Transferring UI setup

[Asharon]

Looking for an update on this also. Play primarily on my PC, would love to play more on my ps4 but it is just way to much effort to re set up everything.

I just can't be bothered to redo my ui, macros, hot bars and gear sets for multiple classes and key binds. Not to mention maintain any changes across both platforms. I can't even remember half the settings I've tweaked over the last few months. There needs to be a way to sync multiple platforms. Until than my ps4 copy feels like a waste which is disappointing.

[Niwashi]

Ok, necro time:

Greetings,

With people playing on multiple PCs as well as being able to play on both PS3 and PC, the development team understands how convenient it would be to share HUD layouts and gear sets between different clients. As such, they are currently looking into a way to address this in order to build a smoother play environment.

I'm bumping this thread to share a comment from Hiroshi Minagawa in regards to a tool for saving and loading settings.

<snip of some Windows specific stuff>

* There are no legal or technical restrictions for the Windows version when it comes to the moving or the overwriting of saved game files. We understand the need for the PS3 and PS4 versions, and are continuing to look into methods to do this.

Ok, so the development team has been "looking into a way to address this" for a year now. Isn't it about time we got such a feature? Couldn't the feature that was put in for PS3 to PS4 migrations be expanded to coordinate between multiple platforms? It would need just a couple changes:

1) The PS3 -> PS4 migration tool works in one direction only. You can only upload settings from a PS3 and can only download those settings to a PS4. Switch that to being omni-directional, so players can choose to either upload settings or download them from any platform type, PS3, PS4, or PC.

2) Downloading settings from that migration tool overwrites all local settings, even ones (like HUD layout) that are not included in the transfer. As a result, all HUD elements get moved back to their original default positions every time you do the transfer. That would have to change, so that only those elements (gear sets, hotbars, macros, etc) which are being transferred get overwritten by the download, and anything else (like HUD layout) remains as it was.

With those two changes, the migration tool could become a platform-coordinating tool for players who play from multiple machines.


Note: I still think it would be better overall for these settings (gear sets, hotbars, macros) to be stored server side on a regular basis, rather than having an upload / download tool to coordinate them. But if the concern is that saving them server-side for all players would take a lot of space on the database servers, this keeps it limited to only storing that info for players who do in fact play from multiple machines.

One way or the other, please make coordinating this data between platforms possible. Thank you.

[VanarCalmcacil]

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.

[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]

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

[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

[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.