HDR Support on PS4?

[SerLuke]

Has there been any discussion from the devs on adding HDR support for this game? Maybe in 5.0?

[Faeon]

nope, and not likely to happen.

[SerLuke]

nope, and not likely to happen.

Why not? I think FFXIV could benefit greatly from HDR.

[Faeon]

Why not? I think FFXIV could benefit greatly from HDR.

I think many reasons but some, how many players actually have gfx cards that support HDR which standard do they support since currently Dolby Vision and hdr10 are the two main ones that are in use. Also, many people do not run HDR monitors and the complexities of getting HDR to run in Windows and in the game seems to be an issue atm! there are a few games that support it as Destiny2 and ACO come to mind, there is also a slight performance hit too, plus not everyone has a 4k display either. Another issue is this game is still based off the original code which was written in DX9 and for PS3 at the time, to get the HDR effect it would require a massive amount of time rewriting most if not all of the code, and they would also need to get the game written for DX12. The cons outway the pros at this point in time, maybe in the future when things become more easy to provide it would be available.

[Noodle_Trinidad]

Why not? I think FFXIV could benefit greatly from HDR.

Given Yoshida’s answer when the latest graphic cards were brought up he feels that the game doesn’t need any kind of graphical update to be competitive. I think more graphical options and graphical updates especially to the textures would be great but alas Yoshida is stuck in his ways.

[Maero]

ESO had done a fairly good job i think of implementing HDR support (it really is noticeable) but it simply is not a priority for FFXIV. We can all enjoy the jagged textures on clothing for years to come

[Kirsten_Rev]

Has there been any discussion from the devs on adding HDR support for this game? Maybe in 5.0?

No discussion that I've heard of, and I'd say it's not likely to happen yet.

Honestly, this is one instance in which I agree with with the outcome, too. HDR requires a fair amount of effort, since a proper implementation involves reworking the entire rendering pipeline (textures, lighting, shaders, etc.). Despite this fair amount of effort, it's only beneficial for the small subset of players who have access to an HDR screen. In 3-4 years this will be more common, but it's not now, and won't be by the time 5.0 releases.

There's also the fact that there are far more pressing graphical issues that SE should address first, that every player can enjoy the benefits of right now. The most significant is their atrociously low-resolution textures, but there is also the nonexistent physics system that causes rampant clipping, and - while probably not entirely a graphical issue - the relatively limited number of objects that the engine can display on-screen at any given point in time. I'd much rather SE address these issues before moving on to something exotic like HDR. We could make an argument that ray-tracing would be great, too, but it'd be kind of dumb to implement it right now given the relative scarcity of RTX owners right now.

ESO had done a fairly good job i think of implementing HDR support (it really is noticeable) but it simply is not a priority for FFXIV. We can all enjoy the jagged textures on clothing for years to come

In fairness, jagged textures on clothing have nothing to do with HDR, and wouldn't be fixed by HDR.

[DrWho2010]

they would literally have to redraw everything - something that would probably only happen with maaaaaaayyyyyyybe an expansion or pretty much just an entirely new game. i wouldn't count on it happening like pretty much ever imo.

[Noodle_Trinidad]

they would literally have to redraw everything - something that would probably only happen with maaaaaaayyyyyyybe an expansion or pretty much just an entirely new game. i wouldn't count on it happening like pretty much ever imo.

This is sadly the mentality at hand. The excuse is the workload of a problem that shouldn't have existed in the first place. To quote Yoshida:
"Since FFXIV had PS3 support, its graphics technology is 2 generations behind. If we had high poly models/hi-res textures ((unclear)) then we could just swap them out, but we don't. A lot of things were created low poly/low-res from the start for cost-saving, so we would have to recreate all of them in order for the improved graphics to look good."

While I can understand the issue with low-poly models to an extent, let's not ignore the fact that 1.0 variations of armors were properly detailed on top of being fitted for all races, the fact that the textures are done at Low-Res by default is appalling. One would think they would have made their source files hi-res by default and scaled them down to adjust for hardware but it seems no matter what you run the highest you'll get in texture quality is already low-res leading to those ugly pixel staircases they love to show off during the GLA/PLD questline and Hien's outfit, which they also sold. It would have been more understandable for the reboot textures if they eventually went back and slowly updated them but we're 5 years into this game and the philosophy is kept the same, something that has obviously been bled into everything this game has to offer given how nothing has really been shaken up or properly built upon in the 5 years this reboot has been out.

As for the overall answer of when or if its been discussed here is another from Yoshida:
"I get asked this a lot lately. The other day it was in China, so I guess it might be a worldwide topic of interest. If you're asking me if there's a possibility in the future, then the answer is probably yes, there is. But if you're asking if we have it planned right now, the answer is no. We don't have anything planned and it's not in any of our milestones."

We're going into 5.0, a recent interview has already shown he hasn't even considered how he'll shake up the content formula come 5.0 and with the slowly increasing burn out rate that Eureka has sped up due to the lack of Relic Progression Options(ie Isolated In Eureka) you really need to wonder what the next expansion is going to offer to justify paying for what is essentially a massive patch. No plans for graphical updates, no plans for new formulas and an insistence to stick to the safe and true is what will end up killing this game if not addressed.

Source of Quotes: https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1139698.html
Translation: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._and_soken_at/

[Vahlnir]

As for the overall answer of when or if its been discussed here is another from Yoshida:
"I get asked this a lot lately. The other day it was in China, so I guess it might be a worldwide topic of interest. If you're asking me if there's a possibility in the future, then the answer is probably yes, there is. But if you're asking if we have it planned right now, the answer is no. We don't have anything planned and it's not in any of our milestones."

We're going into 5.0, a recent interview has already shown he hasn't even considered how he'll shake up the content formula come 5.0 and with the slowly increasing burn out rate that Eureka has sped up due to the lack of Relic Progression Options(ie Isolated In Eureka) you really need to wonder what the next expansion is going to offer to justify paying for what is essentially a massive patch. No plans for graphical updates, no plans for new formulas and an insistence to stick to the safe and true is what will end up killing this game if not addressed.

Source of Quotes: https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1139698.html
Translation: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._and_soken_at/

To be honest, if they would give the game the upgrades it needs to its engine and give the game proper server infrastructure so they can stop using server limitations as an excuse I'd forgive a good many of their failings recently. Yes, it would take a lot of time and effort, but the payoff would be worth it for everyone involved. But there's probably a better chance of getting struck by lightning 3 times and winning the lottery in the same day. Every time they've tried to change up the formula in any way it's like they don't know their player base at all and it comes out either half baked (Eureka) though "half baked" is actually pretty generous...or it's simply dead on release like LoV or Diadem.