Comments from the Devs

[Amastacia]

You realize that's not a good thing right? It's largely the problem with single cards as well, most noticeable around crowded crystals. As FPS drops, so does your GPU usage... which shouldn't happen.

I have never seen FPS drop and GPU utilization go down. I keep MSI Afterburner up on my 2nd monitor tracking GPU usage (amongst other things) 24/7.

More crowded/busy areas may cause framerate drops (from 60 down to 50ish), but are never accompanied by lower GPU utilization. Rain spikes GPU utilization significantly, without affecting framerate. Different areas will put different load on the GPUs (anywhere from 25% in parts of La Noscea, to around 60% when raining, especially in the Black Shroud).

[Waraji]

I have an update on a design-related change to the upcoming instanced raids: Previously we announced that a player who was disconnected during an instanced raid would be able to return to their party members' location upon reconnecting. However, a change has been made during the balance adjustment phase and disconnected players will now return outside of the dungeon when they log back in.

Happy Day.

Spoiler: show

Over and Over and Over.

[Cichy]

Thank goodness! That should have been done at release imo, but super happy it is finally coming. I'm willing to bet, that just with chocobos being added, it will bring more players back.

You still need destinations to which you're going to ride that chocobo.

[Corrderio]

Happy Day.

Spoiler: show

Over and Over and Over.

I still can't believe that bullshit. So if you DC you're screwed?

[Waraji]

Gotta wait for that Dungeon Reset! Yum.

[Celeras]

I have never seen FPS drop and GPU utilization go down. I keep MSI Afterburner up on my 2nd monitor tracking GPU usage (amongst other things) 24/7.

Then you don't pay attention.

[Arximiro]

I just seen that Dev post... what the fuck. Even FFXI didn't have that fucking problem. How could their shit possibly be so bad that they can't even manage shit FFXI was able to do on the PS2 which is less powerful than my god damn phone.

[Grey Jorildyn]

I think their plan is to sandwich all the good news meat between bad news bread.

[Amastacia]

Then you don't pay attention.

If only. But no.

Ever since you mentioned the FPS vs. utilization thing, I've been keeping a close eye on it each time I log in. Even the 30 minute default history of Afterburner's monitoring graphs is plenty to see changes in framerate and GPU loading.

Not once has my GPU utilization gone down when FPS dropped.

Happy Day.

Spoiler: show

Over and Over and Over.

Yeah, that's just completely shitty. What the fuck, SE?

[Jojimbo]

The only place my GPU usage drops is in town (CPU 'spikes' to 20~30% and GPU % drops). Haven't seen it happen outside, although I don't keep an eye on it all the time.

[Kaylia]

I still can't believe that bullshit. So if you DC you're screwed?

"Our healer dc'd guys" is going to be amazing.


Seriously, how bad is the server code for shit like this? Actually, what the hell did they do during 3-5 years? This isn't professional games design, it's a random mess that any programmer could make on the side, alone.

[Corrderio]

Well there's a rumor that you can now enter after being DCed, though it still seems like a retarded concept. If you find something that can be exploited so badly you find it best to remove someone out of the dungeon then you really need to rethink your shit.

[Amastacia]

Yeah, the smarter answer is definitely to consider designing the dungeon such that disconnecting won't provide an advantage.

[Niiro]

I DC from XIV maybe 1-2 times a week. At least half of my DCs happen during a leve that I've used aspect on.

:insert appropriate rageface:

With such simple problems remaining unresolved since Alpha it makes me wonder if, from a development standpoint, we're still pretty much in the +Alpha stage. After the -Alpha and -Beta we're finally in the positive. By 1.20 we'll be in +Beta.

[Celeras]

If only. But no.

Ever since you mentioned the FPS vs. utilization thing, I've been keeping a close eye on it each time I log in. Even the 30 minute default history of Afterburner's monitoring graphs is plenty to see changes in framerate and GPU loading.

Not once has my GPU utilization gone down when FPS dropped.

Well aren't you a special peach? Because it's been a well noted problem since launch, and still happens. Proof under spoiler.

Spoiler: show

http://www.razorbites.com/celeras/60fpsbgidiot.jpg
http://www.razorbites.com/celeras/lowusagebgidiot.jpg

The only place my GPU usage drops is in town (CPU 'spikes' to 20~30% and GPU % drops). Haven't seen it happen outside, although I don't keep an eye on it all the time.

It's related to the character models, so town is likely the only place to pick it up now anyway. You used to be able to notice it drastically everytime you got within distance of a camp. If you're looking for it, find a place with a clump of people, run out of range of them and then approach. Spinning your camera up can help since you have nothing but the people and the ground on the screen.

[Lucavi]

"Our healer dc'd guys" is going to be amazing.


Seriously, how bad is the server code for shit like this? Actually, what the hell did they do during 3-5 years? This isn't professional games design, it's a random mess that any programmer could make on the side, alone.

I called shitty server code a week into alpha and caught massive amounts of shit for it. It wasn't even hard to see; people were just blinded by equal parts hope and nostalgia, but the truth always shines through in these situations; it only takes time.

Edit: Holy shit, Celeras. Invest in a fucking fan or a heatsink for your card. 80 degrees Celsius?

[Amastacia]

Well aren't you a special peach? Because it's been a well noted problem since launch, and still happens. Proof under spoiler.

It's related to the character models, so town is likely the only place to pick it up now anyway. You used to be able to notice it drastically everytime you got within distance of a camp. If you're looking for it, find a place with a clump of people, run out of range of them and then approach. Spinning your camera up can help since you have nothing but the people and the ground on the screen.

I believe that it happens, I'm just saying it's not universal.

One thing I will say is that when I had FFXIV installed on a RAID0 of 10kRPM drives, I would get stuttering in camps and in town, due to trying to load enormous amounts of player texture data. I didn't keep that close track of FPS + GPU utilization at that time, but I wouldn't be surprised if both were down.

When my new SSD arrived, I decided to try installing FFXIV on it instead, in the hopes that the stuttering would go away. It did.

I don't know for sure if the framerate/GPU utilization/HDD throughput are related, but I wouldn't rate it as impossible.

Anyway, last post on the subject, I don't want to derail this thread any further. Was just championing CF/SLI since it made a big difference in playability in this game for me (especially paired with installing on an SSD). I know it's not a cost-effective solution, and I do not claim it is, but there are no shortages of enthusiasts who run CF/SLI, or who use SSDs.

[Niiro]

Well aren't you a special peach? Because it's been a well noted problem since launch, and still happens. Proof under spoiler.

Spoiler: show

http://www.razorbites.com/celeras/60fpsbgidiot.jpg
http://www.razorbites.com/celeras/lowusagebgidiot.jpg

It's related to the character models, so town is likely the only place to pick it up now anyway. You used to be able to notice it drastically everytime you got within distance of a camp. If you're looking for it, find a place with a clump of people, run out of range of them and then approach. Spinning your camera up can help since you have nothing but the people and the ground on the screen.

What program do you use to get the display readings like that?

I'm not savvy enough to do much with the information but I'm curious to see what's going on as I play (fans whine like a banshee when running XIV).

[miokomioko]

My system makes a giant sad face when I get up to like 60+ C. Overclocking has proven to be largely too unstable for me to bother with all of the rebooting to get just right... although I would love to get my CrossfireX to fuction to at least some degree in windowed mode.

[Waraji]

What program do you use to get the display readings like that?

I use MSI Afterburner. EVGA Precision will do the same thing, I'm sure there are a couple more that do as well.