Dawntrail character graphics update - opinions, requests and discussion megathread

[WickedSensei]

There actually is a 'character lighting' setting, which does that, especially in really dark areas such as Praetorium. I don't remember exactly where it is, but you can adjust and/or turn that off.

I was wondering why my character looked weird in Praetorium and some other lvl 50 areas compared to newer areas where my character looks pretty good. I will have to find and test that setting.

[CidHeiral]

I was wondering why my character looked weird in Praetorium and some other lvl 50 areas compared to newer areas where my character looks pretty good. I will have to find and test that setting.

Also I don't think Prae has been updated yet. They're doing things in waves with each patch.

[WickedSensei]

Also I don't think Prae has been updated yet. They're doing things in waves with each patch.

Got it makes sense now

[WickedSensei]

It's under System Configuration> Display Settings. Character Lighting is at the very bottom.

Thank you

[Cheapshot]

Annoyingly, the character lighting setting is global for all characters, including npcs. I’d like to turn it up a bit for myself but then I see it makes npcs in the distance glow and look odd. Would be nice to separate those out into self and others.

[shinjyu]

I don’t know if you’re still around but could I ask you how you managed to create such a high quality animated gif? I would like to do the same so I can show an edit to my character but I cant find any way to save it without it loosing a lot of quality.

I used procreate for image edit and export gif. it's ipad app for drawing and you should pay for it. and i come this thread like everyday for see any other opinions or cases. sooooo... yeah. just let me know if you guys want to see me

[Feathetaria]

I really HATE!! the graphic update.

now the chars look lifeless/soulless and like bored (sorry) s*x dolls.

the male chars look like they didn't sleep for weeks and smoked weed (did you see the BIG eye bags especially at elezen and male hyuran faces?!)

no character look like before (in a bad way!!). its not about shades, etc.... the SHAPE of eyes and lips were changed!
so the chars became something you NEVER would have created...

since the update I didn't log into the game, neither renewed my abo payment...

I 100% Agree. My Female Miqo'te is sad about her own existence atm and is just hoping she can get back to her old self eventually, but she's trying to not get her hopes up.

[Iscah]

That is because the game had an old and busted lighting solution falling on old and busted models. You're going to see shadows where there may not have been shadows previously because they are now being simulated properly.

Being "old" doesn't automatically make it "busted" or the new version better. I'd say they busted the models in the update.

Even if the old shadows were "faked", that ultimately means they were placed where a human artist believed the shadows should sit on the character, and it becomes an integral part of how the character is supposed to look.

Additionally, it's not just a matter of new lighting on the same faces. The face structures have been changed, some of them quite considerably.

Annoyingly, the character lighting setting is global for all characters, including npcs. I’d like to turn it up a bit for myself but then I see it makes npcs in the distance glow and look odd. Would be nice to separate those out into self and others.

I always had the character lighting turned right up on the older graphics and never thought it particularly made characters glow. I assume it increased the entire brightness fairly evenly. (It's also probably why I don't recall having lighting issues with my dark-skinned alt character much, despite other people talking about that being an issue.)

I switched from PS4 to PS5 when Dawntrail released and the setting didn't carry over, but I've seen people commenting that it makes characters look worse in the new graphics, so I've been wary of turning it back on.

[eohippus]

I haven't been following this thread as closely as I followed other graphics update threads post benchmark 1 and 2, but there's been three major issues sticking out to me (no pics, because I'm still assembling them all)

1. Dark skin tones are way, way too reflective. This is more pronounced on player character models than it is on Erenville. Dark skin does reflect light, but the way that it has been rendered in XIV makes it look like my character is coated in oil. This is most obvious when you pick from the farthest row to the right. I'm hopeful that this is something that can be tweaked/will be adjusted later.

2. Skin tones were lightened across the board, and all male midlander skin appears to have been made more gray/cool toned. My character lost all sense of contrast between his skin and his hair color with the update, so I had to use the free fantasia to take him to the darkest option. End result still is not the same as what he looked like pre-update. Wondering if an RGB value has been incorrectly handled that makes all the skin both cooler and lighter. (Even some tan midlander npcs now look duskwight level gray.)

3. Changes to things like mouth/lip shape and eye shape are just as noticeable in cutscenes, and they feel more pronounced on midlander 5 than I thought they would.

Last two problems could be tweaked with slight edits to the models or just adding more options to the CC. Especially regarding skin tone. There could easily be an additional 4 rows added between the second to last and last option for midlanders.

[eohippus]

also, as a few asides....lots of expressions look wonky on my midlander (including his smile! which is used to often in cutscenes. it curves up instead of going out and up like a smile does irl). his lips no longer had a clear definition against his skin so I had to give him lipstick just for a semblance of that. and makeup (which is drastically lighter!) no longer sits correctly on his face. the eyeshadow somehow falls above his eyebrows lol. these are both things I assume might get tweaked or corrected later but I thought it was worth mentioning them too.