Hello A little Question about Graphics

[The_Immortal_Moo]

I could not locate a thread about this, and I found this to be the correct spot to ask this question.

A few years ago I saw this game, and the graphics wern't that great almost grainy...if you know what I mean.

I was wanting to start playing again with my Fiance, (she on the PC, me on the 360) and I was wanting to know if there has been any upgrades or options for the new age console/PC to enhance the graphics?


Oh I am new by the way here is my introductory post!
http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/new...tml#post801143
^_^;;

[Sir Cledwin]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

as far as I know the graphics are the same as they have always been... but lets think if that has stopped games like Diablos or Guild Wars from being popular

[Effedup]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

The graphics on the 360 have been bumped up some compared to the PS2 version (I couldn't really tell you specifically how the compare as I've never seen it played on the 360), but I can tell you that with the PC version there is a few registry edits you can do that will HIGHLY improve the games graphics. Don't get me wrong, you're not going to see "Crysis" level detail no matter what you do, as FFXI is getting up there in age, and the needed console support limits things like FPS...but you can do some amazing things with the registry edits, and it totally is a night and day difference compared to the default.

Click here for a thread that gives you a walkthrough on how to edit the registry. Keep in mind, the thread is older, so what was the upper limit on how high you could go has obviously been eclipsed some by the newer hardware out there. Here's another link that gives a rundown of what a few of the registry values pertain to, and some basic side by side comparisons.

Editing the registry for ffxi is easy if you know what you're doing, but if you are unsure about anything please ask...you can really mess things up (actually had to walk a friend through repairing his registry edits last night after he messed it up lol) so, as with anything of this nature, be sure you backup your registry before you make any changes in case something gets broken, or at least, copy down what the existing values are so you can go back and fix it.

What are the specs of the PC, and the resolution of the monitor you're going to be playing on? I can give you a couple starting points if you need them...

[The_Immortal_Moo]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

I like guild wars graphics, ha ha , Roleplaying is what iam looking for though, but it was just a quick question heard there was an option to enhance the graphics with some update, thanks :D!
______________________________

The graphics on the 360 have been bumped up some compared to the PS2 version (I couldn't really tell you specifically how the compare as I've never seen it played on the 360), but I can tell you that with the PC version there is a few registry edits you can do that will HIGHLY improve the games graphics. Don't get me wrong, you're not going to see "Crysis" level detail no matter what you do, as FFXI is getting up there in age, and the needed console support limits things like FPS...but you can do some amazing things with the registry edits, and it totally is a night and day difference compared to the default.

Click here for a thread that gives you a walkthrough on how to edit the registry. Keep in mind, the thread is older, so what was the upper limit on how high you could go has obviously been eclipsed some by the newer hardware out there. Here's another link that gives a rundown of what a few of the registry values pertain to, and some basic side by side comparisons.

Editing the registry for ffxi is easy if you know what you're doing, but if you are unsure about anything please ask...you can really mess things up (actually had to walk a friend through repairing his registry edits last night after he messed it up lol) so, as with anything of this nature, be sure you backup your registry before you make any changes in case something gets broken, or at least, copy down what the existing values are so you can go back and fix it.

What are the specs of the PC, and the resolution of the monitor you're going to be playing on? I can give you a couple starting points if you need them...

Wow thanks for that, well the pc i will be running it on will be:
RAM:
6GB
GPX Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT- 512MB (dedicated)
Monitor = 22' Screen resolution set to 1280x1024

And I will take a closer look at those tutorials as soon as I get the game installed on the computer.
(I applied for a credit card a few weeks ago...have to wait till i recieve them in order to set up both accounts)

we bought them...guess that was only step one

[Sir Cledwin]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

well if you like Guild Wars Graphics.. you will like the unedited graphics for FFXI because they are immeasurably better than Guild Wars :p

[Effedup]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

Wow thanks for that, well the pc i will be running it on will be:
RAM:
6GB
GPX Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT- 512MB (dedicated)
Monitor = 22' Screen resolution set to 1280x1024I

Wow, a 22" running at 1280x1024? That seems low to me given the size of your monitor, my brothers 22" widescreen runs at 1680x1050, which is why I ask.

First off, make sure you are editing these settings in decimal, there's a little button when you right click-edit a value that says hex and decimal, and 1280 in HEX is WAAAAY more than 1280 in decimal (thats what my freind did last night actually lol) so yeah, make sure it's decimal. Anyways, if you check out that second link, you'll see that registry values 0001 and 0002 are your screen resolution...specifically, thats the "overlay", the text boxes, menus, and such...you are going to want to set them to what your monitor is actually running at. Anyways, given your res of 1280x1024, you'll want value 0001 to be 1280 and value 0002 to be 1024...this will match your overlay res to your monitor and you don't want to jack it up too much higher as you'll end up with microscopic text).

