FFXIV Mods Guide - Look at the Most Interesting Options!

FFXIV Mods – which ones are worth your time?

Mods are an essential part of almost every MMORPG. They can provide all types of assistance, often in the form of tools that the original game lacks. People who create mods very often are passionate gamers that spend a lot of time in the game that they're modding. These users have an entirely different perspective than the game developers, and they understand the needs of players much better. Moreover, modders are close to the player base and they can also act much quicker, since they're allowed to focus on a single, narrow aspect of the game that needs polishing without caring about the big picture.

Multiple useful FF14 mods and addons have been released over time and new ones are still being made. Some of them can help with questing, while others are focused on improving UI. That being said, the player base of FFXIV cares a lot about the looks of their favorite game and the characters in it. That's why a lot of the most popular mods are various visual enhancers and texture packs. All of them are designed to make the players enjoy FFXIV even more! Try some of them out and you'll surely fall in love with them!

It's important to note that Square Enix doesn't support using any FFXIV mods. While it's unlikely to get banned for stuff that doesn't provide you any unfair advantages, we definitely recommend that you don't discuss the mods you're using within the game or on the official forum. For the most part, the developers turn a blind eye to modders, but pushing your luck might not be a great idea. Before we begin, it's important to note that you're going to need an application called FFXIV Textools. It acts like a menu that allows you to install most of the mods.

Best FFXIV Mods

Advanced Combat Tracker – it's often abbreviated to ACT. In our opinion, it's the most important FFXIV mod that's related to combat. You can also see it referred to as a parser or parsing tool. Its primary function is to measure DPS done by your character and your teammates. It can also help by displaying the information in real-time in your game window. Moreover, it can help you track the crucial cooldowns (Trick Attack and all that good stuff). In general, it can help you, and your party optimizes DPS, which is a massive part of FFXIV endgame. While using the Advanced Combat Tracker, remember to follow the FFXIV etiquette. Don't bully other players in the chat over their low DPS numbers. It's not only a faux pas – it's also a potentially reportable offense. Let's say it like this: you don't want low DPS players in your party, but you also don't want to get your account banned for flaming them. It's a great tool to level up your DPS!

Moogle Maps is a simple, little addon that adds the locations of treasures and daily hunts to your in-game map. It's a very small but convenient addition, especially if you're a player interested in this part of Final Fantasy XIV content. You can also look for some other FFXIV addons that affect the map or minimap.

ReShade is the most popular mod if you're looking for a major graphic overhaul. It offers a ton of possibilities. They include removing the fog, adding more depth of field, making the colors more vibrant, adjusting the lights and shadows, and much more! Going over all the settings can be quite overwhelming, especially if you don't have much experience with tools like this. Luckily, you can always use one of the custom builds that are much easier to setup. Some of the examples are Stormshade, Echoes of Eorzea, and GShade. We strongly encourage all the PC players to try this stuff out, especially if you have a strong machine designed for gaming. The ReShade tools can make your game much more beautiful, especially when you find the right settings. The only potential downside is that when you go too crazy with effects and blurs, it can negatively affect your game's performance.

Touch of Real is a texture pack that introduces a set of faces that become available in the character creation process. The face model collection included in the original game has already become a bit dated. Touch of Real is an excellent option if you're planning on creating a new character. There are two versions of this mod, one for male and one for female faces. If you're looking for a similar alternative, you can also check out the mod called Beautiful Eorzeans. It's an even bigger and more advanced addon, affecting every face in the game, including the NPCs.  

HD Buff Icons – a straightforward mod that replaces the standard buff icons with higher resolution. This way, they don't become blurry when you expand them. It's a very small fix, but this issue can be annoying for some players. There are similar fixes for other in-game icons – you can also install HD Skill Icons and HD Item Icons.

Custom UI is a User Interface overhaul that has been included in the original game files. That being said, the developers decided not to use it, and the game doesn't allow the players to access it directly. Unless you install this mod, it offers a lot of possibilities in terms of adjusting your interface. There also are some more UI tools and even whole settings packs if you don't want to do everything yourself. The Blue AI mod is an interesting addition – it turns the standard grey interface into a navy blue one.

Flicker Optimization is something for players that use lower-end PCs. Specific visual effects in FFXIV have been known to cause performance issues – the grass is one of the most notable offenders. This mod allows you to make it less detailed while eliminating flickering, shimmering and other problems caused by these visual effects.

Owl's Eyes of Eorzea – let's get this out of the way, this mod doesn't give the FFXIV characters owl eyes (whatever that may look like), Owl is just the handle of the person that created this addon. It is a texture pack that replaces the boring and dated eye models from the base game with new and improved ones. These eyes look much better than original, but they also have unique features for each of the FFXIV races.

Hair Defined is another texture pack that brings Final Fantasy XIV to the modern standards. As the name suggests, this one improves various hair models within the game. It's something to consider if you really want your Final Fantasy XIV to look as amazing as possible.

Many small mods affect singular items' textures, making them look more detailed or entirely redesigning them. We won't list them all since there are hundreds of them. There also are well designed texture packs for mounts and minions. They can provide you with tons of beatiful screenshots to share with your friends. 

Finally, we have to talk about the NSFW lewd mods that are pretty popular in the FFXIV community. The most popular series is called Tight & Firm. It offers a lot of different possibilities. It's able to adjust the body type of the characters, change the in-game models of armor or underwear to make it look like lingerie or other interesting uniforms. They could even entirely remove clothing from player characters and NPCs.

These mods are not the most relevant to gameplay, but we had to include them because of their popularity. A lot of Final Fantasy XIV players are interested in that stuff. If you're one of these players, make sure to check them out as you please.

FF14 Addons and Mods

As you can see, there's a lot that you can do with FFXIV Mods. They can improve or alter multiple aspects of the game, making the overall experience more fun and enjoyable. The Final Fantasy XIV modding community is quite large and active - it's mostly focused on improving visuals and character models. That being said, there something interesting for all the players. There also might be a lot of worthwhile options that we don't know of. You can always continue the search on your own. Most of the stuff we talked about is open and available for free, but some examples can be locked behind a paywall.  

If you're interested in the most challenging endgame content and improving your gameplay, you can use Advanced Combat Tracker or another parsing addon. If all you want is to adjust or clean up your UI, there are perfect tools. Finally, there are all the aforementioned visual mods and addons. If you're interested in more content about FFXIV and other biggest online games, make sure to check out some more posts on our website!