FFXI Finally In High Quality Graphics

You leave the box for Disable and passthru to real DirectX ticked until Playonline Viewer is booted, then untick it and hit apply again. After that DGVoodoo will take over.

just tried this and i checked that i could see the watermark

howver i am strongly disapointed in the horrible text quality i am getting from using this


Normal:
https://s9.postimg.org/h0g0wwjhr/Normal.png
all nice and pretty text font

DgVoodoo
https://s9.postimg.org/n1dptyye7/DGvoodoo.png
this lokks horrible like pixel resized text. it a huge annoyance to read.

So what can i do to fix this besides uninsall dgvoodoo again ?

--- edit ---
solved it
by chaning anisotrophic filtering from app driven to almost anything else gave me bakc the nice fonts.
so far im setting it on 4x ani since it removes alot of texture shimering with movement


howver it appears my mouse cursor has almost disapeared. it just lighlty flicker shortly in the game now.
still looking for a solutions for that

It's been said earlier, you need to disable hardware mouse inside Windower.

Inside dgVoodoo are you leaving the resolution to unforced and keeping it on windowed mode? Also you can turn on fast memory for a performance boost, it's left off because some games blow up but not FFXI.

If a word cloud was made of this thread that phrase would take up at least half of it.

Just bringing back my experience

Please note that I am not playing on a laptop with the GPU switching issue

- quality.
it was nice to be able to adjust the anisotropic filterings it did removes some texture shimmering that happened at high angle slow movements.
but it was not a wow effect.
In general, I saw no real difference between the two testing both with ambient light increased (windower default) as well as normal (vanilla FFXI default)

- performance
Benchmarking different places the FPS was withing margins of error.
it did not elevate my lag issues
again if you have a laptop with 2 GPU's this probably would be different for you

- annoyances
on the other having to go to software mouse was annoying as H3ll.
at 60fps the mouse flickering is way to fast and just looks annoying.
Also software mouse tens to jump around to selection and when you move the mouse it jumps back to where the mouse cursor was before it jumped to the default choice.
this made menu navigation and other stuff highly annoying

- In the end:
In the end, for me, it was more annoying with the mouse cursor jumping than any real benefits in quality or speed.
so I finally uninstalled it.
The step op from using windower to fake AA was way bigger than anything I got from Dgvodoo.



My Conclusing: Not worth the time unless you have the laptop dual GPU issues



Full disclousere
I did not try anything like adding reshades or any other tools besides dgvoodoo.
I did not mess with Bumpmapping. It was off under all my testing.

Tested: on Ryzen 1700 with GTC970

Using mouse in FFXI = instant fail.

Man you must need that self assurance a lot.
Do you feel better now?

If you need some more... I also use keyboard.

So like others who have installed this only to be able to play decently on a Laptop, I finally sat down and got it done. 2 issues I'm having are the random body parts floating and the worse one being random crashes. If anyone had any of those issues and figured out how to fix them please. Help a sister out!!

Random crashes used to occur with the older version of DGVoodoo prior to the developer fixing the issues related to crashes specific to FFXI. I'd recommend going to Main Page to download the latest WIP version because the latest stable version on the website was prior to his fix. That should fix the random crashes, if it doesn't then DGVoodoo may not be able to help you.

I've run into an issue where using DGVoodoo caps my fps at 30 and literally nothing I can think to do fixes it. I've read some other stuff about fastcs recapping fps at 30 but I don't use it. I've tried changing the config xml file and "//config FrameRateDivisor 1,2,0" but I always sit right at 30fps. The only way I can get it to change is by disabling DGVoodoo. Then I can see an instant change when putting in the command. Anyone else had this happen or have any idea what might be causing it?

Your graphics cards config. Under the DirectX tab on dgVoodoo there is a Force Vsync check box, turn that off. Inside your graphics cards control panel there is likely a setting for Vsync that's doing a Refresh/2 value.

Previously with FFXI being DX8 many of our graphics cards settings were ignored, but with dgVoodoo converting it to DX11 those settings will be relevant again. Just wait until you start adding ReShade to the mix, that really cranks up the appearance.

