Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain

Bump to mention:

At least we're getting two days of game time added next week (source) . Ten days if you're on Xbox Series X|S lmao.

Xbox was having that many issues eh? Might explain why the issues pointed out in this thread seem to be very low priority at the moment (not even an official mention about them).

I feel like they needed to work on this graphical update more before pushing it to live servers. So many issues, and yeah, the eye strain is very very annoying.

There needs to be some kind of toggle(s) for reducing flickering effects. I'm on PS5 and can't adjust most of the settings that have been mentioned here. I managed to get through MSQ but some of the effects used in areas, cutscenes, and especially dungeons are so bad I can't imagine revisiting any of that content. The migraines have been awful and if the devs continue to ignore this (similar complaints have been going around since at least 5.5), I'd have to drop the game entirely. I'm hoping the follow up announcement to the housing one is more forthcoming about the general issues.

Okay I thought I was crazy, but there are definitely weird blurring effects and maybe even darkening effects that either just weren't as noticeable before or that have become an issue with the update. Generally everything looks good but it seems like there is a weird fake aperture going on and sometimes it effects the text boxes, characters, backgrounds, and even when I go from standing still to slight motion I notice and actual darkening of the screen. Tested this in multiple zones and was baffled.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anarnee

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 thought this was just me, but I'm relieved to read that someone else noticed that something about the player's own battle effects has changed. Before the graphics update I didn't mind setting my battle effects on e.g. BRD or SMN to "Full", but after the update I'm seriously considering keeping my own battle effects "Limited" all the time since the bright flashes give me headaches. All the effects are so bright now that even fiddling with gamma doesn't help.

Free game time that some can't use because it hurts to play and an acknowledgement of.. HOUSING lighting being a problem.. its something I guess? But also not really? At least they mentioned some of it is bugs. I guess now to wait until August and see if they actually follow through with fixing anything.

Well then.

I have been made aware, via official tech support, that the developers are indeed aware of this situation, and are keeping tabs on this forum post as they work on a solution.

Getting them to admit as much has been a tad too difficult for my personal liking, but better late than never. This should at least quell some of the anxiety surrounding the topic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wind-Krysvein

Well then.

I have been made aware, via official tech support, that the developers are indeed aware of this situation, and are keeping tabs on this forum post as they work on a solution.

No idea why it was so hard to get them to admit as much, but this should at least quell some of the anxiety surrounding the topic.

---

Finally some good news, thanks for the info! :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ainariel

I thought this was just me, but I'm relieved to read that someone else noticed that something about the player's own battle effects has changed. Before the graphics update I didn't mind setting my battle effects on e.g. BRD or SMN to "Full", but after the update I'm seriously considering keeping my own battle effects "Limited" all the time since the bright flashes give me headaches. All the effects are so bright now that even fiddling with gamma doesn't help.

---

Setting the gamma to 0 doesn't even come close when i had it at 40 before dawntrail launch comparing it to old screenshots. They dialed the base brightness way above what they should have and eliminated the smooth transition between light and shadow, its a really heavy contrast taxing on the eyes.

This might not be the best example but, if you pick an aetheryte in the first Dawntrail main city and fiddle with the gamma from 0 to 100 you'll instantly see that the aetheryte doesn't change too much compared to the rest of the scenery, it remains near the same white intensity along the gamma.

This is resulting in everything looking brighter being it reflections, battle effects, glare, even the character skin or hair is reflecting way too much light. Or certain situations with heavy weather where there shouldnt be much light reflecting from the ground and yet its very bright.

Of course this is all theory but, it does look really off to me fiddling with these settings.

Adding to this after my last post. While i get used to it after a while, i notice how playing FFXIV makes me very tired after a short while since the update. I just had a nap cause i felt i hadn't slept after playing a few hours. Then went back playing and felt tired again after half an hour.

Edit: it is even worse if used with FSR and the inbuilt sharpening filter. The sharpening Filter is extremely taxing on the eyes.

