Some suggestions, mostly quality of life, obvious things

[Ninix]

Adjustments had to be made as we're in a situation where we've already reached the display limitation, and we've made it possible to display this by temporarily hiding the experience points bar and basic HUD information (connection status, clock, etc. in the upper right) while the focus target information is displayed.

The fact that they're riding so close to the limit of their memory budget that they can't afford to draw even one more persistent UI element without removing some others is both impressive and terrifying. It really makes me wonder what they're going to do two or three years down the line as they add more and more features into the game.

[Kosmos992k]

The fact that they're riding so close to the limit of their memory budget that they can't afford to draw even one more persistent UI element without removing some others is both impressive and terrifying. It really makes me wonder what they're going to do two or three years down the line as they add more and more features into the game.

Each portion of the game that is resident has a memory allocation (or budget). The UI has a set amount, whether a new UI component can/cannot fit in memory at the same time as other UI components, doesn't affect the memory budget of other components in the game. If you add a new UI component that breaks the budget, then you have to selectively deactivate other UI components while that new component is active. That way you can stay within the memory allocated to the UI and not affect anything else.

[Naunet]

Each portion of the game that is resident has a memory allocation (or budget). The UI has a set amount, whether a new UI component can/cannot fit in memory at the same time as other UI components, doesn't affect the memory budget of other components in the game. If you add a new UI component that breaks the budget, then you have to selectively deactivate other UI components while that new component is active. That way you can stay within the memory allocated to the UI and not affect anything else.

Never have I seen memory limitations play such a massive role in restricting what the devs can do with the game as I have seen in ARR.

[Kosmos992k]

Never have I seen memory limitations play such a massive role in restricting what the devs can do with the game as I have seen in ARR.

That's because on a PC you had (practically speaking) an open ended memory budget - with windows NT and above you have anything up to 4GB, and with 64bit OS, the sky is the limit. Consoles are a different breed entirely. They're a closed platform, so you have no choice but to stick within the limits.

Strict memory budgets are a facet of console game development - or at least they have been up until the new PS4/Xbox 1 systems which greatly expand the available memory. Then again, SE has done a phenomenal job with FFXIV getting it on the PS3 (a 7 year old system with an 8-9 year old design) because the system is quite tight on memory compared to a PC; and has shoe horned the vast majority of FFXIV ARR onto the system.