Can we please have more options to lower graphics settings?

This isn't an issue I face myself, but it seems a lot of the newer content has a lot more particle effects going on that , even with other player's animations turned off, makes it really difficult for people on less powerful PCs to play the game.

My main tank is lucky to get 15FPS in some newer areas and doing the Alliance raid? Pretty much impossible.

We need some options to turn off water effects, particle effects in the air/background (such as the third boss of Copied Factory, the Wreath of Snakes or Eden Verse 2) or at least lower them to the point they aren't affecting game performance for players. We also need to be able to turn off some boss/mob effects if possible so long as it doesn't affect the ability to discern their attacks.

I know a few people who simply can't afford to get new PCs at the moment but the game updates are constantly making it harder for them to play because the graphics settings don't allow them to shut off a lot of these superfluous effects.

Heck, in Eden Verse 2 the effects are so bright I am unable to see the safe spot in a couple of attacks due to glowing orange on a orange-brown floor and I'm not running the game on a toaster.

Tbh, if they cant get more than 15fps, they already don't meet minimum specs required to play the game.

SE has a bare minimum for what it wants the game to look like, and function.

My cpu is almost 7 years old at this point. Gpu is closing in on 5. I still get more than 60fps in nearly every area. These people are likely playing on laptops with integrated graphics, or ancient Dell optiplexes or something. Things that never met the minimum requirements but they decided to play anyway.

Hmmm how hot does your pc get?

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Tbh, if they cant get more than 15fps, they already don't meet minimum specs required to play the game.

SE has a bare minimum for what it wants the game to look like, and function.

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Computers that never get more than 15 FPS are one thing, but I would like more MMOs to remember that some people simply prefer FPS to graphics quality.

If I can't get 60 FPS in a game, I turn something graphical off. If I still don't reach 60 FPS, I keep turning stuff off until I do.

And no, it isn't entirely a matter of the user's hardware being under the minimum specs because the minimum specs are designed with a certain level of predicted margin.

If you have a bridge with a total, overall weight limit of 20 tons and 30 1-ton cars drive over it and cause it to break, then it might have been better to build a stronger bridge. I get high framerates in instances and massive lag spikes in populated cities like Limsa.

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Originally Posted by DumdogsWorld

Computers that never get more than 15 FPS are one thing, but I would like more MMOs to remember that some people simply prefer FPS to graphics quality.

If I can't get 60 FPS in a game, I turn something graphical off. If I still don't reach 60 FPS, I keep turning stuff off until I do.

And no, it isn't entirely a matter of the user's hardware being under the minimum specs because the minimum specs are designed with a certain level of predicted margin.

If you have a bridge with a total, overall weight limit of 20 tons and 30 1-ton cars drive over it and cause it to break, then it might have been better to build a stronger bridge. I get high framerates in instances and massive lag spikes in populated cities like Limsa.

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Yes, and they are talking about getting less than 15fps in instances.

Also, would like to point out that no amount of turning things off is going to get a 15fps pc to 60 fps if they are already playing at mimimal graphic settings.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Yes, and they are talking about getting less than 15fps in instances.

Also, would like to point out that no amount of turning things off is going to get a 15fps pc to 60 fps if they are already playing at mimimal graphic settings.

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Okay, so we're in agreement then.

Considering that SE have dropped ps3 support we can assume that players are expected to have a gaming rig that has a certain minimum requirement, which would be above what a ps3 can do.

I'm not against giving players more options to reduce the graphical intensity of the game, but I think SE want to maintain a certain aesthetic and they have decided that anything below a certain requirement goes against that. There comes a point in which turning down the graphics enough can seriously change how a game looks.

If you're getting below 15 fps in instances your gaming rig is in serious need of an upgrade. I understand that for some people this means spending money they do not have, but this is how it is with gaming. If you don't keep up with how technology moves on you're going to run into problems. Pc gaming is not a cheap hobby.

Yes, but it doesn't make sense that people who could play the game at minimum 30fps in the past no longer can get at least that.

When updating an MMO it's important to keep it accessible, even if the requirements have changed.