Bump because even if Square is looking now, the more players that see this thread the more support we can amass and the better into we can get on what's an issue and how

Adding to this. Never had an issue with eye strain prior to 7.0 and have been playing since ARR, both on console and PC. After experimenting with all of the available graphic settings over the last week since the start of early access, I think the root of the issue is the bloom (which we can’t turn off) and the new lighting on everything. My eyes have a lot of difficulty focusing and it makes duties way more difficult than before. It’s notable worse in the new areas and the old ones, but still present in the old. I think the best solution would just be to give us more options to adjust levels of bloom. I think the example of the aetherytes and crystal effects that others have mentioned is the best example of what I’m talking about.

One way of addressing the issue of eye strain (without taking away things from people who aren't experiencing it) would be to implement some manner of toggleable "eye strain mode" that reduces the sharpness of textures (for both terrain and character/NPC models) removes motion blurs, blinking, intense light effects, etc.

This would feel right at home in the accessibility tab in the game settings. As a person with somewhat sensitive eyes and plenty of experience in all things eye strain-related, I'd be more than happy to be part of the beta testing process.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wind-Krysvein

Well then.

I have been made aware, via official tech support, that the developers are indeed aware of this situation, and are keeping tabs on this forum post as they work on a solution.

Getting them to admit as much has been a tad too difficult for my personal liking, but better late than never. This should at least quell some of the anxiety surrounding the topic.

---

SUPER excited to hear that! My apologies if talking about a refund made them less likely to admit it!!
Thank you everyone for your show of visibility! Every one of you who said you had the same issue helps!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wind-Krysvein

One way of addressing the issue of eye strain (without taking away things from people who aren't experiencing it) would be to implement some manner of toggleable "eye strain mode" that reduces the sharpness of textures (for both terrain and character/NPC models) removes motion blurs, blinking, intense light effects, etc.

This would feel right at home in the accessibility tab in the game settings. As a person with somewhat sensitive eyes and plenty of experience in all things eye strain-related, I'd be more than happy to be part of the beta testing process.

---

I would prefer the settings to be individually toggleable rather than bundled together. After all we all have different eyes and comfort levels, and may only want to turn off some of the things you mentioned. Plus more granular settings would be useful even for those who don't have vision issues, so it would be a win-win for everyone!

But yeah it's definitely an issue of accessibility. I have some problems with my eyes but in most games it only makes it difficult for me to read text or look at HUD elements that are too small or placed too far apart. This was never a problem in FFXIV and still isn't, light mode is easy on my eyes and I can enlarge the text and resize and move around HUD elements. So I wasn't expecting to have a problem with the other graphics, which unfortunately I am. Here's to hoping we get settings that help with the motion blur and the excessive brightness of some effects.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kiet

I would prefer the settings to be individually toggleable rather than bundled together. After all we all have different eyes and comfort levels, and may only want to turn off some of the things you mentioned. Plus more granular settings would be useful even for those who don't have vision issues, so it would be a win-win for everyone!

---

Very true! I didn't mean to imply that I'd want all the options to be force-bundled together, but I can see how it could look like I did.

But yeah, the more settings we have for adjusting the graphics, the better.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Araxes

Adding to this after my last post. While i get used to it after a while, i notice how playing FFXIV makes me very tired after a short while since the update. I just had a nap cause i felt i hadn't slept after playing a few hours. Then went back playing and felt tired again after half an hour.

Edit: it is even worse if used with FSR and the inbuilt sharpening filter. The sharpening Filter is extremely taxing on the eyes.

---

To me it's the blurriness and the sharpening combination. It's fine when I'm standing still, but the whole background darkens and turns blurry when you start moving. It's at the point I can barely play the game properly without it distracting my eyes.

This shows the difference between standing still and moving for me

https://i.imgur.com/SVmrIW5.png

That's driving me nuts too! Thank you for the picture.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by usagilove

To me it's the blurriness and the sharpening combination. It's fine when I'm standing still, but the whole background darkens and turns blurry when you start moving. It's at the point I can barely play the game properly without it distracting my eyes.

This shows the difference between standing still and moving for me

https://i.imgur.com/SVmrIW5.png

---

Yes! This has also really been bothering me :( !

