FFXIV Crafting Calculator (Microsoft Excel)

[Mary_Read]

Updated 11.23 (Happy Thanksgiving!)

Hey folks,

I've been hard at work on making a Google Sheets / Microsoft Excel document that will break down any selected craft (or multiple crafts!) into their base components, so you will be able to see exactly what you will need to craft an item, and in what quantity.

Not sure what you're looking for? Use the search function built in to easily find foods / gear / glamours / furnishings / bardings / minions, etc. Hyperlinking is enabled so you can find the recipe you're looking for efficiently.

As this is still a WIP, only GSM / LTW / CUL recipes have been added, along with all dependencies.

To do: Provide descriptions on where items can be found!

Please take a look and provide me with any feedback. I want to make this the best it can be!

Please follow the link, and make a copy into your own google drive to edit / use.

Get the Google Sheets version here.

Get the Excel version here.

[M1uu]

Woah everything with a simple excel file, that's impressive :O

Nice work !

I'm curious about how you are getting data to flatten recipes and create lists, could you elaborate a bit about that?

That being said, paying for hosting is not that difficult, as a lot of hosting providers will cost you less than $30 a month, one dollar from 30 people is not a lot of money to ask for, to provide them a tool that will allow them to gain a lot of time.

Your work is impressive, props for doing that with a simple excel sheet

[Mary_Read]

Hi M1uu, thank you for the kind words.

In a nutshell, I am using lists. Lots and lots of lists and vlookups. Every recipe is hand written out with a separate list keeping track of what items are raw materials (non synthed), and another list tracking synths using only raw mats, another list with items that require tier 1 synths, and another list for items requiring tier 2 synths. When the user inputs a quantity for a desired item, multiplication happens and sends the requested materials to the calculator, which in turn goes a bit further. All those lists activate, and synthed items have their recipes duplicated (or triplicated, or quadruplicated), adding to the final total required materials *and* what kind of supporting synths you will need to complete your requested project.

It's something I just kind of made up on the fly. The downside is this method requires circular references which can tax computers. So the spreadsheet can be slow while it is calculating everything.

It is an earnest desire and goal of mine to find a way to eliminate iterative calculations (circular references) from this workbook, which will dramatically speed everything up. Less lag is always good. I am not afraid of asking for help if this goal is too daunting for me alone (heh).

*edit* Well, hell. That was easy. I had a rogue column of formulas in a place they shouldn't have been. Circular reference solved.


I am also 70% done tweaking some formulas to make a google docs version of this 100% viable.

As far as hosting goes, a simple Excel file that can be downloaded and used locally was my ultimate goal. Something that can be used without being at the mercy of a website. Of course, a lot of people use Google docs, so I am hard at work to provide those folks a way to use this as well. Google is basically the final boss of the internet. If Google ever goes down, we're all in trouble.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

I didn't know Excel can do this.... O_o

[M1uu]

I made a website recently doing exactly that and I quickly faced one issue: recipes that yield multiple items (persimmon leaf sushi for instance). How did you handle this using excel?

Sorry for my questions, I'm simply curious ^^

[Mary_Read]

Ah. I see.

Your example is way too easy, however. Persimmon Leaf Sushi is not a crafting material, but a finished product.

Your question was my first major hurdle, too. I had to sit and think on a formula that would properly resolve that issue. I didn't want my spreadsheet to tell someone to make 9 batches of diluted vitriol when all they needed was 9 total. This is how I resolved it:

I assigned a "yield" to every recipe. Take this cell contents from worksheet "The Calculator" BC6

=IFERROR((ROUNDUP((VLOOKUP(BB6,$B:$J,8,FALSE)-BE6)/VLOOKUP(BB6,$B:$J,9,FALSE),0)),"")

BB6 = item
Column K (vlookup) = needed TOTAL of requested item (BB6)
BE6 = user input
Column J (Vlookup) = recipe yield

Iferror is so the spreadsheet looks pretty. It also got me in trouble, though, with that rogue column of formulas that caused circular referencing!

[Mary_Read]

The workbook has been updated.

Google Sheets is now compatible!

[Sarutobi_Daritobi]

Hate to be that guy, but how is it different than garland tools?

[Mary_Read]

That's fine. Since you're asking the what the largest difference between this and Garland Tools is...

When I started making this, I was unaware there were other websites that did what this spreadsheet does. I just remember getting frustrated manually writing out recipes and where to collect things. So I decided to contribute in my own little way.

One could say that there is no point to the tool I am making. However, to my knowledge, there is no reliable OFFLINE way to perform the functions of Garland Tools.

I know, for sure, that I would prefer to have everything laid out in one easy to use file. I personally don't need fancy graphics. I just need information.

So yeah. Basically, if you have Excel, the ultimate goal is to have a nifty spreadsheet that can potentially perform your requests quicker than a website can, can provide information on where to find items, is offline, and because of its inherent nature, will never have advertisements or be at the mercy of server downtime / maintenance to use. This project of mine is also stretching my own skills, and has been a lot of fun for me.

In no way am I saying that Garland Tools or similar websites will feed you adverts, by the way. I am just saying Excel simply won't have that option. For those who don't have Excel, there is a Google Sheets version just in case folks would rather use that. Or people can use Garland Tools. More options are never a bad thing.

By releasing this spreadsheet incomplete, this allows for potential users to get a feel for what I am trying to do, and provide feedback.

Thanks for stopping by!