Benchmark/Graphics Update - Show your WoL's before and after

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Originally Posted by Embran

How do you even get Styled for Hire in the benchmark? That's what my highlander uses lol.

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You copy the appearance data and just don't edit it.

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Originally Posted by Snowroark

You copy the appearance data and just don't edit it.

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Don't know that I even have that option. Can't load it in without hitting "create new character" -> "load appearance data" and then it just throws me in the creator with a default hair style.

before
https://i.imgur.com/dSV7SAS.png

after
https://i.imgur.com/Isn0Z06.png

before
https://i.imgur.com/ywhbOuw.png

after
https://i.imgur.com/C7oqzVP.png


overall im happy, it seems better...at least for my bunny

Definitely not a fan. The eyes are so wrong in comparison. He looks... I don't know like he's on something?? He's not as alert and the eyes don't have that same shine as in current. He looks even worse when seen in the aetherial background.

https://i.imgur.com/5zK1YF5.png

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Originally Posted by Embran

Don't know that I even have that option. Can't load it in without hitting "create new character" -> "load appearance data" and then it just throws me in the creator with a default hair style.

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I will just quote the reddit post:
"Copy over the .dat file that belongs to your character from "Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn", let's say it's FFXIV_CHARA_01.dat, paste it in "Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn (Benchmark)" and rename it to FFXIV_CHARA_BENCH10.dat, it should now show up in the benchmark character creator."

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Originally Posted by kiraira

This isn't even the same character. I feel like I've been robbed. What happened?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GLHUR-IW...jpg&name=large

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This is exactly how I feel! :'( I don't feel like my Viera is the same, and I use the same face as you. I miss the old lips and eyes. :( :(

Old -> new

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...ality=losslesshttps://media.discordapp.net/attachm...ality=lossless

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...ality=losslesshttps://media.discordapp.net/attachm...ality=lossless

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...ality=losslesshttps://media.discordapp.net/attachm...ality=lossless

Female Highlander Hyur checking in! First image under each header is of the old version of my WoL, and the second image is of the new version:

Three-Quarter View:
https://imgur.com/lZjV6yXh.png
https://imgur.com/ZHSRcjBh.png

Additional Views:


Front View:
https://imgur.com/urkjhoWl.png
https://imgur.com/2HbXfmnl.png


Side View:
https://imgur.com/vNSyZ5cl.png
https://imgur.com/1MkA7aLl.png

I'm sure that the graphics department worked very hard on updating the character models, but I'm going to be very honest and voice my disappointment with what I've seen so far.

My WoL's face has been scrubbed of some of its detail, her skin looks far too waxy, the gloss and texture have been removed from her lips, and her eyes look flat and lifeless. The new version actually looks much less visually interesting than the original--although I suppose it could be argued that the new version looks more classically "pretty" (I prefer her OG look, however, as she looks friendlier). Her hair and skin have become lighter (with no way to really go any darker in this case, unfortunately), and the face paint options are still very low-quality and don't play well with dark skin at all. The whites of her eyes are also far, far too bright, and lack the soft realism of the originals.

Hopefully this is just a stepping stone on the way to the actual finished product, as I love my WoL to bits and the "upgrade" currently feels a bit more like a downgrade.

With that said, the updates to the environmental detail (new stone/grass/etc. textures, improvements to ground clutter and other environmental assets, weather effects) do look quite lovely.

(P.S. I ran the benchmark several times to see if that might help my opinion, but she looked rather flat throughout the entire presentation and her face has had enough random changes made to the structure that she doesn't really look like the same person.)

Folks realize they aren't going to make drastic changes in two months right? Early access is 6/28. This is what we're getting.

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Originally Posted by DynnDiablos

Folks realize they aren't going to make drastic changes in two months right? Early access is 6/28. This is what we're getting.

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If they need more time to iron out the issues, they should delay the character upgrades to a later patch.

It is absolutely INSANE how massive the upgrade we're getting actually is.

This has completely blown my expectations out of the water. We're going from horribly lit low res dead dolls, to characters that actually feel ALIVE.

You guys have no idea how happy it makes me to see light behave like light. I absolutely despise how hideous and unnatural indoors shadows have always looked since ARR, but no longer.
https://imgur.com/uyE9czM.png

Shadows finally behave like real shadows. Skin is reflecting and refracting light, it finally looks like actual skin and the game engine FINALLY understands how to do proper contrast. There's no reason why shadows should be so dark when you're under direct sunlight as it was before. You can even see lovely hues of pink mixing with the shadows on the left side of the face, under the eye and cheeks.
https://imgur.com/ECzm2RA.png

Just to further drive the point home, I'll post my alt as well.

