Updated benchmark

[Iscah]

Is it possible? Yes. Would someone do it? Highly unlikely...mostly because why would you purposely want the ugly textures back in the game.

Because right now my characters only exist in those "ugly textures", and they're nowhere near ugly enough for me to care. But I do very much care about my characters, who look beautiful right now in ways that the update is turning ugly.

Even if you could only play the parts of the game that exist right now, it would be preferable to losing it forever, and no different to if FFXIV was a series of individually released games.

[Loggos]

And on that note:

I've only realized this now, but it's going to be a lot more difficult to provide accurate feedback and bug reports after the release of 7.0.

For PC players you can still download the 6.0 benchmark (I used Internet Archive to find the link), but for console players there will be no way to make accurate comparisons (unless you recorded cutscenes before maintenance).

So before 7.0 starts, I suggest everyone to take screenshots of your characters in /gpose for future reference.

Here's a small guide that you can use to make comparative screenshots that should be as accurate as possible:

1. Using Duty Explorer, enter the dungeon "The Burn". Teleport to the final room. Do not move!
2. Enter /gpose.
3. In "General Settings" set the Camera Position to 200.
4. In "Character Display Settings" choose "Self only".
5. Turn off "Face Camera".
6. Use the emotes "/attention" and "/straightface" and pause the animation.
7. Zoom on your character and adjust the camera so the face is properly aligned.
8. Turn the camera horizontally to take a screenshot of the front view, side view, and 45 degrees view.

Before taking screenshots, it would be even better if you could temporarily change your hairstyle so it shows the whole face.

Example:

Video guide

(The reason I picked The Burn is because it has the most flattering lighting without needing to adjust too many things)

Thank you so much for this!

I never even thought about using The Burn as a GPose location but it was perfect.

I was able to take lots of screenshots, so at least now I have a good reference library of my chars' old looks, even if the latter never come back in the official game.

[Plushy]

Because right now my characters only exist in those "ugly textures", and they're nowhere near ugly enough for me to care.

Even if you could only play the parts of the game that exist right now, it would be preferable to losing it forever, and no different to if FFXIV was a series of individually released games.

Well regardless how you feel. FFXIV is a MMO. It needs newer players to survive and if newer players see this game now. They won't try it because they think it looks outdated/bad graphics. (Heck people already say the game is ugly and grey and washed out looking). Yoshi-p himself said the main reason for graphics update was for younger/new players.

But either way...as I said..it's possible but nobody will do it. More so because SE changed a lot on the back end that I can't explain for obvious reasons but I will say if you ever manage to import the old armour textures, expect to see solid black and green color textures.
SE actually updated the graphics correctly, right down to how textures and color materials are handled and also removed things that old models used.
Basically what I'm saying is...it'll be a lot of work for basically no gain.

[Loggos]

Would there be any possibility at all of retaining the current graphics in some kind of legacy version of the game program that could be used instead of the updated version? Is it possible at a technical level, and would SE consider implementing it?

I want this so badly.
Just give those who prefer the old looks an option to keep the old graphics version.

I'm not bothered at all by crappy textures. My character is a much higher priority to me.

[Darkstride]

If they put it in “accepted bugs,” does that mean that they consider it an error on the list to be fixed? Or just that they’re investigating it? (I’ve never submitted a bug report…)

Good thing you mentioned it will affect Tartaru, that probably made someone notice it more!

It just means that they've accepted the report because it was actually filled out correctly. You can see a lot of bug reports rejected because the person filing it doesn't provide adequate information and doesn't utilize the template provided. Accepted doesn't mean they are acknowledging it as a bug, it's just the stage of reporting and investigation.

From the Bug Report Forum workflow:

"Once reports with sufficient information have been checked, they will be moved to the Accepted Bugs forum.
Bug reports moved to Accepted Bugs will be investigated and confirmed.
Depending on the issue, there may be cases where confirmation may take more time.

As a result of investigating and testing, reports determined to be bugs will be moved to the Confirmed/Planning to Address forum and those determined to be a normal feature of the game will be moved to the Working as Intended forum.

Once reports in the Confirmed/Planning to Address form have been fixed, they will be moved to the Fixed"

[Iscah]

Change your computer's time to April 1st and run the benchmark. You'll get to see what one of the old models + some of the old textures look like with the new graphics updates and whatnot. Since my WoL uses many of the same face options, it really stood out to me to show how much the textures have been improved and how faithfully the new models adhere to the old.

I don't see how comparing Hildibrand's appearance would be any more enlightening than comparing my own characters by recreating them in the benchmark, as I have been doing in depth throughout this entire business. The textures might look nicer but every single face has been altered in ways that are detrimental to the mood of the character and/or just artistically strange.

[Astronis]

I don't see how comparing Hildibrand's appearance would be any more enlightening than comparing my own characters by recreating them in the benchmark, as I have been doing in depth throughout this entire business. The textures might look nicer but every single face has been altered in ways that are detrimental to the mood of the character and/or just artistically strange.

So you know the answer to your question, "Is it technically possible?" and get an idea of how that would look. You can look at how the old textures appear in the new benchmark and extrapolate, yes? It's something you literally cannot do with any other model, because that is literally the only model in the entire benchmark that uses Endwalker's face model and Endwalker's face texture. Hildibrand's model and face texture were not updated for the benchmark. He uses the new eye texture because the old one does not exist in the benchmark.

[Iscah]

So you know the answer to your question, "Is it technically possible?" and get an idea of how that would look.

I have no idea how this is relevant. I asked if it would be possible to keep a separate version of the program that displays the old textures. You point me towards the new program as evidence that the new program is running with new textures.

[Astronis]

I have no idea how this is relevant. I asked if it would be possible to keep a separate version of the program that displays the old textures. You point me towards the new program as evidence that the new program is running with new textures.

*sets face in hands*

I pointed you to the new program running ONE INSTANCE of THE OLD TEXTURE and OLD MODEL so you had inconvertible proof that it was technically possible and ALSO so you could see it for yourself.

Admittedly I missed that you had asked for *an entire separate program* which...no, that's not possible, except in the very narrowest use of "technical". That's never going to happen. Though I understand the Endwalker benchmark can still be obtained somewhere so perhaps that will satisfy you.

[Plushy]

I want this so badly.
Just give those who prefer the old looks an option to keep the old graphics version.

I'm not bothered at all by crappy textures. My character is a much higher priority to me.

I know this is a innocent ask but you don't really understand just what you're asking for.
It's not as simple as flipping a switch and it's back to having your old graphics.
The graphics fundamentally changed at a system level.
SE didn't just update texture, they actually changed how a lot of things are handled and also deleted many things the old graphics used.
This will also triple the game size to hold all the bad textures, they would have to recreate the old lighting source and shadows to replicate the old graphics.
Without doing that you will notice even more pixilation than usual since the old lighting and shadows did a good job in hiding it.
You say you don't care but will once you actually see it yourself.
You can see it in blender If you're so inclined to see it in real time.
When SE updated the graphics they ACTUALLY updated it and not a simple just upscale texture and lighting then called it a day.
Also forgot to point out this will double their work because they would have to add new light sources and old light sources in every new dungeon they make and they would have to add old textures and good textures to every new outfit and raid boss or npc they create... again...doubling their work.

Basically...it's not happening...

You guys just have to accept this is happening.
SE isn't going to waste resources to recreate something like this, sounds harsh but it's true.

That dev time is better spent on making the game actually fun to play and not having another endwalker with nothing to do.