Updated benchmark

Benchmark 1.0
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...da94b010_o.jpg

Benchmark 1.1

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7852d1a3_o.jpg

to be honest there not much of a difference that i can see other then the lip color finally being the same as in game

But i have seen a lot of improvement on my alt Hyur (dont have a pic at the moment)

I think at this point they need to just do some final tweaks, release dawntrail as is and go we ain’t spending anymore resources on characters cause it’s a battle of people in some cases (not all) being very nitpicky… I will say in the second round of updates they eventually do just make hair more like actual hair because in theory dropping ps4 and lower spec pc should allow for another bump. So for now and for the future I hope more time is spent on environments :)

New benchmark is an improvement. They restored my pointy chin on my character. Seeker mouth 3 on females is still bigger than in 6.58 so that's a little annoying, and the eye shape is still more rounded; but my complaints are lessened than with the original benchmark.

The updated benchmark is obviously a big improvement over the original DT bench, especially in the lighting of the creator itself, but I am not a fan of the rebuild of the Roegadyn face. They've smoothed out all angles and flat shapes of the face, which might look more natural if she were human, but she isn't, and it does not look better.

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Originally Posted by Minali

Totally off topic, but I love your signature. :)
Same, buddy.

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Thank you!

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Originally Posted by Reinha

Omg, thanks for the nightmares. :D

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:eek:

You're welcome.

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Originally Posted by MediocreIndigo

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPLeKZEX...jpg&name=large

The benchmark update definitely improves things overall, but I'm disappointed that the mouth on Face 2 femras hasn't been changed back to its original shape. That was my biggest issue with how my WoL looked in the original benchmark, and it's still my biggest issue now.

Ignore that the caption on the far left of the third image says 6.55. It should say 6.58.

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If it's any consolation, I think your character is one of the most attractive female au ra I've ever seen. While I don't expect the problem of incorrect mouth shapes on many character models to be resolved by Dawn Trail's release, I do hope it is fixed in an early patch. It's clear it's a big issue for many players.

Once thing that's really heartening to me is we are seeing evidence CBU3 is taking our feedback seriously. There has been a big improvement in our characters from the earlier benchmark and now.

I'm keeping fingers crossed we'll be seeing the issues hrothgar, highlanders, and viera players have brought up addressed in a reasonable timeframe too. I truly feel Square Enix understands they need to impress us in Dawn Trail. They can't afford to phone this expansion in, especially in light of their recent lackluster releases.

Pretty much every benchmark character I saw posted on Twitter today looked better than the original IMO. A lot of very happy people over there.

I liked mine as well, no complaints here.

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Originally Posted by Angelivia

That's exactly my issue, too. When the benchmark first came out, I didn't understand why people bemoaned the new lightning/shadows since I was very much pleased with the softened out look. But too many were complaining about how stark contrasts and low poly edges are missing and that the smoothing over took away their "charm points" and "sharp features" even though it was nothing of the sort but only an evidence for poor graphics. I could hold a flashlight under my face and it would have the same effect and I couldn't fathom that some were seriously preferring that over the way improved and more natural results.

The strong shadows were the reason why I set character lightning up to 50. Before the benchmark update I had hoped I could turn it off again because character models were now only reflected by environmental light - which was just perfect and beautiful - but in the end SE heeded the cryout and brought back artificial light to cast these exaggerated shadows... A pity.

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Agreed, I have character lighting at 25 because the shadows in the current game aren't flattering for most situations. The new lighting is a double edged sword because it looks fairly dynamic and improved the precision of shadows, but it's also super dark and also brings back the many years old problem that they said they would fix for darker skinned characters in certain lighting conditions. Overall I liked the way the old benchmark handled shadow contrast where it wasn't overly dark and I was finally happy with how my character looked, but I can't say I didn't expect it to be short lived after all the negative feedback. Disappointed, but I'm used to it at this rate.

My character across all the different graphics versions we've seen. While the lighting changes are impressive, I dislike the more pronounced creases at his brow and the corners of his mouth seem thinner than the benchmark V1/live versions.

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...abbb71a56b.jpg

Again, the lighting in the new benchmark is a huge improvement. I'm excited to see what the team will be able to do with the update to the graphics engine and I hope all the heated feedback doesn't discourage them from doing more graphics updates in the future.

