1st Time Setup

Welcome!

Welcome to PlayerSync! This setup guide assumes you already have the XIV Quicklauncher installed on Windows, Linux or Mac. You must use the Quicklauncher and have Dalamud enabled for any plugins to work.

There are (3) core plugins you will need which we will walk through setting up in this guide:

• Penumbra - This plugin handles loading mods within the game.
• Glamourer - This plugin handles applying the mods to characters as well as manipulating visible character data such as gender, race, height, etc.
• PlayerSync - This plugin facilitates the syncing of what you see on your screen to other players.

There are several other optional plugins as well which will be available to download once you have setup the needed repositories within Dalamud (will discuss this soon).

Discord

Before you touch anything in game, you must first join the PlayerSync Discord and register an account.

https://discord.gg/playersync

The bot to register an account is in the #sync-bot-commands channel towards the top. 

The bot will give you a secret key, it's not required for setup but it is recommended you at least save it someplace in case you need it in the future. You can also set your Vanity ID with the Discord bot, as well as setting the Vanity for Syncshells and creating secondary UIDs.

Storage Folders

Both Penumbra and PlayerSync require you to have dedicated folders to store mod files. You generally do not touch these folders once they are in use, doing so (especially deleting stuff randomly) can cause things to break. There are methods for moving these folder to another hard drive if needed.

You will want to create the storage folders on your fastest drive possible such as an SSD or nVME drive. Avoid older HDD and USB drives if at all possible. Create the folders at the root of the drive, do not use a OneDrive folder!

Example: C:\Penumbra and C:\PlayerSync

Repositories

Now that you have your PlayerSync account registered on the Discord and your (2) folders created, it's time to jump in game. Hit Escape and click on “Dalamud Settings”, or type “/xlsettings” in the chat. At the top, navigate to the “Experimental” tab and scroll down to “Custom Plugin Repositories”.

Add in each of the following on their own line:

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ottermandias/SeaOfStars/main/repo.json
• https://playersync.io/download/plugin/repo.json

Be sure to click the “+" after you paste in each URL, when you are done, there should be an empty/blank line at the bottom.

Once you have added the .jsons, click the “Save changes and close” button in the bottom right. Don't forget this step!

Now hit Escape and click on “Dalamud Plugins”, or type “/xlplugins” in chat. Go to “All Plugins” on the left and search for Penumbra, Glamourer, and PlayerSync. Don't install them yet, but make sure you see them listed before you move on.

Penumbra + Glamourer

Search for Glamourer first in the “All Plugins” and install it.

Next, search for “Penumbra” and install it. Once Penumbra is installed, it may open automatically, or you may need to type “/penumbra” in game chat. Once opened, you can choose to do the guided tour or not, but the most important thing is to set your Penumbra folder. Point this to the folder you made earlier, this step is crucial!

PlayerSync

Back in the Dalamud Plugins in “All Plugins” search for PlayerSync and install it. PlayerSync should open the setup wizard automatically upon install.

PlayerSync Setup - Storage

Click the folder icon and find and select the folder you created at the start, such as C:\PlayerSync.

Do NOT share the same folder with other syncs! Each sync may handle local storage differently and it can cause problems!

Once you have selected a folder, there will be an initial scan performed. You must wait for the scan to finish before you can move on to the next page.

PlayerSync Setup - Quick Start Settings

The Quick Start Settings includes some of the settings as part of the setup wizard for your convenience, and to know they exist. You can change these settings at any time within the PlayerSync Settings.

PlayerSync Setup - Service Registration

For most users, you can skip this page. If you have not yet created an account on the PlayerSync Discord, you must do so before finishing the setup. If you have opted to use a secret key instead of the Discord OAuth2, you can click the option for it and enter the secret key as provided by the Discord bot.

PlayerSync Setup - Account

The first step in setting up the Discord auth is to click the button “Check if Server support Discord OAuth2”.

Next, click the button to “Authenticate with Server”. This step will open your default web browser to the Discord OAuth2 page. If you don't see it, look for a tab that opened on a browser window.

YOU MUST BE SIGNED IN TO THE SAME DISCORD ACCOUNT YOU REGISTERED WITH ON THE PLAYERSYNC DISCORD!

IF IT SAYS THE PLAYERSYNC ACCOUNT DOES NOT EXIST, YOU EITHER ARE NOT LOGGED IN TO DISCORD'S WEBSITE WITH THE SAME ACCOUNT YOU REGISTERED WITH, OR YOU NEVER REGISTER IN THE FIRST PLACE.

If it says, “Could not find a PlayerSync user associated to this Discord account. Make sure you have registered on the Discord using the bot before clicking this.” You need to make sure the website is logged in with the correct Discord account. In the same window you get this error, put in: https://discordapp.com/channels/@me and ensure it's the same Discord account that shows up.

Finally, click on “Update UIDs from Service”, then select your UID from the dropdown, then click “Connect to Service”.

Mod Compression

Mod compression, or really texture compression/conversion, is a method to reduce the amount of VRAM used by mods. PlayerSync enables auto-compression on the server by default, but compressing your mods still impacts the VRAM usage by your own character, so it is advised to do so.

Some textures do not compress well, especially certain transparencies. Converting a texture to BC7 is irreversable, as it you cannot undo it once it is done. Make sure you have the original mod (.pmp, .ttmp2) available if you need to reload it into Penumbra.

You can open the Character Data Analysis screen in one of two ways, through the top bar on the main UI, or via the settings.

Step 1 - Run an Analysis

Click the “Start analysis” button

Step 2 - Find Textures

Click on the “tex” tab to show all of the textures. You can click on a file hash to see which mod it is associated with.

Step 3 - Convert (Compress) Textures

Not every texture can be converted, but you especially want to check for the A8R8G8B8 as they are typically the ones you will get the most VRAM savings. Check the box for “Enable BC7 Conversion Mode”, then check the box next to any texture you want to convert. Finally, click the button for “Start conversion…”

Step 4 - Analyze Again

Once the conversion to BC7 has completed, you may see a lot of “red” files, that is fine. At the top, click the “Start analysis” button again and you should get a new, accurate count for your VRAM usage.