A Respectful Request For Improved Cloth & Hair Physics

[AurisNix]

When they first announced the graphic update they already made it very clear that they won't and probably never fix the clipping physics, this was asked very frequently due capes and some clothing clipping when mounted, they are aware of it but they can't do much about it, was in the Digital Fan Fest if I remember correctly when they announced EW

[Oizen]

wouldn't you prefer smoother lalafaces?

[Iscah]

wouldn't you prefer smoother lalafaces?

I can only assume they went with that demonstration because something more impressive got pulled at the last minute, and all the really nice-looking technical improvements were already locked in for discussion at the dev panel.

[Evergrey]

I can only assume they went with that demonstration because something more impressive got pulled at the last minute, and all the really nice-looking technical improvements were already locked in for discussion at the dev panel.

Or they didn't really have much else to show so they added it to make it look more impressive.

[Jojoya]

Dear Creative Business Unit III,

You have informed us a major graphical overhaul of FFXIV will begin with the release of the Dawn Trail expansion. The presentations have all focused on the appearance of the characters, their gear, and the world they inhabit.

While the screenshots have been stunning in their beauty, I feel a necessary component has been overlooked, the physics of the gear and the hair/fur/feathers of the characters, their mounts, and the many creatures which live in the Source and its reflections.

I submit if better physics are not incorporated into FFXIV alongside the plans to improve the appearance of the game, the graphical update will only make the shortcomings of the current physics more apparent. In short, if you are going to update the world in which we play, you have to do it all.

I thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Kacho Nacho

They're aware that clothing and hair can use better physics. They've brought it up themselves.

They could do it but then the majority of players wouldn't be able to play the game because their PCs/consoles would crash. You're talking 1.0 Flowerpots all over again but 100 times worse.

They are slowly making improvements as average player clients improve but as a MMO they're more limited compared to single player game with how far they can push the graphics.

[Vejj]

The "GLAM" aspect of FF14 is truly enormous, if not even more substantial than PvP and PvE combined. It's been long overdue for FF14 to receive a graphical update, as the 2014 standards are far behind us, and today's computers and consoles are significantly more powerful than they were back then. Consoles, in particular, repeatedly demonstrate their capability to deliver stunning graphics.

Physics-influenced elements like hair and clothing have become standard in games, and they have been around since 2011, if not earlier, on a large scale. Whether it's vegetation or clothing, these features have been available for quite some time.

I always advocate for great graphical updates, especially since my computer is getting bored with FF14, and most of its components, except for the RTX3080, are now five years old. Even today, I can play current games at high FPS, even with ray tracing enabled (using Cyberpunk 2077 as an example).

Yoshi himself stated that FF14 is far from ending, and players growing up in today's era, spoiled with abundant computing and console power, will look back at past games with a tired eye. Graphics aside, this aspect of a game should truly not be neglected.
In short: Physics-influenced elements like hair and clothing? Yes, please, I absolutely want them. They make the whole game environment more vibrant and authentic.

[Iscah]

Or they didn't really have much else to show so they added it to make it look more impressive.

They said in the presentation that they had intended to show off the side content but it wasn't ready yet. My bet is that they had it booked in until the last minute waiting on something that they just couldn't get ready in time.

[Evergrey]

They said in the presentation that they had intended to show off the side content but it wasn't ready yet. My bet is that they had it booked in until the last minute waiting on something that they just couldn't get ready in time.

Honestly my comment was mostly just a stupid joke.
Didn't even bother putting the /s in the end.

But now when you mention this I remember them saying that there was something they felt wasn't ready to show just yet so they postponed it.

[Jeeqbit]

Making hair and cloth move naturally isn't necessarily easy but can probably be done by making the model work with a popular physics engine. But let's assume they already did this because of the movement we already see. The issue is then collision, where clothes and hair collide with other clothes or the rest of the character model itself. To avoid this, some of the time spent making gear and hair goes into making sure it doesn't collide much on all the difference races, so if they could somehow solve the collision issue then it could save them time or thought about this issue when making the models.

If you think about hair though, in order to twist and turn to the extent needed for this, it could require a lot of polygons, rather than being very simple and blocky like it currently looks. Which returns us to the question of what if hundreds of players are next to eachother with all these polygons that they didn't anticipate and players complain about performance and crashes?

But now when you mention this I remember them saying that there was something they felt wasn't ready to show just yet so they postponed it.

The social lifestyle content.

[Raikai]

Physics is really bothering to me and it was very apparent with the Dancer tome weapon - a very unique design that is sadly spoiled by how the tassels are stiff as a board. I'm sure that the winner is happy for their weapon to be selected, but I wonder how they feel about this, that seems like an important part of the design.



Or one of my favorite caster masks, Kokuko men, that has this dangling part that is stiff in the air when the mask is pulled up:


*Images are googled, not mine

And what's even weirder is that some parts like this one actually wiggle with the wind, but doesn't obey gravity laws lol.