Well Force Vsync was already disabled in the directX tab of DGVoodoo but it was checked in the Glide tab. Not sure if that one matters so I turned it off too. Also checked my graphics card and it was disabled on there as well. Still no change. Literally none of the other functions of the config plugin work either. They did before. Only thing I can think that I did was that I had to go the actual FFXI Config to setup controller settings and after saving and closing it I've been having problems with config not working. I just don't get why disabling DGVoodoo is what fixes it.

I also tried installing reshade and it just crashes the game right before it starts. Windower and POL will run fine but as soon as the game window goes to open, it crashes.

Either your graphics drivers are borked or your dgVoodoo2 install is borked.

im a controller/keyboard guy but i have a programmable mouse with 24 slots.. it would be easy to make one for each macro and switching sets.

I ended up doing a full reinstall of everything ffxi related. I wiped the game itself, windower, dgvoodo, and any leftover files I could find. After reinstalling them, for some reason, I have control over the fps cap again. I'm just hoping that it doesn't magically take it away from me again.

As for Reshade, a few pages back you mentioned that it doesn't play nice with windower. Can you only use it for vanilla ffxi? If so, that's useless to me since obviously windower takes priority over extra shinies. But there were like 2 people that said it worked for them. If it is an issue with graphics drivers, that's a subject I know nothing about. This is the first pc I've ever owned that even has a graphics card and I've only had it for a few days lol.

Edit: Nevermind. Got it to work. Solution was something said way back on page 7. Had to change dxgi.dll and dxgi.ini in the POL folder to d3d11.dll and d3d11.ini respectively. Unfortunately, although it looks absolutely amazing, it makes the fps go all over the place. So I'll live without for now.

tried to read all the posts, but couldn't find an answer to this question that someone asked.

My character looks squished, and changing the aspect ratio in the game options (misc2) doesn't change anything.

is there any way to get that working so i can make my toons look fat again?

thanks.

This looks cool but it sounds like a giant pain in the *** to install so I’ll just admire the screenshots

Also Ronfaure looks totally different

if you are usign config plugin you need to change ration with the plugin. config plugin overwrites whatever you set in the game like autolock.

So I finally caved in last night and decided to give it a try. It's not as hard as some people are making out, but I can understand where some go wrong as some instructions are spread out across the thread. I set this up on two different accounts on seperate systems, and I'm going to monitor them over the coming weeks to see what's good/bad about it.

Step By Step Instructions

1) D3D Compilers - You should sort this out first, but most players will already have the correct .dll in the right place. If you don't, this step is 100% required.

>> D3D Compilers <<

Check your Operating System specs (If on Windows 10, open your Start Menu, click on "Settings", then "System", then "About") to see if you have 32 or 64-bit Windows.

32 Bit = Download Compiler_43 and put it in C:\Windows\System32
64 Bit = Download Compiler_47 and put it in C:\Windows\SysWOW64

As has been stressed before, if you already have the corresponding .dll in the right place, you do not need to replace it, you do not need to delete the old one, you simply leave this step alone and move on.

2) Downloading DGVoodoo2 / Moving d38d.dll.

The Work In Progress DGVoodoo was specifically created to help Final Fantasy XI, if you are using the wrong version you will experience issues.

EDIT: The latest version of dgvoodoo is acceptable. Download the latest from this link: dgvoodoo2

Find somewhere to unpack these files. For my own convenience, I extracted them in to a New Folder in my downloads folder, to make sure all the files were together in the same place.

Moving D38D.

Take notice of a folder called MS, because it has a very important .dll. Next you want to move the D38D.dll to the right place, but it depends on if you use Windower and whether it's 32 or 64-bit.

-If you use Windower and have 64-bit, move the file to: C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer

-If you use Windower and have 32-bit, move it to: C:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\PlayOnlineViewer

-If you do not use Windower and have 64-bit, move to: C:\Program Files (x86)\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI

-If you do not use Windower and have 32-bit, move to C:\Program Files\PlayOnline\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI

You do NOT need to move the other .dlls in the MS folder, leave them alone. You need to move D38D.dll to the correct folder, do not put multiples in different places or you may experience crashes.

