Looking for the best FFXIV mods? You’ve come to the right place. In this list, we’ve gathered a set of 24 mods that you can apply to your copy of Final Fantasy 14 easily and enhance its visual appeal furthermore.
These FFXIV moddings are all easy to use and just require simple downloads and special software to be applied.
History of FFXIV
FFXIV has a controversial history and the game is also a tale of redemption in itself. It was originally released back in 2010 after being in development for five years.
Owing to several technical problems, it got an extremely poor response from fans and critics alike.
This not only did it lead to Square Enix pulling the MMORPG off the market, but it also saw the company ordering a replacement of the development team.
And thus was born A Realm Reborn, the 2013 version of the game that was praised for its gameplay and visuals, more than anything else.
Also see: Does Neverwinter Feature Cross Platform/Crossplay?
FFXIV continues to be showered with love by fans and but one can’t ignore the fact that its visuals are aging.
That’s where the modding community has stepped in. Several unique FFXIV addons are out there that you can take advantage of.
Best FFXIV Mods You Can Download Right Now.
#1 – HD Hrothgar Faces
It’s common knowledge that Hrothgar’s face looks quite hideous in FF 14.
It’s hence a great idea to get HD Hrothgar Faces, a mod that replaces the low-resolution Hrothgar face textures with higher definition ones to give him a complete enhanced face overhaul.
This mod is an absolutely fantastic first step towards giving your copy of FFXIV a visual overhaul.
#2 – Advanced Combat Tracker
Advanced Combat Tracker is basically a third-party program that’s used to record your stats during gameplay.
Such programs are used by gamers to observe their performance on a granular level and point out any mistakes they are committing that could be leading to failure.
Plus, Advanced Combat Tracker also lets you upload your stats to leaderboards.
However, such programs are not tolerated by developers much, so download them at your own risk.
#3 – Touch of Real Male
Replacing outdated textures is exactly what this mod does.
It adds much better-looking textures to the male presets, thus giving their faces some much-needed modernity.
Touch of Real Male is a huge graphical upgrade that changes the visual experience of the game completely.
Despite this though, there’s plenty of more scope to overhaul the visuals of FFXIV.
#4 – Touch of Real Female
It does the same thing as the previous mod, but for female faces within the game. Its ability to replace outdated textures with HD ones works brilliantly.
Both the ‘Touch of Real’ character mods are essentials for anyone looking to enhance the visual appeal of FF 14.
#5 – Hair Defined
Hair Defined is a major FFXIV mod that you should definitely install right away.
It includes more than a thousand textures that have been processed by the modders through an advanced method of upscaling and enhancing the source material.
This long hair mod applies upgrades to the hair of every playable race, gender, and primary NPC.
It can get a bit heavy soa be prepared for some performance issues if you’re using a weak PC.
#6 – Face Defined
Here’s another face overhaul mod to choose from.
It has been designed to offer a modern look to the faces of all races, genders, and clans.
The previously famous HD Vanilla Redefined mod is also a part of this particular addon.
HD Vanilla Redefined certainly used to be quite famous back in the day.
That said, the risk of performance issues on weak PCs is also common for this one.
#7 – Moogle Maps
The brilliant play of words aside, this mod is incredibly useful for your daily hunts as it points out daily hunt locations clearly.
Plus, it also offers treasure locations, which is great as well.
The Moogle Maps mod for FFXIV basically replaces vanilla map texture assets with a new set of maps, so it doesn’t interfere with any other game file.
Moogle Maps is a truly useful utility mod that really enhances the gaming experience of the player.
#8 – Griffin Mount Retexture Pack
The name of this one is pretty self-explanatory.
Having the Griffin mount to carry you around is one of the best things in FFXIV.
It’s certainly more enjoyable than the Magitek Death Claw.
This particular FFXIV modding allows you to add some variety to this creature by letting you choose new textures for its appearance.
All of them look fantastic and the Griffin Mount Retexture Pack makes riding the Griffin even more fun.
#9 – Alive Gshade Preset
Along with all the other FFXIV mods that you end up applying, do make sure to use this one as well.
Alive Gshade Preset happens to be a collection of GShade FFXIV presets aimed at making the world of Eorzea feel more dynamic and alive.
Subtle changes are introduced by this graphical preset mod in the form of altered color settings, additional atmospheric fog, and SSAO.
This mod alone breathes new life into the overall feel of the entire game.
#10 – HD Eyeworks
Want to update the eye textures of characters to make them look more realistic? HD Eyeworks is the right mod for you.
It adds a custom set of HD eye textures with HD specular, normal, and catchlight options.
Keep in mind that there are more than 150 options to choose from in this FFIXV mod.
#11 – NPC Defined
You’ve got the Hair Defined mod and the Face Defined mod.
Why not show some love to the NPCs as well? After all, the game would look unpolished if only a few characters were in HD and the others in old-school graphics.
NPC Defined is a texture upgrade for the various NPCs that you encounter while playing Final Fantasy 14.
#12 – Hydaelyn UI
Tired of the original UI that came with FFXIV? This custom UI addon will let you change it into a fresh layout.
Hydaelyn UI switches the original grayish UI to a solid and opaque blue, adding a lot of depth to the windows.
#13 – Chat Gray Box Remover
FFXIV’s chat box can get a bit annoying, especially when you’re not using it.
That’s because it takes up a large area of the corner it resides in.
This mod is hence a highly useful add on, as it removes gray chat boxes and gives you several options to choose from with regards to either having it blend in more with the rest of the game or by allowing you to hide it completely.
Chat Gray Box Remover is for you if you’re someone who likes to have clean custom UI while playing your games.