Also the laptop that they have can run the ShB benchmark and get a Standard rating on medium settings - they get workable FPS there, but certain raids prevent them from performing well.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...219_114057.jpg


That means something is not going right in the game itself and perhaps being able to turn off the identified problems would help.

My computer is personally fine, I could probably stand to upgrade my 1060 at some point but I'm not the one having issues here.

Well the Particle effects are a little overly crazy in raids, and I'm not sure which option can turn that down.

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Originally Posted by KrimKreyole

Yes, but it doesn't make sense that people who could play the game at minimum 30fps in the past no longer can get at least that.

When updating an MMO it's important to keep it accessible, even if the requirements have changed.

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You've just answered yourself. The requirements have changed, so it does make sense that for some people their fps is lower than before.

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Originally Posted by KrimKreyole

Also the laptop that they have can run the ShB benchmark and get a Standard rating on medium settings - they get workable FPS there, but certain raids prevent them from performing well.

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Benchmarks are more of an indication of potential performance than an actual undisputed grade. The only true test is playing the actual game.

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Originally Posted by DumdogsWorld

Computers that never get more than 15 FPS are one thing, but I would like more MMOs to remember that some people simply prefer FPS to graphics quality.

If I can't get 60 FPS in a game, I turn something graphical off. If I still don't reach 60 FPS, I keep turning stuff off until I do.

And no, it isn't entirely a matter of the user's hardware being under the minimum specs because the minimum specs are designed with a certain level of predicted margin.

If you have a bridge with a total, overall weight limit of 20 tons and 30 1-ton cars drive over it and cause it to break, then it might have been better to build a stronger bridge. I get high framerates in instances and massive lag spikes in populated cities like Limsa.

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The game is almost 7 years old now - If a PC can't run the game, it simply wasn't designed for it and either needs to be upgraded or replaced. Nothing has changed with how they render the graphics or how intense the graphics are, the game still uses the same engine and the same API as it has for almost 3 years. Your friend knew the system requirements for the game, its on any store page you buy it from, and every expansion has a free to download benchmarking tool that's released a month or more before the expansion is released. This is not the games fault, and thus not something they need to fix.

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Originally Posted by Penthea

Benchmarks are more of an indication of potential performance than an actual undisputed grade. The only true test is playing the actual game.

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Not really, Benchmarks are designed as a WORST CASE SCENARIO, they're designed to test and thus they stress the machine to the limit of its capabilities of running the software. That's why its called a "Benchmark" and not a "Software that will show you what you MIGHT get"

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Originally Posted by VenKitsune

Not really, Benchmarks are designed as a WORST CASE SCENARIO, they're designed to test and thus they stress the machine to the limit of its capabilities of running the software. That's why its called a "Benchmark" and not a "Software that will show you what you MIGHT get"

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Somehow accidentally deleted my post instead of editing it, derp.

Benchmarks sometimes don't quite take heat into account because very often the duration of the benchmark itself is far shorter than a gaming session. So you might get an okay enough result for a benchmark, but in an actual gaming session you might find that the longer you play the worse your performance gets due to heat issues.

Certainly the FFXIV benchmarks are far shorter than most people would play in a normal gaming session.

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Originally Posted by DumdogsWorld

If you have a bridge with a total, overall weight limit of 20 tons and 30 1-ton cars drive over it and cause it to break, then it might have been better to build a stronger bridge. I get high framerates in instances and massive lag spikes in populated cities like Limsa.

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This is a bad example as its easier to see the bridge as your PC and the cars as the game. The bridge is built to withstand only so much, like your PC and if driving too many cars, or in this case a 10 year old game, causes it to break, then the fault isn't the bridge, its the people trying to drive across a bridge they well know cant handle their weight. So "build a better PC" is the better answer to this.

There are prebuilds with minimal costs that can play this game with ease. Asking a company to go backward because you refuse to go forward is ridiculous.

Ask you fruend did he consider switching to microwave, because that tiger electronic handheld simply is too old. Lol

Look I run a gaming laptop with an Intel i7 7700HQ, 16 gigs of Ram, and a GeForce 1060GTX.