The horrendous low res hair is gone, the hairline no longer looks like clay, the eyes are finally interacting with light naturally instead of looking like unfinished PS3 graphics (which is literally what they've been for the past decade) and again: I can't begin to explain how beautiful the new lighting looks. Shadowbringers has a ton of scenes in the Occular, and I always abhorred how freaking horrible the lighting made faces look in those cutscenes, and you can see that in the comparison below. I can't tell people what to like and what to dislike, but I legitimately can't understand in what world or universe the horrendous character on the left is considered better than what I'm looking on the right.
https://imgur.com/M6JN9WQ.png

I hardly ever think so highly of things SE has done with XIV, but from just the previews, I didn't think they could make characters look this good. If any dev is reading this: Thank you, you've done an absolutely amazing job.

I also think you guys have wonderful looking characters, seriously.

I like the after for both my characters! I just need to figure it which one I want to use when the expansion is out...

https://i.imgur.com/2hST72z.png https://i.imgur.com/zoHl2nV.png

https://i.imgur.com/EKba9DN.png https://i.imgur.com/BRH7jpF.png

https://i.imgur.com/NOsUJgR.png

Some things that need simple fixes to make characters look less soulless...


1. Restore the catch lights!! This photo does not show it well because its a darker location, but the catchlights are not very visible in day light areas.
2. Lip shine (and in many cases hair shine) are very matte. Restore gloss/shine!
3. Skin tone or brightness felt overblown somehow (again in daytime areas).

Honestly that's about it. I think the rest works well!

Am i stupid or whats the key for making a screenshot? i cant use my controller and the usual "print" kinda gets ignored...? Or do we really have to use some software?

Anyways, for now, my lala mostly looks the same:
https://i.imgur.com/l3ToYjN.jpeg

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Originally Posted by Clover_Blake

The charisma is different and the softness is gone (._.)
These don't feel like my characters at all...

I'm crushed right now and don't know what I'll do...

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I feel the same way - lots of charming points are seemingly gone as if they lost their personality... but maybe 7.0 will be a good opportunity to start a new adventure with a new look

Off to the character creator!

https://i.postimg.cc/CM4vgZRJ/Screen...-14-152544.png
(look at him, he's already going bald - it's a sign :'))

Overall I like the change for my female midlander. The skin does look waxy in the character creator, but much better during the benchmark.

Before
https://i.ibb.co/FmFB2rQ/before.png

After
https://i.ibb.co/5kgBtGP/after.png

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Originally Posted by Revguri

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...f271d2be5caf1&

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I think your new character looks super elegant and pretty!

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Originally Posted by Embran

I really recommend people view their characters in the benchmark before you start sucking on your pistols.

I felt like mine didn't match at all in the creator then I ran her through the cutscene and it helped put a lot of my fears to rest. The lighting in the creator is too static and doesn't help.

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I have also given it a go in the benchmark and the few closeups we got they all looked nothing like my character to me. I did think the final shot was fairly close to the original compared to what I have seen before but it was probably because the weird new lips were not as visible due to the intense lighting.

Hair looks worse and absolute downgrade... has plastic texture, and colors have changed drastically on some hues, also some hairstyles now are less "fluffy" and more pointy/spiky... I hoped it would be literally the other way

Eyes look dead 99% of the time, light reflection is small and not enought, also they look uncannily "realistic" iris, but at the same time some got bigger eyes, fuller eyelashes..., some shapes changed too

Skin looks made of wax/silicone on some skin tones and under certain lights, also dark skins look more greener/gray for no real reason

I really noticed those changes since they started to show 7.0 updates on fanfests, but I had hopes it wouldn't be this bad, and its worse...

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...75cb1c4696270&
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...51e77d25caaaf&

Personally, I am blown away. I'm beyond happy, and very excited for the update. If anything, I wish that the hair texture resolution had been bumped up even further, but I understand we have limitations.

I think the main thing people don't really understand is how much the lighting in the game has completely changed. Your eye glints and glossy lips are still there (you can see them in my photo!) they're just more realistic looking, and will look different than before, depending on the lighting situation.

That being said, omg save Moonkeepers fangs! Riot until they bring them back!!

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...69769981af.jpg

I...think I can get used to this.

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Originally Posted by DiaDeem

It is absolutely INSANE how massive upgrade we're getting actually is.

This has completely blown my expectations out of the water. We're going from horribly lit low res dead dolls, to characters that actually feel ALIVE.

You guys have no idea how happy it makes me to see light behave like light. I absolutely despise how hideous and unnatural indoors shadows have always looked since ARR, but no longer.
https://imgur.com/uyE9czM.png

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I feel like the Fem Viera face 1 that you are using looks even better now. I was contemplating changing to it instead of my current face 2, but it just feels wrong, it's not my character.

