/XivAlexander

Double weave on high latency add-on for Final Fantasy XIV for Windows PC.

Primary LanguageC++Apache License 2.0Apache-2.0

Download here

Use Releases section on the sidebar. Don't download using the green Code button.

Use XivMitmLatencyMitigator instead if you're not on Mac, PS4, or PS5, or want to apply this solution to a custom VPN server running on Linux operating system.

XivAlexander

Connection Image
Korea to NA DC
VPN only		 Before GIF
Korea to NA DC
XivAlexander enabled		 After GIF
Korea to Korean DC
Direct connection		 After GIF

This add-on will make double (or triple, depending on your skill/spell speed) weaving always possible. No more low DPS output just because you are on high latency network.

Usage

Run the game if it isn't already running, run XivAlexanderLoader32/64.exe, and follow the instructions. Try running as Administrator if it fails to load.

As it uses DLL injection, your anti-virus software might flag this add-on. You might have to add both XivAlexander32/64.dll and XivAlexanderLoader32/64.exe to exclusion list. Refer to your anti-virus software manual for instructions.

Find opcodes after game updates. This add-on will break whenever ACT FFXIV Plugin breaks.

Command line arguments

Usage: XivAlexanderLoader(32/64) [-h] [-a ACTION] [-l LAUNCHER] [-q] [-d] [--web] [PID or exe_suffix.exe]...

  • All other arguments are for internal use only.

Positional arguments

  • TARGETS
    • List of target process ID or path suffix if loading XivAlexander.
    • Path and argument of program to execute if launching game launcher.

Optional arguments

  • -h (--help): show help message and exit
  • -a (--action): specify action (default: auto)
    • auto: If game instances are running, then ask whether to load to those processes. Otherwise, ask whether to launch detected game installations.
    • ask: Ask whether to load XivAlexander to detected game processes.
    • load: Load XivAlexander to all the detected game processes.
    • unload: Unload XivAlexander from all the detected game processes.
    • launcher: Launch game launcher if detected.
    • update-check: Check for update.
  • -l (--launcher): specify launcher to launch (default: auto)
    • auto: Ask which game installations to run. Open file selection dialog if no installation is detected, or program to run is given.
    • select: Open file selection dialog, and use that program as launcher. Load XivAlexanderLoader when game is ran as a descendant. Current limitations include being unable to load if there was a AnyCPU binary in-between.
    • international, korean, chinese
  • -q (--quiet): disable error messages
  • -d (--disable-runas): do not try to run as administrator in any case
  • --web: open GitHub repository at https://github.com/Soreepeong/XivAlexander and exit

Example:

  • XivAlexanderLoader32.exe -a load 16844
    • Load XivAlexander into process ID 16844.
  • XivAlexanderLoader64.exe -q -a unload ffxiv_dx11.exe
    • Unload XivAlexander from every process with its path ending with ffxiv_dx11.exe, and suppress all error messages.
  • XivAlexanderLoader64.exe -a launcher -l select
    • Open file selection dialog to choose a program to run, and load XivAlexander into the game when the game runs as a descendant.
  • XivAlexanderLoader32.exe -a la -l i
    • Run official international game client launcher (if installed), and load XivAlexander into the game when the game runs as a descendant.
    • Since there is 1 possible launcher option starting with i, abbreviation is possible.
    • Since there is 1 possible action option starting with la, abbreviation is possible.
  • XivAlexanderLoader32 -a la python -c "import subprocess; subprocess.Popen('\"C:\\Program Files(x86)\\SquareEnix\\FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn\\boot\\ffxivboot64.exe\"').wait()"
    • Run python, and load XivAlexander into the game ran from game boot loaded from subprocess.Popen, and wait for game boot to exit.

Description on options

  • High Latency Mitigation: The purpose of this program.
    • Enable: Turn this off when you're looking for updated opcodes.
    • Use Delay Detection: When checked, the program will try to detect how much time does the server spend to process your action requests.
      • When unchecked, the program will assume the server always take 75ms to process your action requests.
    • Turn both Use Delay Detection and Use Latency Correction off if...
      • ...your ping is above 200ms.
      • ...your VPN gives a fake ping of 0ms (<1ms).
  • Reduce Packet Delay: When checked, following additional socket options are set or changed.
    • TCP_NODELAY: If enabled, sends packets as soon as possible instead of waiting for ACK or large packet.
    • SIO_TCP_SET_ACK_FREQUENCY: Controls ACK delay every x ACK. Default delay is 40 or 200ms. Default value is 2 ACKs, set to 1 to disable ACK delay.
  • Use IPC Type Finder and Use All IPC Message Logger: When checked, the program will dump some network traffic and print all opcodes, to assist finding out the opcodes after patch.
  • Use Effect Appliation Delay Logger: When enabled, the program will log whenever an action actually takes effect. Used to measure how long does it take for an action to actually take effect.

How it works

After you use an action, the game will apply 500ms animation lock. When server responds to action use request, it will contain animation lock duration information, and the game client will re-apply the animation lock with the duration given from the server. The game does not take latency into account, so higher your latency is, longer the net effect of animation lock will be. (up to 500ms + <action animation lock duration>). This add-on will subtract the time taken for a response from the server for the particular request from animation lock duration.

In case when it takes more than 500ms to receive a response, the client will let you use two actions consecutively, which will occasionally trigger server-side sanity check to reject the third action, or even delay the usage of the third action. This add-on will prevent that from happening by forcing animation lock times for both actions combined.

Example:

  1. [0.0s] Action A Request
  2. [0.5s] Action B Request
  3. [0.6s] Action A Response (1.0s lock)
  4. [1.1s] Action B Response (1.0s lock)
  • By default, the client will let you input at 2.1s.
  • This addon will force the next input to be accepted at 2.0s.

Because of how it works, this addon is only a step away from flat out cheating. Changing temporal constants in code below the limit means you're effectively claiming that your latency is below zero, which is just impossible. Do NOT modify temporal constants in code, or you ARE cheating. You have been warned.

Third-party Libraries

This project uses vcpkg to import dependencies.

License

Apache License 2.0