Values 0003 and 0004 are your background resolution, which is the core game's graphics, character models, pretty much everything you see that isn't a text bar or menu. The cool thing is, you can actually set these values higher than your current resolution, which makes your video card over-sample the textures and such, meaning when it's scaled back down to display it on your monitor it will be smoother looking and erase some of the "rough edges" you see normally (the first group of pics in that second link is a side by side of the differences). Given you're hardware, I would say to start with 2x sampled, meaning value 0003 would be 2560 and value 0004 would be 2048. Load up the game, run around town (look for somewhere more populated, I use the Lower Jeuno A.H. as my testbed), pick a fight, do anything that you can think of that would be taxing to the computer and see how it runs...if it's smooth then you're probably good to go. If not, adjust those values down to 1280x1024 and test again. It should definitely run at that setting. Next thing is to go into the config in game and make sure you have the correct aspect ratio (1280x1024 is 5:4).

Anyways, some other values can be edited as well, but focus on the 0001-0004 values cause that'll have the biggest impact...you can play with the other ones later as you feel the need to.

[The_Immortal_Moo]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

ha ha microscopic text...that would be fun xD, the reason its that setting is we use the monitor as a tv as well (wireless mouse/keyboard) and it sits about.....5 or more feet from us,


Thanks again, I copied all that and sent it to my self in a email to make sure it wont be lost, as soon as i can get ahold of a credit card i will set the account up and install the game on the pc, and tweak it

[Ameroth]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

Just to be blunt, if graphics are mainly what you're looking for in FFXI, you're going to miss out. The graphics aren't bad, but are definitely dated for PC games now-a-days. However, FFXI doesn't need to rely on graphics to accomplish its task of being an enthralling game. While I would recommend scaling the graphics up on your PC, don't expect the game to turn into anything particularly amazing.

[Feenicks]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

At any rate, the graphics are way better than that of WoW, so you've made the right decision.

[Sir Cledwin]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

Just to be blunt, if graphics are mainly what you're looking for in FFXI, you're going to miss out. The graphics aren't bad, but are definitely dated for PC games now-a-days. However, FFXI doesn't need to rely on graphics to accomplish its task of being an enthralling game. While I would recommend scaling the graphics up on your PC, don't expect the game to turn into anything particularly amazing.

I couldn't have said it better myself... I mean we are the only game to have made the news because of one of our two 18+ hour Notorious Monster Fights

[The_Immortal_Moo]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

I couldn't have said it better myself... I mean we are the only game to have made the news because of one of our two 18+ hour Notorious Monster Fights

18 hours? wowwwwwwwwww

[Ameroth]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

18 hours? wowwwwwwwwww

Take that with a grain of salt. From the looks of it, the 18hr fight was a gross misunderstanding of how to kill the NM by the group attempting it. At the risk of rehashing this discussion, suffice it to say no video game should ever require players to endure that. Even SE isn't that stupid...

I hope.

[The_Immortal_Moo]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

Yea something I've noticed about the game...if I am going to be playing it I might as well dedicate a whole day to it....


The game rather...throws you out on a leash with little to no tutorials, the Role Playing and community are quite nice and enjoyable by far....

but my white mage Elvann from sandoria took nearly two days to level up to 10, and progress to rank 2, an experienced player probably could have done the same in quite less the hours. while I did enjoy the breath taking scenery and the growing interesting story line (from sandoria)

I have met some experienced players for this game but even with there assistance when they can, they cannot help me to the extent a simple tutorial could suffice,

I liked how they made it to where you must talk to people to find out if they have a quest for your rather than it being the obvious....but on the other hand....that makes the game time consuming running from person to person...but does allow you the feel of the world.


This is an AMAZING world and to truly get the full enjoyment out of it I believe it takes more than I can give it....

I still have a few weeks left to fully decide...but I have a stron LOVE/Hate with this game. And I don't think My fiance could stand me spending another weekend only with the game and not her! ha ha

[Ameroth]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

All the tutorial you need: FFXIclopedia

And yes, FFXI is a game that does make some strenuous time demands for a lot of content. Then again, there's more content that doesn't require devoting several hours in succession.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Hello A little Question about Graphics

18 hours? wowwwwwwwwww

You don't happen to work for G4, do you?