I noticed the eyes looked a bit milky from certain angles in the new benchmark. I tried to get both a good comparison shot and an angle where the look was most obvious:
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...ea6f5c667d.jpg

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...fe8ce8c0a3.jpg

The irises stand out less in the new version and just look milky in the last picture. I saw some players pointing this out with Miqo'te in other threads, is this something a lot of players are seeing?

So far my only complaints are:

Dunesfolk nose smudge is still being eaten by what I can only assume is the translucent skin shaders
EW
https://i.gyazo.com/41e4e19f5d8c98ce...021ce70d7c.gif
DT
https://i.gyazo.com/4b24bb4387b8fe21...1f42762cfa.gif


Whatever the hell is still going on with Fem Au Ra face 4's mouth (too puffy, too "pretty") and eyes (pupils TOO BIG, come on SE, this was mentioned to y'all since the very first Au Ra preview and y'all said that we could still retain that "dead look". Well, that "Dead look" was directly caused by them having smaller pupils.)
EW
https://i.imgur.com/gsbi8VT.png
DT
https://i.imgur.com/TmCB9d1.png


Face 3 Fem Au Ra's lips are closer than the previous benchmark, but still not quite where they were (they need a narrower cupid's bow, a more subtle transition from face meat to lip skin, and a bit more "simulated weight" on the top lip, dragging it down juuust a smidge)
EW
https://i.imgur.com/96IpZrM.png
DT
https://i.imgur.com/mbJXjLd.png

While I LOVE most of the updates to my darling Mooncat face 4 (love the new teeth! and i'm so thankful her excess mascara has been washed off), I mourn over the loss of her charming lip gap (It looks like she's hiding cotton in her mouth now) and her more severe cat-like shape of her eyelids (the inside of her upper eyelid, near her nose, used to be vertical and leading to a point. Now it's more rounded looking more human than cat).

EW
https://i.imgur.com/g443vk3.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/Yfonfxy.png
DT
https://i.imgur.com/f4ZGvID.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/3fTzUTo.png


And while I don't mind that they added an actual philtrum to femroes, I do mind that they don't line up with the peaks of the cupid's bow on all but one of the faces!! D;
EW
https://i.gyazo.com/e432803b4bb15122...e47460390c.gif
DT
https://i.gyazo.com/da7847275d9f7632...a6f6e735ff.gif


And honestly, this is just an unfortunate side effect of the shadows being correct, but I think it still warrants a second look to recapture the feel..
EW (So sweet, so full of hope) The shadows cheat the lips to look like she's smiling, almost wearing a :3 face
https://i.imgur.com/bJWEhpj.png
DT (the endsinger won with her) Since the normals are more accurate she's now wearing a full on frowny face :( (and also her facial feature makeup makes it look like she got punched in both eyes)
https://i.imgur.com/DUCARGq.png


This one is just selfish really, I know this change was technically a fix but DAMN do I miss the Veena eyes from the old benchmark because it really helps me see my character's eyecolor better :(. I would SUPER appreciate having a smaller pupil option once y'all get around to updating the character creator.
Original Benchmark
https://i.imgur.com/wbRVBAc.png
A Benchmark Reborn
https://i.imgur.com/l8QKrRc.png


And honestly, I don't think adding in the fake eyeshines was a good move, now it just looks like the characters have a cloudy smudge directly on their eyeballs when you can actually see the fancy eyeshines working properly. It makes their eyes look painted on now.
https://i.gyazo.com/c7e7f2c63299d342...7f0a0707ed.gif

Oh, and the hair seems to have a LoD issue or something, because whenever you zoom out just a little bit the texture turns into a muddy mess.
https://i.imgur.com/yjOwN3x.png

But honestly, aside from all that and the few bugs being reported, this new benchmark really knocked it out of the park, I definitely prefer this over the original benchmark!

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Originally Posted by red_fang

Agreed, I have character lighting at 25 because the shadows in the current game aren't flattering for most situations. The new lighting is a double edged sword because it looks fairly dynamic and improved the precision of shadows, but it's also super dark and also brings back the many years old problem that they said they would fix for darker skinned characters in certain lighting conditions. Overall I liked the way the old benchmark handled shadow contrast where it wasn't overly dark and I was finally happy with how my character looked, but I can't say I didn't expect it to be short lived after all the negative feedback. Disappointed, but I'm used to it at this rate.

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I couldn't agree more. We are of the exact same mind and at least I'm not alone in feeling that way... A shame though it still is. Thank you for your words, that's a perfectly phrased addition to my statement.