Your PC not that great, and wondering if you can even run the game? I have a little info to help you

eyeswideopen

Okay, my comp is old. Only a couple years old, but still old. Hell, it was old a month after I built it.

Anyway, here are my specs:

Manufacturer:	Self
Processor:	Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E6300 @ 2.80GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory:	2048MB RAM
Hard Drive:	1 TB Total
Video Card:	NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
Monitor:	19" ACER X191W
Sound Card:	Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Speakers/Headphones:	Technics SA-DX940 Stereo Receiver 5.1 Surround
Keyboard:	Logitech
Mouse:	Logitech Cordless Optical
Mouse Surface:	Mouse Pad
Operating System:	Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100226-1909)
Motherboard:	Biostar G31-M7 TE
Computer Case:	Custom

 

Now, as you can see, I have 2gb of ram, PC6400 (800mHz) ram to be exact. And I have a decidedly low-end video card, a 9500GT with 1gb of GDDR2.

I figured I wouldn't even get past the first loading screen for FFXIV. I was wrong.

Here are my game settings:

On the "Video Settings" tab, I have:

Fullscreen.

1440 x 900 resolution ( you could also drop this down to say 1280 x 960 or 1024 x 768 for a noticeable improvement, if you wish ).

No AA.

Buffer set to resolution.

Shadow Detail set to "Lowest".

On the graphics tab, I have:

Ambient Occlusion off.

Depth of Field off ( haven't tried it on, so no idea how much performance hit, if any, there is ).

Enable Hardware Mouse Cursor on.

Texture Quality set to "Standard" ( you can drop this to "Low" or "Lowest" for a noticeable improvement, if you wish ).

Texture Filtering set to "Low".

And I'm running the game fairly damn smooth.

Now here's the catch.

Cutscenes take about 30-45 seconds to load.

When entering an area, like an indoor place or a new playfield in the open or when transitioning from a cutscene, I have to wait about 30-45 seconds for NPCs, players, mobs to load. So I don't go rushing out when I hit a new area I'm gonna be fighting in.

This is more than likely the result of my having only 2gb of ram, plus the added bonus of the poor card. If I had 4gb of ram, I'd probably be fine in this regard even with a low-end card like mine.

So until I can upgrade my ram at least, I won't be grouping much. If for no other reason than to be fair to the other players, no reason to make everyone wait while stuff is loading for me in new areas.

Now then, once everything loads, I'm a-ok. Even with a bunch of players around, i get very little lag. I'm sure my FPS sucks ( not sure if there's an ingame FPS meter or not, haven't found one yet anyway ), but it's not a "slideshow" by any means. I do get a touch of lag when fighting, but not enough to be a real detriment. I'm not dying due to lag, so it's cool.

All in all, outside of the loadtimes from the occasional cutscene or when entering a new area, it's actually pretty smooth sailing.

So basically, if you've got a similar setup to, or better than, mine, you CAN run this game enough to be playable.

And just in case you think "Gawd, how awful the game must look at those settings!", here's a screenshot to dispel that fear a bit.

 

Anyway, hope this helps a bit. I'm getting back ingame now.

 

 

Bloodaxes

You got another option you forgot to tell them.

Ingame go to options and remove player shadows.

eyeswideopen

Originally posted by bloodaxes

You got another option you forgot to tell them.

Ingame go to options and remove player shadows.

Ah, you're right. Thanks for that.

Bloodaxes

Wish there was an option to remove only your character name too but meh I have to have such a long name on my head to know what are the people in front of me called.

Herodes

Thanks for the info, Zorvan. It was indeed a concern for me (9800GT, Vista32).

Btw, does anyone play this game with an older PC + Windows vista? Is it playable?

Quizzical

If loading times are a problem, then that's what solid state drives are for.  You might be able to improve loading times by defragging your hard drive and making sure it isn't close to being full.

moeloehoe

Originally posted by bloodaxes

Wish there was an option to remove only your character name too but meh I have to have such a long name on my head to know what are the people in front of me called.

/names off is the one for that

 

maybe you should check out the textcommands and macro commands at http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/

 

edit: sry didnt properly read: only char name off is not possible. but still for macros and stuff check out the official lodestone site.

ZorakGhostal

I have basically the same performance experience as the OP. Game runs fine almost always except for load times... which makes grouping very difficult and high concentration areas just look like empty spaces for like 3minutes? hah it's bad. I'm wondering if this is all server lag, or if it's me, a combination? And I actually have 4gigs of ram, so not sure that's the issue with load times. 

