The Final Fantasy 14 team, via director Naoki Yoshida, has released an update on its Dawntrail benchmark character creator and rendering issues, which has warranted a promised upcoming re-release of the benchmark itself.
“After careful examination of the feedback from all regions, we are now working on improvements, adjustments, and bug fixes” the translated Lodestone post from “Yoshi-P” reads. “We are making these refinements not only in preparation for Dawntrail’s release, but also to apply as many of the updates as possible to the benchmark.”
Per the process outlined by the post, it seems this is a multi-step process. The lead artists have taken note of feedback from both problem points, the character creator and “certain data and processes” affecting character rendering, and are in the process of applying fixes. The creator seems to be in its final stages of review before Yoshi-P signs off, while work is still being done on other necessary corrections.
The current estimated release date for the Dawntrail Benchmark replacement is around May 23, though Yoshida says it’s not set in stone at the moment.
While FFXIV has released free Benchmark programs for players to preview and test each expansion since its 1.0 version, the Dawntrail Benchmark is especially important this time around, as it includes this preview of the much-awaited graphical updates that will accompany Dawntrail. Unfortunately, players immediately gave a slew of frustrated feedback, as characters didn’t seem to match expectations.
Quickly, the FFXIV team pointed out that many of the issues had to do with outdated lighting/rendering systems, as the character creator is still a holdover from the initial A Realm Reborn 2.0 launch. Some other issues were apparently due to engine processing issues; all recognized issues were acknowledged previously, with a promised fix at the very least by Dawntrail launch.
Fingers crossed that this keeps Dawntrail on track for its release on July 2 (and Early Access on June 28, after a whopping 48-hour maintenance).
