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Square Enix expects loss of $140 million
 Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-02 14:55:17
Square Enix are upgrading XI right now, to future proof it for windows 11. This is the kind of work only the developer is really going to be able to do. Also a big company running a game can apply pressure to retain features in new versions of windows (or driver creators such as nvidia) in a way some rinky dink can't.
https://www.siliconera.com/final-fantasy-xi-director-discusses-server-replacement-windows-11-support-we-are-vanadiel/
What do you think will happen if this work isn't done for windows 12, 13 or 14? do you think the plebs running private servers can fix these kinds of issues when they can barely add new content from an expansion released 15 years ago?
Imagine if there is wall to wall black screen crashes on windows 12 or the game won't start. This is why private server people are far too comfortable for their own good.
It's not like you can just stick with old versions of windows either, Microsoft are actively going against this and forcing upgrades now. Even Windows 10 is being retired in 2025, when they cease all support for it and demand everyone get 11.
Absolutely nothing will happen, there is no change needed to run on any current or future version of windows.
Now run and "run well" are two different things, especially if future versions screw around with task scheduling and WDM. This is why the Retro gaming community has created things like dgVoodoo2 and Reshade. Today I have several games made during the 32-bit XP DX6/7 era that run on my 64-bit DX11/Vulkan Windows 10 system.
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Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-02 14:57:13
The best thing they could do to make it easy to install and run is make it run on DirectX 12 or Vulkan.
They can use AI to upscale all textures without much manual labour to increase graphics quality while they're at it.
We've already done that with other tools. Use the dx8to9 proxy then bolt DXVK onto it and viola Vulkan. I kinda like reshade and Vulkan doesn't help these extremely old engines.
Oh and it's like people haven't hard of AshenBubs or something.
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy11/mods/1
Use XIPivot with AshenbubsHD-Basic and you will way better textures. Combine that with dgVoodoo2 + Reshade and the graphics look much better.
By RadialArcana 2024-05-03 09:22:49
Ashenbubs mods are not HD (having a bigger texture size does not make them HD, having more detail does), they look worse than the original textures honestly. They offer a stylized version of the textures though which some appreciate (I'm not one of them).
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Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 167
By Carbuncle.Samuraiking 2024-05-03 09:33:54
The Odin upscale actually looks really clean, then on the next screen they show the Tatenashi and it looks like some shitty watercolor. Definitely very hit or miss.
Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-03 09:35:45
Ashenbubs mods are not HD (having a bigger texture size does not make them HD, having more detail does), they look worse than the original textures honestly. They offer a stylized version of the textures though which some appreciate (I'm not one of them). 
On the whole HD thing, he used AI upscaling algorithms along with hand editing to make all the textures 2x to x4 the size. Kind of the definition of well "High Definition". The x4 version can crash the game due to FFXI engine becoming unstable after 700~800MB used, so most people use the 2x version.
By RadialArcana 2024-05-03 09:41:28
Ashenbubs mods are not HD (having a bigger texture size does not make them HD, having more detail does), they look worse than the original textures honestly. They offer a stylized version of the textures though which some appreciate (I'm not one of them).
On the whole HD thing, he used AI upscaling algorithms along with hand editing to make all the textures 2x to x4 the size. Kind of the definition of well "High Definition". The x4 version can crash the game due to FFXI engine becoming unstable after 700~800MB used, so most people use the 2x version.
They are not HD, they are just bigger textures and more blurred.
I think they look terrible.
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 167
By Carbuncle.Samuraiking 2024-05-03 09:50:49
I mean... idk if this is a semantics thing or not, but like he said, they are upscaled with AI. I would consider that making it HD. Idk enough about programming/video game art to argue the logistics though, but I imagine unless they remake them from scratch, when most companies do "HD Remasters" and add in HD textures, they are also using AI and presumably doing the exact same thing as he did. Now, if you want to argue that THAT is also not HD... idk what to tell you.
I think the only exception to this are when games launch with an HD texture pack. They didn't make new HD textures and certainly not from scratch, they made those textures originally and downscaled it for the base game because the file size is too big. That is why so many *** new games are 100-200 gigs and ***now, they aren't downscaling it like they should and offering an HD option.
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Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-03 09:53:06
Carbuncle.Samuraiking said: »I mean... idk if this is a semantics thing or not, but like he said, they are upscaled with AI. I would consider that making it HD. Idk enough about programming/video game art to argue the logistics though, but I imagine unless they remake them from scratch, when most companies do "HD Remasters" and add in HD textures, they are also using AI and presumably doing the exact same thing as he did. Now, if you want to argue that THAT is also not HD... idk what to tell you.
I think the only exception to this are when games launch with an HD texture pack. They didn't make new HD textures and certainly not from scratch, they made those textures originally and downscaled it for the base game because the file size is too big. That is why so many *** new games are 100-200 gigs and ***now, they aren't downscaling it like they should and offering an HD option.
