Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain

I'm not resubbing unless this gets fixed. I genuinely cannot play the game like this, even in limited amounts. It's mind boggling that this was tested and released to the public.

I've unsubbed as well. Every time I log in ends with me having a migraine that lasts hours after. No game is worth the pain.

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Originally Posted by Rustic11

Luckily i found a way to (at least seemingly) fully disable dlss/fsr with just the games config file, so i'm happily playing without constant blurring. (i don't know if details about that kind of stuff is permitted to talk about here.)

Signed up just to add to this, because i'm so happy to see i wasn't the only person to be bothered by the dlss/fsr problem, and not being able to turn them off.
Also tired of seeing the misinformation about what settings "disable them", because none do.

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IDK if it's allowed, but i would kill for whatever knowledge you seem to have about the config file.

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Originally Posted by Renii

IDK if it's allowed, but i would kill for whatever knowledge you seem to have about the config file.

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edit: this may be incorrect and i have to swallow my own words. FSR at 100 and aa off doesn't seem to differ from the config file trick. I don't know what's real anymore, it's all placebo now :P Still bad menu design that they don't have a off option for the scaler.

Well, i wouldn't know...but if there just so happens to be something called "GraphicsRezoUpscaleType" there, and if you set it to 2, along with "AntiAliasing_DX11" to 0 that should do something.
Just spitballing here though.
edit: also setting the file to read-only is usually required. Just don't touch the graphics settings afterwards in-game.

An MMORPG especially should care about visibility, I'm not getting any younger waiting for all these expansions and my eyesight isn't getting better with age.

I mentioned the issue of wet surface effects being too shiny now and the option to turn them off was removed for whatever reason. :(
Here's the beach near my Shiro house, it's hard to tell the difference between water and sand because everything looks shiny and plastic.

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

I hope when they address it they provide some explanation on why so many options to turn off effects were not implemented.

What did they test these changes on? Do I need to get a 4k monitor or something?

So far, the only two ways I've found to fix the blurriness that strains my eyes are either using AMD FSR and disable anti-aliasing, or using AMD FSR and keep the TSCMAA anti-aliasing but setting the 3D Resolution Scaling to 99.

I don't know if that's your issue as well, but I hope this workaround helps any of you in the meantime.

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Originally Posted by Erinellza

That one gives me horrible ...

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In the second post to this I have a something that might help, I forgot to include certain important combination settings earlier. I know it's annoying but it might work if you can replicate what I do. Worth a shot if you're still up to it since mine worked and my computer is not special

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Originally Posted by zipkin

I started on the lowest settings, ...

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Sorry, just to be clear it was a suggestion not a "this will 100% fix everyone's problem" or anything like that. I'm with the other people saying SE needs to address this, but we all need to pinpoint which settings exactly and explicitly cause the discomfort and pain (or just the annoyance for some people like myself). Understand that it will be different for some people, and also that it may be a combination of settings that cause the issues. But it's not every single setting. So what I was suggesting, to be more clear, is to turn all the graphical settings to lowest, and then 1 by 1, alter every single setting and play the game, FF14, to try and discern which settings, from all the settings, and which combinations of them too, hurt your eyes specifically and list them here in this thread. Some already have but not everyone has as some are still just presenting vague guesses and ideas or what their painful experience has been.

And I feel for all those anecdotes too, those are all extremely important too so don't stop giving those either--to all who read this. (but I also understand now from posts in this thread that console players have... like ... no control over the settings they can change... what the actual ... SE??) But... anyway for everyone on PC, please take the time to go through your settings and figure out exactly what it is that causes you discomfort.

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Originally Posted by Rustic11

Luckily i found a way to ...

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That's great that you were able to fix your issues in the settings with the configuration files. But as for the disabling the settings, in the settings, the essential effect of the DLSS definitely can be turned off in settings heh, it just takes a bit of understanding, and so I will now give a quick description to everyone who wants to try my method to get the game to run with 6.58's style of graphics, and the details matter -- Here's what I run:

Resolution
::::::::Graphics Upscaling:::::::::::::::::::;( > AMD FSR )

::::::::3D Resolution Scaling
:::::::::--------------------------O 100::// this is important. At 50 to 99, the game actually uses DLSS or FSR to upscale the graphics in a "pretty"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::// fashion in such a way that it blurs it giving it that blur that is, in many opinions here, very annoying (or painful) and I completely agree (although some people do like it)
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::// but at 100, there is no scaling. Everything is 1 to 1, so there's atleast no upscale sampling going on under the settings i use,
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::// and as a result the game looks crisp, albeit, only as good as the FXAA of 6.58 and prior.
::::::::[ ] Enable dynamic resolution
:::::::::Frame Rate Threshold::::::::::::::;( >Below 30 fps ) // this is greyed out due to the above setting being "[ ]" unselected

General
...
::::::::Edge Smoothing (Anti-aliasing)::;(>FXAA ) // note this is the AA implementation we all had before 7.0

...


