Updated benchmark

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Originally Posted by Roda

Quality old men :cool:
(Now SE can u give us some quality old ladies??)

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If they will not add any more new races in the future then give us new faces :p Old ladies when.

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Originally Posted by moodud

If they will not add any more new races in the future then give us new faces

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This graphics update chaos has really shown how badly we need a character creation update. More faces, hairstyles, eyebrows, eyes, lips, noses, etc.

they un-massacred my boy!!!!

current game/benchmark 1.0:

https://i.imgur.com/Y1RhkQc.jpeg

benchmark 1.1:

https://i.imgur.com/nZaEGfn.jpeg

the before and after between benchmarks is... a little horrifying honestly! but i'm over the moon with how he looks; my only little gripe is how overly shiny his skin is but i think that's a universal issue atm. i'm also still holding out hope that they'll make the viera inner ear textures less crunchy, surely

An absolute win for me!!! I'm so happy!! Thank you SE <3
(left is current game, right is benchmark)
https://i.ibb.co/d6FpcVT/image.png

I appreciate all the adjustments the dev team has made with the rerelease of the benchmark and overall I think it's a great improvement. I believe it has already been brought up here but one further change I would really appreciate is if we could get rid of the neck seams. Depending on the lighting they can look pretty rough on my catboy and I'm pretty sure the same goes for other races too. Would be great if with the update those could be a thing of the past so our chars no longer have to suffer never-healing sutures. I do imagine they must be rather painful :D

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...9e797e9629.jpg
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...1d2892e2ce.jpg
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...08140883ac.png

https://i.imgur.com/kIRE5JJ.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/SoGpptS.png

Endwalker first, Dawntrail second.

I'm really happy about the changes from the OG benchmark to 1.1. While I understand they removed the yellowish gradient from it, I still feel like the hair colours, especially for darker colours, have been washed out by the new lighting.

I'll have to wait and see how he looks in game in Dawntrail.

(For the record, I have my game in boarderless windowed mode for the OG character creator so I'm taking that into consideration.)

I am honestly fascinated. It isnt just the light that has changed, some little things were changed with the mouth. But now my bunny actually looks almost like herself (mouth is still changed) compared to the old benchmark where I didn't recognize her and she looked swollen and somewhat featureless.
New benchmark left, old right
https://i.imgur.com/6sir6ZL.png

Cobbled together a comparison image here. I will say that the lips, thanks to the new lighting do at least look a little better in the new benchmark, but the shape is off. it's missing that taper at the corner of the mouth where you get that cupid's bow curve. I did find a kind of sort of good enough mouth replacement that I'll probably go with unless they're somehow able to fix the issue before release. (Doubtful given how close we are.) I imagine it's probably got a lot to do with how the mouth is shaped on the new model, and might require a rework of the texture to get it more in line with current Viera. Overall, definitely an improvement over the original benchmark, but I'd really like to see them pull these lips together.
https://i.imgur.com/Q3UDNHF.png

I'd love to share some pics but idk how to make it work. Last time I tried, nothing happened when I put in the imgur url. Pls assist

Try "right clicking" the image followed by 'copy image link' and using that link instead.

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Originally Posted by 1313

I'd love to share some pics but idk how to make it work. Last time I tried, nothing happened when I put in the imgur url. Pls assist

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When using imgur use the BBCode (message board and forums) option for sharing. It'll start with the [img]. You can just copy and paste that into the comment box.

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Originally Posted by Sorimachi87

Even though this wasn't necessary at all, the dev team went the extra mile for us and updated the benchmark...

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Bait used to be believable...

I was ok with the old benchmark but the updates honestly are just icing on the cake for me :D
https://i.imgur.com/8jFqJOtl.png

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

https://i.imgur.com/cWEx5Xal.png



Though running the benchmark def can see the changes way more! My Lala and Au Ra def had a glow up. Thought it was fine before new benchmark but wow they looked so plasticky before...
https://i.imgur.com/7EEgEail.png

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

https://i.imgur.com/PbjB4sb.png
https://i.imgur.com/45X7bvZ.png
https://i.imgur.com/Y4sRWNs.png
https://i.imgur.com/exTllrE.png

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Originally Posted by arstoka

Try "right clicking" the image followed by 'copy image link' and using that link instead.

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Thank you :)

I'm very unhappy with how they appear to have changed the undertone coloring of, at the very least, duskwights.
My WoL had a yellow undertone to his skin, and now it appears to be green. I have tried altering skin tone to see if there's a new preset that "fixes" it but I have been unsuccessful. I really wish they hadn't changed the undertone lighting at all.

https://gyazo.com/b5c4b1fd19bc5abb37b33f49cec05212

To emphasize the differences between the mesh shapes of hyur face #1. This has nothing to do with lighting, or shaders, or textures, or limitations of higher poly meshes. And it's not an improvement in any way.

(The green under the eye is the size/shape of the exposed fleshy part of the eyelid.)

https://i.postimg.cc/m2jWR8HT/new-be...k-outlines.png

Does anyone else experience this weird green lightning?

Old benchmark:
https://i.imgur.com/6jdfPG5.png

vs.

