Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[Moonfallen]

They've acknowledged feedback regarding the lighting in housing, but I have yet to see them acknowledge any issues regarding lighting in anything else like character portraits, adventure plates, character equipment, or character lighting in the environments. I hope they take a look at everyone's feedback regarding our characters and the way they look even more different with the new lighting not just the changes they made to our faces. I miss my old character, but I'd be okay if they just fixed the lighting so she looks as I want her to in character creation. Giving everyone a free fantasia is great and all, but it's not going to fix anything when the lighting is so awful to A LOT of our characters...

[Larirawiel]

They've acknowledged feedback regarding the lighting in housing,

If they fix the lighting in housing then it might fix the lighting in other areas. The lighting in the game works with shadow- and normal maps. If they screw those maps up then it will look bad everywhere.




Cheers

[Moonfallen]

If they fix the lighting in housing then it might fix the lighting in other areas. The lighting in the game works with shadow- and normal maps. If they screw those maps up then it will look bad everywhere.




Cheers

I honestly hope so.

[Kartoshka]

I wrote about my impressions of the Aura male before.

I decided to show a slightly tweaked version to better illustrate the difference.


What changes were made:
- Smoother shadow on nose bridge
- Narrower and slightly lowered nostrils
- Old eyebrows and eyelashes
- Lighter sclera on eyes
- Corners of mouth

Also, all the facial expressions with furrowed brows look very unnatural in my opinion. I feel like nose becomes shorter. Because of this, when my character furrows his brows, he looks very angry and ready for a fight, even during a conversation with a friendly NPC.

[Tahli]

The more screenshots I see, with some people saying their characters have lifeless eyes, the more I feel convinced that we didn't need more white catchlights over the eye but instead needed bits of lightened color in the iris.
Some races more than others were affected by dulled/darker eyes, Miqo'te I feel being a big example. But extra white catchlights over an already dull eyecolor don't improve the appearance.

(The new lack of colored iris highlights may all just be connected to the bugs of lighting putting lines on the iris/the grey film over eyes, though)

[MeiraStarborne]

I’m not typically a forum poster, but after reading (skimming) all 59 pages I felt there wasn’t nearly enough mention of Au Ra limbal rings. So, here’s my feedback:

Above is a crop of a goose I took at some point before the update. Below is what I compromised on after burning the free fantasia and finally giving up on the new rings.



And here’s my journey as to why I simply gave up on limbal rings (one of Au Ras’ defining features).

The ring is now a gradient that overlays the eye, going from opaque at the outside and fading to transparent. Previously it was a hard edged ring.



Given the changes in the iris and pupil, losing a bit of gloss in the update, adding this extra hazy overlay only makes the eye that much more lifeless.

I was going to simply deal with that until I got into low light situations what I found the rings now have a demonic emissive glow!



I had already used my free fantasia to lighten her overall eye color to try to get back to pre-7.0 vibes, but when I could finally no longer stand the glowing eyes, I bought a fantasia and I’m now a very saddened Miqo. I miss my Au Ra, but her eyes were her window to her soul, and they’re shattered now. If I’m going to play a character I don’t recognize, I might as well play one that doesn’t leave me with bitterness and longing for days gone by…

[Sairaag]

Hey o/

It's just me or female Miqo'te eyes don't look at the same direction ? Didn't notice it before 7.0 but now i can't unsee it... It's look more noticable on moon Miqo'te.

I already post a bug report on french forums but they move it to "Working as Intended" ^^'

Did you know if there is any way to ask devs for a patch ? I don't wan't to fantasia my character but i don't wan't to see her like that !

My Miqo'te is male, but he also has some trouble focusing his eyes after the update. Sometimes he's a little cross-eyed, and sometimes he just stops looking at shorter NPCs:



There have been a lot of posts about Miqo'te eyes. Problems with lighting, Seeker pupil shapes, colours, shadows, eye shapes in general, and apparently with animations/focus too. It definitely doesn't sound like "working as intended". However, there have been so many complaints about changes to all races that I think it'll take a while before the devs acknowledge any of it.

[antylamon]

After seeing a similar expression in the cutscene (and seeing others bringing up expressions) I decided to take a closer look in /gpose and:

(uhhh sorry for phone camera thingie, I'm not sure how to record straight from the game xD)



With /scoff the inner eye corner straight up MOVES! Was it always like that?

Not sure if this is a bug or something, but it makes the eyes feel like they're rotating (and it's kinda unsettling).

I don't recall /smile and /grin from before very well, but included a similar expression from EW benchmark for overall comparison:

[Mr_Gucky]

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...97#post6514897

I filed it as a bug report in hopes they consider it a mistake and return "none" to having no gloss. I only have my one character though so I can't show any before and after of lips for different races.

If anyone else would like to reply to that thread and let them know if Dawntrail gave you permanent lip un-togglable gloss, that would be helpful.

Unfortunately the thread is closed.

Another detailed comparison:


The lips have a permanent gloss, even without lipstick (clearly visible on the lower lip). In my opinion, "None" means none and not glossy.

[Turnintino]

Unfortunately the thread is closed.

Another detailed comparison:


The lips have a permanent gloss, even without lipstick (clearly visible on the lower lip). In my opinion, "None" means none and not glossy.

I understand the logic behind the base gloss, since real lips do have a natural shine, due to the different skin texture. But I don't see the harm in making this toggleable.

I'd also love a matte lip color option that doesn't essentially stack gloss effects with the base, at least for those races that include that (my miqo'te's lips are quite glossy, but my male au ra already has virtually none, even with lip color in use). They've already done a lot to reduce the shininess for what I feel is the better, but it's still a little too intense for my tastes under certain lighting conditions.

I would never ask to remove gloss altogether, because I know some of us love it, and there was already a lot of concern that lip color had become too matte with the first DT benchmark. But for those of us who are maybe not going for a "my character is wearing lipstick/gloss" look (I use it, personally, to compensate for a lack of natural pigmentation), and in the interest of providing more customization, I think this would be a great addition.