Some of the color themes were awful and also strained my eyes but this is nothing new. I really wonder who comes up with the color palette. P12 is a prime example. I had tears from how bad the migraine was from playing in that awful setup. Imagine practicing p12s for hours. By the end of it, I was feeling pure agony. I had to play close to black and white and everything severely dulled down so as not to go mad because of the pain.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kohashi

Some of the color themes were awful and also strained my eyes but this is nothing new. I really wonder who comes up with the color palette. P12 is a prime example. I had tears from how bad the migraine was from playing in that awful setup. Imagine practicing p12s for hours. By the end of it, I was feeling pure agony. I had to play close to black and white and everything severely dulled down so as not to go mad because of the pain.

---

Clearly its someone that doesn't bother doing 2+ hours of endgame raid sessions and thinks, oh look pretty colors and flashy effects, lets ramp those up to 1000%, i bet the players will like that.

I can also name a few encounters from last xpac that they didn't bother adressing, and the ones that weren't that bad are also eye searing now with the graphical changes.
Savage raids.:
.P3s (fire bird with all kinds of reds/oranges all over the arena mashed together, instant classic);
.P8s part 1 (wasn't that bad before, but now it has heavy contrasts all over the place, wich makes colors or lights migraine inducing);
.P12s (as you mentioned, just overall blinding...won't even dare trying it now);
Extremes.:
.Mothercrystal (another one i wont bother trying now, it was already awful before with full effects on the last phase with the waves and hydaelyn flashbangs)
.Abyssal Fracture (dark themes with surprise white bright fullscreen flashbangs all over the place)

Can't wait to stumble in more old/new instances with the badly tuned contrasts / lighting and DLSS/FSR cheese grater scaling + forced motion blur.

Another great discovery i stumbled upon (don't know if it was already mentioned in this thread), in display settings > character lighting slider, it changes all the - PC's / NPC's / Mounts / Enemies - lighting at the same time, meaning, be prepared to be blinded by any of the mentioned that have any sort of light effects / reflections / agressive colors going on if you dont set this crap to 0 (do you like lightbulb glowy mounts, now they can become your personal mini sun, great stuff).

This slider is another option they could now easily sepparate in 4 different sliders with the lighting changes.:
.Your character
.NPC's + other friendly players
.Enemies
.Mounts + minions + pets
But no lets cut corners and mash it together in one slider.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Klauth

Clearly its someone that doesn't bother doing 2+ hours of endgame raid sessions and thinks, oh look pretty colors and flashy effects, lets ramp those up to 1000%, i bet the players will like that.

I can also name a few encounters from last xpac that they didn't bother adressing, and the ones that weren't that bad are also eye searing now with the graphical changes.
Savage raids.:
.P3s (fire bird with all kinds of reds/oranges all over the arena mashed together, instant classic);
.P8s part 1 (wasn't that bad before, but now it has heavy contrasts all over the place, wich makes colors or lights migraine inducing);
.P12s (as you mentioned, just overall blinding...won't even dare trying it now);
Extremes.:
.Mothercrystal (another one i wont bother trying now, it was already awful before with full effects on the last phase with the waves and hydaelyn flashbangs)
.Abyssal Fracture (dark themes with surprise white bright fullscreen flashbangs all over the place)

---

I agree and I have heard tales of p3s but I did not play back then. P8s was fine when I did play it and another one worth mentioning was p5s. Green on green and more green. If those towers didn't have bubbles around them I would have never seen them.

I also absolutely hate transition phases that pretty much cover the entire screen plus the unskippable nonsense rambling from phase 1 to phase 2 on door bosses. Just why..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by usagilove

To me it's the blurriness and the sharpening combination. It's fine when I'm standing still, but the whole background darkens and turns blurry when you start moving. It's at the point I can barely play the game properly without it distracting my eyes.

This shows the difference between standing still and moving for me

https://i.imgur.com/SVmrIW5.png

---

Fantastic example image. The AA when motionless is fine as you said, but the blur when moving was driving me insane. I reduced it enough to be tolerable by switching to FXAA but it would be nice to be able to use the improved AA solution they added.

Bump. Awareness rising.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wind-Krysvein

Well then.

I have been made aware, via official tech support, that the developers are indeed aware of this situation, and are keeping tabs on this forum post as they work on a solution.

