Windower

Been playing XI since its release on the 360. Due to all the lag, freezing, and dc's when zoning, I have decided to take up XI on my PC. Been playing on the PC for a few months now and I have been reading about windower. Still kinda unclear of the plugins, what model i need, and what plugins i should get if i decide to Dload it.
I know alot of PC users use it now adays and it doesnt seem as taboo as it use to be when i first started playing. Any help or feedback would be great, and im sure more questions will arise as i get more info on it.

Go here and start by downloading the latest version of the windower. The readme and site provided directions will get you started. If you would like to know some finer details as to what plugins you should get or how to add extra function to your windower feel free to PM me.

Just use what it comes with and adjust personal prefernces such as draw distance and position of timers on buffs. Cant go wrong.

You can make the game really beautiful with this thing, its great if your hardware is up to it.

I don't use really any of the extra plugins. this link will explain exactly how to run simple gear swap script so when you push 1 macro it can change 16 pieces of gear all at once. It's the primary reason I use windower, the cool plugins from back in the day are built into it now like expwatch, tpparty (i think thats the name, you see TP/ (MP of ally) amounts of people in your ally, also distance and some others.

i really need to get off my *** and get blinkmenot though since my main is a WHM I just haven't got around to it yet. There are also other cool *** plugins other people use I just don't bother with them that's what's cool about windower you can use it as much or as little as you want.

Yeah if you have a higher end computer, you can easily increase the draw distance and oversample your background resolution to make everything look absolutely gorgeous. Here is a nice guide on how to do so. Just be careful; don't go running into regedit if you don't know how to work with registry entries.

cool cool thanks for the info /cheers. Im pretty sure my system can handle it, Its a quad-core 2.8G with 8 gigs of Ram with a ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics card. Im still running vista (Planning to run windows 7 one day).

Need to get the right version of windower then (I think)

Just be sure to disable UAC otherwise running the windower and making it hook to the game will be more annoying. But everything you need to get a significantly smoother running windowed FFXI with added utility and function comes right out of the box. You can take it a step further with additional plugins and some general knowledge in scripting and console commands.

PS: When oversampling be sure to choose a resolution that fits your screen's aspect ratio, otherwise everything will look squished or fat lol.

wow I may go *** with this when I get home

You have no idea how much better this game is by simply being able to walk into Meriphataud mountains and actually being able to see that spine first thing, or walking onto a hilltop in Altepa desert and being able to see throughout the entire horizon including the ocean. Simply breathtaking for being hidden the whole time by SE's stupid defaults.

just the GUI mod installer u can use on PC makes it more eye pleasing over console ^^

XI View

i had the presets set to the highest withing the windower resolution etc options, this will improve beyond that right?

my cpu can handle FFXIV well so it XI on any settings won't be a problem

awesome im all excited now lol. As for registry entries, i can get a friend over to help me with that. I didnt realize how much windower can enhance the game. I always thought it was for timers and gear swaps lol. Guess i need to educate myself adn thanks for all the help / info. /cheers

Thank you for including that. I almost forgot where Darkshade picked up the pieces for Emiko. The UI not only makes it more pleasing to the eye with fonts and icons for various status effects, but it is beyond useful to have visual knowledge for what is at hand rather than seeing a sword with an arrow pointing up for 99% of your buffs ~_~

Just make sure he remembers to make entries in decimal and not hexidecimal. Otherwise you will get very funky, possibly broken results.

kk thanks ill let him know ^^

Yea it can allow good gear swaps/sets etc. You will need to look this up propper but once you get the basic idea its real easy and accessable. Alot of people use a optional plugin called Spellcast, but personally I find just normal Notepad created ones just as effective, and more flexable.

I think Spellcast comes in to its own as regards auto choosing gear for certain conditions, IE great for a BLM and day based elemental buffing gear. I never used Spellcast, but thats how I believe it works. Again, decent custom macros can be just as good in my very humble opinion, and is more simular to the default system used in the game.

As regards graphics, the Options GUI or manual alteration of the "init" file will allow a enhanced playing experience. And yea, if you feel like tinkering with registry, it can only improve it even more, but it is not essential for a better looking Vanadeil.