So I finally went ahead and reactivated my FFXI account!  The laptop I have now is significantly better than the one I used to play on, but when I logged in I was a little dissapointed with how the game looked.  I definitly remember the graphics looking crisper 2 years ago.  So I did the obvious thing and uped the resolution to 1920*1200 (which is what my laptop is set at).  This made the menus and text really great, but the models are still a bit rough.  I even set the texture compression to Uncompressed which helped, but still isn't at what I'd like.

Then I remembered I used to use Windower, which some how made the graphics a lot nicer as well as  put the game in a window.  When going through the options I noticed there is a "Start game in a Window" check box though.  So, my ultimate question(s) is:

Do people still use Windower?

If not, any other advice on how to made the game look sharp?

I dont remember Windower making the game look better...but I always used the registry hack to make the game look gorgeous.  Here are the instructions, I know it may seem confusing at first...but just read through it all....it will tell you everything to change for the effect you want, including giving you a crisper environment and character outline.  I usually just change 0003 and 0004 both to 2048...everything else can pretty much be done from the FFXI config console:

This is where to look in Vista, should be close to this in XP:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\PlayOnlineUS\SquareEnix\FinalFantasyXI

==========================================
FFXI REGISTRY DETAILS

Registry keys can be changed without exiting PlayOnline Viewer.

Types:
H - DWORD (2 Hexadecimal words, meaning 4 places of hex allowing 0000-FFFF or decimal 0 - 65,536; assuming unsignedness)
B - Binary (1=yes/on, 0=no/off)
S - String

Name Type Default Description
0000 H 0MIP Mapping (0=disabled, 1=enabled) Further raises blur textures more times - no noticeable differences after 6 or so.

0001 H 640Display mode width (X)[/pre]
Config queries DirectX for possible modes

0002 H 480Display mode height (Y)
Config queries DirectX for possible modes

0003 H 5123D width (X)
Config program gives choice between 256, 512, 1024 and sets equal to key 0004.
Maximum is 2048, minimum is 1

0004 H 5123D height (Y)
Config program gives choice between 256, 512, 1024 and sets equal to key 0003.
Maximum is 2048, minimum is 1

0007 H 1Sound: 0=Disabled, 1=Enabled

0011 H 1Environmental Animation: 0=Off, 1=Normal, 2=Smooth
Further raises do not enhance animation quality.

0017 H 0Bump mapping: 0=Disabled, 1=Enabled
Further raises do not enhance bump mapping quality.

0018 H 1Texture compression: 0=High, 1=Low, 2=Uncompressed
Other values are apparently ignored and the engine defaults back to 2.

0019 H 1Map compression: 0=Compressed, 1=Uncompressed
Other values are apparently ignored and the engine defaults back to 1.

0020 H 1***FUNCTION UNKNOWN - does not appear to affect main menu screens

0021 H 0Enable hardware mouse cursor: 1=Yes, 0=No

0022 H 1Show opening movie: 1=Yes, 0=No

0023 H 0Simplified character creation visuals: 1=Yes, 0=No

0024 H 0***FUNCTION UNKNOWN - does not appear to affect main menu screen

0028 H 0Gamma Base: 0x3f800000 = 1.0, 0 = 0.0, 0xbf800000 = -1.0

0029 H 12Maximum sounds: Config pgm allows 12-20

0030 H 0***FUNCTION UNKNOWN - does not appear to affect main menu screen

0031 H 0x3bc49ba6***FUNCTION UNKNOWN - does not appear to affect main menu screen

bFirst B 00***FUNCTION UNKNOWN - does not appear to affect main menu screen

padmode000 S 0,0,0,0Enable Gamepad, Force Feedback, Slider, Hat Switches

padsin000 S ?Button-function association.
Values are base-0 while button numbers are base-1 in config program, so convert appropriately

padsin000 places/buttons:
1. Toggle Auto-Run
2. Macro Palette A (Ctrl)
3. Change View
4. Macro Palette B (Alt)
5. Heal / Lock Target
6. Cancel
7. Main Menu
8. Select/Confirm
9. Active Window / Window Options
10. Hide Menus
11. Operate menus with movement controls
12. Operate camera with movement controls
13. PlayOnline
14-25. Function unknown ???
26. Screenshot