Another Au Ra player checking in with her dissatisfaction on the new lip shape(s). For me with Face 3, Mouth 3, the top lip shape has clearly changed to be more flat. And my bottom lip is less full too. I think weirdly, Au Ra face 4 has the opposite problem where their bottom lip got more full on at least one of the mouths?

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...e6b27b97ee8be&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...2f2b208238f83&

I'm seeing this with other peoples' face/lip combos too... I think I noticed some Viera and other Au Ra lips lose their curvature in the same way. I understand that I can't objectively say they're worse, but it's definitely changing things when they said they wouldn't. For me, the lip curves are a big charm point, so this is very disappointing and I hope the devs will reconsider. My nose shape changed a little too (Face 3, Nose 2), and like many others have mentioned, the glossiness of the lips have faded.

What adds to my confusion is that the lip curves do still exist on other races in the benchmark... like Highlander Face 2, Mouth 4 pictured below:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...3acd84086acd7&
So it's not a matter of technical limitation or homogenizing lip shapes...

Tried to take as close of a screenshot as one from EW benchmark. Dunno, still of the fence about the changes.
EW bench -> DT bench

https://i.imgur.com/AMcNLpf.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/plexnti.png

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Originally Posted by LuluLavender

That being said, omg save Moonkeepers fangs! Riot until they bring them back!!

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I wholeheartedly agree with this. I said before that racial traits have to be kept.

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Originally Posted by Spectre316

I like the after for both my characters!
https://i.imgur.com/EKba9DN.png https://i.imgur.com/BRH7jpF.png

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Her pupils got smaller, did they give Veena the same eyes as Rava? Unless you made that change yourself. ^^ But yeah, Face 1 for fem Viera looks very nice. :)

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Originally Posted by Shikiseki

I feel the same way - lots of charming points are seemingly gone as if they lost their personality... but maybe 7.0 will be a good opportunity to start a new adventure with a new look

Off to the character creator!

https://i.postimg.cc/CM4vgZRJ/Screen...-14-152544.png
(look at him, he's already going bald - it's a sign :'))

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Hahahahaha, the stress of this situation is making him bald.

I've actually considered the same, just making a new character design and forget the old ones. But it's very sad to say goodbye to characters I've known for 10 years ;_;
Furthermore, I'm not enjoying most faces I'm seeing in the creator, especially the lips ghfhfgh. I'm so displeased.

For me personally I feel like certain races hit the jackpot with the update while others...did not. I hate what they did to my auras face. they made aura pupils bigger and completely changed alot of lip shapes, nose shapes, and removed any form of life from character eyes.

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Originally Posted by nordiclania

I feel like the Fem Viera face 1 that you are using looks even better now. I was contemplating changing to it instead of my current face 2, but it just feels wrong, it's not my character.

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Really? From what you posted I thought your character looked very pretty. The Viera nose trait looks even more prominent in the pics you posted, and I think it makes her look more distinct than before!

One thing that people aren't mentioning, is that character creator now has changing light conditions outdoors, even on a set time of day, and it can change how the character looks when taking the screenshot. All I can really recommend is to poke around and get every detail right if something feels off. We're all still getting a free fantasia. I'm sorry if you're finding it hard to make your character right. I know how important our characters can be. I just honestly think you have a wonderful character.

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Originally Posted by nordiclania

Her pupils got smaller, did they give Veena the same eyes as Rava? Unless you made that change yourself. ^^ But yeah, Face 1 for fem Viera looks very nice. :)

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No changes from me! :)

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Originally Posted by Jryxal

Another Au Ra player checking in with her dissatisfaction on the new lip shape(s). For me with Face 3, Mouth 3, the top lip shape has clearly changed to be more flat. And my bottom lip is less full too.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...e6b27b97ee8be&

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...2f2b208238f83&

I'm seeing this with other peoples' face/lip combos too... I think I noticed some Viera and other Au Ra lips lose their curvature in the same way. I understand that I can't objectively say they're worse, but it's definitely changing things when they said they wouldn't. For me, the lip curves are a big charm point, so this is very disappointing and I hope the devs will reconsider. My nose shape changed a little too (Face 3, Nose 2), and like many others have mentioned, the glossiness of the lips have faded.

What adds to my confusion is that the lip curves do still exist on other races in the benchmark... like Highlander Face 2, Mouth 4 pictured below:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...3acd84086acd7&
So it's not a matter of technical limitation or homogenizing lip shapes...

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Thanks so much for this post, this clearly shows the issue. I am very sad about my fem Viera's lips. :( They are not the same, and I miss their plumpness, shine and shape. T_T

Can't say that I'm a fan.

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...d59d8452bd.jpg https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...70d27834ff.jpg

Looks like the character got roughly ten years younger and frequently swims in lotion.

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Originally Posted by DiaDeem

Really? From what you posted I thought your character looked very pretty. The Viera nose trait looks even more prominent in the pics you posted, and I think it makes her look more distinct than before!

