Request: Please Consider Native Vulkan Support for FFXIV’s Future

[Terhix]

Adding Vulkan is not so trivial because this API is conceptual completly different compared to DirectX 11. And they already struggle hard to hire developers.



Cheers

• They are struggling to find developers with MMO expertise, but something like a rendering pipeline requires no MMO expertise at all.
• The game already has more than one rendering pipeline since it runs on PS which does not run DirectX.
• Whether SE embraces Vulkan or goes for DX12, they can't just sit on DX11 forever. They do already have in-house expertise with DX12 at least (FFXVI).
• SE has done pretty big reworks in recent memory, like the graphical overhaul or PvP rework with CC. There just needs to be the will to do it.
• WoW was older than FFXIV is today when it added DX12.

[s32ialx]

• They are struggling to find developers with MMO expertise, but something like a rendering pipeline requires no MMO expertise at all.
• The game already has more than one rendering pipeline since it runs on PS which does not run DirectX.
• Whether SE embraces Vulkan or goes for DX12, they can't just sit on DX11 forever. They do already have in-house expertise with DX12 at least (FFXVI).
• SE has done pretty big reworks in recent memory, like the graphical overhaul or PvP rework with CC. There just needs to be the will to do it.
• WoW was older than FFXIV is today when it added DX12.

Not to mention the work it takes to go DX12 is practically the same amount of work involved to go vulkan and DX 12 actually borrows from vulkan.

The thing is, while SE does have DX12 experience from FFXVI, that doesn't actually make DX12 a fundamentally easier path for FFXIV. Once you leave DX11, you're already committing to a full low-level rewrite, explicit memory management, threading, command queues, and that's true whether you go Vulkan or DX12. The conceptual shift away from DX11's driver-managed model is the hard part. Translating the engine to DX12 involves almost the same kind of work as translating to Vulkan. The difference is mostly in API syntax and tooling, not in workload.

SE's DX12 experience helps with familiarity, sure, but it doesn't reduce the core effort needed to modernize FFXIV's renderer. Once you're doing the rewrite, Vulkan's not meaningfully harder, and in some cases, it's more portable and future-proof.

[miraidensetsu]

I'm actually disappointed that in this entire post, and specifically mentioning Vulkan, there was absolutely no room to also mention that this would open up Linux gaming support? With the influx of people moving off of Windows 11 and into the realm of Linux gaming, this is another valid complaint about legacy API as it can also relate to the future of Vulkan.

Nay. The amount of players moving off Windows 11 may appear bigger, but it's really negligible.

S-E can and should add support for Vulkan AND DX12. Linux may be a welcome bonus, but the focus should continue being Windows 11.

[s32ialx]

Nay. The amount of players moving off Windows 11 may appear bigger, but it's really negligible.

S-E can and should add support for Vulkan AND DX12. Linux may be a welcome bonus, but the focus should continue being Windows 11.

It would be very nice to have native linux support esp with the steam machines coming out next year

[Greyhawk]

Nay. The amount of players moving off Windows 11 may appear bigger, but it's really negligible.

S-E can and should add support for Vulkan AND DX12. Linux may be a welcome bonus, but the focus should continue being Windows 11.

You are misinterpreting what I am saying. It's not about people moving off Windows to Linux, or ending support of DX in Windows. That's not it at all, it's about opening support to more than JUST Windows. As it's been for a long time wtih any other kind of application. Hell, even Microsoft themselves have added support/compatibility for Linux, adding SQL for Linux and .NET, and this is frankly no different.

[Terhix]

It would be very nice to have native linux support esp with the steam machines coming out next year

If they're just gonna wrap it in Wine as they've done with Mac, I'd rather them not do it at all. The game runs on steam deck already, steam machine should be no different. If you run the game through Steam you can just play on Linux out of the box. Otherwise just install Bottles and run the Windows installer in that without ever touching the terminal. Native Vulkan would be nice though since that would make the shader recompilation obsolete.

I only ever had a few issues with XIV on Linux, all launcher related and easily fixable. Lately they switched to WebView2 which you could opt-out of (Proton didn't support it yet, it does now), and then they added user agent screening which you could circumvent via settings. They fixed the last one the next day quoting steam deck as the target for the fix, so at this point I think it's safe to say SE is at least aware of their Linux / SteamOS user base. As long as they won't do anything to actively break the Linux support they just don't have to do anything.

I use Arch btw

[RedLolly]

It would be very nice to have native linux support esp with the steam machines coming out next year

As I said before, FFXIV already works almost flawlessly on SteamOS, which is a Linux based system.

[s32ialx]

As I said before, FFXIV already works almost flawlessly on SteamOS, which is a Linux based system.

right I guess that's just 'good enough than' but a native client could run better is all I was saying.

[Greyhawk]

right I guess that's just 'good enough than' but a native client could run better is all I was saying.

Yeah and there are a lot of us that don't use Steam to play this game, or others.

[s32ialx]

Yeah and there are a lot of us that don't use Steam to play this game, or others.

Yep I do not own the steam version and I do not plan to buy it and the expansions on it, so a native client would be a huge win for me