=========================

Hex Table
Hex-to-Decimal table for display modes:
128 = 80
160 = A0
224 = E0
240 = F0
256 = 100
320 = 140
360 = 168
384 = 180
400 = 190
450 = 1C2
480 = 1E0
512 = 200
524 = 20C
576 = 240
640 = 280
720 = 2D0
768 = 300
800 = 320
864 = 360
960 = 3C0
1024= 400
1080= 438
1152= 480
1200= 4B0
1280= 500
1344= 540
1392= 570
1440= 5A0
1536= 600
1600= 640
1792= 700
1800= 708
1856= 740
1920= 780
2048= 800

Other Hex Conversions
The Windows Calculator does this type of conversion. It always has, since Windows 3.1 to the best of my recollection. Click View-Scientific to put it into Scientific mode, then select "Dec", enter a number, and click "Hex" to see its hexadecimal equivalent.

Inputting Decimal into DWords in Regedit
On XP Pro, and maybe others, you can input decimal values into the Edit dialog by selecting the Decimal radio button.

Common Resolutions
Using those values, you can easily come up with the values for the following common display modes and background resolutions: 256x256, 320x240, 400x300, 512x512, 512x384, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1024x1024, 1152x864, 1280x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1792x1344, 1800x1440, 1920x1080 (1080i HDTV), 1920x1200, 1920x1440, 2048x1536, and 2048x2048.

Note: Make sure your video card and monitor can handle a display mode before setting it.

Aspect Ratios and You
CRT monitors and regular televisions should use a ratio of 4:3 for the horizontal:vertical display resolution. If you have an HDTV or a wide display, check the specifications of your display to see what works best for it. Don't try something funky if it's not right for your display, because your graphics, text and UI will be skewed. Square intended for squares to be squares, no pun intended.

If you have a 16x9 display, try 640x360, 800x450, 1024x576, or 1280x720. Or, take the desired width, multiply by 9, and divide by 16 to get the height.

Unsupported Mode = Silent Exit
If an improper 3D height or width is set, FFXI will appear to enter full-screen mode briefly and quit back to PlayOnline without an error message.

1x1 Possible!
Yes, it is possible to have a 1x1 background resolution. Why you'd want to do this (or really, anything below 256x256) is beyond me, since you only get a solid block of color.

Graphics Enhancement via MIP Mapping
A lot of people really like the way FFXI looks when MIP mapping (key 0000) is set to 4. Give it a try. Distant textures will be lower resolution and blurred more, reducing the need for anisotropic texture filtering and thus allowing you to speed up your game by tweaking your graphics card's settings. It also (IMO) improves the appearance of distant textures, and eliminates the horrendous flickering. If you like the effect but think it's a bit too strong, downgrade to 3 or even 2. The flickering will be present at 2, and barely noticeable at 3.

Note: You may need more than 64MB of graphics memory to do this.

Bump Mapping: Good or Evil?
I prefer to leave bump mapping off, since I get a nice realistic afterglow after sunset and that nice look before sunrise, and the sunup/sundown lighting change isn't as abrupt and distracting. I haven't really noticed much of a difference otherwise. Your mileage may vary. This supposedly impacts performance somehow, but my system is a bit too fast to measure its impact reliably.

Performance Improvement
Set your background resolution (0003 and 0004) the same as your display resolution (0001 and 0002). The performance improvement might be noticeable.

Also, see the above point on MIP Mapping. Increase the level of MIP Mapping and lower your graphics card's texture filtering quality and amount to get better performance.

Turning off bump mapping may improve performance as well.

Fake Antialiasing
You can set a higher resolution for your background than the display mode. Doing this will force your graphics card to downsample the image, which will do a weighted average on nearby pixels thus blurring pixels whose neighbors are not the same color. In layman's terms: You'll get simple antialiasing by setting your background resolution (0003 and 0004) higher than your display resolution (0001 and 0002).