That's not some kind of obsolete system by any means... and the particle effects during Raids especially Alliance raids like Copied Factory can really slow it to a chug at times and its only during those types of situations so there is something to be said about turning down particle effects.

PS4 pro if computers are too much. I get 60 FPS everywhere on the standard settings. Now when I turn on pro mode it varies but still way above walmart laptop. - I have a walmart laptop and played it side by side- Lenveo one from last year.

So I'd like to see more options to turn off more particle effects not for performance reasons, but for personal ones. I have godawful eyesight, miserable depth perception, and a hard time tracking what the F is going on in fights where the room is bright, the attacks from my party AND the thing we're fighting are bright, and the HEY IDIOT DONT STAND HERE markers are all bright. Seriously, some fights in this game are an absolute nightmare of bright flashy flashiness, and the hardest part about clearing them is squinting through the flashy nonsense to see wtf is actually going on.

Let me make it less... glowy. Pls.

And people said PS4 are holding the game back, heh. They like totally ignore low spec pc users and just blame it all on PS4.

Back on topic, what is the spec for your laptop?

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Originally Posted by KrimKreyole

Yes, but it doesn't make sense that people who could play the game at minimum 30fps in the past no longer can get at least that.

When updating an MMO it's important to keep it accessible, even if the requirements have changed.

Also the laptop that they have can run the ShB benchmark and get a Standard rating on medium settings - they get workable FPS there, but certain raids prevent them from performing well.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...219_114057.jpg


That means something is not going right in the game itself and perhaps being able to turn off the identified problems would help.

My computer is personally fine, I could probably stand to upgrade my 1060 at some point but I'm not the one having issues here.

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Hold up you have a GTX 1060? How are you even getting 15 fps lmao. Even with low settings. There's definetly something wrong with the setup. Not the game tho.

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Originally Posted by Ueki_Kosuke

Hold up you have a GTX 1060? How are you even getting 15 fps lmao. Even with low settings. There's definetly something wrong with the setup. Not the game tho.

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I HIGHLY doubt he has a 1060 if he's getting that. My laptop has a 1060 and I got extremely high for the SHB benchmark with everything turned the highest possibly setting.

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Originally Posted by Penthea

Somehow accidentally deleted my post instead of editing it, derp.

Benchmarks sometimes don't quite take heat into account because very often the duration of the benchmark itself is far shorter than a gaming session. So you might get an okay enough result for a benchmark, but in an actual gaming session you might find that the longer you play the worse your performance gets due to heat issues.

Certainly the FFXIV benchmarks are far shorter than most people would play in a normal gaming session.

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Benchmarks, at least in the case of xiv, should be enough to bring the heatsinks on low end equipment to their heat soak, if that's going to be an issue. You won't see a large heat differential in laptops between the benchmark and normal gameplay, for the most part.

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Originally Posted by KrimKreyole

When updating an MMO it's important to keep it accessible, even if the requirements have changed.

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At some point though maintaining the lower settings will become more trouble than it's worth. They may require different shaders and code paths which will need to be kept up to date with everything else and tested. That doesn't come for free, so at some point it's necessary to just drop them and bump up the system requirements. At the moment the game's minimum requirement is a GPU which was released six years ago as a lower mid-range model; it has equivalent power to a high-end GPU from 11 years ago and today's low-end discrete GPUs can achieve the same performance.

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Originally Posted by KrimKreyole

Also the laptop that they have can run the ShB benchmark and get a Standard rating on medium settings - they get workable FPS there, but certain raids prevent them from performing well.

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Isn't that screenshot from Stormblood benchmark though? I think Shadowbringers introduced some new and more expensive rendering techniques.

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Originally Posted by VenKitsune

Not really, Benchmarks are designed as a WORST CASE SCENARIO, they're designed to test and thus they stress the machine to the limit of its capabilities of running the software. That's why its called a "Benchmark" and not a "Software that will show you what you MIGHT get"

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That's not some kind of universal rule for benchmarks. Particularly for an MMO it's difficult for the benchmark to account for all the other players.

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Originally Posted by Ueki_Kosuke

Hold up you have a GTX 1060? How are you even getting 15 fps lmao. Even with low settings. There's definetly something wrong with the setup. Not the game tho.

