BioWare: "most" people aren't having SWTOR performance issues

[Viera]

There's lots who won't say anything. Maybe they just searched it up on the forums, seeing others have similar problems. Eurogamer.net says Game Director James Ohlen estimated the percentage with problems to be 5%.

If that is as you describe, based on amount of posts in forum and complaints, then the actual percentage can be much higher.

 

There's also the issue with underperforming. I can run it on a GT 540m, but shadows will really drop down fps. Considering the enviroments are very static empty, and that the instanced areas are quite small, I would say graphics compared to specs required are very poor. In that regard I'd say the game is underperforming (badly optimized/poor performance).

 

5% of 2,000,000 is 100,000. You do realize that, right?

[Webstravaganza]

I don't have any problems, whats your point?

 

Hell, I'm multiboxing two accounts with high graphics settings and not having any graphics problems, other than having to force AA through my graphics card. And that's because it's not implemented yet.

 

Most people aren't having graphics problems. Hearing this will obviously make the people who are having graphics problems angry, but trying to imply that somehow the vast majority of us are having issues and not admitting to it is the height of nonsense.

[Viera]

Wait, I don't get what any of you are even complaining about? Seriously. It says.

 

"However, we know that it's important that there is a smaller group of people usually with lower end machines that are having problems in some areas. And one of the most important things for us to grow our service is to continue to bring in more players, including those players who only have low-end machines.

 

So we have a client team, a team of programmers, whose entire job is to optimise the code, find out where some of the issues are, and then fix that up.

 

"Most of the performance issues are localised though," he added. "They're things that we can track down. I would call them bugs."

 

What, because he said "usually with lower end machines" it hurt your ego or something?

[Webstravaganza]

Some real ******* in this place.

 

"my system is 10 years old and I can can run the game with every everything set to low, theres no probelm"

 

"All you need is 4 cores"

 

People with top end computers and high end graphics cards are having probelms. As said its only certin areas of the game. If your not having probelms good on you. Get off the forums and go play the game you stupid gimps. I hardly ever visit these forums, too many little whinning *****es.

 

Pot => Kettle

[Immoral_Atheist]

5% of 2,000,000 is 100,000. You do realize that, right?

 

He gave the impression that those 5% or 100k is based on number of people who have complained. The actual number of people with problems can be much higher.

[Vaxmand]

"The thing is, for the most part, 95 per cent - oh I can't give you the exact percentage - most of our players aren't really having performance concerns. However, we know that it's important that there is a smaller group of people usually with lower end machines that are having problems in some areas. And one of the most important things for us to grow our service is to continue to bring in more players, including those players who only have low-end machines."

- James Ohlen

 

Alright, so I'd like to know why I can play Skyrim, Mass Effect 2, Witcher 2 and WoW all on maximum graphics settings without so much as a glitch but when I play SWTOR in crappy resolution on all the graphics options either disabled or set at low my computer stutters more than a crack dealer being questioned by the police.

 

Get your facts right before spewing tripe like that, Ohlen. Or better yet, stop giving interviews and fix this issue - or your game will lose a fat chunk of subscribers, myself included.

[Ibuki]

I have a Core i7 860 with 3,8Ghz, a Radeon HD 5870 and 8GB DDR3-Ram. I play in 1920x1080 with everything maxed out (makes almost no visual difference anyway lol) and with 4xMSAA forced via AMD-Driver. I can see my FPS and my GPU-/CPU-Load all the time on my Logitech G15 Refresh Keyboard.

 

When I'm questing the FPS are around 70-110FPS (I'm playing with 120Hz screens so there's no need to activate V-Sync). In the Republic Fleet my Framerate always drops below 20FPS. When playing a warzone I play with 20-40FPS. My bottleneck is usually the CPU since GPU-Load is always at 70-80% even though I play with 4xMSAA.

 

This is a pretty bad performance in my eyes. Regarding the looks of this game, I don't think these Framerates are okay. The graphics are outdated, the shadows are pixelated and the textures are unsharp. Graphics and Performance are points that need to be reworked! The 7 years old WoW performs a lot better and doesn't look worse.

 

 

P.S.: Worst place to be is Ilum! I'm struggling to have more than 20fps when a big fight starts. GPU-Load is at 20%. My Core i7 860 @ 3,8Ghz is heavily bottlenecking... Good Performance? You must be kidding!

Edited January 11, 2012 by Ibuki

[Squizzo]

It is utterly ridiculous to see some people in this thread saying 'you just don't have your pc set up properly' to people with top end machines.

People with high end rigs are usually pretty tech savvy, you don't think they would have the latest drivers, shut down unnecessary processes etc.