One thing that people aren't mentioning, is that character creator now has changing light conditions outdoors, even on a set time of day, and it can change how the character looks when taking the screenshot. All I can really recommend is to poke around and get every detail right if something feels off. We're all still getting a free fantasia. I'm sorry if you're finding it hard to make your character right. I know how important our characters can be. I just honestly think you have a wonderful character.

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The nose was the one thing that I liked! (As mentioned in another thread.) But I'm sad about the lips and eyes. :(

Thank you for liking my character. :') <3 I will try to fiddle around some more. It's not like I will stop playing the game or anything, I was just not expecting certain details to be removed.

(Perhaps this will give me a reason to play fem Hroth instead...? ;) )

I'm personally very unhappy with the changes to the character options that I use. I was excited for the graphics update, but I do not like the result on my character. I have been playing for over 10 years and having my character change for the worse is upsetting. I don't use the forums, and I only came here to share my dissatisfaction with the update in hopes that I can add my voice to the choir and get changes made.

Here is a slider comparison of my character:
https://imgsli.com/MjU1NDMy

Here are the base images:

https://i.imgur.com/qLcQNd2.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/ycNpefp.jpeg

Here are the main things that I am specifically unhappy with:

• For my character this is less of a graphical update and more of a design overhaul, and the new style makes me look like a doll.
• The glossy effect on my skin makes me look like I'm wet, made of plastic, or both.
• Almost every aspect of my face has changed in pursuit of an overall "roundness". The angles on my face have all been rounded more than is necessary and it changes my appearance rather than update the graphics.
  
• The coloring is de-saturated and the shadows are too gentle. It takes away a lot of the contrast, and I preferred the old style. This can also be seen looking at the rocks in the background.
• The texture on my irises is muddled compared to the old textures, which were much more defined.
• The bushy eyebrows facial feature has been toned down excessively.
• To parrot what's already been said many times in this thread, the lips look awful.

I don't want to come off as if this update is entirely negative; I'm sure that the art team worked hard on this update, but I'm very unhappy that it has changed the shape of my character's facial features more than anything. I do have a couple of positives to share as well:

• The updated hair and skin textures have more detail, which is nice despite the other issues.
• The updated environmental shadows on the foliage are more detailed and because they're darker they add more contrast to the environment (although the same can't be said of the rocks).
• The leaves on the trees have a lot more depth to them.
• The shadow of the signpost in the background is substantially better.
• The new shade of blue used for the sky looks better for general use, but I prefer the old color for sunny places like La Noscea.

EDIT: Lowering gamma correction to 30 resolved one of my issues, and setting shadow softening to weak made a small improvement on the facial shading.

EDIT 2: Please jump to this post for things I was mistaken about-

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Originally Posted by Loops

After a much closer examination of my character I have found that I was wrong, and there are fewer changes than I'd thought. I am not as upset as I was previously, but there are still definitely a couple of things that I think should be changed.

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Along with the changing light conditions in the character creator, your characters skin now reacts differently to the lighting in a scene. Yes, that means sometimes, in a dull and dimly lit scene, your character can look quite grey. Personally, I love this. It's realistic, and far far better than what we have now. Since I've got a darker skinned viera, I'm quite used to her skin and shadows looking absolutely awful in some scenes. This should massively cut down on that and give a more realistic look. Your skin naturally looks different under different lighting

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Originally Posted by Shikiseki

https://imgur.com/w2EoFBW.png

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https://cdn.betterttv.net/emote/56e9...e5287e/1x.webp

Oh no... that's just plain bad. I may even consider sending a support ticket to have them check this before launch.

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Originally Posted by DiaDeem

https://cdn.betterttv.net/emote/56e9...e5287e/1x.webp

Oh no... that's just plain bad. I may even consider sending a support ticket to have them check this before launch.

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looks like they downgraded our barber as well in 7.0

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Originally Posted by SweetestLily

looks like they downgraded our barber as well in 7.0

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Oh, but I love the visual upgrades to characters and lighting. Did you see my post in Page 14?

Also, I'd love to see your character in the new character creator!

The more I look at it, the more I dislike it. While personally my character doesn't look that different, the lighting, shading and (lack of) shadows are horrendous. And just like many others, where did my upper lip go?
Many other characters however look completely different, some of my friends are quite upset. I wish we could toggle between old and new models if this does not get fixed in the next 2 months.

https://i.imgur.com/q6j9P3C.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/7Izkflm.jpg

Forgive my ignorance. Is this a simulation that only a PC can access? I wanna play along T_T

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Originally Posted by Gemina

Forgive my ignorance. Is this a simulation that only a PC can access? I wanna play along T_T

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Yeah it's a PC benchmark to test specs.