Effects
...
::::::::[ ] Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur)

Anyway, with these settings I have no painful/annoying blur except from the heat haze (sunny & day time only...?) effect visible in Tural and I'd assume in other similar areas; that is a post process graphical effect that might be able to be turned off in Character Configuration -> Control Settings -> Character -> Battle Effects. (fire spells come to mind)

This may only partially fix peoples issues, (or make them worse though it shouldnt), but I'm just trying to help. It fixed mine and a few others I know in game. Give it a shot and best of luck. I still think that the config file option is the surefire best way but if this is good enough for people, might as well do this too. DLSS and the AMD equivalent have been plaguing alot of modern games. And now FF14 is infected too

I too had eyes being strained, but after reaching the Moblin town, the pain went away.

Have my eyes adjusted to the new graphics or something else is going on?

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Originally Posted by Laerune

I too had eyes being strained, but after reaching the Moblin town, the pain went away.

Have my eyes adjusted to the new graphics or something else is going on?

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From what i can tell it depends which map/instance of the game you're playing on.

I just did the EW normal raid "Abyssos: Eight Circle" and the crazy difference in -> Black/White Contrast + Glare/Bloom + FSR gave me a massive headache.
And yes ive tweaket them to the minimum i can as mentioned on this thread so far. And also adjusted my monitor + graphic card menus.

But if i do just some crafting and gathering i wont notice it as much and its bearable.

All in all the more stuff you have going on in an instance or map the worse it is with these new graphical changes.

I've been doing more adjustments, and have settled with something that's more or less playable. Unfortunately, it's a custom setting between my graphics card software and the game's settings. It doesn't clear everything, but I've found that using the game's FXAA, but with grass off, no dynamic grass, and making sure the LOD setting is unchecked on that side, then my graphic card software to adjust image sharpening (to 10 out of 100, but your mileage may vary) and adjusting the colour temp, hue, saturation, brightness and contrast to a setting I personally find comfortable (similar to how the game looked before).

What it doesn't fix: now the blurring versus sharpness is not an issue, what I see is a flickering effect on some objects and some light sources (see flags around Dhoro Iloh, for example). With my custom settings, I've been able to reduce the impact of it, but it is still there for the moment. This flickering, or shimmering, will occur irrespective of FXAA being on or off. Additionally, my husband sees this shimmering in his game too, and his graphic card is Nvidia, and mine is AMD. It doesn't happen to bother him in any medical sense, however. The effect gives extra movement in something where it's not necessary, giving already tired eyes something extra to take in, although unchecked LOD seems to help to an extent, and then an effort not to spend too long hyperfocusing on it.

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Originally Posted by Guasta_Ryets

I'm just trying to help. It fixed mine and a few others I know in game.

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While I obviously appreciate any and all attempts of helping, I'm also afraid that seeing people come up with these "close enough" workarounds will only serve to make Square Enix complacent in a "Ehh, they'll figure it out somehow!" sort of way.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: this isn't something the users should have to "fart around and find out" on their own. A game should not be causing this much physical discomfort for anyone, sensitive eyes or no.

What's also good to keep in mind is that console users have none of the graphical settings needed to make any of these changes.

As a person who does play on PS5 i can say with 100% certainty that the blur issue is a problem, the graphics overall feel worse and i am getting really bad eye strain from it, getting blur from the slightest of movements not just from my character but anything in the game that is moving, whether it be another player of from camera movement, PS5 does not have the same graphic options like PC does with motion blur, bloom etc and i feel these should be box standard options regardless of platform.

"Patch" day and the official release are now here.. and still no way to actually turn off bloom since the removal of the option in 7.0.

*cries in tears of blood from the eyebleed levels of bloom*

I feel for the people that are affected by the blurry upscaling too, but why, oh why, is there still no fix for the bloom? That seems like it would be such a simple thing to add back in as opposed to tweaking the upscaling on their end (not a dev, so I could be wrong). Unless the glare/bloom setting truly is bugged, which is seeming to be the case at this point.

It's a shame though SE doesn't seem to want to make public statements about these things like other companies will. Just a simple, "we're working on it ASAP" would be dope. A stock reply of "We know" doesn't cut it in 2024 in my opinion, but what do I know? lmao

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Originally Posted by ZephyrMenodora

I logged in and did not have this issue at all. What is causing it for some?

