Unavoidable Blur from Graphics Upscaling

[Aurelle_Deresnels]

The blur I describe below has been reported as a common source of eyestrain among players since the beginning of Dawntrail Early Access, just like the inability to turn off bloom via the "Glare" setting.

In my personal case, I have been unable to start the Dawntrail Main Scenario Quests or enter high-end duties of any kind due to both eyestrain and my reliance on rapidly processing small visual cues. (As you can see from my system specifications below, my system is above minimum recommended specifications, so it should be fine with the modest settings and 1920x1080 resolution I am playing at.) Even limiting myself to mostly crafting, some gathering, and a modest amount of roulette combat I already know well - with plenty of breaks from the game - I have had more eyestrain in the past 7 days (since 7.00) than the preceding 7 years.

Since I am sure you do not intend to cause players physical discomfort, let alone the pain and even permanent vision damage that are potential results of eyestrain, the inability to avoid this blur must be unintentional. And some of my fellow players are suffering from the same issue on high-end hardware, so even telling players to upgrade their systems far beyond the minimum recommended would not be a solution at all, despite the expense!

Date & Time: Since June 28, 2024, 5:00 AM EDT (patch 7.00, Dawntrail Early Access)
Frequency: Very frequent (most common with character movement, but potentially up to and including any movement of an on-screen object and/or the camera)
World name: Jenova (and all other Worlds)
Character name: Aurelle Deresnels (and all other characters)
Retainer name: N/A
NPC name: N/A
Monster name: N/A
Class/Level: Any
Party or solo: Any
In-game time: Any
Area and coordinates: Any, though this is most easily reproduced in graphically demanding areas
Housing: N/A, though housing areas can be good choices for reproduction due to their graphical properties
Steps:

1. Select a monitor on which you will be able to discern the upscaling blur if and when it appears. For this purpose, I recommend a basic 1920x1080 60 Hz monitor, matching up to the minimum recommended system specifications.
2. Match this monitor to the rest of the components needed for a complete system. (For the sake of completeness of testing, you may want to use a system that supports DLSS.) You may find it easier to reproduce this blur by using a system close to the minimum recommended specifications, but this is by no means required based on my fellow players' reports. You may also find it easier to reproduce this blur on a heavily loaded system, but this is also not required - for example, my system still blurs when the game is locked to 30 FPS using the in-game setting, even though it is capable of 60 FPS when not locked that way. However, as some players are reporting no blur, you may need to test multiple systems.
3. Observe that there is no way to turn the graphics upscaling off. Go to System Configuration -> Graphics Settings, open the "Graphics Upscaling" dropdown, and notice that while it always offers "AMD FSR" and may offer "NVIDIA DLSS", it does not offer "Off" or "None".
4. Eliminate any other sources of blur in the graphics settings. Within the same System Configuration -> Graphics Settings window, turn "Edge Smoothing (Anti-Aliasing)" to "FXAA" or "Off" and uncheck "Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur)". Bloom is also a blur effect as implemented, but currently it cannot be turned off, so choose a test location and character with significant non-glowing areas to avoid it.
5. Select a test location. Graphically demanding locations are ideal for this purpose, as the blur can disappear in very simple environments.
6. Select a test character and glamour set with strong contrast against the test location, as player characters are the easiest and most frequent way to induce this blur. In my demonstration screenshots and video footage, I utilized mostly the Ironworks healing set (boots dyed Soot Black), with the exceptions of the High Allagan Earrings of Healing and Ultimate Omega Codex - it's what I had on and it contrasts with everything.
   
7. The remaining steps detail techniques to induce upscaling blur on the system, with particular attention to those events that are common in gameplay. Repeat the steps below with each of the common settings recommended to supposedly disable upscaling / avoid upscaling blur: A) AMD FSR, with "3D Resolution Scaling" set to 100 and "Enable dynamic resolution." off; B) AMD FSR, with "3D Resolution Scaling" set to 99 and "Enable dynamic resolution." off; and C) NVIDIA DLSS, with "Frame Rate Threshold" set below the FPS the system hits in demanding areas. (For ease of reproduction, you may want to watch my demonstration video for technique, even if you cannot tell the upscaling blur apart from compression artifacts.)
8. Upscaling is most likely to blur when and where the recent frames differ significantly from the current frame. Thus, the easiest way to induce upscaling blur is to run around with a character while watching the character on-screen, as this produces frame-to-frame differences in that area of the screen from both the character's run animation and the terrain underfoot. You must keep moving, as the blur will stop shortly after the character motion does!
9. Another way to induce upscaling blur is to rapidly zoom the camera in and out on the character. You can do this by normal zooming, or by using a wall to press a zoomed-out camera up against the character and then turning it so that it is no longer against the wall. Again, watch the character while you do this.
10. Camera turns can also produce upscaling blur even without zooming, though they often produce a less prominent blur.

