Here is an amazing essential Mods guide: https://sites.google.com/view/dqxi-commands/modding/essential-mods?authuser=0

The only difference I would recommend is to use this updated one for your grass instead: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonquestxisdefinitiveedition/mods/111

For appearance options I just search Nexus for my favorites. I usually just search by most downloaded all time and look through the images and read through the posts to select which ones I want:
https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonquestxisdefinitiveedition/mods/popularalltime/?nav=1&page_size=15&page=2&BH=5

Never modded before?

Well this is one of the easiest types of games to start off on. I start off by creating a mods folder on your PC with different subfolders such as: Character Models, Environment Mods, Equipment Mods, Music, ReShade files, and Texture overalls.

I put the downloaded zip files off of Nexus in these categories to keep everything organized. I do this for most every game that I mod.

Now - how to mod the game itself?
Easy - just unzip the files (just use 7zip and the "extract here" function), then move the file you extracted into:

<steamapps>\common\DRAGON QUEST XI S\Game\Content\Paks

(where <steamapps> is typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\ depending on your installation )

That's it! Most mods will simply be a copy and paste exercise. Make sure to read through the mod's description page though, as occasionally additional instructions will be given.

ReShade is a program which alters the lighting in your game. Without going into technical details, to me it makes the lighting in almost every game look natural. It's easy to use as presets can be found on Nexus.

How to use ReShade (installation)?

1. Download ReShade: https://reshade.me/
2. Run ReShade, point it to your games installation. (most everygame uses the direct 10/11/12 option) only older games use the direct 9 option, and I've never had to use the other ones.
3. Then click all the checkboxes and just download and install everything. ("Legacy" effects are rarely if ever needed and its kind of a larger file set, so you can skip that one most of the time)

How to use ReShade (in game)?
1. Now just open your game and hit the "home" button
2. At the file selector at the top navigate to your downloaded preset on your PC. Put the preset in your games directory to find it easily or else you have to hit backspace from where it defaults to and then go click through the files until you find your preset. There is no normal file selector, so if you don't put the preset in the game's directory it's somewhat tedious to go find.

• For Dragon Quest XI S I recommend: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonquestxisdefinitiveedition/mods/101?tab=description
  
• I recommend the "Dynamic Shadows Reshade (early access)" File option.

Now, with the preset loaded the only option I personally changed from what the author originally did was:

• On the FilmGrain.fx I changed the intensity value from : 0.465 to 0.364
  
• I felt like this helped to make the game image clearer at distance

Now, this section can seem more daunting if you've never modded before, but I can assure you that it's not as complicated as it seems, and can also be mostly a copy and paste exercise.

The main thing to know, if you are unfamiliar with how basic coding is read, is that if a line starts with ";" then it is not read by the game and is just "commented out".

How to use this?
You can copy your "engine" file to a folder that has the rest of your Dragon quest mods for safe keeping, in case you do not like the alterations, and you can then always put it back later. If you don't do this step and don't like how the adjustments work, then you'll have to "verify integrity of game files" to have steam put the original file back.

DIRECTIONS: Download and place this file in "Documents\My Games\DRAGON QUEST XI S\Steam\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini"

Here is my engine file setup: https://pastebin.com/kSASgtuY

This is based off of: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonquestxisdefinitiveedition/mods/20
With his file here: https://pastebin.com/STU7dH0j
DO NOT USE THE PAK, as load order will become an issue and effect your lighting (this is more me just being a perfectionist as opposed to any real game altering issues. Copy and paste the data from MY engine file setup into your engine ini and use the ReShade preset options I recommend. This ensures that your lighting is adjusted manually and isn't overridden by anything else.)

My engine file setup:
1. The only thing you personally need to change would be :
r.Streaming.PoolSize=4000 ; game default = 1500

I have it set to 4000 because I have a 8gb graphics card. How much MB to dedicate to the texture streaming system, i'd set to half of your GPUs VRAM.

2. r.DefaultFeature.AntiAliasing=1 ; game default = 1

I have this set to "1", which is FXAA, which works with most everyone's setup. Technically "2" is TAA but can cause black lines/ghosting. You can change it to "2" and see if it works for you. If not you can just change it back to "1".