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Same here, everyone is different, I am sure there are some people that had similar issues with the old graphics that are now potentially fixed for them.

I think its an individual kind of issue, which is why they need to add options (whatever they maybe) to help those that are having "eye strain".

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Originally Posted by Wind-Krysvein

.... will only serve to make Square Enix complacent ...

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No, my settings are to help people suffer less eye strain or to get it back to something that I felt was possible only in 6.58. It won't "only" serve to make them complacent,... that's like blaming me if they don't do anything from here onward. Respectfully, screw that whole notion

I'm not trying to undermine any of the calls for change you and many are asking for. SE should STILL reconsider all of these new settings that are causing people eye strain, discomfort or annoyance (and even old ones if there were any that are bad, especially if any have gotten worse after 7.0), remove them and give better options for AA. (DLSS mode has the TSCMAA on by default so switching it to AMD FSR and then the slider below that to 100 with FXAA enabled for edge smoothing makes it work "like 6.58" for me and quite a few others even as the camera and/or character moves).

It is very obvious that due to simple nature of all of the issues that we see in this thread and others that have been reported on this topic that SE needs to give us a drop down menu button at the top of the graphical settings page that when altered between "6.58" and "7.0 and after", gives us settings that work based on those 2 distinct game versions. This would be the simple solution on our end (and not too complex to implement on their end since they just need to package in the 6.58 rendering calls into game... and test that they all work with all the content added or changed from 7.0 onward [but I'm pretty sure it will anyway because I highly doubt anything that they've added in the game explicitly requires 7.0's unique rendering solutions])

Don't conflate me trying to help others with giving SE a pass. You too SE, you all have work to do on this specific set of issues. Others have pointed out other eye strain or annoyance issues from 7.0 onward that are not blur related too so please don't get it twisted. For all those who wish to protest the game, do what you must and be loud about it. For all those who wish to keep playing and are willing to try different things as a stopgap, consider the solutions the community has come up with in this thread that mitigate core eye strain issues but for the sake of those who want it dealt with easier, please voice your support for having the 6.58 options returned to the game as a basic setting drop down option at the very top of the graphical settings page (or something similar that gives us full control over the game settings as we did in 6.58 [I just think that a drop down option would be the easiest method imo]).

Peace

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Originally Posted by LucisBlack

It's a shame though SE doesn't seem to want to make public statements about these things like other companies will. Just a simple, "we're working on it ASAP" would be dope. A stock reply of "We know" doesn't cut it in 2024 in my opinion, but what do I know? lmao

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Feels like Squenix only responds to critique from Japanese-speaking twitter most of the time.

Really hope this whole thing gets resolved. I may personally be used to having to research weird little work-arounds for the majority of pc games in 2024 but this still isn't great. And it's beyond unacceptable for console players.

It's incredibly ridiculous. Removing settings for turning off things like bloom just feels like straight up ignorance from the dev team.

Did the want to prevent anyone from taking footage of the game without all the pretty effects on or something?

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Originally Posted by Starlord

I think its an individual kind of issue, which is why they need to add options (whatever they may be) to help those that are having "eye strain".

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Some people need glasses, others don't. Some people are allergic to peanuts, others aren't. It's very much an individual issue, as you said.

But yeah, people going from "I could play this game for 12+ hours a day without any problems" to "15 minutes of this game makes my head hurt and my eyes want to die" is definitely a sign that the new graphics need more work.

Even trying to play it in spite of the strain just made me a worse player and that was embarrassing.

I don't want to subject others to me trying to tank and not being able to see the screen.

Its incredibly annoying, most notably so far in Urqopacha in places with lots of grass. Literally scrolling in and out or stopping and starting movement seems to change focus on scenery. Im guessing that's what's causing eye strain. Its even more noticeable at 4k.

Must be DLSS, tried all other settings. 4060/7800x3d here.

As a PS5 player I'd like to add my voice to the chorus. Let us disable glare and movement blur.

Bump. Back up we go.

Please let me turn off these atrocious effects..

Im currently running AMD FSR, 3D Resolution Scaling at 100, Enable dynamic resolution off... I tried doing Nvidia DLSS but it was giving me some eye issues, so I turned it off.

Smol bump to keep this visible

This should be fixed as soon as possible.
I can't imagine waiting for patches way down the road for this.

I'm also in this boat. I've played since 1.0.

The biggest issue for me is bloom. I have always played with it off and now it's forced or bugged on.

The second biggest issue are long distance rendering. Distant objects are blurry and difficult to look at.

I'm not playing a lot right now because I'm busy, but when I've played in having to rest my eyes a lot.

