Everything is shimmering

Hey guys,

I am new to FFXIV. What stops me from playing happily (even though I bought the game with its expansions) is that whenever I go to do a quest in some zone - everything shimmers. Distant trees, grass, bushes, even buildings - everything shimmers. This happens only if it's daytime in-game. This seriously gives me headaches and I can't figure out how to fix it.

Have you tried changing around some graphics settings?

They're in system config -> graphics settings.

Perhaps its caused by 'glare' which you can turn off. (there's two 'glare' settings, one in the 'general' part and one lower in the 'effects' section)

Alternatively, make a screenshot of it and post it?
Mayhaps its some graphical glitch or something.

It has nothing to do with glare. When I'm moving around in middle la noscea in daytime (in-game daytime) it seems like all distant textures are moving/shimmering. It's a dreadful graphical experience even though I play on maximum settings. It feels as if I'm playing a low-rate game from 2001.

It happens in every area with trees, bushes, grass and also distant light-emitting objects.

Can you upload a screenshot with the issue?

How would I upload a screenshot when the issue is in dynamics ?

Well with nothing more to go on, can only suggest basic stuff:

Try reinstalling the game.

Check if there's updated graphics drivers for your graphics card. Or reinstalling if they are the most recent ones.

Or send a support ticket from the mog station to request tech support from square enix. They're likely more qualified to help you out and know what info to ask of you to identify the issue.

Unfortunately it's just the way the game is. Some people don't even notice it, but it drives me nuts! It's a combination of sh!tty AA and poor Texture filtering. Anyways, it can be reduced but not eliminated, I'm on Nvidia so the settings in the NCP (Program settings not Global, you may need to add XIV to the list) are:

Texture filtering-Anisotropic sample optimization - On
Texture filtering- Negative LOD bias - Clamp

Slightly disclaimer, this may or may not do anything noticeable. Nvidia in the past has disabled the effect of the Negative LOD toggle, I have no idea why but I've been told it can be forced through Nvidia Inspector regardless. If it does work it will reduce the shimmering effect noticeably. I'm not sure what the comparable AMD settings are, but I imagine it should be similar since these are kinda universal settings.

I was just about to say, the anti-aliasing in this game really isnt the best so it could just be that. I run it with all settings on ultra and even with that some things make me grimace slightly if I catch them close up

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Arrhin

Unfortunately it's just the way the game is. Some people don't even notice it, but it drives me nuts! It's a combination of sh!tty AA and poor Texture filtering. Anyways, it can be reduced but not eliminated, I'm on Nvidia so the settings in the NCP (Program settings not Global, you may need to add XIV to the list) are:

Texture filtering-Anisotropic sample optimization - On
Texture filtering- Negative LOD bias - Clamp

Slightly disclaimer, this may or may not do anything noticeable. Nvidia in the past has disabled the effect of the Negative LOD toggle, I have no idea why but I've been told it can be forced through Nvidia Inspector regardless. If it does work it will reduce the shimmering effect noticeably. I'm not sure what the comparable AMD settings are, but I imagine it should be similar since these are kinda universal settings.

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Yes, thank you. It drives me nuts to the point that I can't play the game without a headache and blurry vision. The game is completely unplayable with such horrible graphics at least for me. Gonna be quitting if this isn't addressed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arrhin

Unfortunately it's just the way the game is. Some people don't even notice it, but it drives me nuts! It's a combination of sh!tty AA and poor Texture filtering. Anyways, it can be reduced but not eliminated, I'm on Nvidia so the settings in the NCP (Program settings not Global, you may need to add XIV to the list) are:

Texture filtering-Anisotropic sample optimization - On
Texture filtering- Negative LOD bias - Clamp

Slightly disclaimer, this may or may not do anything noticeable. Nvidia in the past has disabled the effect of the Negative LOD toggle, I have no idea why but I've been told it can be forced through Nvidia Inspector regardless. If it does work it will reduce the shimmering effect noticeably. I'm not sure what the comparable AMD settings are, but I imagine it should be similar since these are kinda universal settings.

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Actually, it worked. It really did reduce the shimmering a lot. Didn't remove it, but makes it bearable. Thank you very much !

Usually that Shimmering effect is caused by Nvidia Control Panel setting "Image Sharpening", if it is on, turn it off completely or at least for FFXIV.

It is often set on by Geforce Experiences' optimization. Turning it off might have no effect, if it doesn't fix the shimmer, you could try setting the AA type options to off in the NCP and set the in-game one to on.

Worth a try.