Just Starting; Couple of Questions

Kankan

Ok I just d/l the game this morning and hopped on for a few minutes before I have to get ready for work. What I noticed first were the graphics. Not the same look as I remembered when I gave this game a spin some 3-4 yrs ago. Anyone aware of any issues w/ Vista or Nvidia Cards. I know its not the game or at least I dont believe its the game. Looks dull and not real crisp if those help at all as a description. Any help or links would be appreciated if its something I can fix on this end.

I run a Intel Core 2 6600 2.4 w/ 2g ram. Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS and Vista as operating system

Thanks

abistar

The visual presentation that Final Fantasy XI presents is now very outdated, there is nothing that you can do really to make the graphics look less dull, I used the Vibrant option from the Nvidia panel to kinda make the visuals just that "a bit more vibrant", that out aside, what kinda graphics issues are you having? I have the same card as you and the game runs and looks pretty, do you have the latest video drivers? also you might want to pump up the anti-aliasing and the anistrophic filtering, with those at 1280X1024 looks very nice, not to Tabula Rasa or Lotro standards, but nice.

ParkCarsHere

Originally posted by Kankan


Ok I just d/l the game this morning and hopped on for a few minutes before I have to get ready for work. What I noticed first were the graphics. Not the same look as I remembered when I gave this game a spin some 3-4 yrs ago. Anyone aware of any issues w/ Vista or Nvidia Cards. I know its not the game or at least I dont believe its the game. Looks dull and not real crisp if those help at all as a description. Any help or links would be appreciated if its something I can fix on this end.
I run a Intel Core 2 6600 2.4 w/ 2g ram. Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS and Vista as operating system
Thanks

I have a similar system for my laptop - Windows Vista OS, Core 2 Duo 1.7ghz, 3gigs ram, and 8800M GTS so I have maxed out the graphics with a 1440 x 900 resolution. I just came back to FFXI a couple days ago after not playing since it launched. I also noticed that the graphics looked a little strange, but you'll get used to them and they will no longer be a problem anymore. The art style that is used in FFXI looked great a few years ago, but today with all the great cell shading graphics and things of that nature we look at it with a different perspective.

In essence, I'm saying there most likely is not a problem - that's the way it is supposed to look, based off your comments (which pretty much mirrored my own first impressions).

curiindi

A while back, a friend of mine had been complaining about a problem with FFXI compatibility on newer Nvidia graphic cards - 8000 series? I remember him saying later that certain setting changes allow FFXI to run more smoothly. Unfortunately, I also remember the mention that those changes still don't work for the latest graphic cards.

Kankan

thanks for the posts. I'll see if i cant make a few changes and see if I can see a difference.

ParkCarsHere

Well after reading what curiindi I decided to search around and see what I could come up with, and here's what I found:

(link: http://tech.octoberasian.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=1)

GeForce 8000 series and FFXI

There are known issues with FFXI and using an nVidia Geforce 8000 series graphics card (8400 to 8800 models). The issues mostly appear in Windows Vista (all versions) and sometimes in Windows XP.



The problems are the following, but not limited to:

- Graphical corruption within FFXI

- Incorrectly displayed textures

- Missing weapons, armors, and/or appendages

- Incorrectly rendered special effects

- White boxes overlayed on all text and buttons within FFXI

- Slowdown and increased lag in certain or all areas of FFXI

Are there any known fixes to this?

At this time, of all the things I have suggested, there seems to be no fixes at this time. The problem is partly the fault of both Square Enix and Nvidia. Square Enix for using an outdated graphics engine that is wholly dependent on the CPU and is DirectX 8-based. Nvidia for not quickly realizing the problem and not releasing an immediate fix in ANY of their driver updates.

There might be hope some time after Wings of the Goddess is released in November 2007. SE did announce back at E3 2007 a few months ago that FFXI will get a slight graphical update in terms of increased draw distance and an upgrading of the graphics engine to DirectX 9. Unfortunately, as said above, Square-Enix will no longer update the code in FFXI to DirectX 9.

It is theorized that the graphical issues are due to how DirectX 8 data is processed in a DirectX 10 GPU. DirectX 9 has no problems running on a DirectX 10 GPU. It is also how drivers are developed for Windows Vista and how graphics are rendered in that operating system.

Kankan

Thanks again to all for the info. I went as suggested and maxxed everything I could and the game now looks as I remembered it. Now I just have to remember how to play, I may have to resort reading the manual.

 

ParkCarsHere

Originally posted by Kankan


Thanks again to all for the info. I went as suggested and maxxed everything I could and the game now looks as I remembered it. Now I just have to remember how to play, I may have to resort reading the manual.
 

Haha, that was the hardest part for me too. It's all about the num pad!

Satimasu

You could use a controller. It works great since it was really designed around it.