Differential Resolution
This is the technical term for having a different resolution on your menus and your background. For example, 400x300 background and 800x600 display mode. Don't do this. Your eyes and head will get really irritated.
 

Originally posted by Melieza

So I finally went ahead and reactivated my FFXI account!  The laptop I have now is significantly better than the one I used to play on, but when I logged in I was a little dissapointed with how the game looked.  I definitly remember the graphics looking crisper 2 years ago.  So I did the obvious thing and uped the resolution to 1920*1200 (which is what my laptop is set at).  This made the menus and text really great, but the models are still a bit rough.  I even set the texture compression to Uncompressed which helped, but still isn't at what I'd like.

Then I remembered I used to use Windower, which some how made the graphics a lot nicer as well as  put the game in a window.  When going through the options I noticed there is a "Start game in a Window" check box though.  So, my ultimate question(s) is:

Do people still use Windower?

If not, any other advice on how to made the game look sharp?

Windower is still against the Terms of Service that you agree to every time you log into the game. You run the potential (albeit unlikly) that you will get your accoutn suspended. SE has added its own windowed mode since the game has been released. I personally have never had a problem with this although I hear others say it lags their game (personally I call bullshit on that).

I run on a widescreen (i guess they all are these days) laptop. I bump up the resoiltion to the highest setting the game naturally allows for then when I log on i play the game in a maximized window. The only other thing is I change the aspect ratio to either 4:3 or 16:9 in the Configure menu so everything isn't stretched out. IMO this make the game look good and I don't get why people will change their regristry to do more.

Originally posted by ic0n67

 The only other thing is I change the aspect ratio to either 4:3 or 16:9 in the Configure menu so everything isn't stretched out. IMO this make the game look good and I don't get why people will change their registry to do more.

Because it looks even better, and why not if you have a PC that can!  It doesn't hurt anyone, not against the EULA, nor does it allow for any advantages over the next person!  No matter how far you increase the viewing distance; enemies are still set at a predetermined and unchangeable range for which they appear so its fair for everyone!

Graphics have never been a deciding factor in choosing a game/MMO to play, but if the option to make a game look even better is there; then I'll definitely use it if my PC can handle it.

Have you ever played FFXI with the graphics maximized Icon!?  You should try if you havn't.....and then maybe you'd get why other players do!  What scores does your PC register when you run the Vana'diel Benchmark on low/high?

I'm DLing it again to retest my PC, its been awhile and I forgot what I got last time!  I'll post them too...

Update: 

Just finished testing my PC and got 9501 on Low, and 7950 on High settings!

Originally posted by Khrymson

Originally posted by ic0n67

 The only other thing is I change the aspect ratio to either 4:3 or 16:9 in the Configure menu so everything isn't stretched out. IMO this make the game look good and I don't get why people will change their registry to do more.

 

Because it looks even better, and why not if you have a PC that can!  It doesn't hurt anyone, not against the EULA, nor does it allow for any advantages over the next person!  No matter how far you increase the viewing distance; enemies are still set at a predetermined and unchangeable range for which they appear so its fair for everyone!

 

Graphics have never been a deciding factor in choosing a game/MMO to play, but if the option to make a game look even better is there; then I'll definitely use it if my PC can handle it.

 

Have you ever played FFXI with the graphics maximized Icon!?  You should try if you havn't.....and then maybe you'd get why other players do!  What scores does your PC register when you run the Vana'diel Benchmark on low/high?

 

I'm DLing it again to retest my PC, its been awhile and I forgot what I got last time!  I'll post them too...

 

Update: 

Just finished testing my PC and got 9501 on Low, and 7950 on High settings!

 

What I described was the best I have personally run the game. On my desktop I actually run middle of the ground settings where things get a little fuzzy (honestly it doesn't bother me). I have seen pics of the game running at the most maxed out setting and to be honest it doesn't look at all natural. I'll try the benchmark tonight when I get home though and let you know.