Dawntrail Graphics Update - Eye Strain

[Kaldaka]

After a week+ of extensive playing, I'm now suffering rather extreme migraines. The older zones however don't cause the brain pain anywhere near as much as the new.
I'm not sure if it's the textures being brighter, or just that they're a lot more unnatural and there's a lot more "junk" on the screen to see.
The grey overlay feels like it's been removed from the game however. There used to be a sort of grey film if you will that acted as a barrier to stop us scorching our retina's out (I think), for anywhere but Limsa - where you were just doomed to go blind 6am-6pm in game.

Maybe SE could find a way to introduce a desaturation slider or something to their graphics section? Too much visual information so my brain/eyes are suffering a fair bit.

[Klauth]

After a week+ of extensive playing, I'm now suffering rather extreme migraines. The older zones however don't cause the brain pain anywhere near as much as the new.
I'm not sure if it's the textures being brighter, or just that they're a lot more unnatural and there's a lot more "junk" on the screen to see.
The grey overlay feels like it's been removed from the game however. There used to be a sort of grey film if you will that acted as a barrier to stop us scorching our retina's out (I think), for anywhere but Limsa - where you were just doomed to go blind 6am-6pm in game.

Maybe SE could find a way to introduce a desaturation slider or something to their graphics section? Too much visual information so my brain/eyes are suffering a fair bit.

Completely agree, its a mix of various changes really as you say visual "junk", when you mash them all at once (exaggerated lighting + blurry mess + glows) its quite a spectacle.
The grey overlay you're describing gave a more visual softer feeling, and made visual transitions much smoother, and yep its gone, cya bye bye, i REALLY notice it in my higher res monitor now side by side with a lower res, its eye tearing.

There's an apparent layer of brightness all over the screen, even if you go to old Trials like ARR Leviathan the entire ambient is much much brighter not only the horizon but also the sea and platform, you notice much more the details on leviathan now, but for me even that its a mix of more exaggerated light + better textures, its a bit odd and jarring i dont know how to explain it.

One of the worst offenders ive found so far is Aurum Vale Dungeon, they did a really good job capturing the toxic fumes real life experience, now you can experience irl the effect of poisonous/toxic fumes in a closed cave system, it has all the hazy fog with strong lights behind it with all the motion blurs you would need, it simulates really well the nausea, hats off, masterpiece.


Just to add for the sake of the bad implementations.:
.If set DLSS with a filter sharpness @ 20 (from 0-100 slider), the lighting & bloom get much softer, as if it the light gets more scatered instead of sitting in fixed intense sharp points, not as harmful, but theres still the horrible motion blur ofc.
.If i use AMD FSR @ 99 slider scaling the blur is more muted compared to DLSS but the lighting & bloom get dialed to 1000 automatically in intensity.

Just go look at a summoner's carbuncle, you'll instantly see what i mean with the light/shape blending and bad implementations.
The analogy for me is.:
Carbuncle FSR @ 99 -> transparent lightbulb glass (harsh) // Carbuncle DLSS -> frosted lightbulb glass (soft)

[Wind-Krysvein]

Bump. We're closing in on 90 likes! Every single one counts if we are to show the devs/accessibility team/whatever that this is an issue worth fixing

[Akari-skts]

Try to use FSA without TCSMAA - TCSMAA will also make it look blurry a bit (it depends on your monitor and native resolution)

[Wind-Krysvein]

Super Bumper 2: Electric Bumpaloo

[CidHeiral]

Bump. We're closing in on 90 likes! Every single one counts if we are to show the devs/accessibility team/whatever that this is an issue worth fixing

They're already aware and fixing it.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...hics-Upscaling

[RedDeathXR]

Noticed this issue since day one. I'm not someone that suffers from serious eyestrain, but I do heavily dislike motion blur so I notice it right away and turn it off every time I play games. Tried DLSS and FSR and despite turning off Radial blur it makes little difference. You mostly notice it on the edges of trees and plants. It's a very minimal blur, but it's especially bad in Tuliyollal where I almost feel like I'm seeing double in some places. The image will become completely clear when you are standing still, but as soon as movement starts, everything blurs.

[Wynnter]

31 Pages is a lot to read through, I think i got maybe 15ish in and didnt see anyone having the same issue i am, Im having the primary motion blur eye strain issue, but mine isnt JUST when i move. Every single time something pops up on my screen, a window, a tooltip, hell even mousing over some of my hotkeys activates motion blur for a moment, Im not sure its been happening the whole time ive been playing dawntrail or not but i only just noticed it start happening about 3hours ago and its so noticable in dungeons that im having a hard time staying focused. It might also explain the headaches ive had at the end of long sessions lately.

[Ostheim89]

Adding my voice to the pile, ever since the graphic update dropped I've been having headaches and eyestrain after an hour or two of playing. I've messed around with a lot of the options and swapped between upscalers, but I'm starting to suspect that any upscaling is the problem here.

[Wind-Krysvein]

They're already aware and fixing it.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...hics-Upscaling

Indeed. However, from what I see, that report talks exclusively about the motion blur and its effects. There's probably more to this than that, considering people have been reporting getting migraines, eye strain and headaches from the sharper textures and lighting issues, as well. Never hurts to cover all of one's bases