New benchmark:
https://i.imgur.com/vhoqRhI.png

Additionally, I noticed a seam line down the nose.
https://i.imgur.com/kUZN0BY.png

I'm pretty happy with the updates, but I do have one problem with the new character creator: Give us back the different times of day lighting (golden hour thanalan, morning light La Noscea, etc)! Now it's just midday or night and for anyone who is super pale/has white hair that's the least useful lighting since my little lizard is just literally glowing. It's a problem that's already in game but its just specific to midday clear weather lighting and like every other time is fine. I always used the Thanalan setting before because it replicated golden hour.

I am glad they otherwise did some major corrections, though.

I'm struggling to properly describe my 'issues', hoping maybe someone can chime in here and help?

This is my OG Desert catboy. I use the 'older' face 2 with facial hair:
https://i.imgur.com/cqgMkVo.jpeghttps://i.imgur.com/wDlZdw4.jpeg


This is same character in Benchmark:
https://i.imgur.com/xHbje2P.jpeghttps://i.imgur.com/CBi40Iu.jpeg



Things I've noticed in particular:

1) The red hair in general feels a bit 'washed out' to me? Like its reflecting so much white light that it's making the hair seem a lighter shade? I've seen a few people pointing this issue out with black hair and other dark hair colors, so I don't think its an issue specific to this face/hair. I think the darker skin tone is magnifying the issue on my character.

2) The shape of his eyes (Eyes - 3) has changed, particularly with the eyelid. Comparing them clipped, the old eye has a flatter top and ends closer to the eye. The benchmark eyes have more of a curve and extend out further from the eye for some reason.
https://i.imgur.com/rSkK8DL.jpeg OG
https://i.imgur.com/Qi7Y99F.jpeg Benchmark

3) Something is off with the mouth shape (Mouth - 2, full lipped one) The top lip seems like its not quite as wide as it was in the OG? I also don't know if its a trick of the lighting, but it seems like the default mouth is slightly smiling compared to the OG one?

4) This is the biggest issues I've had. Something is *VERY* wonky with the facial hair lighting. it seems to be reflecting a different amount of light than the hair itself. Due to this, no matter what angle or lighting condition, it looks like a different shade from the rest of the hair. You can especially see it in certain lighting, like the crystal field (see below screenshot of an extreme case)

https://i.imgur.com/w9SVdNJ.jpeg

There are still differences between 6.58 and BMv1.1 but overall I'm satisfied with the changes. These screenshots all use the same face options but I was pretty happy after messing around with the updated options a bit. I feel like I was finally able to create my lizard as she appears in my mind's eye, in a way that even the existing character creator doesn't allow me to.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...966&height=934

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...993&height=934

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Originally Posted by FrechDax

i dont like the new benchmarkt tbh.
the shadows are a complete mess. looking at the hair shadow on the neck. left one looks so smooth and the right one almost unhealthy.
left is 1.0 and right 1.1
https://i.imgur.com/f8zPevB.jpeg

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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.

Miqo'te face 4 and eye shape 3 are still off. The entire face looks shortened, which makes him look like a different person. Other parts are nose 1, and mouth 4. He looks rounded when he should be more angular.

Edit: After looking a little more back and forth, the nose is not only smaller, but if you look at where the eyebrows and nose connect, they are not in the same position.
Benchmark v1.1
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...07797d837c.png https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...d9a9fb4c13.png

Current live patch
https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...94743ac504.jpg https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...5bf5d06c3d.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Angelivia

Does anyone else experience this weird green lightning?

Old benchmark:
https://i.imgur.com/6jdfPG5.png

vs.

New benchmark:
https://i.imgur.com/vhoqRhI.png

Additionally, I noticed a seam line down the nose.
https://i.imgur.com/kUZN0BY.png

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It makes sense in those scenes, since your character is being lit partially from the light that's bouncing off of the oscean.

Old benchmark vs new:

https://i.imgur.com/k75WuYS.png

Current vs new:

https://i.imgur.com/exvwK4Q.png

My bunboy looks very soft and cute again, I'm happy!

(And kind of in disbelief that so many people tried to tell me he looked exactly the same in the first benchmark...)

https://i.imgur.com/qO1lgUL.png

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPLeIYOX...jpg&name=largehttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPLeKZEX...jpg&name=largehttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPLmVRoW...name=4096x4096

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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LuciaMirain

I am honestly fascinated. It isnt just the light that has changed, some little things were changed with the mouth. But now my bunny actually looks almost like herself (mouth is still changed) compared to the old benchmark where I didn't recognize her and she looked swollen and somewhat featureless.
New benchmark left, old right
https://i.imgur.com/6sir6ZL.png

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The Viera Face 4 mouth changes are probably one of the most severe examples of forced changes (unwanted ones at that). If they wanted to introduce new looks they should have expanded the options instead of replacing current ones.

And it's not just the mouth being wider, thinner etc. The whole shape has literally changed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roda

It makes sense in those scenes, since your character is being lit partially from the light that's bouncing off of the oscean.

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Shouldn't everyone's screenshot of that moment be green, then?

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

Shouldn't everyone's screenshot of that moment be green, then?

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That depends on the characters skin tone. The paler you are the more apparent it is.

Unrelated - the only issue I see now is how the hair doesn't attach to most of the characters heads anymore. Its floating. That definitely needs to be fixed.

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.

Quote:

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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.

Quote:

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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!

Quote:

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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.