Transferring UI setup

[Maeka]

I would even be willing to be that contractor, I don't see this being more than a 10 hour project based on the information provided. This has been requested since the game launched, there is no good reason for it to not be implemented yet.

While I would love for a server solution, I'm imagining that it is a logistics problem having to do with server bandwidth and storage space.

Just think of it.

\My Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV\ (where I've read the stuff is stored)

Is 20MB and I only have two characters (the one I haven't touched in forever).

Now, if we assume that everybody used the server to store it, let's say 15MB for a single character (that other character is nowhere near high of level or has as many hotbars etc to save), and if we assume there are how many people on a server again? According to a March 2017 census, the American server with the highest character population was Famfrit at 290k.

So, you would have to realistically provide for ~300k to allow some buffer room. If each character is 10-15MB of data (possibly more, so let's say 20MB to be generous because when you program, you do generous numbers to make sure you don't overrun), then you need to provide nearly 6,000 Gigabytes or 6 Terabytes.

I dunno about you, but that sounds like a LOT of storage space to devote for UI settings.

So what do you do? Limit how long these last? Limit how many character(s) a player can transfer at once? Limit how many people can do this simultaneously? Then you start getting angry people who are angry that the service isn't good enough.

What I WOULD like to see, however, is for one to set an option so that the game uses a removable drive to store this data on, so that you could simply specify the path (like G:\ or something) which points to a USB thumbdrive. Boot up PC#1, stick the thumbdrive in, have FFXIV transfer data to this thumbdrive and tell the game to use this for the settings.

When finished on PC #1, you would then go to PC#2, stick the thumbdrive in, boot the game up, tell it to use the thumbdrive for this data and from then on, you'd simply plug the thumbdrive in anytime you played.

OR, you could also use a LAN server -- tell the game to store/use data on a computer running a server (you could use any cheap laptop running linux for this purpose, as long as it can act as a file server), that way no matter which PC you logged on, you'd always have the same data available without manually telling the launcher to re-load (or re-upload if you changed anything) from a specific source.

[VanarCalmcacil]

I can handle PC - PC by simply using dropbox and setting up file system symlinks. My issue is the PC to PS4
This was implemented via save server slots on the login screen in FFXI, and had no issues. I was limited to only a few slots and could only be accessed from the character select screen.

The issue with the thumbdrive is that sony requires the game data to be encrypted on media (so SE claims in 2103), so any option would have to be done in-game.

I suggested letting us link our dropbox accounts to server as the server / storage between the two consoles, but honestly storage is cheap and 6 TB isn't a lot for that many users. a 6 TB datacenter grade Western Digital HDD is only $250 USD and would cover all of the users in your example. If even 10 of those people feel like I do and bought the PC version, they would make up that cost. Also my PC character data is only 630Kb... so that number definitely isn't for every user

[VanarCalmcacil]

Also the launcher on PC has an option to export / import for xfering PC to PC using thumbdrive

[Niwashi]

I, too, would like to buy the PC version of the game, but this lack of support for transferring settings is what's keeping me from doing so.

I read an interview a while ago (wish I could remember where, so I could post a link and get an exact quote) saying that when SE did the PS3 -> PS4 transfers they contracted with Sony to use Sony's servers to hold the data. SE had looked into setting up their own server for the purpose, but what held them back was the fact that they expected a huge rush of data transfers at once when the PS4 was released but then a much smaller trickle thereafter on an ongoing basis. It's really hard to properly design a system for that sort of pattern, since if it's engineered (as of course, it needs to be) to support the big surge, then it's horribly over-engineered and wasteful all the rest of the time. SE didn't want to deal with that problem, so contracted Sony to do so, and Sony's involvement was what locked it into being strictly console to console only.

The thing is, that big surge is over. Now, SE could move it to their own server without that problem, since the ongoing transfers from system to system would be fairly steady. It would also be fairly predictable based on the number of accounts with multiple platforms licenced. A bit of setup work to make the transfer work both from and to any platform type, and a little space on one of their own servers to hold it, and SE could make it far more attractive for players to buy multiple platform licences.



... or, better yet of course, they could simply move this data off our local machines entirely, and put it with the rest of our regular character data like it arguably should have been to begin with. Then, transferring back and forth wouldn't even be an issue. Of course, that would require their storing it for all characters rather than just those moving between platforms.

[Maeka]

... or, better yet of course, they could simply move this data off our local machines entirely, and put it with the rest of our regular character data like it arguably should have been to begin with. Then, transferring back and forth wouldn't even be an issue. Of course, that would require their storing it for all characters rather than just those moving between platforms.

And who exactly is going to fit the bill for the 6+ Terabytes per server for the storage space?

[Niwashi]

And who exactly is going to fit the bill for the 6+ Terabytes per server for the storage space?

A few seconds worth of subscription fees. And that's before they undoubtedly make more than that back from those of us who could finally buy the game for additional platforms.

[Lolokine]

I totally agree! At the very least, and I cringe to even suggest this..but offer this a mog station option. I can tell you I'd happily pay a "reasonable" amount for this feature.

[Dzian]

Are the files that store this information still located in the Documents Folder? In 1.0 you could simple copy the files from one PC to the Other.

C:\Users\####\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\FFXIV_CHR##########\

Sorry PS3 peoples.

They are and you can. My documents folder is synced with my nas in real time. Which has the added bonus that any changes I make to xiv on my pc are automatically synced to my laptop.

While I would love for a server solution, I'm imagining that it is a logistics problem having to do with server bandwidth and storage space.

Just think of it.

\My Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV\ (where I've read the stuff is stored)

Is 20MB and I only have two characters (the one I haven't touched in forever).

Now, if we assume that everybody used the server to store it, let's say 15MB for a single character (that other character is nowhere near high of level or has as many hotbars etc to save), and if we assume there are how many people on a server again? According to a March 2017 census, the American server with the highest character population was Famfrit at 290k..

So, you would have to realistically provide for ~300k to allow some buffer room. If each character is 10-15MB of data (possibly more, so let's say 20MB to be generous because when you program, you do generous numbers to make sure you don't overrun), then you need to provide nearly 6,000 Gigabytes or 6 Terabytes.

I dunno about you, but that sounds like a LOT of storage space to devote for UI settings.

Think You'd find that most of that 20 megabytes is going to be screen shots or logs.

My actual character data folders (the ffxiv_chr000XXXX folders) are only about 650k each.. so based on that...

And who exactly is going to fit the bill for the 6+ Terabytes per server for the storage space?

A million players wouldn't even consume a single terabyte of storage space.

so you wouldn't need anywhere near 1 terabyte per server let alone 6 terabytes. 2-3 could do the entire playerbase

[VanarCalmcacil]

And who exactly is going to fit the bill for the 6+ Terabytes per server for the storage space?

And Players like me and Niwashi would buy the PC versions of the base game and/or 2 expansions if we had this feature. This 20-$60 profit for SE per player, especially if that player buys the digital edition which costs SE $0.

[VanarCalmcacil]

They are and you can. My documents folder is synced with my nas in real time. Which has the added bonus that any changes I make to xiv on my pc are automatically synced to my laptop.


Think You'd find that most of that 20 megabytes is going to be screen shots or logs.

My actual character data folders (the ffxiv_chr000XXXX folders) are only about 650k each.. so based on that...



A million players wouldn't even consume a single terabyte of storage space.

so you wouldn't need anywhere near 1 terabyte per server let alone 6 terabytes. 2-3 could do the entire playerbase

My files are around that same size as well, hence my initial estimate of 1-3 MB per character.

Also, I am fine with the options for PC - PC, PS4 - PC is why I cast VerRaise on this post.