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The OP has a GTX 1060 and is able to run the game without much issues. OP's friend gets 15 fps with hardware that hasn't been mentioned yet, though I strongly suspect an integrated GPU.

Sound like they are playing on an Intel graphics. Witch yes can but isn't ment to reach 30 fps in a game like this.

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Originally Posted by AnimaAnimus

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I think people missed the entire point of what I was trying to say.

I like consistency as much as I like high FPS. I shouldn't need to upgrade all of the hardware in my otherwise-decent computer so I can handle Limsa during prime time, when I can handle everything else in this game just fine.

Lower settings would help with that, not just with computers that run the whole game at 15 FPS.

Limsa in prime hours can give my PS4 Pro a bit of lag. An older PC is gonna chug on that many people in one place.

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

Limsa in prime hours can give my PS4 Pro a bit of lag. An older PC is gonna chug on that many people in one place.

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Exactly. The game may have the graphics engine and design of something 7 years old, but if I took a 7-year-old game that supports modding and spawned 100s upon 100s of unique character models, my computer will still chug.

Sometimes it's about volume and not quality. (But lower quality can still help)

Add an ability just to completely blur textures. And reduce polygons just so we can make it look like OS RuneScape

Hate to say this but this is not going to happen.
The game will become more demanding in future.
It's the natural life cycle and evolution of long running MMORPGs.
Your friends really need to consider buying a new laptop if they play on one or upgrade their GPU if they are playing on desktop or buy a PS4 (you can find a low priced second hand).
There is a reason SE increased the minimum hardware requirements.
They can try lower the resolution. Other than that there is no trick to make it run better the weak hardware is the problem.

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Originally Posted by Ueki_Kosuke

Hold up you have a GTX 1060? How are you even getting 15 fps lmao. Even with low settings. There's definetly something wrong with the setup. Not the game tho.

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It's not OP who has issues with FPS but their friend.


On a topic: I would welcome such a change honestly if it's possible, but wonder if there is anything what they can reduce even more than recent lowest settings give in the first place. Did your main tank consider a possibilty of upgrading their specs? It costs money of course, but no one says that they need to buy a top-1 details. Could buy something still fairly old, but enough to run the game on somewhat decent level. If it's still too much, maybe consider to switch to console version. Even regular PS4 does it fine.

Sadly, when it come to games, and MMOs specifically, you going to deal with the fact that sometimes you need to upgrade your system. Because if the game is that bad for your Tank atm, it probably means that their PC is 7+ y.o.

This game is starting to reach a decent number of years in operation. WoW became very successful partly because it could be run on low end PCs, but should we expect PCs that ran WoW then to run it as it is now, 15 years later? It's the nature of long term online games: over time, you will need to upgrade your rig, because the game is going to keep making improvements that aren't compatible with older ones.

I mean, I'm not going to say no to more options, but there is going to come a point, eventually, where your friend will HAVE to upgrade their computer if they wish to continue playing. (Luckily, this game's requirements are rather low, so if they do some smart shopping, they can probably score something for an affordable price.)

As a side note, for PC players who are having issues in areas with a lot of people, you can limit the number of people displayed. System Config > Other Settings > Display Limits > Character and Object Quantity. It's not perfect, but it helps a lot. (I understand this option is not available to PS4 players for...reasons unknown? My info on that could be wrong.) I have mine set to minimum, and it is an absolute lifesaver.

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Originally Posted by Silverquick

Look I run a gaming laptop with an Intel i7 7700HQ, 16 gigs of Ram, and a GeForce 1060GTX.

That's not some kind of obsolete system by any means... and the particle effects during Raids especially Alliance raids like Copied Factory can really slow it to a chug at times and its only during those types of situations so there is something to be said about turning down particle effects.

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How about Character Config, Character, Battle Effects Settings. Party, Show Limited, or Show None. (I have mine on limited, just so I can see bad stuff on the floor.)

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Originally Posted by Penthea

Benchmarks are more of an indication of potential performance than an actual undisputed grade. The only true test is playing the actual game.