Getting them to admit as much has been a tad too difficult for my personal liking, but better late than never. This should at least quell some of the anxiety surrounding the topic.

---

As much as I want to believe this, I have to play devil's advocate here. Do you have any receipts to back up this claim, or an email you can quote, something? Or is it one of those "source: trust me bro" kind of posts? The amount of headache SE has personally caused with their lack of customer support makes it hard for me to believe the above statements without proof. Not trying to be rude or negative, just being a pragmatist. I do sincerely hope they're aware of the issues and actively working on them; would also be really nice if we don't have to wait months for a fix either.

Still not in a playable state with todays update. The blur is still present and I had to almost instantly close the game again (tried both, DLSS and FSR). Don't want to suffer through another day with headache and my eyes hurting...

Bump! And on we go

I do not generally have problems with lighting or motion or blur. Today after doing Castrum I had a headache from the spell effects of characters spells. One in particular kept putting a big white ball over and AOE pack. I didn't notice what class was tossing it out (Viper maybe?) That white ball was eye searing. Totally new thing for me. I don't remember ever seeing anything in game that hurt that much and I have been playing 5 years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Myrany

I do not generally have problems with lighting or motion or blur. Today after doing Castrum I had a headache from the spell effects of characters spells. One in particular kept putting a big white ball over and AOE pack. I didn't notice what class was tossing it out (Viper maybe?) That white ball was eye searing. Totally new thing for me. I don't remember ever seeing anything in game that hurt that much and I have been playing 5 years.

---

Are you sure it wasn't just Holy? VPR gets some eye-searing effects, but it shouldn't have them at 50 and that description doesn't fit any of them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Myrany

I do not generally have problems with lighting or motion or blur. Today after doing Castrum I had a headache from the spell effects of characters spells. One in particular kept putting a big white ball over and AOE pack. I didn't notice what class was tossing it out (Viper maybe?) That white ball was eye searing. Totally new thing for me. I don't remember ever seeing anything in game that hurt that much and I have been playing 5 years.

---

I usually play samurai, and it had really toned down effects compared to the other jobs before dawntrail, but now they have a bright light behind them.
Im just hoping the lighting change they're making for housing also changes the rest of the game.

Quoting from the "Issues with Housing Brightness Settings" post in the main page of the FFXIV website.:
"When fine-tuning the lighting settings in our improved graphical environment, the newly added baked reflections were mistakenly set to "On" when determining the base lighting level for housing. Because of this, even with lighting set to 0, there is a persistent lighting effect that makes the environment appear brighter than intended."
https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...19d46241037cb6

So what im getting from this is its just not only happening in housing, but also on the entire game. Strange they only approach it as an housing problem in the post they made because its noticeable everywhere.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MiaBlaze-Cari

Still not in a playable state with todays update. The blur is still present and I had to almost instantly close the game again (tried both, DLSS and FSR). Don't want to suffer through another day with headache and my eyes hurting...

---

Honestly, at this point I'm just gonna kick back, enjoy other games and keep bumping up this post to make sure new people with similar issues will know they're not alone.

Sucks to play the waiting game (especially when we have no idea how long it's gonna take for them to fix this) but there's not much else we can do.

I took the time to download the ps4 version of XIV on my ps5 (sometimes ps4 versions of games run/look better on ps5 than the actual ps5 versions). Didn't change anything except looking a little worse. So for anyone thinking that might help, don't waste your time lol I kind of knew that it wouldn't make a difference but I can at least say I tried.

I'm taking this time to try out Elder Scrolls Online. I always said I wouldn't pick up another mmo but, now the slot is free to try another one.

In reference to the post Yoshi P made about complaints over housing lighting issues, I find it interesting he said people are complaining about level 5 lighting being too dark. For me, since early release's launch, I've had the OPPOSITE problem. The default lighting is too bright/washed out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wind-Krysvein

Honestly, at this point I'm just gonna kick back, enjoy other games and keep bumping up this post to make sure new people with similar issues will know they're not alone.

---

And ignore people when they ask for a source on your claims that support is aware of these issues lmao. Here's to hoping you're not just full of platitudes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wind-Krysvein

Sucks to play the waiting game (especially when we have no idea how long it's gonna take for them to fix this) but there's not much else we can do.