It's the very definition of high definition. Old boy just doesn't like them, which is ok and a valid position to have. Not sure why he feels the need to crap on them and those who do like them though.
The way textures and pretty much all graphics resources are made is there is an original concept art / sketch. Then someone takes that sketch and makes a texture out of it, then they run an algorithm against that texture to produce multiple sizes and store those as resources. In FFXI's case they chose 32x32 as the size due to PS2 memory limits.
What AshenBubs and every other modder does, is take those 32x32 source images and run an upscaler against them to produce 64x64 or 128x128 images. This used to by stuff like HQ2X, BRZx or SuperSAI, but recently AI assisted ones have come out that are much better.
Retro gaming community has been dealing with these things since the late 90's. How else could we get the ~320x240 NES resolution to look not-bad when scaled up to 1024x768, and later 1920x1080 and beyond.
By RadialArcana 2024-05-03 09:58:57
You can rip the texutre out of a dat file, put it into an AI upscaler and create a "HD" version as shown in ashenbubs in about 10 seconds.
Here is the original texture of an Aketon, it's jaggy but there is more detail there.
Here is the texture above put through an upscaler, took me a few seconds (this is what ashenbubs texture looks like). It smooths the textures at the cost of detail.
This is what HD mod looks like, his mods are not HD. This adds detail, his does not.
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 167
By Carbuncle.Samuraiking 2024-05-03 10:03:41
I mean, they both have more detail, which is the definition of HD, you just don't consider it high enough by your own personal standards. I don't think this conversation is going to go anywhere, but I will enjoy reading yall continuing to argue when I come back to check here later.
 Carbuncle.Nynja
Server: Carbuncle
Game: FFXI
Posts: 4102
By Carbuncle.Nynja 2024-05-03 10:04:38
Wake me up when theres an HD upscale that makes my mithra's booty jiggle when she does Stardiver.
Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-03 10:05:58
Carbuncle.Samuraiking said: »I mean, they both have more detail, which is the definition of HD, you just don't consider it high enough by your own personal standards. I don't think this conversation is going to go anywhere, but I will enjoy reading yall continuing to argue when I come back to check here later.
It's just his personal feelings and you can't really debate those.
By RadialArcana 2024-05-03 10:07:19
It's just his personal feelings and you can't really debate those.
bruh, look at the sandoria logo on the arm. There is no universe where the upscaled one is hd. Come on now.
Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-03 10:09:43
It's just his personal feelings and you can't really debate those.
bruh, look at the sandoria logo on the arm. There is no universe where the upscaled one is hd. Come on now.
Again
By RadialArcana 2024-05-03 10:13:38
Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-03 10:27:10
Yes we can both agree that you do crappy HD textures.
By RadialArcana 2024-05-03 10:28:50
Yes we can both agree that you do crappy HD textures.
I didn't do it, the AI upscaler did. Which is what he used too.
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Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-03 10:32:50
Yes we can both agree that you do crappy HD textures.
I didn't do it, the AI upscaler did. Which is what he used too.
Yes you did it, you used an AI upscaler that you picked out and tuned. Or likely didn't tune at all and just used something off the web.
So we both can agree that you suck at HD upscaling.
By RadialArcana 2024-05-03 10:36:49
Yes you did it, you used an AI upscaler that you picked out and tuned. Or likely didn't tune at all and just used something off the web.
So we both can agree that you suck at HD upscaling.
He didn't tune anything, you don't know what you're talking about.
also lol at you getting mad at this
there_is_no_need_to_be_upset.jpg
Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-03 10:45:23
Yes you did it, you used an AI upscaler that you picked out and tuned. Or likely didn't tune at all and just used something off the web.
So we both can agree that you suck at HD upscaling.
He didn't tune anything, you don't know what you're talking about.
also lol at you getting mad at this
there_is_no_need_to_be_upset.jpg
Riiight...
And ..ehh?
By RadialArcana 2024-05-03 10:48:18
I just took the dat out of his pack and ripped they texture out of it, how is it different than what I posted above. Other than I 200x it
You said what I posted is bad, so you're agreeing with me his texture is bad then.
Agreed.
Server: Fenrir
Game: FFXI
Posts: 1352
By Fenrir.Richybear 2024-05-03 10:50:05
Upgraded San d’Oria logo: ?
Server: Fenrir
Game: FFXI
Posts: 1352
By Fenrir.Richybear 2024-05-03 10:50:33
Awww poop emoji didn’t work lol
Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-03 10:54:46
You said what I posted is bad, so you're agreeing with me his texture is bad then.
Yes you are bad at HD textures.
By RadialArcana 2024-05-03 10:59:32
By Dodik 2024-05-03 11:29:25
Ashenbubs textures look very watered down and very very hit or miss.
I could not stand to look at the city textures so turned them off.
