Discussion about the new Nvidia feature "Freestyle" // Is it authorized ?

Hello everyone !
Sorry If I make any mistake in english, it isn't my first langage

As you know, Square is gonna discuss about what is authorized or not for mods in general, and ACT (which is at the moment, in a grey zone, not authorized but not really punishable too).
So I just asked a GM what is Square's position about the Nvidia Freestyle, which is implemented in the Nvidia GeForce Experience and allows you to add filters "above" the game, with GPU calculation. So, it doesn't modify anything in the game, technically.

"As Reshade is supposed to be bannable (or can give a severe penalty), what about the new Nvidia's feature that is included in the GeForce Experience (that also allows me to stream for example), called NVIDIA Freestyle ?
This thing in particular is supposed to add a post process but only related to the GPU (at least I suppose), so you can add daltonism mode, blue-light protection...etc., can you tell me what is your position about this option in particular, as you can also add filters on the game (but at least, you are sure that Nvidia doesn't allow any cheat with his own filter).

>What you have just described does not seem to fit what we consider to be a Third Party Tool. However, we recommend that you use caution when using such features and we would appreciate if you could start a thread on our official forums in order to discuss such issues, as this could create a useful discussion for our community team and developers to improve the game."

So, it doesn't seem to be against TOS, according to the GM's Team, and I suppose they wanted to discuss about it, as it doesn't modify anything in-game, but modify the aspect of the game. Also, they are sure this thing won't add any cheat to their game as Nvidia is safe.
What do you think about it ?

I think:

- Anything that modifies game data should be disallowed

- Anything that only reads game data should be kept in the gray area (against the rules, but punishment reserved for extreme cases)

- Anything that neither reads nor writes the game data should be perfectly fine

Since freestyle isn't reading or writing game data and only post-processing frames sent to the gpu I see it as perfectly fine. Frame parsing is something gpus already do as a baseline task. Any argument against it would be an argument against color balancing options available on monitors, too, following the logic to its end.

Nvidia has had this for quite a while and I believe they have already stated it's allowed.

In the while, someone struggle to reach 30fps...

I don't see anything bad with applying filters to your screen. Game or movie. Nothing different than messing with monitor hardware color presets.

Reshade isn't bannable, it just isn't endorsed.

It's an old link, but it's an official stance: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post1408111

Tools like Reshade and the like are not viewed as bannable however should be put tread with utmost caution for many reason. Reshade and even ACT(as are overlays, and don't actually modify game data. The tools don't actually affect game data and are akin to something you would have in gpose. To prove a point I grabbed an old post from the forums where this issue was discussed with a different program that did things similar (on an image overlay end)
https://i.imgur.com/YuAKByu.jpg

A mod for example where you alter the data (like a miqote tailed lalafell, or a naked character) would be banned as you're using SE's data (Character in this case) and are changing the data around. Same with the plugin Yoshi-p mentioned that dropped markers for TEA.

To compare your Nvidia, I think an option is to look at Discord Nitro. Discord is a third party tool, but also has it's own overlay and streaming functions which can be used in XIV. Again this isn't altering the data however you are using a third party tool in tandem with the game while you may think it's bannable it's out of the gray area since it's again not altering data.

Third party tools are such a tough concept to analyze which is why they went so into it, to explain that they can't decide that this specifically can't be used, because someone will absolutely find an alternative and use that instead. It's better for them to actually request you post like that here since it does offer more insight to others as to what these programs can do and what they should not be allowed to do.

Tl:DR To me it is allowed, but not supported.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lambdafish

Reshade isn't bannable, it just isn't endorsed.

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They've also asked in the past that if people are taking ReShade screenshots to share, they not add the SquareEnix copyright line back on (since the screenshot flow with ReShade will usually omit it). They've said before that they prefer the copyright line only appear on things that represent the game as-shipped, rather than those which represent the game after user-side modification (including graphics pipeline post-processing).

Since Nvidia Freestyle is literally a variant of ReShade—even can use the same presets and shaders—that's been grafted into Nvidia's driver system, I'd assume the same request applies.

I can't find the post to reference offhand, unfortunately.