Yeah, what baffles me is that we got a graphics update but we have LESS settings for graphics now. :( Turning off bloom and wet surface effects used to be options but they were removed and they are both forced now. We also have no option to turn off the new graphics upscaling which causes all kinds of issues like textures being too blurry or too sharp. Not sure who thought this was a good idea, I hope it's just an oversight.

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Originally Posted by Erinellza

Yeah, what baffles me is that we got a graphics update but we have LESS settings for graphics now. :( Turning off bloom and wet surface effects used to be options but they were removed and they are both forced now. We also have no option to turn off the new graphics upscaling which causes all kinds of issues like textures being too blurry or too sharp. Not sure who thought this was a good idea, I hope it's just an oversight.

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Who needs many settings when you can let the algorithms decide for you! Oh, so wonderful dynamic lighting, the every so crispy dynamic resolution and behold the dynamic sharpening!

Bleh... There is a reason i always turn off the dynamic features on a television. Because they cause eye-strain since the damn eyes constantly have to adjust to the differences.

But alas, companies would prefer to dumb things down for the masses.

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Originally Posted by Battler-Ushiromiya

Alright, non bait post. What the hell is DynamicRezoThreshhold

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A feature in newer games. It's hopefully, an option you can toggle where the game will change the resolution for the goal of maintaining a stable fps.

So if your threshold is put at below 30 fps, then the resolution will be reduced if your fps falls under 30, 60 fps the same. As for "Always Enabled" hard to tell, maybe that one reads from the monitors refresh rate or takes the average over a set time.

The only solution I've found that works decently for the pain is scrunching up my eyes and peering at the screen blurry through my lashes. Granted I also can't exactly see when I do that. Cannot suggest doing most of the game with eyes closed xD;;

That a graphics 'update' literally hurts peoples' eyes just seems absolutely banana muffins to me. I've tested what I could from the suggestions offered without luck, and have been fighting off a near-constant headache for days to even try. I am lucky enough to be on PC with settings to even test The console players can't even try. We shouldn't need to go this far for a game that worked before in the first place. Unfortunately due to timing, my subscription ends tonight. I won't be able to keep testing or post further on the forum without paying another fee for a game that is currently injuring me x.x

Thank you, sincerely, to those who attempted to offer suggestions for things to try. I've said what I could say, and submitted what I could submit. I wish everyone struggling with this the best ;n; <3

Alright, non bait post. What the hell is DynamicRezoThreshhold

Probably the FPS threshold for enabling Dynamic Resolution scaling.
Ahh but it's useless, it's all useless!

I didn't have a problem with it when I was doing the story, but after a day of grinding levels in dungeons, I've also had an issue with eye strain. I've never had this issue with the game before. I was wondering if might need to turn off my own spell effects or something, I have it set to only show mine, but with all the stuff going on in some fights, I feel like I might need to just have them all off.

I don't know if it's eye strain, but I have noticed that my vision has worsened since Dawntrail came out. I thought it was just me though more than the game, maybe there's more to it than I thought.

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Originally Posted by Platinumstorm

I'm also in this boat. I've played since 1.0.

The biggest issue for me is bloom. I have always played with it off and now it's forced or bugged on.

The second biggest issue are long distance rendering. Distant objects are blurry and difficult to look at.

I'm not playing a lot right now because I'm busy, but when I've played in having to rest my eyes a lot.

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As someone else mentioned, the fact that we've had settings to turn off bloom (and other things) for years and now with the graphics "update" we have less settings.. wth???

I've played since HW myself and have also had bloom turned off for that entire time. Why remove important settings and force things on players that some of the playerbase clearly doesn't want.

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(Even though I have been playing since HW, prior to 7.0 I never saw a need to post in these forums. Because of this "upgrade" I plan on being a vocal participant in trying to get this fixed.
This should have been fixed in the 7.0 official release patch and I find this quite ridiculous. As many others have stated I've stopped playing because of this, the nighttime bloom from all the lights in-game is especially unbearable from the excessive glow . Also popped a 60 day time card the day before early access started and boy do I feel dumb now..)

After around 1-2h of playing I am running into issues myself. In the new 2nd city it only takes maybe 5-8 minutes at best. I haven't had any issues before DT release with any of the regions not did I run into any issues after 8h+ sessions. Now I can be happy to even get stuff done. :/ Other games are fine, only XIV is causing these issues for me. Also tried the FSR 99 thingy suggested earlier but the game looks horrible with this overtuned sharpness so it's not a solution either.
At this point I might as well cancel my sub because I don't really see a reason to continue playing a game that is causing physical harm.

Yes mostly with the wobbly mount mechanics now but for those of us with that problem it stinks.