As you can imagine, moving one's character and/or camera are extremely common gameplay activities, and having them result in eyestrain is accordingly extremely frustrating.

Luckily, this is equally easy to correct: simply provide the option to use no graphics upscaling at all. If you are concerned about the performance impacts of such an option under the graphical update, that problem can be fixed - for the players and situations where high performance is relevant - by providing more graphics options including turning down some demanding settings.

I see that you have been working very hard on the graphics update, and I understand that returning all of the lower-end graphics settings that were removed with patch 7.00 may not be feasible. But none of your hard work does any good for players who can no longer safely see the game! Please give us the option to have no graphics upscaling at all, and ideally a robust set of graphics options across the board so that players can make the graphics choices that best suit themselves and their systems.


Connection Specs
- Irrelevant - purely local rendering issue that occurs across all connections

■ PC Specs

To obtain the system information, open the FFXIV launcher and select Config → System Information → Display.

-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-

SYSTEM_OS Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)
SYSTEM_CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700 CPU @ 2.90GHz (16 CPUs), ~2.9GHz
SYSTEM_CORE_NUM SYSTEM_CORE_LOGIC 16 SYSTEM_CORE_PHYSICS 8
SYSTEM_BIOS 2.0.13
SYSTEM_LANGUAGE English (Regional Setting: English)
SYSTEM_MEMORY 16118.418MB
SYSTEM_VIRTUAL_MEMORY 134217727.875MB
SYSTEM_PAGE_FILE 25334.418MB
SYSTEM_STORAGE C:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 933.260GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 616.001GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE D:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 1862.891GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 1081.847GB
SYSTEM_DIRECTX_VERSION DirectX 12
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY5
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP Intel(R) UHD Graphics Family
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER Intel Corporation
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 128.000 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 8059.209 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Internal
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (59Hz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iigd_dch.inf_amd64_e0880bf48916d210\igdumdim64.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iigd_dch.inf_amd64_e0880bf48916d210\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iigd_dch.inf_amd64_e0880bf48916d210\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\iigd_dch.inf_amd64_e0880bf48916d210\igd12umd64.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 27.20.0100.9664
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 5/31/2021 20:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER NVIDIA
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 16078 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM SYSTEM_UNKNOWN
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Integrated RAMDAC
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE Unknown
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdd.inf_amd64_67b1df330bec74ef\nvldumdx.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdd.inf_amd64_67b1df330bec74ef\nvldumdx.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdd.inf_amd64_67b1df330bec74ef\nvldumdx.dll,C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdd.inf_amd64_67b1df330bec74ef\nvldumdx.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 31.00.0015.3619
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 6/5/2023 20:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English

SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE
SYSTEM_SOUND DELL S2421HN (Intel(R) Display Audio)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {A4A2E799-000B-4336-887C-E41C96714A30}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME IntcDAud.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 10.27.0.10
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 4/15/2021 20:00:00
SYSTEM_SOUND Speakers (Logitech G933 Gaming Headset)
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_ID {23A0215A-8865-405B-9DD3-19A5F1744933}
SYSTEM_SOUND_DEVICE_NAME USBAUDIO.sys
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_VERSION 8.98.201.0
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
SYSTEM_SOUND_DRIVER_DATE 3/7/2018 20:00:00
SYSTEM_INPUT {6F1D2B60-D5A0-11CF-BFC7444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Mouse
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 3 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 8 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {6F1D2B61-D5A0-11CF-BFC7444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Keyboard
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 128 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {9012BFD0-9C1B-11EB-8008444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Multi-media
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 7 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {90130DF0-9C1B-11EB-800B444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Logitech G933 Gaming Wireless Headset
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 2 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {90133500-9C1B-11EB-800C444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Logitech G933 Gaming Wireless Headset
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {90133500-9C1B-11EB-800D444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME Logitech G933 Gaming Wireless Headset
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {3DCDB2E0-244C-11EF-8001444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME USB Receiver
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 652 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {3DCE0100-244C-11EF-8002444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME USB Receiver
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0
SYSTEM_INPUT {3DCE0100-244C-11EF-8003444553540000}
SYSTEM_INPUT_NAME USB Receiver
SYSTEM_INPUT_REMARKS SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_AXIS 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_BUTTON 0 SYSTEM_GAMEPAD_FOV 0

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[T_alyssa_Nishino]

>> option to use no graphics upscaling at all

Yes, please. I agree.

+1