The re-done from scratch HD textures (I forget the name) are really good but heavy on the memory use.
Shiva.Thorny
Server: Shiva
Game: FFXI
Posts: 2852
By Shiva.Thorny 2024-05-03 11:52:09
My attempt to interpret what Radial is trying to say is that AI doesn't understand the source material. To boost the quality, they need to use algorithmic assumptions to fill in the blanks, so to speak. Because these are not perfect, they interpret some of the details wrong and end up removing them in the process. So, you get a sharper image but it's less true to the source material. It's still technically HD, but it's not really a HD remaster.
This is apparent with the aketon; the original has a lot of dull shading that appears to be intended as creases and imperfections. The AI upscaled one removed most of that. The hand-upscale(or whatever his spoilered picture is) kept it(and added further detail).
Most of Ashenbubs stuff does not add any further detail, so while they are clearly sharper, they still have a bland feel to me.
By K123 2024-05-03 13:47:30
The best thing they could do to make it easy to install and run is make it run on DirectX 12 or Vulkan.
They can use AI to upscale all textures without much manual labour to increase graphics quality while they're at it.
We've already done that with other tools. Use the dx8to9 proxy then bolt DXVK onto it and viola Vulkan. I kinda like reshade and Vulkan doesn't help these extremely old engines.
Oh and it's like people haven't hard of AshenBubs or something.
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy11/mods/1
Use XIPivot with AshenbubsHD-Basic and you will way better textures. Combine that with dgVoodoo2 + Reshade and the graphics look much better. Yes, some of us can do it, I bet most players can't/don't/won't, so SE should so everyone has it and the game is more appealing.
By K123 2024-05-03 13:51:27
My attempt to interpret what Radial is trying to say is that AI doesn't understand the source material. To boost the quality, they need to use algorithmic assumptions to fill in the blanks, so to speak. Because these are not perfect, they interpret some of the details wrong and end up removing them in the process. So, you get a sharper image but it's less true to the source material. It's still technically HD, but it's not really a HD remaster.
This is apparent with the aketon; the original has a lot of dull shading that appears to be intended as creases and imperfections. The AI upscaled one removed most of that. The hand-upscale(or whatever his spoilered picture is) kept it(and added further detail).
Most of Ashenbubs stuff does not add any further detail, so while they are clearly sharper, they still have a bland feel to me. "AI" isn't one model and things are changing every day though. There is upscaling that just increases pixel count and there is upscaling that increases the quality of images, and there are some which do both. Try putting one through Magnific or SUPIR.
Asura.Saevel
Server: Asura
Game: FFXI
Posts: 9933
By Asura.Saevel 2024-05-03 15:57:18
My attempt to interpret what Radial is trying to say is that AI doesn't understand the source material. To boost the quality, they need to use algorithmic assumptions to fill in the blanks, so to speak. Because these are not perfect, they interpret some of the details wrong and end up removing them in the process. So, you get a sharper image but it's less true to the source material. It's still technically HD, but it's not really a HD remaster.
This is apparent with the aketon; the original has a lot of dull shading that appears to be intended as creases and imperfections. The AI upscaled one removed most of that. The hand-upscale(or whatever his spoilered picture is) kept it(and added further detail).
Most of Ashenbubs stuff does not add any further detail, so while they are clearly sharper, they still have a bland feel to me. "AI" isn't one model and things are changing every day though. There is upscaling that just increases pixel count and there is upscaling that increases the quality of images, and there are some which do both. Try putting one through Magnific or SUPIR.
Yeah "AI" just means the upscaling algorithm attempts to figure out what its supposed to look like and can be hit or miss depending on which one was used and if there was manual touch up. Doing a linear upscale is best cause then you can interpolate at worst, even if it makes it a look a bit blurry. It's the exact same method studios use to make "HD Remasters" of various older films, think VHS era.
I also need to start asking which version of AshenBubs people are using? The last one was July 2023, he put them behind a paywall due to entities using them without giving credit. I think the publicly available one is the Nov 2021 basic.
Quote: Square Enix expects loss of $140 million from cancelled video game title(s)
Square Enix announced on April 30 that they are expecting an extraordinary loss of 22.1 billion yen (over $140 million based on recent conversion rates) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. The losses are related to the revision of Square Enix’s development policy and the scrapping of ongoing projects* (source: Takashi Mochizuki).
*The report does not clarify whether this relates to one or multiple titles.
According to the announcement, Square Enix’s board of directors decided in a meeting held on March 27 to revise the company’s development policy for HD video game titles “due to diverse changes in the environment and in an attempt to allocate and concentrate development resources.” As a result, they expect to record losses of approximately 22.1 billion yen related to the cancellation of ongoing title(s). Square Enix are currently revisiting their consolidated financial forecasts for FY 2023 based on these and other factors and will publish a revision if necessary.
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