Glamour Book: The Impossible Feature - The Memory Issues and Hypothetical Solutions?

[zeth07]

One of the most requested features is a proper glamour book that would catalog each item you've obtained and let you freely change your glamour to those items without having to keep the items around, being effectively limitless as opposed to the current glamour dresser with just 400 items.

This has been an ongoing discussion for actual years at this point.

Live Letter XIII back in 2014 had Yoshi-P say this:
Yoshida: A plan for a weapons and armor compendium has come my way. The plan is to allow you to read about the origins of each weapon and armor after you have completed the series, and we would like to implement this as well.


Live Letter XVI had this as a response:
Q: Is there any update on the weapon and armor log?
A: We've currently finished off a lot of the details, but we have to plans for implementation, we've been estimating the amount of work for each. The first idea would simply have players building a collection of weapons and armor, while the second idea would allow players to read the lore surrounding the gear they obtain. However, this data will affect the player data used in real time, so we are carefully investigating this at the moment. Next week we will reach a conclusion and proceed for actual implementation, but if we decide to go with the first idea it will be implemented in patch 2.4. In the case we decide on the second option, it will be implemented a bit further in the future.In any event, we've progressed quite a bit on this and we will have our verdict soon enough.


Then in another Live Letter in 2015 we got this as another answer:
Q18: Do you have plans to implement a feature, such as a book that records items you have obtained once, and you can drop that item but still use it for glamour? With this feature it’ll free up the inventory space.

A18: Yoshida: We have no plans for this. We would increase the inventory space if this was possible.


Very recently we got this answer:
Q - We have so much equipment in the game but it feels such a waste because it's either we equip them or glamour them. Is there another use for those items like having them registered as a glamour entry in a catalog? By the way, my glamour dresser is almost full.

A - This stabs YoshiP hard because it digs up the old idea YoshiP once had

OOF. Ouch, this definitely hurts as you're bringing back the old idea of a glamour log... I mean, we wanted to do so! We even had the text and all ready!

We cannot include them all because it's too full and the data couldn't handle it...I mean if we can somehow make it work it'd be nice but....we're definitely out of space to save such data....we definitely want to realize it one day but....yeah, I'm sorry.


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So what are the possible solutions? I'd particularly like to hear some responses from people who might have the technical know-how in server/data management. We don't know how they do it on their backend but I'd still like to know what's actually within the realm of possilbiity.

1) Would limiting the glamour book to only be available at the Inns like the glamour dresser itself reduce the server/memory problem?

2) Would making it work through an NPC like how the Calamity Salvager functions reduce the requirements?

3) Would having it function like the aesthetician reduce the data problem across the server because it's a "specific instance"?

I am by no means qualified or understand how it could/would work but would it be possible to setup the glamour book to function like the Aesthetician on it's own entirely dedicated server, that is exclusively used to store the glamour book information of the players so that there isn't any load on the "world" servers as you are actively playing.

Getting the items I imagine would just be a yes/no database behind the scenes, then you could go into this "instance" like the Aesthetician to set up your glamours, say per job, maybe even multiple slots. Then once the server knows you've obtained the items this particular instance could then save the loadouts CLIENT side. That way the changing of the glamour plates could be anywhere without actually impacting the "server load" because it's just on your end now.

From how Yoshi-P keeps describing the problem it seems to be a memory issue / server issue if everyone was to do it all the time in the open world so they can't handle it, but how it would function if the items themselves were accounted for like the Crafting/Gathering Log which just has a list of items and check marks to say you've done it. Then you could go into the area to actually "process" it all and set it all up from that list.

The game does store some things client side, so is there really no way to implement a system to help circumvent all the server/memory issues by making it more independent to the player? For example it wouldn't be accessing the entire glamour book in the open world, it would only access the data for the specific plates you created that was stored on your side. And it would only access your whole glamour book when you go into that specific zone/server to do it.

I can't imagine it's "impossible", but maybe they just don't have the resources/time to figure it out...

[DrWho2010]

it won't matter how much theorizing goes on here. because we don't know the backend of the game's system anything that's suggested is useless.

[Sotaba]

This should be looked into after Endwalker is released. What is currently in-game is an archaic system that pleases nobody. Honestly it's my only complaint about the game. Having to grab a Glamour Prism to put whatever items I want into a limited storage space is just, ugh. It's one of the things that the other MMO everyone is talking about (for not so positive reasons) has done perfectly.

[KDSilver]

Why do they never have enough space.
Where does it come from actually ?

[SillyCrow]

To store it on a hard disk, it would take roughly 1.32375 GB to store the information on each of the 8 datacenter for all created characters separated equally between them. Assuming each gear item ID on the lodestone only require 1 bit as a flag to know if you ever owned the item or not.

No idea how much additional bandwidth it would cost to send it back and forth from the server to the player each time they log in or load an instance.

This doesn't take into account the additional programming needed to read the ownership flags on all items already obtained.

This doesn't take into account RAM usage on the server end.

[ICountFrom0]

Right now there's so much data involved with the glam system that 200 people changing a glamplate all at once in a battle zone would crash the server.... yes, that's WHY you can't glam plate in the wild.

The dresser stores the item, and all information associated with the item. Going from that, to the glam catalog means giving up all the data. If nothing else it means having to use a black dye every time you put a black version of it on the glam plate because you can't make the pig costume black by default anymore.

Look at the armoire by comparison. Being closer to the yes/no checklist, it can store vastly more possibilities, but notice that there isn't even space in it for all the items that people pay RL money for. If there was space, it would go to the paying customers first, surely?

So, if it was implemented we'd be looking at the removal of the glam dresser, and the armoire. Those two reduced and combined into the catalog. You could set glam plates to apply died versions to sets, and use prisms singly for temporary spot changes.

Given that the catalog would have to LIVE in the inn, and that this game does not do "bind on pickup" and they wouldn't want a group of 1,028 people to all get the item by handling it once and then passing it on, you cannot use the same system as WoW, no tracking it with "did I ever own it". No passing one cashmere sweater around 1,028 times and then reselling it for half a million that you paid for it.

Catalog, and putting things into it would have to be done in the inn room, where the dresser was, would have to consume the item, and a prism. Otherwise you just crash the market, and make crafting less important forever.

As for the data side, that's stripped down low enough that it might be possible, in the strictly limited instances where he dressers now are. ... notice though that WoW didn't design or code that in house, they outsourced to experts. That company might still exist, and might be able to work a miracle in this game.