Everything Below Here is just an explanation of the changes I made in the "Engine" file:

My goal on any of my video settings is to make everything as clear as possible. (so personally I turn things off like motion blur):
For example on these line:
; Improved Depth of Field Quality
r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0 ; default 1 -- set to "0" if Depth of Field bothers you! (i.e. if you get motion sickness easily, etc)
r.DepthOfField.MaxSize=100
r.DepthOfFieldNearBlurSizeThreshold=0.005

This is why I have r.r.DepthOfFieldQuality=0. I don't exactly "get motion sick" easily. I just like to be able to see details at distance and while moving. I feel like "blur" defeats the whole purpose of having crsytal clear graphics personally...

this is also why ; Motion blur quality
r.MotionBlurQuality=0

Also, I have these parts commented out:
; Adjustments for lighting fix - added lens flare & eye adaptation, particle light quality
;r.Tonemapper.Sharpen=0.5 ; game default = 0


; Tonemapper Settings
;r.TonemapperGamma=1.5 ; enable tonemapper gamma (improved s-curve to linear gamma by default), default 2.0 / 0-(reverts to linear gamma)
;r.Color.Mid=0.7 ; added to counteract a slightly lower tonemappergamma value, improves colors (less "washed-out"), default 0.5

; Bloom
;r.BloomReverseStages=1
;r.BloomQuality=5 ; default 3, 5 is highest quality
;r.Bloom.Cross=-0.7 ; strengthen bloom effect

;r.EyeAdaptation.MethodOveride=2 ; set basic eye adaptation (the histogram-based method does not work correctly in DQXI and will result in overexposure in certain spots!)
;r.EyeAdaptationQuality=3 ; creates an auto-exposure effect when going from a dark environment to bright or vice-versa (default 0, set in Scalability) -- this can cause an "overexposure" issue in certain spots! SET TO "0" if bloom is too strong! (usually for NVIDIA users who ignore the note above)

I commented these parts out, because you are better off doing all of these things with ReShade. If you have been following this guide, the ReShade preset I gave you already sharpens, does tone control, and does bloom. Adjusting exposure on the fly, I just don't see that going well so I commented it out as well.

Also, I set: r.DefaultFeature.AntiAliasing=1 ; game default = 1
I'm not sure why the original modders set this to "2", as I just got a lot of weird black lines and ghosting around characters and other objects in the environment.

Personally, I really enjoy all of the "sparkly" light refraction off of the water and metallic surfaces. I'm not sure which one of these influences this effect the most, but if you personally feel like it is too much, I suggest trying to turn down one of the following before hunting elsewhere for which variable it might be:

r.MinNumReflectionCaptures=200

r.LightMaxDrawDistanceScale=2.5 ; increases light distance? game default = 1 (increased to 2.5)
r.RefractionQuality=3 ; default 2
r.ReflectionEnvironmentScale=1 ; default 0.5
r.LightFunctionQuality=3 ; game default = 1 (adjusted to 3)
r.LensFlareQuality=3 ; default 2
r.ParticleLightQuality=2 ; Simple+HQ lights, game default = 1 (only simple lights)

My PC: I am running all this on a SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus M.2 SSD 1TB with a GTX 1070 ti and a i7 6700. A lot of people get confused in modding and think that it's all about your graphics card. That might have been true in the past, but in today's day and age, the drive you are running the game off of will have a larger impact on being able to hold frame rate while doing heavy modding. If you want to run games with heavily modded graphic files and settings you are going to need a SSD/M2 drive. With this game, this is not nearly as necessary as for instance like a heavily modded skyrim, because the only real "heavyweights" here are probably the 4K texture pack and the grass improvements mod. If you are running on something less than this and have performance issues, just read the notes and put a ";" in front of things that are performance heavy or change the numbers to a less intensive option. I recommend doing this before going back to the original engine file as these options improve the lighting tremendously, even if you have to turn a few things off to make the game run properly.
Also, if you are having performance issues and have been following this guide so far, I would probably delete the pack for the improved grass and the 4K textures pack, as that probably uses up a lot of power to run. I would rather have improved lighting over improved grass personally.