3) Configuring DGVoodoo2

I made an error at this stage initially, as I didn't move the right files before configuring.

a) I do not know if this matters, but just to be sure, I moved dgVoodooCpl.exe and the 3dfx / MS folders to the same folder I moved D38D.dll too. The folders may not be necessary, but I found it doesn't hurt to move them anyways.

b) Some Windows 10 systems may have issues with some files as anti-virus programs may try to block them. I didn't have to do this, but if you run into problems, check the properties of these files and "Unblock" them. If you have issues you may have to look up how to unblock files with your anti-virus, or disable/uninstall the antivirus programs so you don't have to.

c) Travel to the folder you put dgvoodoocpl in, Right-Click the .exe and Run As Administrator. Failure to do this will make it impossible to save settings.

d) Start the dgvoodoo program. Under Config folder / Running Instance, "Add" the folder the .exe is in (the same folder you moved the files too). The following changes are for my system and what I want from this; I use a Desktop with Windows 10 64-bit, Nvidia GEFORCE 750 TI graphics.

Under General:

- Pick the graphics card under Adapters to use.

- Choose Windowed Appearance.

- Uncheck Capture Mouse.

Under Glide:

- Uncheck Force Vsync. (Saevel suggested it lately)

- Uncheck 3dfx watermark.

- I kept Antialiasing (MSAA) on App Driven, because when I turned it up I found serious dips in FPS in crowded areas and some battles.

Under DirectX:

- VRAM to 1024 MB (you may need to 512 if you multi-box)

- Uncheck DGVoodoo Watermark (keep it on the first time, so you know it works! You can uncheck it later)

- Check Fast Video Memory Access : Saevel suggested FFXI does not blow up and it gives a performance boost, yet it may interfere with taking screenshots.

- The right settings for (Texturing) Filtering and Antialiasing (MSAA) depends on your system and preferences. Enabling Supersampling in Windower should be considered. It's better to raise the filtering before AA. Saevel suggested x16 Filtering and x2 AA, but I found it was too much for me, so I'm sticking with App Driven on these for now. With a stronger system I could get away with higher settings in congested areas.

These options depend on your personal preference, and you can experiment til you find the right balance, but you'll have to restart the game several times to find the balance of quality and performance.

e) Click on "Apply" and the program should make a dgvoodoo.conf file in the same folder. If this doesn't happen, you've done something wrong. You do not need to do anything to this file, you just need to make sure it's created after you applied your settings.

4) Graphics Settings

I use Nvidia so I can't say what to do for AMD. Saevel suggested you make changes in your Nvidia Control Panel to force specific options for FFXI. You can find this in your Windows OS Control Panel. If you click Nvidia Control Panel and it does not start, you may need to install the latest drivers and restart the system.

When you get on the Nvidia Control Panel, click on "Manage 3D Settings", then "Program Settings", then go in to the drop down menu and select "All Play-On-Line Games (pol.exe)". Saevel suggested these settings:

- AA Mode on Application Controlled
- Power Management Mode on Adaptive
- Shader Cache to On
- FXAA Antialiasing to Off

Click Apply after this, and you're ready to sort out FFXIs options.

5) FFXI & Windower Settings

a) Some say this makes the font look funny. If this happens to you, go on the Start Menu, find Playonline, open FFXIconfig, and stick Fonts on "Compressed".

b) To sort out further graphics settings for FFXI with Windower, make sure you have the "Config" Plugin installed. Navigate to the Windower4/plugins/settings folder and open config.xml

You can do a lot here. If you want 60 fps instead of 30, put FrameRateDivisor on 1. I have Map and MobDrawDistance on 3, but can probably put higher if you want. AnimationFrameRate on 0. Clipping Plane is on 5, but it can go up to 10 if your system can handle it.

In the Windower 4 Launcher, it was suggested to turn Supersampling Off unless you know your system can handle it with Filtering and AA in dgvoodoo. I decided not to use Supersampling at this time, as I'm looking for stability at a higher frame rate than I'm used too.

