[DEV REQUEST] Balancing Character Customization

[CuteWhisper]

Honestly I'd prefer if they removed the option to toggle on/off limbal rings from Au Ras (they should always have limbal rings, like how Dunesfolk always have glossy eyes and Seekers always have cat pupils) and turn that tab into a Horn tab instead, where you can choose both main and secondary horn sets. The fact that main horns are locked to faces and secondary horns are locked to certain hairstyles is just plain dumb.

Id so be okay with this as long as we can change our horns, it's a really big feature and yet we are stuck with either horns we like less with a face we like or vice versa

[Belhi]

Id so be okay with this as long as we can change our horns, it's a really big featurr and yet wr are stuck with either horns we like less with a face we like or bice versa

They did say there was a technically limitation on the amount of variables they could give each race. While they could potentially give a lot of options for individual traits (hairstyle, face, skin tone, tails), they are limited in how many traits are available to be changed on each race. That is simply due to how character model data is stored apparently. I suspect this is one of the reasons horns tend to be paired with faces on Au Ra and races like Au Ra and Miqote don't have muscle sliders.

[CuteWhisper]

Snip

Its such a lame excuse though. You look at other games and they have better character creation than FFXIV. Im not saying they are better games as a whole but come on if if they can pull it off, SE should be able to do the same. If you look at what he said before 3.0 came out, he clearly said in one of the conventions that we will be able to customize so many things with Au Ra and they are so lacking. I like the race but they really missed the mark and its kinda sad.

[Noka]

To be super fair, I'm pretty sure most of this is riding on 1.0 code (as 1.0 characters kept their customized options). 1.0 was one of the least optimized games I've ever seen, so...

It's entirely possible my views on How They Could Have Properly Optimized Allocation (tm) aren't right. It's just a good way to look at it; if they used flagging certain parts, then the maximum hairstyles will be about 32 before they need to squeeze out more memory. If they didn't, and have a different method, then Fitzy is correct; they'd most likely be metering it out solely based on what slots are what.

[Magis]

To be super fair, I'm pretty sure most of this is riding on 1.0 code (as 1.0 characters kept their customized options). 1.0 was one of the least optimized games I've ever seen, so...

It's entirely possible my views on How They Could Have Properly Optimized Allocation (tm) aren't right. It's just a good way to look at it; if they used flagging certain parts, then the maximum hairstyles will be about 32 before they need to squeeze out more memory. If they didn't, and have a different method, then Fitzy is correct; they'd most likely be metering it out solely based on what slots are what.

You are correct... I found this out yesterday actually looking at the source code to a 1.0 server someone made. Face info is sent as a single 32bit integer to the client. In 1.0 the characteristics, the characteristic color, mouth, nose, features, ears, eyes, and iris all into 32 bits using a bitfield.

Characteristics were 5 bits. (31 options) <- This is probably as flags rather than a number though, so actually 6 options
Characteristic Color was 3 bits. (7 options)
Face type was 6 bits. (63 options) <- This is probably as flags rather than a number though, so actually 7 options
Ears was 2 bits. (3 options)
Mouth was 2 bits. (3 options)
Features was 2 bits. (3 options)
Nose was 3 bits. (7 options)
Eye shape 3 bits. (7 options)
Iris size 1 bit. (2 options)
Eyebrows 3 bits. (7 options)
With 2 bits remaining that the author didn't know or were unused. (3 options)

(Add up the bits and you get 32, or 4 bytes)

Look very similar to the caps we have now. Assuming SE still uses that in 2.0, those are the hard caps until they change the data size. I'd assume that SE would've restructured how the info was stored but I guess due to time constraints, worked with what they got since this setup is probably referenced all over the game.

[Vejjiegirl]

I decided to bump this thread in hopes of a developer or NA community dev to see it...
After reading the Devblog I noticed we are not only getting the contest winner hair but 5 more hairstyles.

Is it possible in 3.2 to get some more jaw options or Faces instead of hairstyles? Especially for Roegadyn for example since they are missing a lot of options compared to other races.

[Riardon]

Been asking for more character customization options since the game launched. I love new hairstyles but I would love to see more faces, noses, eye shapes and a more detailed body as well. Do not like that we are all siblings in this game and the only thing that changes is our names and gears. More faces should do the trick and differentiate us all. Not just for Roes but for all races. I would like a Dev comment about our request. I think we are not asking something out of this planet or something that is hard or cannot be done. I hope a Dev to see this.

[Vejjiegirl]

Bumping this thread yet again. It was mentioned in the last live letter there are no plans to add anymore customization options to the character creator and they plan to just keep adding more hairstyles.

Developers please reconsider, a lot of races like Au Ra, Elezen, Hyur Highlander, and Roe desperately need more options.

Muscle slider for Miqo'te and au ra should be a possibility as well with the dropping of PS3

[SomeRandomHuman]

Muscle slider for Miqo'te and au ra should be a possibility as well with the dropping of PS3

Even though the PS3 had nothing to do with not having more options. They've said in several live letters that its server stress keeping things out, not PS3.

[Kosmos992k]

Even though the PS3 had nothing to do with not having more options. They've said in several live letters that its server stress keeping things out, not PS3.

Please explain how adding a few bytes of extra data to character definitions will affect server stability in a game where we are getting 40 new inventory slots with SB already and +10 positions per category in the Armory Chest. Remember *ALL* rendering is done locally on the client and all graphical assets reside on the client - the server is not involved at all.