---

Sucks to play the guessing game too tbh, but it's what it's.

Guess you're one of those people that doesn't like it when people call you out. Why reply when you can avoid! lmao

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wind-Krysvein

Honestly, at this point I'm just gonna kick back, enjoy other games and keep bumping up this post to make sure new people with similar issues will know they're not alone.

Sucks to play the waiting game (especially when we have no idea how long it's gonna take for them to fix this) but there's not much else we can do.

---

Yea, got myself a game from the Steam Summer Sale. Was able to play for 10h straight without any issues so I am pretty positive that I can blame XIV for the headache I had. A friend of mine is also struggling with XIV by now, so she resulted to playing something else as well.

Waiting is inevitable so there's no point in starting a fuss.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daralii

Are you sure it wasn't just Holy? VPR gets some eye-searing effects, but it shouldn't have them at 50 and that description doesn't fit any of them.

---

It wasn't holy I have played a healer with holy it wasn't that. Maybe it was a samurai as I said I wasn't sure of the class of the other DPS. It was painful whatever it was.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Myrany

It wasn't holy I have played a healer with holy it wasn't that. Maybe it was a samurai as I said I wasn't sure of the class of the other DPS. It was painful whatever it was.

---

The only healer that comes to mind with a placeable white orb aoe is Astrologian's Earthly Star.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rynn21

In reference to the post Yoshi P made about complaints over housing lighting issues, I find it interesting he said people are complaining about level 5 lighting being too dark. For me, since early release's launch, I've had the OPPOSITE problem. The default lighting is too bright/washed out.

---

Either Yoship is imagining things people say, or if players are actually saying that they have no clue what theyre talking about.

The housing lowest level of dark was pitch black before Dawntrail and now its really bright. No way in hell the level 5 is dark now

This was my house in the lowest level (Endwalker xpac).:

https://i.imgur.com/42BPHFN.png


And the highest level (Shadowbringers xpac).:


https://i.imgur.com/EoMy6gn.png


Dont come saying to me that the game isnt overall way too bright now compared to previous xpacs

It was more muted in contrasts and softer in shadow and light transitions, even the glare/bloom isnt so harsh in the last picture as it is now in dawntrail. Maybe some people just got way too used to filters and such and are getting confused.

I have my house set to 5 for lighting and it is absolutely dimmer then it was, HOWEVER I believe it's due to how the lights work now, before they seemed to behave as if walls didn't exist and "shined through" for lack of a better word but now if there's a wall the light is stopped on the side it's on (the light reflection on the wall is blinding). More realistic yes but not something I gave a chocobos backside about and my kitchen & bedroom areas look like they're being lit with something not cleaned in a hundred years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Windfire

I have my house set to 5 for lighting and it is absolutely dimmer then it was, HOWEVER I believe it's due to how the lights work now, before they seemed to behave as if walls didn't exist and "shined through" for lack of a better word but now if there's a wall the light is stopped on the side it's on (the light reflection on the wall is blinding). More realistic yes but not something I gave a chocobos backside about and my kitchen & bedroom areas look like they're being lit with something not cleaned in a hundred years.

---

Then theres a huge issue, because this is the same house (dawntrail) in the same empty division with the supposed pitch dark light values of 0, and yet its way too bright compared to my previous first picture.
And as i mentioned before i think this is a problem in the entire game and not just housing.

My gamma is set to the same 40 i allways had, and char lighting at 0.

https://i.imgur.com/xeW22S1.png

Edit.:
I've read again what you and Rynn21 said and it seems to be a problem now between "highest brightness value of 5 being darker/dimmer" and the "lowest brightness value of 0 being brighter", all for the sake of how the new light system they implemented behaves.

2nd Edit.:
I went ahead and i've read again the lodestone post Yoship made adressing the housing situation, and took in consideration your comment. And experimented with the values of 0 and 5 with my house empty, the post checks out, and indeed theres exagerated light and reflections everywhere at 0 like its mentioned in the announcement he made.
Now what im thinking is, if they managed to screw up housing this badly how are they going to fix the rest of the game areas that are hindering people from playing with the exagerated reflections and wonky "realistic" light system... anyway its late.