Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain

[HauntedLasagna]

I've unsubbed as well. Every time I log in ends with me having a migraine that lasts hours after. No game is worth the pain.

[gllt]

An MMORPG especially should care about visibility, I'm not getting any younger waiting for all these expansions and my eyesight isn't getting better with age.

[Erinellza]

I mentioned the issue of wet surface effects being too shiny now and the option to turn them off was removed for whatever reason.
Here's the beach near my Shiro house, it's hard to tell the difference between water and sand because everything looks shiny and plastic.

[gllt]

I hope when they address it they provide some explanation on why so many options to turn off effects were not implemented.

What did they test these changes on? Do I need to get a 4k monitor or something?

[Eelanos]

So far, the only two ways I've found to fix the blurriness that strains my eyes are either using AMD FSR and disable anti-aliasing, or using AMD FSR and keep the TSCMAA anti-aliasing but setting the 3D Resolution Scaling to 99.

I don't know if that's your issue as well, but I hope this workaround helps any of you in the meantime.

[Guasta_Ryets]

Resolution
::::::::Graphics Upscaling:::::::::::::::::::;( > AMD FSR )

::::::::3D Resolution Scaling
:::::::::--------------------------O 100::// this is important. At 50 to 99, the game actually uses DLSS or FSR to upscale the graphics in a "pretty"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::// fashion in such a way that it blurs it giving it that blur that is, in many opinions here, very annoying (or painful) and I completely agree (although some people do like it)
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::// but at 100, there is no scaling. Everything is 1 to 1, so there's atleast no upscale sampling going on under the settings i use,
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::// and as a result the game looks crisp, albeit, only as good as the FXAA of 6.58 and prior.
::::::::[ ] Enable dynamic resolution
:::::::::Frame Rate Threshold::::::::::::::;( >Below 30 fps ) // this is greyed out due to the above setting being "[ ]" unselected

General
...
::::::::Edge Smoothing (Anti-aliasing)::;(>FXAA ) // note this is the AA implementation we all had before 7.0

...


Effects
...
::::::::[ ] Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur)

Anyway, with these settings I have no painful/annoying blur except from the heat haze (sunny & day time only...?) effect visible in Tural and I'd assume in other similar areas; that is a post process graphical effect that might be able to be turned off in Character Configuration -> Control Settings -> Character -> Battle Effects. (fire spells come to mind)

This may only partially fix peoples issues, (or make them worse though it shouldnt), but I'm just trying to help. It fixed mine and a few others I know in game. Give it a shot and best of luck. I still think that the config file option is the surefire best way but if this is good enough for people, might as well do this too. DLSS and the AMD equivalent have been plaguing alot of modern games. And now FF14 is infected too

[Laerune]

I too had eyes being strained, but after reaching the Moblin town, the pain went away.

Have my eyes adjusted to the new graphics or something else is going on?

[Klauth]

I too had eyes being strained, but after reaching the Moblin town, the pain went away.

Have my eyes adjusted to the new graphics or something else is going on?

From what i can tell it depends which map/instance of the game you're playing on.

I just did the EW normal raid "Abyssos: Eight Circle" and the crazy difference in -> Black/White Contrast + Glare/Bloom + FSR gave me a massive headache.
And yes ive tweaket them to the minimum i can as mentioned on this thread so far. And also adjusted my monitor + graphic card menus.

But if i do just some crafting and gathering i wont notice it as much and its bearable.

All in all the more stuff you have going on in an instance or map the worse it is with these new graphical changes.

[Ceridwenae]

I've been doing more adjustments, and have settled with something that's more or less playable. Unfortunately, it's a custom setting between my graphics card software and the game's settings. It doesn't clear everything, but I've found that using the game's FXAA, but with grass off, no dynamic grass, and making sure the LOD setting is unchecked on that side, then my graphic card software to adjust image sharpening (to 10 out of 100, but your mileage may vary) and adjusting the colour temp, hue, saturation, brightness and contrast to a setting I personally find comfortable (similar to how the game looked before).

What it doesn't fix: now the blurring versus sharpness is not an issue, what I see is a flickering effect on some objects and some light sources (see flags around Dhoro Iloh, for example). With my custom settings, I've been able to reduce the impact of it, but it is still there for the moment. This flickering, or shimmering, will occur irrespective of FXAA being on or off. Additionally, my husband sees this shimmering in his game too, and his graphic card is Nvidia, and mine is AMD. It doesn't happen to bother him in any medical sense, however. The effect gives extra movement in something where it's not necessary, giving already tired eyes something extra to take in, although unchecked LOD seems to help to an extent, and then an effort not to spend too long hyperfocusing on it.

[Wind-Krysvein]

I'm just trying to help. It fixed mine and a few others I know in game.

While I obviously appreciate any and all attempts of helping, I'm also afraid that seeing people come up with these "close enough" workarounds will only serve to make Square Enix complacent in a "Ehh, they'll figure it out somehow!" sort of way.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: this isn't something the users should have to "fart around and find out" on their own. A game should not be causing this much physical discomfort for anyone, sensitive eyes or no.

What's also good to keep in mind is that console users have none of the graphical settings needed to make any of these changes.