In-game settings

High quality shadows drops FPS by a ridiculous amount, so make sure shadows are on Normal or turned off. Weather and other environmental effects should be ok to keep on.

Battle Animations is your choice, having them on makes battles look very pretty, but if you turn the graphics up too high you may notice big FPS drops. This is your personal preference; I don't like battle animations but my Dad does, so I'm going to get feedback off him later.

Side effects of having 60 fps is a camera which may turn too quickly (I'm slowly getting used to it as I played 30 FPS for 14 years). Your character may appear to float sometimes. On the upside, colours stand out more (like flowers) and all animations look clearer with more detail.

End For Now

I don't think I've missed anything, but if I have I've made this section to add more info. I hope having all of this in one place makes it easier for those installing it for the first time.

Since I've done this, I've been able to use Task Manager without it crashing FFXI, and I ain't seen any "checkerboard" crashes I randomly get with my card (and only with FFXI). Which is nice! The biggest thing to take away from this is how much clearer animations are. In towns you won't notice much difference, but in other areas you will notice things you never did before.

With my settings the FPS can sometimes drop to the 30-40 range (lots of PCs/NPCs/boat w/ shadows + weather in Mhaura), but I'm ok with that. I'm assuming if you want the smoothest gameplay, you could stick to 30, but otherwise go for 60 and accept that it might drop out sometimes. It doesn't make the game unplayable if configured right. I've yet to see any issues with bard songs or fire spells, but I can't say I've done anything with them yet. Will add more as I get it.

Thanks! Hope this is helpful to someone.

Is not possible to have it off on mules?

Yes, so you could have 1024 VRAM for your main, then have it off for your mules so you don't overload anything.

Added information on Supersampling and added more to my conclusion in the above post as I have the time now .. unlike earlier when I was having to rush. If anyone thinks I missed anything vital, please let me know.

Newer version of DGVodoo has the previous fixes rolled into it.

Newest Full Release 2.55 (2.54 didn't work with FFXI) released 3/26/2018

Newest WIP is WIP44 and that also works as it's 2.55 with additional fixes for various games.

http://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=51790&sid=6180453d1cccce9286e67d4c84851348&start=360#p659164

So you guys can update to the newer version to get a few bug fixes and some performance optimizations. Dege is a *** hero for retro gamers everywhere.

What's the difference between dgVoodooWIP44 and dgVoodooWIP44_dbg?

Furthermore which steps would you have to follow if you wanted to update DGvoodoo2?
The whole process? Some additional steps? Less?

I would say download the latest version, move it to the right folder, click the same settings you had before on the earlier release, then simply delete the .exe you was using before. I've not updated yet though.

Edit: Made some changes to the above guide, so as to not discourage anyone from downloading the latest version; which is working fine. Also, I cleaned up some of the text as it was a bit rushed.

Compared to the previous version I was using (WIP 35 I think?) and with Kylos' settings, the game is working fine but I'm getting some occasional (but consistent) big framerate drop.
From 29 to like ~5.

Happens every now and then.
Can't say what the cause is but at lest with previous settings and WIP 35 I wasn't experiencing this.

Is it the findall plugin issue? I've also had that issue with Logger before.

Question:

Trying to set this up on new laptop and anytime I log on a 2nd character the first one's screen freezes but I can see on other character that the input and whatnot is still going through. Can still move, type and whatnot but that char's screen isn't updating. Trying to tinker with settings 1 by 1 in dgvoodoo but am coming up empty handed so far. It's always right as the 2nd char switches from pol->ffxi, whatever character is already logged on locks up.

I had this on previous version with a specific mobile nvidia card, tried to work to fix it but could never get it, I dont think there is a way around it at this point.

That's pretty dissapointing.. I guess I will keep tinkering seeing if i can get it to work

I had that issue before myself and took me ages before I found out it was Findall.
Can only say FFXI was working fine 2 days ago, before I jumped from WIP35 to WIP44.
But yeah, I can't be 100% sure this is not caused by findall.
Guess I'll have to unload it and try again with WIP44.