so bad when I did the first fight that it made me sick, but I had less problems when I returned. What changed? The devs won't say because they won't even acknowledge there's a problem at all.

It's been pointed out by several people that options for graphical adjustments were removed in 7.0 and have yet to return. Not all of us are asking for a full rollback of the graphics update - simply the tools (on every supported platform) to mitigate or stop elements causing issues so we can play the game normally like we used to. Like everyone else does.

I didn't hate Dawntrail. I was actually pretty excited for some of the 7.1 content up until I rolled into Jeuno and it gave me a migraine so bad I started hoping my team would just leave my character dead. Even with the alleged adjustments, I haven't dared try it again. The Chaotic raids sounded like such a neat concept and I really wanted to try it, but why go to all that trouble of finding 23 other people to do it with only to realize I can't even look at the fight to prog?

I feel like almost all my comments on the forums are in this one thread and for the first time I hit the character limit LOL

Ironically the trouble here is visibility - we've been told the devs are aware of this but there's no telling if this is even a priority to deal with. It's not as big a problem as people complaining about Wuk Lamat for the nth time because more people are talking about that. It feels like it's better to keep it buried under all the other DT issues.

I've thought a lot about this issue and I'd be happy to compile a solid list of concerns and suggestions from this thread if I had any faith they were being listened to. Many players have attempted to bring light to this problem in different ways. Support tickets have been sent. Someone was given a direct email for accessibility issues but never got a response. It even apparently came up on the JP forums at one point. This thread has been going on for months and I would bet real dollars that it won't even warrant a mention in the next live letter. If content creators want to spread the word, I'm happy to help.

I still enjoy this game for a lot of reasons but SE sure makes that hard to do.

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Originally Posted by zipkin

Bumping the thread back to the front page. Still not so much as an acknowledgement of the accessibility issues created by the 'graphics update' last June. As Ainariel shared back on page 30, we've been advised to contact the Accessibility team at contact-accessibility@eu.square-enix.com in regards to this issue, as well as communicate via the forums, which this thread is for.

If you've got a spare moment, consider leaving a like on the thread in support. If you're experiencing similar issues, and have the energy for it, consider contacting the Accessibility team as well. We just want to play the game we've played for years, without pain, without eyestrain, without headaches, without nausea and motion sickness.

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Quoting my own prior post mainly because I haven't got much more to add that hasn't been said before, but at least it's got more info than just... back to the front page :x

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Originally Posted by zipkin

Quoting my own prior post mainly because I haven't got much more to add that hasn't been said before, but at least it's got more info than just... back to the front page :x

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Thanks for quoting this! I don't remember seeing it in the thread, but did anyone ever get a response?

Also to the folks who have kept bumping this despite the lack of acknowledgment, I appreciate you for keeping the thread around. I didn't want to diminish that. It's just that this situation and how the devs have handled it made me too salty.

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Originally Posted by Sekundessounet

Can you develop on what specifically makes them motionsick in the fight ?
Usually specific elements are to be targeted, and maybe there are accessibility tools that could be developed around those.

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For the Zoraal Ja EX fight, I can't remember exactly what my friend said (I didn't really inquire further myself and respected their wish not to run that fight, but I think they said it was something about how you have to spin your camera around a lot to track the fire lines in that one middle part? I've only cleared the fight once, so I'm kind of rusty on what exactly it was. Something about having to track lines while moving the camera around though, I think.

For Sphene EX, once again, didn't inquire exactly what the problem was on a detailed level, only that it had something to do with the lights or effects going off causing eyestrain and headaches after more than a one or two pulls.

I've mostly been unaffected by the changes beyond thinking all the bloom effects are ugly and disliking the new "improved" character models, so I can't speak to my friends' experiences. But I felt I should chime in to say that even a person like me who hasn't been getting headaches or motion sickness is still being negatively affected by these graphical changes because the people I play with regularly are dealing with adverse effects that keep us from running content together, because I'm not going to force my buddies to run fights if it's causing them so much physical distress.

You can fix the horrible eye straining blur effects by forcing DLSS4 through Nvidia, but this causes other issues like weird artifacting with fog or some foliage in the far distance looking rather warped until you get up close. Whatever is going on with this game, it's SE's horrible implementation of upscaling with FSR and DLSS. This awful blur has been a strain on my eyes since this expansion has released. I'm honestly in shock that despite how long this thread has been going, we have gotten no word or any kind of update.

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Originally Posted by Vesplume

Thanks for quoting this! I don't remember seeing it in the thread, but did anyone ever get a response?

Also to the folks who have kept bumping this despite the lack of acknowledgment, I appreciate you for keeping the thread around. I didn't want to diminish that. It's just that this situation and how the devs have handled it made me too salty.

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Page 30, near the top, Ainariel received the instruction from the Support Centre to contact the accessibility email, to my knowledge they did not receive further replies.

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Originally Posted by Ainariel

Sent a ticket to the general support center regarding the new mount tilt & these new visuals which cause eye strain last week. Received this reply today:

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Thank you for contacting the Square Enix Support Centre.

We are very sorry to hear that you are facing photosensitivity issues while playing FFXIV. Be advised that game feedback should be shared on the official FFXIV forums. Find forums link below:

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...086.1708014874

Alternatively, you can reach contact-accessibility@eu.square-enix.com to get in touch with the Accessibility team.
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We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience.

Kind regards,

The Square Enix Support Centre team

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Basically, they're asking us to post feedback on these official forums (as we've already done), and we could also get in touch with the Accessibility team via that email address they mentioned. Already sent said team a message with detailed feedback.

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On page 49 Wind-Krysvein made a post that is too long to quote, but they shared that they sent a more emotional message to the Support Center and got a reply that looked like it might actually have been from a person. The Support Center replied that acknowledgement of the graphics issues is not at the discretion of their team, but they would let the relevant team know that several players were upset. You can read Wind-Krysvein's quote of the messages they sent and received in their original post, towards the bottom of page 49.

I also spotted your post translating a Twitter post with a more general update, back at the bottom of page 51.

Otherwise... no, I don't see any updates from folks who sent messages/tickets/emails except that they HAD sent them and received no reply. Honestly, it seems to me like they're just waiting for us to give up so they don't have to acknowledge the issues. Feeling salty seems kinda reasonable after all these months of giving feedback as directed and still being ignored.

Back to the top

Up watching the live letter, might as well bring this back to the top while I wait to be disappointed again.