Update on DirectX 11 client?

[cbskillz]

The only reason I care right now about DX11 is that AMD's frame pacing for Eyefinity displays doesn't actually work on DX9 and only works on DX11 games. So, I'm hoping for either SE or AMD to fix one or other. The frame chop on 2 x 7970 in Eyefinity is crazy.

[Lithera]

There would be no difference between the development reqs. for the PS4 client and the DX11 client and they would both require the same team members from the Dev Team to complete. I think it's pretty unrealistic to think they could put together 2.2, build the PS4 client AND build the DX11 client at the same time. Given the way Yoshi described their development system it's likely the 2.2 Team is also/overlaps with the PS4 client team and they'll hand off to the live release team and move on to DX11/2.3. Their setup is three teams but I can't remember the breakdown. Major Patch/Minor Patching/Current Build?

[Nikita]

GE: Having just played the PS4 version of the game, we noticed that the graphics quality looked much better than the previous PS3 version– the number of NPCs and players that could be displayed at one time was much higher, the field of view was much better – with the graphics being much better with this iteration of the game, we were wondering about the DirectX 11 version of the game? Perhaps if you can give us a time frame or maybe an idea of what we can expect from the DirectX 11 version of the game?

Yoshida: With respect to the Windows DirectX version of the game, of course we have made some preparations for a DirectX version. We’ve been developing the PlayStation 4 version which runs on 64 bit hardware and because of that work, the Windows 64 bit version is done. However, this coming summer we plan to release the game in China and after that we have plans for an expansion pack so when we finish those, we will be looking to complete the DirectX milestone. With that in mind, after we successfully launch A Realm Reborn in China and begin work on the expansion pack – I believe that around that time that we may be able to speak more about the DirectX 11 client for Windows. But don’t worry! We are definitely making progress on that project. (laughs)

As far as what to expect from the DirectX 11 client, it is my policy that we don’t do anything to change the gameplay experience from one platform to another. While DirectX 11 will provide a graphical advantage for some players on newer hardware, there really are no changes in gameplay for someone with older hardware vs newer hardware. However, in terms of graphics there may be a large jump in graphics quality – the whole engine and the rendering pipeline is completely different. The way shaders work, the way polygons are rendered, water effects, mirroring affects, or objects getting wet – they all work a bit differently on the new version for DirectX and will be updated for the DirectX 11 client. So for players who are more discerning of graphic quality – they will most likely notice. But it will not change the gameplay at all, and I’d like to make it so that it is simply another option you can select.

With that in mind, after we successfully launch A Realm Reborn in China and begin work on the expansion pack – I believe that around that time that we may be able to speak more about the DirectX 11 client for Windows.

Yep.

http://gamerescape.com/2014/02/12/ps...naoki-yoshida/

[cbskillz]

oh sweet. A current source! Thanks Nikita!

[Lithera]

Would be nice if they at least gave us the 64bit executable he said is done. Shouldn't be releasing anything these days without a 64bit build or are 64 bit PCs not as large a market share as I thought?

[Naunet]

So... After a summer release in China and after an expansion? DX11 probably not until next year? x.x Or at the very end of this year... ugh. That's disappointing.

Also

I’d like to make it so that it is simply another option you can select.

You clearly understand that such a thing is possible, Yoshi. Please do this for high resolution textures.

[Pseudopsia]

That's how I interpret it also. If SE going to delay it that long I hope they consider a high resolution textures option.

@Lithera, we don't need 64-bit executable that includes no other changes. Performance difference won't be noticeable and FFXIV doesn't use more than 4 GB of memory.

[Khronikos]

For the people whining about AA: please educate yourself. You have the option of SGSSAA right in front of you. I run 4x SGSSAA and maintain near 60FPS. I use low SSAO as it looks better to me along with normal shadow cascading. All else is high settings with occluding on. The shadow LODs on best in this game are horrid in Gridania and elsewhere. I cannot wait until some of these things are fixed. At any rate.... you have the option of SGSSAA and it looks fantastic.

I would argue against using all that crap like SweetFX that people peddle. Game doesn't need tweaked lighting and oversharpening. MSAA did not work with this game to my knowledge... and for sure it doesn't cover the biggest offender of jaggies in this game: the transparencies. You NEED a supersampling method to make the foliage in this game decent. If you want to run 60FPS consider a 770 minimum and overclocked. The foliage in this game is just noisy as hell without SGSSAA.

On another note this game looks fantastic it just needs that extra layer of polish and optimization. I hope that means this year FFS.

[axemtitanium]

Might be just me, but I'd take an expansion and more new content over DX11 support every single day of the week.

[Felis]

The inertia steps for movement was removed in favour of combat as your characters actual speed slowed down as a result of the inertia steps for starting and stopping movement, so that we could move quicker.

Image doing Titan with inertia steps where you're slower to start and stop moving.

I only wish that they would have keep the old animations for CS, where the character don't need to move fast out of a AoE.
Because CS are for the eyes, not for gameplay.