All of these screenshots use the settings listed above. But, here are some specific examples so you can decide if you like what this looks like:

Grass and Foliage Improvements

• My character's hands are modded to be white, that's not a lighting issue

Dynamic Shadows Reshade


Custom Erik Skin


4K Textures + Dynamic Shadows Reshade + Lighting Changes in the Engine Ini






Title Screen Lighting - with 4K 60fps (but you can't really tell that in a screenshot lol)

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• Set camera move speed to 8
  
• Sounds set to 4 (this works well for playing YouTube videos concurrently if you like to do that)
  
• At the beginning sell most things for gold if they sell for over 200g. The game doesn’t let you sell anything important that I’ve ever seen
  
• Put the gold into armor
  
• You can forge weapons which are good enough and better then store bought until you get more gold later on
  
• Enemies target your first two parties members at a higher rate than the second two (so put your characters with more health and defense in the first two)
  
• In Tactics you can set any party member you mostly want attacking to “show no mercy”. The computer script is very good and choosing the 1) strongest attacks per enemy defenses and 2) using lower MP moves if they would kill the enemy anyway
  
• Erik needs flame strike early on for success (as he is your main damage dealer through much of the early game). Once you get daggers later on around level 16? You have enough points to build out his knife tree which does extra damage to poison enemies
  
• Be sure to pick up Ring of Strength (Treasure Chest: The Kingsbarrow) and the defense seed (lTreasure Chest: The Kingsbarrow) and later the Dragon scale (Dundrasil castle)
  
• Erik can later switch his skill points over to daggers around level 10/11
  
• Defense and Agility are the main two stats you want to buy for items for your team
  
• The only real exception to this is buy the best sword you can for your player (if going the great sword route, which is probably the most straightforward and easiest route )
  
• Sylvanos - perk that gives +10 skill points Is fairly easy to get to early on. (Then just rectify and re-spend the points elsewhere)
  
• You probably want Sylvano and Serena to have shields (going with the idea of defense being important and allow for survivability and heals going off)
  
• Heal amounts tend to be capped in the game (so extra magic mending isn’t all that effect in the healing category which is the main help of your healers)
  
• With the exception that all of Sylvando’s best moves (including my his heal), scale off of his charm stat
  
• In situations where you have a completely AI controlled party member, you can often “defend” and heal up with a heal medicine. I’ve never seen the controlled AI defeated in battle so this offers a lot of sustain in some fights
  
• Gallopolis region - crack shot crossbow to draw enemies. Into Hallelujah pep into slime pep. With metal attack ability’s = a ton of exp (but you need to be in 2D mode to defend a bunch of turns and then use the pep powers. You gain pep faster in 2D mode for some reason). This combination would take forever in 3D mode
  
• Jades spear line with multi thrust is extremely strong (with Gracos’s trident she is extremely strong, this trident is pretty easy to get)
  
• Erik poison knife line is extremely strong (into extra damage on poison enemies)
  
• Drasilian armor recipe (Ruins of Dundrasil) and upgrade is relatively early for luminary (for very early on - tortoise shell armor chest Costa Valor)
  
• Sylvando - can also learn Erik’s knives line (and can get the knives bonus early for status effect +25%, so can status with him then swap in Erik for divide/ then 6x attack)
  
• While this strategy can be pretty fun, for more serious fights you generally want your spell-casters always 1) de-buffing the enemy (like with sap (defense)or de-buffing their attacks) 2)buffing the party (like oomph or kabuff) and 3)healing
  
• Seeds - you're several hundred levels under the cap even at level 99. So can give them to whoever you want unless specifically farming them
  
• Item farming - items on Erik + double bunny tail on rest of team and academy uniforms then use the half inch ability
  
• In post-game (act 3) you mainly need the confusion reduction/ sleep reduction items instead of defense accessories or darkness elemental protection (or elemental protection in general)
  
• Post-game gold grind: There is a 50k chest in the Whale Way station next to the Tree (First Forest Whale Way) (in 2D and 3D mode) as well as a 50K chest in Gallopolis (in 3D mode) (switching between 2D and 3D most resets the chests and you can keep grabbing them as many times as needed)

Dragon Quest XI Stuff Google Doc

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pGQGO9M_OLNstXbY45t1_zMDCLpiw8pwB7y8fM3IKkA
  
• Backup link to the doc:
  
• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_xFUOD-9F7ASGWWYtQIewqspk-K6XR0gkXPwXyj4h2g/edit?usp=sharing

Best Website for all Game Information:

• https://www.neoseeker.com/dragon-quest-xi/walkthrough

Incredible Narrated Speedrun for learning about all sorts of game mechanics:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIJLL6k0h7E

• Tickington
  
• The Hall of Remembrances
  
• The TimeWyrm
  
• The Wheel of Harma: Secret Trial

https://www.neoseeker.com/dragon-quest-xi/Tickington
https://www.neoseeker.com/dragon-quest-xi/The_Hall_of_Remembrance
https://www.neoseeker.com/dragon-quest-xi/The_Timewyrm
https://www.neoseeker.com/dragon-quest-xi/The_Wheel_of_Harma:_Secret_Trial

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