How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

[Callisto]

So I picked up a new laptop recently and am adjusting to playing my 2nd account on it. I've figured out the Windower and whatnot and got my macro scripts set, and now I want to work on game settings to make it look purty...I found FFXI-Config and toyed with a few, but I honestly have no friggin clue what the options in there do or which would be best for my system. I did notice that if I try to set foreground resolution or w/e to 1024 x 1024 it always resets itself to the setting lower than that, I'm not sure what that does though.

Anyways, sorry for the complete noob ass post, but could someone outline what the different options actually do in FFXI-Config, which make it look nice and which lag the shit out of you?

Here's the specs on the laptop I got, I have no idea what any of this shit means so not really sure which of them are pertinent to running the game:

Specs

Toshiba Satellite A215-5837

Processor
AMD Turionâ„¢ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-60

Processor Speed
2.0GHz

Memory Size
2048MB

Memory Speed
PC5300 DDR2 667MHz SDRAM

Display Size
15.4" widescreen

Display Resolution
1280x800, Supports 720p content

Graphics Engine
ATI® Radeon™ X1200

Graphics Memory
128MB-319MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory

Hard Drive Size
160GB

Hard Drive Speed
5400rpm

Sorry if I missed an obvious thread that has this stuff, I tried to look through this section but couldn't really find any, please point me to it if I did.

[Lunaryn]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

If you mean background resolution, the ffxi config tool only goes up to 1024x1024, which isn't very nice on most modern screens. You need to edit the registry to go higher.

If you mean overlay resolution, and assuming you mean the 3rd party tool in your above reference, that's a known behavior/feature of the program, and this isn't the forum in which to ask about it. If you mean the windowed mode implemented by SE... then I have no clue either what would be going on.

[Taskmage]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

Graphics - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki perhaps?

Really, only three things cause my graphics to lag: too many people especially with high shadows, $#@% sand/snowstorms, and certain spell effects like bard songs and high level fire spells depending on the driver.

[Callisto]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

Thanks TM, I'll check that out when I get home. I somewhat remembered seeing a graphics guide but I thought it was on here or BG, and couldn't for my life find it when I tried searching.

And thanks Lunaryn, by editing the registry I believe you mean that stickied thread in this section, I'm pretty sure I understand what to do there...my main question is, judging by the specs of my laptop, should it be able to run those higher resolutions like that?

Side note: Playing on a compact keyboard is fucking awful.

[Ellipses]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

And thanks Lunaryn, by editing the registry I believe you mean that stickied thread in this section, I'm pretty sure I understand what to do there...my main question is, judging by the specs of my laptop, should it be able to run those higher resolutions like that?

Don't bother with the stickied thread. The wiki article is better. Your laptop shouldn't have any problems running at full resolution.

[Callisto]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

Fantastic, thank you. And this actually surprised the hell out of me: I was able to access the link at work, while BG-Wiki(I remembered this is where I had seen that guide) was blocked. For the last 6 months it's been the total opposite, FFXIclopedia blocked while BG-Wiki was fair game, lol.

[Lunaryn]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

Thanks TM, I'll check that out when I get home. I somewhat remembered seeing a graphics guide but I thought it was on here or BG, and couldn't for my life find it when I tried searching.

And thanks Lunaryn, by editing the registry I believe you mean that stickied thread in this section, I'm pretty sure I understand what to do there...my main question is, judging by the specs of my laptop, should it be able to run those higher resolutions like that?

Side note: Playing on a compact keyboard is fucking awful.

You can't always tell from just the specs, though your system looks powerful enough to be a good candidate. I've had better luck Radeons as far as using non-power-of-2 background resolutions such as 1536x1536 (A good choice for getting high quality on a modern DFP without overly straining the system the way 2048x2048 can) but ultimately you'll just want to try setting some resolutions and see whether the game performs well enough with those settings.

Also, a USB gamepad helps as far as ease of play on a notebook. As for getting used to typing on compact mode, it can be awkward, but it's not much different from getting used to typing in the JP version of the client.

[Callisto]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

Well the nice bit of confusion that got cleared up was that the standard resolutions aren't meant for widescreen, lol. It was bugging me that everything looked good zoomed in but 8-bit zoomed out, and I couldn't seem to find an aspect ratio that fit right.

Now today needs to friggin end already so that I can go home and play with this stuff.

[WishMaster3K]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

Wait a second, Cal, have you been on a console this whole time?

I think the planet might explode after you orgasm from your first RDM Windower Macro usage.

[Callisto]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

Yeah I went from PS2 to 360, I have worked out kind of an intricate macro deal to get in the most swaps that I can with console limitations. Unfortunately I don't think my RDM will ever see Windower macros, I'm extremely wary of putting my baby onto the laptop with all the account jacking and whatnot going around, I currently only use it for the DRG/BLU account I inherited.

[Lunaryn]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

If you're playing in fullscreen, you'll want to use your monitor's native resolution. That would be the largest resolution it supports. That's actually a key reason why higher background resolutions tend to be needed for newer displays, if you're on a CRT you can keep your overlay resolution under control without losing much. While I was on a CRT I kept the overlay resolution at either 800x600 or 1024x768. Now that I'm on DFP I have overlay at 1440x900, and as a result I end up switching between 1024x1024 and 1536x1536 on background depending on circumstances (my system still isn't quite beefy enough for 2048x2048 to be comfortable). Though if running windowed I tend to use either 800x500 or 960x600 depending on how much screen space I need for other windows (e.g. whether I need to read bits of web pages or see a map outside the FFXI window border). To get those resolutions you'll need to edit the registry, the ffxi config program only shows resolutions that your monitor supports the full screen being in.

You can set your aspect ratio in Config > Misc 2, this should be the aspect ratio of your overlay resolution. In my case I tend to try to keep everything in 16:10, but if you're used to 4:3 you might want to just run windowed and use a 4:3 overlay resolution like 800x600.

[Callisto]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

I see, I notice that the laptop's standard is 1280 x 800 widescreen, according to the guide the standard for that would be 1280 x 768 so I was going to go with that...which would mean 16:10 aspect ratio, I do believe that's what I was using already, so that works out.

I pretty much always play full screen and just alt+tab to other windows if I need to use them for something.

[Ellipses]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

1280x800 is 16:10. 1280x768 is 16:9.6.

You don't necessarily need to set the background resolution to a square. You can set it to exactly the same as your overlay resolution, or you can straight-up double your overlay resolution, or somewhere in between. At least, the squared background isn't required by FFXI. Some cards might need it, or perform better with it, but you can always try different combinations to see what works best.

[Ameroth]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

I'm extremely wary of putting my baby onto the laptop with all the account jacking and whatnot going around

This really isn't as large as an issue as the internet makes it seem.

[Callisto]

Re: How Do I Work This Crazy Thing?!

This really isn't as large as an issue as the internet makes it seem.

Yeah, and I do all the shit that you're supposed to do, keep my software updated, don't click on stupid shit, run NoScript/AdBlock, etc...I just know that losing a character with that much work put into it is officially quitting time, and not quite ready to quit, lol.

I will probably put it on there eventually for screenshots if nothing else, but even then not sure if I want to go through the trouble of all new macros for it, I've gotten really comfy with my 360 ones.