OC Critical Engagements are unplayable...

[Raikai]

Anybody else experiencing an ungodly amount of lag inside those CE's?

And I don't mean ping/connectivity, but seems to be some sort of 'visual' lag. I see the cast bars and damage going off, but all of the animations are either extremely delayed or won't even show, and not just spell effects, but my own character looks stiff running. Also when I'm raised, the black screen with the loading symbol sometimes takes over 20s to fade.

There's a hint to what this could be? Everything else runs smoothly elsewhere in the instance.

[VeyaAkemi]

It's a problem with the number of players, allowing 72 per CE is a mistake, my game runs fine up to high 40s, but at 50+ shit starts hitting the fan, and I often have to dodge the first few mechanics without seeing them, it's fine for me because I have done so many CEs I can dodge the "tutorial" phase of the mechanics with my eyes closed, but it can definitely an issue.

They really should cap CEs at 32 and have two running at once.

[PariahDoge]

Yes happens all the time. Hell had it happen with fates where I get there and the boss doesn't load before it dies.

[Raikai]

What the?... How they could let this pass in their test runs? CEs are the probably the most important activity in the zone.

I was gifted a month of game time to check how XIV was (away ever since before 7.1) and tentatively contemplate a return, but if the only thing that can keep my attention today has this kind of flaw, I don't think it's even worth staying.

Edit: There's anything I can tweak in the system configurations to make this a little less horrible?

[Mawlzy]

What the?... How they could let this pass in their test runs? CEs are the probably the most important activity in the zone.

I was gifted a month of game time to check how XIV was (away ever since before 7.1) and tentatively contemplate a return, but if the only thing that can keep my attention today has this kind of flaw, I don't think it's even worth staying.

Edit: There's anything I can tweak in the system configurations to make this a little less horrible?

I used to have this problem in Frontline with an underpowered machine and found that minimizing basically anything graphics-related eased the problem somewhat. But even then there seemed a somewhat random element to it. Like on bad days a match would start with me and everyone else being invisible.

[CidHeiral]

Haven't experienced any framerate issues in there personally.

[Jeeqbit]

No, I am not experiencing this at all. It's either your computer, or your connection. I know this because I have fought hunts with this many players since Stormblood and I know all the different hardware issues that have ever caused it.

Things that could help:
- Make sure you have an SSD. This allows you to load/unload players constantly (and their associated glamours). This does happen during battle due to the render limit, so an SSD is important to prevent disk read bottlenecks.
- Make sure you have enough RAM. This helps store all the information in active memory without relying on a page file, which is where it stores active memory on the hard drive. The hard drive, even an SSD, is slower than RAM, otherwise we wouldn't need RAM.
- Make sure you don't have too many programs running in the background that hog resources, such as browsers, other games or downloads. This can hog resources and push active game memory into a page file.
- Look into upgrading your connection. If you use copper wire broadband, you could look into getting a fiber cable if it's available in your area. The difference is that one is limited by the speed of sound and the other by the speed of light.
- Although less likely to be factors, they can be: does the processor and GPU meet or exceed the Recommended Specs of the game, which were increased for Dawntrail?

Intel® Core™i7-9700 or higher, 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT or higher

[Mawlzy]

No, I am not experiencing this at all. It's either your computer, or your connection. I know this because I have fought hunts with this many players since Stormblood and I know all the different hardware issues that have ever caused it.

Things that could help:
- Make sure you have an SSD. This allows you to load/unload players constantly (and their associated glamours). This does happen during battle due to the render limit, so an SSD is important to prevent disk read bottlenecks.
- Make sure you have enough RAM. This helps store all the information in active memory without relying on a page file, which is where it stores active memory on the hard drive. The hard drive, even an SSD, is slower than RAM, otherwise we wouldn't need RAM.
- Make sure you don't have too many programs running in the background that hog resources, such as browsers, other games or downloads. This can hog resources and push active game memory into a page file.
- Look into upgrading your connection. If you use copper wire broadband, you could look into getting a fiber cable if it's available in your area. The difference is that one is limited by the speed of sound and the other by the speed of light.
- Although less likely to be factors, they can be: does the processor and GPU meet or exceed the Recommended Specs of the game, which were increased for Dawntrail?

Intel® Core™i7-9700 or higher, 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 / AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT or higher

I know throughout gaming an SSD is always recommended, but 14 is one game that really prefers to be on my HDD.

[Jeeqbit]

I know throughout gaming an SSD is always recommended, but 14 is one game that really prefers to be on my HDD.

That's odd, because I can guarantee that in the hunt community we strongly recommend everyone has an SSD. This is because if you go to hunts without one, players load/unload constantly due to the render limit. As the game is constantly reading glamour data from the files to achieve this, it results in being unable to see anyone or the hunt itself, forcing you to AoE to hit it. This is resolved by having an SSD and there isn't really an alternative.

It stands to reason that similar issues could happen in an active Field Operation with 72 players or more.

[Mawlzy]

That's odd, because I can guarantee that in the hunt community we strongly recommend everyone has an SSD. This is because if you go to hunts without one, players load/unload constantly due to the render limit. As the game is constantly reading glamour data from the files to achieve this, it results in being unable to see anyone or the hunt itself, forcing you to AoE to hit it. This is resolved by having an SSD and there isn't really an alternative.

It stands to reason that similar issues could happen in an active Field Operation with 72 players or more.

Yeah I don't understand it and spent a day trouble-shooting it. Fortunately it runs just fine on the HDD.