I played XI earlier in the year and it had the same long load times for cutscenes, and the same deal where only some NPC's and players would spawn at a time, but it was nothing like it is in XIV at the moment. Just wish I knew if it's something I need to deal with on my end or if it's the servers right now and that at some point they will respond more like the XI ones do now.

Bloodaxes

I think it's more because of the cpu you have such long waiting for loading.

Don't take my word 100% correct though because the server adds to this problem. (Mine takes like 5-10 sec for a cutscene to load)

laserit

"Now here's the catch.

Cutscenes take about 30-45 seconds to load.

When entering an area, like an indoor place or a new playfield in the open or when transitioning from a cutscene, I have to wait about 30-45 seconds for NPCs, players, mobs to load. So I don't go rushing out when I hit a new area I'm gonna be fighting in."

 

This has nothing to do with your pc, I have an I980X with a 1.5gig watercooled 480gtx, 6gigs ram, ssd drive, etc. I get a windows rating of 7.8 and I have the same loading times as you.

I think it has more to do with server lag.

eyeswideopen

Originally posted by laserit

"Now here's the catch.

Cutscenes take about 30-45 seconds to load.

When entering an area, like an indoor place or a new playfield in the open or when transitioning from a cutscene, I have to wait about 30-45 seconds for NPCs, players, mobs to load. So I don't go rushing out when I hit a new area I'm gonna be fighting in."

 

This has nothing to do with your pc, I have an I980X with a 1.5gig watercooled 480gtx, 6gigs ram, ssd drive, etc. I get a windows rating of 7.8 and I have the same loading times as you.

I think it has more to do with server lag.

That's the only real problem with running on a low-end system, I can't really tell what parts of the game are affected by my comp, and which are affected by the game/server stabiity. So I've just been judging on the side of error on my PC's part, as I don't want to judge the game unfairly if it's something on my end. But if this is something others with high-end systems are also experiencing, then at least it gives me a marker point on that particular area.

leojreimroc

Originally posted by Herodes

Thanks for the info, Zorvan. It was indeed a concern for me (9800GT, Vista32).

Btw, does anyone play this game with an older PC + Windows vista? Is it playable?

You'll be fine with a 9800GT.  That's what  I have.  I'm currently running at  1680x1050, 4X AA, texture quality and filtering are high, and shadows are standard.

laserit

It's actually quite amusing and I believe it has alot to do with the server's being in Japan.

My son has a rig right beside me, we play alot of games together and we can see each other's monitors. Somethings that  we have noticed are.

When we are traveling together he will actually be in front of me, on my rig he will be behind me and vice versa. When you are grouped with someone you will think they are at a certain position, when in actuality they are not. When we are moving, his toon will quite regularly pop and repop on my screen and vice versa.

We both have no problem rubberbanding or anything like that. It seems to just be the delay in the information of what is going on around us.

eyeswideopen

Okay, here's a bit of a graphics update.

Here http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl/envi/envi01.html SE gives the minimum and recommended specs.

Now, at the bottom, they also have recommended in-game settings.

 

FINAL FANTASY XIV® for Windows® - Recommended In-Game Settings

The following in-game settings are recommended to run the game smoothly.

Window Size and Display Mode	1280 × 720 (windowed)
Ambient Occlusion	OFF
Depth of Field	ON
Shadow Detail	Standard
Multisampling	4 × MSAA
Buffer Size	Window Size
Texture Quality	High
Texture Filtering	High

 

So apparently, these are the "default" settings they programmed for, as when I tried them ( only thing I dropped was the AA ), the load times decreased noticeably. So I would start here for your initial setup, then tweak as needed.

 

Also, here's another tidbit that I wouldn't have thought would affect graphics, but it did quite noticeably: using a controller.

Everyone says the game was meant to be played with a controller due to the UI, so I decided to plug one in and see the difference.

Well, of course, there was a difference as far as control goes. But a side effect was also smoother graphics. While playing with the keyboard and using the mouse to turn, it's a bit jerky ( like when you have low FPS ). However, when I plugged in the controller and left the mouse alone, movement immediately smoothed out.

For instance, using the mouse to turn the camera around by holding down right click while standing still, turning was slow. However, using the controller stick to turn the camera while standing still was smooth as butter and quick response.

So there is apparently some server lag in regards to using the mouse, i.e. how quick the server is getting the signal and returning one.

I'm starting to suspect that the "mouse support" is really just an emulator, with the clent "emulating" the controller through the keyboard and mouse, rather than natively being programmed for them.