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Originally Posted by VenKitsune

Not really, Benchmarks are designed as a WORST CASE SCENARIO, they're designed to test and thus they stress the machine to the limit of its capabilities of running the software. That's why its called a "Benchmark" and not a "Software that will show you what you MIGHT get"

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not a "worse case scenario" ...at all

Benchmarks aren't there to do anything except show you how your computer performs while doing whatever said benchmark does. In this instance, playing a game. You can change settings to get better worse performance so you know where you are comfortable playing at (is it grainy etc) anyways yea

THATS why its called a benchmark, because the user can use it AS A BENCHMARK TO SEE HOW

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Benchmarks, at least in the case of xiv, should be enough to bring the heatsinks on low end equipment to their heat soak, if that's going to be an issue. You won't see a large heat differential in laptops between the benchmark and normal gameplay, for the most part.

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I personally cannot comment on the accuracy of the FFXIV benchmark, but I have encountered others in the past that gave misleading results due to the benchmark itself not lasting long enough to make heat issues obvious. So I think it is possible it could happen with the FFXIV benchmark.

Anyone who wants to truly test their pc performance, and knows what they're doing, won't use something as niche as a benchmark for one specific game. They would use software that does more generalised stress testing, and these stress tests typically last a lot longer than the duration of the FFXIV benchmark.

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Originally Posted by SinisterJoints

Benchmarks aren't there to do anything except show you how your computer performs while doing whatever said benchmark does.

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And this is why people sometimes use more than one piece of software to stress test and/or analyse the performance of their machine. Different benchmarks test for different things. I frequently have seen people use both Furmark and another separate piece of software to monitor cpu core use and heat.

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Originally Posted by Penthea

Somehow accidentally deleted my post instead of editing it, derp.

Benchmarks sometimes don't quite take heat into account because very often the duration of the benchmark itself is far shorter than a gaming session. So you might get an okay enough result for a benchmark, but in an actual gaming session you might find that the longer you play the worse your performance gets due to heat issues.

Certainly the FFXIV benchmarks are far shorter than most people would play in a normal gaming session.

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I'm sorry but if your computer can run the benchmark perfectly fine, but not the game due to "heat issues" thats a problem with the computer and only something you can fix by blowing out dust or re-applying thermal paste. SE don't need to add lower graphical options for an almost decade old game just because you're too lazy to maintain your PC/console by blowing through it with compressed air every few years.

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Originally Posted by SinisterJoints

not a "worse case scenario" ...at all

Benchmarks aren't there to do anything except show you how your computer performs while doing whatever said benchmark does. In this instance, playing a game. You can change settings to get better worse performance so you know where you are comfortable playing at (is it grainy etc) anyways yea

THATS why its called a benchmark, because the user can use it AS A BENCHMARK TO SEE HOW

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This is hardly true. You know why? Because you dont "play" anything while you're running the benchmark - its running through a sequence, its a basis for standardised performance and thus if you can only just about get 30fps on the lowest settings on a benchmark, you cant expect the actual game, with you PLAYING and INTERACTING with it, to be as such, therefore, its a worst case scenario, or by some measures even a best case scenario.

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Originally Posted by VenKitsune

I'm sorry but if your computer can run the benchmark perfectly fine, but not the game due to "heat issues" thats a problem with the computer and only something you can fix by blowing out dust or re-applying thermal paste. SE don't need to add lower graphical options for an almost decade old game just because you're too lazy to maintain your PC/console by blowing through it with compressed air every few years.

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Since both the OP and his friend have laptops, this is also worth mentioning: some laptops have poor thermal design and just plain can't run at full load for long periods of time, even if they are squeaky clean. When purchasing a laptop for gaming, it pays to read reviews for this kind of thing and not just buy the cheapest model with the specs you want.

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Originally Posted by tdb

Since both the OP and his friend have laptops, this is also worth mentioning: some laptops have poor thermal design and just plain can't run at full load for long periods of time, even if they are squeaky clean. When purchasing a laptop for gaming, it pays to read reviews for this kind of thing and not just buy the cheapest model with the specs you want.