#14 – Ludite 4 FFXIV (Previously Imperium Graphic Pack)
Here’s another one among these FFXIV addons that absolutely changes the look and feel of the game’s environments.
Previously called the Imperium Graphic Pack, Ludite 4 FFXIV is a graphics mod that not only improves the color palette of the game by increasing contrasts and color range but also greatly improves the lighting within the game.
It adds a subtle cyan tint to the visuals, which grants the game a modern and cinematic look.
Ludite 4 FFXIV has an option for implementing Ray Traced Global Illumination (RTGI) as well.
It works with ReShade and hence doesn’t require you to have an RTX graphics card in order to showcase its magic.
#15 – Flicker Optimisation & V-Sync Stutter Fix
If you’re experiencing performance issues with FFXIV, do make sure to employ the services of this excellent mod.
It has been aimed specifically at overcoming graphical glitches.
It also works towards stabilizing FPS and improving the overall performance of the game.
#16 – Beautiful Eorzeans
If you’re not happy with the face textures offered by other FFXIV mods, do give Beautiful Eorzeans a try.
It offers HD textures for the faces of characters from every race and even NPCs.
The bland faces of the vanilla game are given a neat restoration by this addon that doesn’t take up much space either.
#17 – The Newness HD
Full disclosure, we found this one on Reddit not too long ago.
As its name suggests, this mod adds a bit of newness to the game with its artistic brilliance.
It has been created with the sole purpose of improving the overall look of the game’s graphics.
To do that it enhances the lighting and shadows within the game.
This contributes towards giving some much-needed definition to your character’s features.
The Newness HD also offers more vivid colors and in-depth shading while avoiding poor fps.
#18 – HD Summons
Want an HD upgrade for your pets as well? This is the FFXIV mod you are looking for.
HD Summons basically replaces the vanilla game’s Sch and Smn pets with HD versions of themselves.
You will have to manually replace every pet with the HD version though.
To do that, just go into TextTools, expand the companions, and export each pet with the HD mod.
After that is done, you will need to head into the options menu of TextTools and customize your saved folder with exported FFXIV mods.
#19 – Alex’s Reshade Preset
Another truly magnificent reshade mod in this list is one that goes by the maker’s name.
Alex’s Reshade Preset will really take you by surprise the first time you will witness the things it changes within FFXIV.
It offers sharper visuals and revamped lighting that add new life to the visuals.
Items like the gown of light look wonderful with this preset.
The maker, though, agrees that a 10 to 15 percent hit to the game’s performance is on the cards once you install this addon.
#20 – Owl’s FFXIV Reshades
If you wish to try a number of reshades and shader graphic presets, this one is the way to go with.
Heavensword Sweet FX is one of the finest graphics mods.
It is a compilation of various options that you guys can try out and change anytime you want.
However, do know that its heavy nature could deal a blow to the performance of Final Fantasy XIV.
#21 – Ruta’s Custom 2K Scales
If you notice it on your next session of Final Fantasy XIV, scales play a big part in the visual auras of Final Fantasy 14 characters.
Ruta’s Custom 2K Scales is a mod pack that enhances the looks of scales of certain characters by replacing them with new hand-painted scale models.
Watch out for the beauty it adds to the elemental armor.
It’s one gem of a mod that deserves to stand out among the other FFXIV addons.
#22 – Owl’s Eyes of Eorzea
Final Fantasy XIV modders focus a lot on the eyes of characters and so they should.
They make a huge difference to how you perceive characters.
Having boring vanilla textures on their eyes really takes away a lot of the game’s appeal.
Owl’s Eyes of Eorzea is another comprehensive eye-focused mod.
It gives a complete overhaul to the eyes of all races, genders, sub-races, and faces within Final Fantasy 14.
You will instantly fall in love with the new look of the game that is enabled by this mod.
#23 – Viera Refined
This is quite simply a collection of improved Viera faces.
It adds new normals for improved skin quality and lip textures.
Moreover, this FFXIV mod gets all the vanilla textures upscaled properly when it comes to Viera’s eyes.
It’s a great tool to show some love for Viera if you’re on the other side of the Shadowbringers race.
#24 – The Unofficial hrBody 2.5
This is a complete body mod for Roegadyns and Hrothgars that’s aimed at making their masculine aesthetics look somewhat believable, while still being lore-friendly.
It offers three different body types and adds deeper textures that truly enhance the looks of the characters in question.
FAQs:
Q. How to install FFXIV mods?
In order to install FFXIV modding on your PC, the first thing you will need is to install and set up the Final Fantasy XIV TexTools software.
Once that’s done, just pick your preferred mod file and open it within the software. Clicking ‘Apply’ will now install that file to the game.
Q. Are mods allowed in FF14?
Officially, FF14 mods go against the terms of services of the MMORPG game and can get a player banned.
However, Square Enix tolerates them as long as they are not giving you an unfair advantage in the game.
So as long as your FFXIV addons are strictly restricted to cosmetic changes, you shouldn’t be worried about a ban.
And in fact, a whole bunch of features that have been added by these best FFXIV mods have, in fact, been introduced to the game by the developers themselves.
The HD Buffs Icons and HD Skill Icons mods are examples of the same.
Q. Does FF14 use addons?
Yes, FF14 can indeed use modifications or addons if the players wish to.
Q. Do mods slow down FFXIV?
Too many Final Fantasy 14 mods will definitely slow the game so it’s always advisable to strike the right balance in terms of the number of mods you employ.
Q. How do I download mods for FFXIV?
Those who create mod files usually tend to upload them to Nexus Mods. Final Fantasy 14 players can also look for mods on the XIV Mod Archive website.
Q. How do I use hair mods FFXIV?
There are plenty of hair mods available for the game and you can use them using the regular method of downloading the TexTools software.
