Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[MaxL]

I think I found out why hair shading seems so inconsistent from place to place. You can easily reproduce this using GPose.



Seriously, what is going on here? It's like half of its shading contribution is a uniform term.

[Neviklink]

I've discovered that they've implemented changes after the 1.1 Benchmark.



The mouth gap of Miqo'te Moonkeeper Face 4 has been added back (a feature that existed prior to the Graphics Update). With the new changes with lighting and texturing, however, this feature is now a glaring issue. Idle movements of the character make the rendering of the mouth appear to have a moving white line rather then teeth. This existed prior to the changes, but the teeth are brighter now.


Through cutscenes, especially in dark zones, this is made more obvious as the lips are darker in contrast. (I'm personally not a big fan of curving the ends of the mouth to make the character smile more, but I digress.)


Unrelated to the Benchmark: There is a significant amount of gloss with the new changes.

(Changing the gamma levels help, but it also darkens the brightness of the game.)

These are only observations and not demands. What does not appeal to me might appeal to others so I cannot make suggestions.

I agree with the lip gap being a glaring issue, it was also an issue before DT but i think depending on graphics settings it was less visible.

The gap seems to exist because of the overbite and the lower jaw.

more gap pics on different emotes, cutscenes show from slightly below emphasizing it

asked a midlander friend if their pucker up had a gap and it did not


album with a few more https://imgur.com/a/pggLB4i

EDIT: With the skin that's part of how they changed the specular lighting and if you look at pictures of actual people in the sun we do have some shine to our skin, it can be a bit hard to portray though.

[Daralii]

I think I found out why hair shading seems so inconsistent from place to place. You can easily reproduce this using GPose.


Seriously, what is going on here? It's like half of its shading contribution is a uniform term.

That's definitely a head scratcher.

[EmikoKitska]

I would like to add to this thread by linking one that myself and a few others contributed to, we did a lot of work and I really hope that it is seen by those overseeing this graphical change. Our feedback covers both Sun and Moon Miqo'te Face 3 with Eyes 3 + 4 and Mouth 4. OP and I really went into depth about our grievances and I feel that the majority of them are still present in 7.0.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-Eye-3-Mouth-4

[maddragonqueen]

I haven't really seen anyone else mention this, and I sadly do not have comparison pics, but wondering if anyone else thinks their character looks kind of dirty? I play a fairly dark-skinned Rava viera, though not the darkest, kind of a medium-to-light brown, and while I do like that I can see him better in cutscenes, I just keep thinking he looks like he has dirt all over his face. Like the skin looks almost mottled or something, instead of the smooth matte look of before.

[Daralii]

I haven't really seen anyone else mention this, and I sadly do not have comparison pics, but wondering if anyone else thinks their character looks kind of dirty? I play a fairly dark-skinned Rava viera, though not the darkest, kind of a medium-to-light brown, and while I do like that I can see him better in cutscenes, I just keep thinking he looks like he has dirt all over his face. Like the skin looks almost mottled or something, instead of the smooth matte look of before.

I think they might've tried to either add realism/detail or remove some of the glossiness by adding extra bump mapping. I can notice it in a screenshot I just took of a closeup, though only if I zoom in. It might be more noticeable in different lighting or on male characters.

https://files.catbox.moe/wchnd3.png

[IndraSyngiwyb]

These two pictures do a wonderful job of showing how much the eyes changed for the worse. If you don't mind, I'll take the liberty of sharing these with the Japanese thread.

By all means, please do.

[DynnDiablos]

Anyone else notice that the night skies have become more washed out and gray post-update? Some of the zones used to have such clear, dark starry skies and now they have diffused lighting where the stars all cast this hazy look across the sky. I was also disappointed the moon skybox now has whisps of moon fog? dust? that obscures what used to be a really gorgeous celestial sky.

Speaking of lighting, not a fan of the ambient light inside my personal house. It used to be saturated and moody and golden glow. Now no matter what I set it to it seems super bright and washed out.

[DynnDiablos]

My forum avatar has updated now and it is doing outright bizarre stuff with the shadowing – half the hair casts a shadow and then it just stops.

Shadows are behaving oddly in the game as well. They're pixelated and can flicker badly as the camera moves. (Edit: Though I do need to keep reminding myself that despite having switched to playing on my PS5 console, I'm stuck playing the PS4 program as it was the only version I could download, possibly because PS5 Endwalker was taken off the store and PS5 Dawntrail isn't available until the official release date.)

And of course there's the eyes that look nothing at all like their proper shape, which is also my main sticking point in the game itself. My bug report on it was accepted, last I checked, so I can only hope it will get addressed. For now she looks half-asleep any time the camera is on her and it's extremely uncanny having the rest of her body look the same but the face is effectively someone else's.

On the other hand, they rejected the puckered face shape as "working as intended" but perhaps I can try again once I've encountered more instances of it – there have been a couple of shots where it's really noticable.

The curse of the eyebags has struck Alphinaud and Alisaie as well.

I am playing the PS5 version with Dawntrail now.

[Iscah]

I am playing the PS5 version with Dawntrail now.

Good for you, that doesn't help me to download it when it's marked unavailable and just displays a timer to the official release date.

It does say the expected download date is 30 June so maybe I'll be able to get in there today, but there's no manual option to tell it to download any sooner.