Is GShade allowed?

[Nuki]

it is a grey area but notice that grey area does not mean its totally fine and legal

[LuluLavender]

It's impossible for SE to make a clear line about this. We know GShade doesn't change the game files, it runs along side the game such as anything else you have open on your computer, and in fact other software not specifically made for FFXIV, such as software from Nvidia, does exactly the same thing as GShade. SE will not dictate to you what you can and can't install on your PC while you run the game, because they can't detect that without privacy issues.

During recent photo contests, there was catagory where photoshopped and entries with GShade were accepted. There were vanilla categories too, to make it fair...this should show you what SE's stance on the matter is.

The problem is, there's no way they can come out to you and say "yes this is acceptable, you won't be banned". Accepting means acknowledging that players on console are at a disadvantage, which means they would have to address that or risk anger from console players (which to be fair, they already deal with).

So as usual, don't ask, don't tell, should apply here. I feel like the video of YoshiP talking about 3rd party tools and how it's such a grey area needs to be pinned on the lodestone or something...

[Canadane]

they can't detect that without privacy issues.

Just to clarify, they absolutely can. SE chooses not to.
At least at this time, that is. If people keep pushing boundaries they're going to do something more than making a statement and gaoling a few players.

[LuluLavender]

Just to clarify, they absolutely can. SE chooses not to.
At least at this time, that is. If people keep pushing boundaries they're going to do something more than making a statement and gaoling a few players.

While you are technically correct, I really don't belive it's something that will ever happen, no matter how much "boundary pushing" occurs. They themselves have made it clear that it would be a very invasive move, and that there would be massive privacy concerns. The japanese take privacy very seriously

[Welsper59]

I mean, assuming that was from a GM, that more recent response is basically all players need to go on to understand that it supersedes the old post nearly a decade ago. Plus, keep in mind, the post was specifically referring to a specific enb injector, something that Gshade (specifically Reshade) uses I think... but it does other things as well lol. Thus you can't take what was said even in that post and apply to a different thing, even if they function similarly.

With how things are currently just do as you always do and move on. Nothing has changed for anyone but (mostly) streamers who openly used addons/plugins. Expecting them to actually say Gshade is perfectly fine in this climate is foolish. They'd be essentially begging for people to be bad about testing the waters on what they deem to be okay.

The reality has always been that players who use unofficial tools that directly interact with this game (basically everything) has violated ToS. Severity differs obviously, but that's the reality of a blanket ToS. Not exactly a big deal. Remember how Yoshi-P directly addressed how Discord is technically a 3rd party program, but isn't something they can prove you're using exclusively to undermine FFXIVs systems, so they won't even bother with that? That's an effect of a blanket ToS. There are going to be nonsense stuff that qualifies, but that doesn't change the necessity of it for when it is more applicable. That's just for them, not for you.

Honestly, this whole thing about addons/plugins with XIV players freaking out about the ToS is so entertaining and fascinating to me, as an FFXI player. Practically everyone uses 3rd party tools in that game and the ToS is very similar lol. An overwhelming majority of players outright recognize what they're doing and try not being stupid about it. If you were unlucky and got caught, it was usually your own fault, but very bad luck could have happened as well.

Something like posting pictures using GShade is not going to get you banned, simply due to the fact that it just cannot be proven and that it's just not a big deal. That said, people need to realize its a matter of give and take. They're giving players some leeway and they always have been. Take too much however (i.e. start going overboard with addons and such) and that's when the crackdown happens. Regular players are nowhere near that yet and even further for Gshade users. Just like FFXI, the only rule regarding 3rd party tools is to not be stupid about what you're using or doing with it.

[HollowedDoll]

if Gshade isn't allowed then neither is Geforce Experience, since it has Freestyle built in.

This just in: NVIDIA Gamers banned for LIFE, Buy AMD here! sponsored by newegg

[Larirawiel]

This just in: NVIDIA Gamers banned for LIFE, Buy AMD here! sponsored by newegg

Too bad. Because AMD Adrenalin has also some image altering functionality in it.

Just in: Buy Matrox and Kyro- and Bitboys Oy-GPUs!

Cheers

[Packetdancer]

if Gshade isn't allowed then neither is Geforce Experience, since it has Freestyle built in.

This just in: NVIDIA Gamers banned for LIFE, Buy AMD here! sponsored by newegg

Freestyle actually does not function in the same way.

ReShade (and GShade) actually modify the FFXIV game process -- they replace DirectX at the time FFXIV tries to load it, so FFXIV ends up using GShade (pretending to be DirectX) which basically sits in the middle and loads the real DirectX on behalf of the game; GShade's code is thus loaded into FFXIV (and in so doing, does technically modify the game process and state).

Freestyle, however, does its modifications to graphics down in the Nvidia driver layer itself; it doesn't touch the game process at all and is functionally no different than something like monitor color calibration (at least from the point of view of the game). (AMD Adrenaline works similarly, I believe, though I've not tinkered with Adrenaline at all.)

[Kolsykol]

If you advertise that you use it then don't cry when you get banned when Yoshida has specifically stated before to NOT do that.
That simple ( or wait for the graphical update that is coming anyway ).

But ACT reads and analyzes the game data. And this is not allowed. Gshade however does not do anything in that direction.


Cheers

So does a virus scan tho.
ACT can do a lot of things so it depends, but using it to parse is tolerated so long as you don't make a huge spectacle about it or harass people with it.
I mean people are openly advertising it in PF and don't get in trouble.

The devs don't approve of it tho but that's just what they have to say officially if they said they were fine with it then you'd probably see it normalized way more and have it be a common thing talked about ingame.
You'd probably see a pretty big increase in harassment and the general toxicity that comes along with it if it was officially okay:d by the devs.

[SwingLifeAway]

You'd probably see a pretty big increase in harassment and the general toxicity that comes along with it if it was officially okay:d by the devs.

Except you wouldn't because the rules on harassment don't magically disappear just because some plugins are okayed. They've also already been in use for nearly a decade, so they are already a part of the culture and identity of the game whether anyone likes it or not. I really feel like a lot of people are being super dishonest by conveniently forgetting these facts.