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A can of compressed air is like £5 on amazon. It's simple - Just power down the PC/laptop, blow the can through it a few times, and boom. If they're still having issues in thermals then its their own fault for trying to play on a machine not designed for the task, in which i'll bring up my original argument that that PC required specs are listed on any store page you buy it from. No ammount of lowerered graphical settings is going to stop a PC from overheating it it doesnt pass muster to run it smoothly in the first place.

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Originally Posted by VenKitsune

If they're still having issues in thermals then its their own fault for trying to play on a machine not designed for the task

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This is what I was saying. I just wanted to note that even a laptop which ostensibly has enough power may not be designed for the task of using all that power continuously. Some manufacturers unfortunately pick powerful components but then cut corners on thermal design to bring the price and/or weight down. So you need to look at more than just the listed specs of the machine.

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Originally Posted by tdb

This is what I was saying. I just wanted to note that even a laptop which ostensibly has enough power may not be designed for the task of using all that power continuously. Some manufacturers unfortunately pick powerful components but then cut corners on thermal design to bring the price and/or weight down. So you need to look at more than just the listed specs of the machine.

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And again...how is that the games fault if that's the case? Why should SE spend money and time they would otherwise spend making new content, for every tom dick and harry and bought the equivalent of a house with no openable windows, who also complain they can't open them?
Weird metaphors aside, very few modern machines are like that, with exception to maybe some macbooks. Any machine that cant run FF14 of all things, for extended periods of time even with proper maintenance, are little more than glorified internet browser machines.

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Originally Posted by VenKitsune

And again...how is that the games fault if that's the case? Why should SE spend money and time they would otherwise spend making new content, for every tom dick and harry and bought the equivalent of a house with no openable windows, who also complain they can't open them?

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Where did I say it was the game's fault or that SE should do anything about it?

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Originally Posted by VenKitsune

I'm sorry but if your computer can run the benchmark perfectly fine, but not the game due to "heat issues" thats a problem with the computer and only something you can fix by blowing out dust or re-applying thermal paste. SE don't need to add lower graphical options for an almost decade old game just because you're too lazy to maintain your PC/console by blowing through it with compressed air every few years.

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I don't know why you're telling me this, I didn't suggest SE should allow people to lower graphics settings even more. My first post actually pretty much says I doubt SE would do it, and said that pc players need to keep up with technology changes.

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Originally Posted by Penthea

Considering that SE have dropped ps3 support we can assume that players are expected to have a gaming rig that has a certain minimum requirement, which would be above what a ps3 can do.

I'm not against giving players more options to reduce the graphical intensity of the game, but I think SE want to maintain a certain aesthetic and they have decided that anything below a certain requirement goes against that. There comes a point in which turning down the graphics enough can seriously change how a game looks.

If you're getting below 15 fps in instances your gaming rig is in serious need of an upgrade. I understand that for some people this means spending money they do not have, but this is how it is with gaming. If you don't keep up with how technology moves on you're going to run into problems. Pc gaming is not a cheap hobby.

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Dunno about you but the above post doesn't look like something someone would say if they think SE should cater to people like OP. Really I am very puzzled how me saying "benchmarks aren't always a god-given indication of performance" meant I said "SE need to allow lower graphics settings". I am personally not against the introduction of even lower graphics settings but I don't think SE would be up for doing it for the reasons stated above, nor do I think they should because their game already doesn't demand an amazing rig.

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Originally Posted by tdb

This is what I was saying. I just wanted to note that even a laptop which ostensibly has enough power may not be designed for the task of using all that power continuously. Some manufacturers unfortunately pick powerful components but then cut corners on thermal design to bring the price and/or weight down. So you need to look at more than just the listed specs of the machine.

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It's only really worth getting a laptop instead of a desktop pc if you have reasons such as not having the space for a desktop, or you legitimately need a machine you can carry around with you. If a person has the option to get a desktop pc for gaming, then they should get one instead. Laptops are notorious for getting heat issues because they are often not as efficient as a desktop when it comes to cooling. There are laptops specifically for gaming that of course work better than a generic laptop that happens to have a nice graphics card, but those are often super expensive and frequently are a lot more expensive than a desktop pc with similar spec.