 

I have a rig that should slaughter TOR, in the same manner that it does Skyrim, MW3, Assassins creed rev, Arkham city and Aion. Yet despite tor being the least graphically impressive in the list, it runs at the lowest frame rate.

 

If you can't except that this is poor optimisation on Biowares part than you must be high on crack.

[lollie]

The only issue I noticed was SWTOR causing too much heat to my CPU (which only started happening after the patch on the 6th Jan), so I throttled my fps to 80fps using an outside app, which has reduced CPU heat while playing SWTOR (but still not to what it was before the Jan 6th patch). Throttling my fps makes it stable at 80fps most areas, though I see reduction at times. Before the Jan 6th patch I was seeing 70fps - 110fps solid, although even that is a bit of a huge range to fluctuate between. After the patch on 6th Jan it seemed my high fps was causing problems for CPU heat generation (GPU heat was fine). And on CPU heat, going to fleet also causes increased CPU heat beyond anywhere else.

 

Running an i7 2600K @4.4gigs, Win7 Ultimate 64bit, 460gtx 1gig, 8gigs 1600 RAM, Asus P8Z68-V motherboard, latest drivers for GPU and motherboard, 700W PSU, 1600x1280 resolution, all settings maxed...

 

...though have since reduced shadows to low, because having shadows on high causes more fps fluctuation, while keeping shadows low makes fps stable at my throttled level of 80fps. Other than the above, game plays smoothly for me, with no hitching/no lag/no input delay/etc.

Edited January 11, 2012 by lollie

[Mandemalex]

Keep your head in the sand bro, haven't encountered ANY technical problems that haven't already been explained/fixed.

 

Next time reach deeper into your Mummy and Daddy's pockets so you can get a better setup.

[Munx]

Am I having performance issues? not really..

 

Does the game run as expected for my specs? or any of the people I know for that mather running it? No, not even close.

 

Swtor is one of the most poorly optimized mmo's I have ever played, since vanguard.

 

Bioware needs to admit this and put some work into fixing the problem..

 

Most people can run the game yes, that does how ever not mean that most people dont have performance issues, when a game performs worse then it should compared to your computer specs, that is a performance ISSUE, wake up bioware.

[Squizzo]

Keep your head in the sand bro, haven't encountered ANY technical problems that haven't already been explained/fixed.

 

Next time reach deeper into your Mummy and Daddy's pockets so you can get a better setup.

 

Speaks volumes of your character and subsequent credibility... I hope in time you can realise that making overzealous remarks intended to demean an unknown entity is as ridiculous as those you attempt to berate.

[jarjarloves]

This.

 

When it is actually playable I love this game…it’s just not very playable for me since the Friday/Saturday patch…the DC’s before then were annoying, the constant crashes since are maddening.

 

 

now that is intersting that things got worse for you after the patch however with your system specs and you say you are constantly getting DCs and constant crashes I can tell you this is not normal.

 

 

The problems you describe are happening to others but only a very very small amount of players. I would defenlty take a look at your hardware software config.

[jarjarloves]

"The thing is, for the most part, 95 per cent - oh I can't give you the exact percentage - most of our players aren't really having performance concerns. However, we know that it's important that there is a smaller group of people usually with lower end machines that are having problems in some areas. And one of the most important things for us to grow our service is to continue to bring in more players, including those players who only have low-end machines."

- James Ohlen

 

Alright, so I'd like to know why I can play Skyrim, Mass Effect 2, Witcher 2 and WoW all on maximum graphics settings without so much as a glitch but when I play SWTOR in crappy resolution on all the graphics options either disabled or set at low my computer stutters more than a crack dealer being questioned by the police.

 

Get your facts right before spewing tripe like that, Ohlen. Or better yet, stop giving interviews and fix this issue - or your game will lose a fat chunk of subscribers, myself included.

 

why do people have such a hard time reading? he says MOST of the people with bad framerates are because of low end machines. HE IS NOT SAYING EVERYONE.

 

Yes there are people who have great gaming rigs that are having problems. But it is a very small amount

 

HE ALSO SAID THEY ARE WORKING ON IT.

 

what more do you want them to do?

[LogunOne]

I have a 2600k, 16GB RAM, 2 5870s. Once I turned off shadows it made a difference but there are still areas where it the framerate drops.

 

With my rig expect 60fps pretty much all the time. If i'm the republic feet I get like 25fps-35fps. Which is NOT acceptable to me.

 

Pretty discouraging you're able to play Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 at high settings at 60fps all the time. But that must because I'm running a low end machine.

 

Your expectations are too high then, the 5870 was an early DirectX-11 card. It was benchmarked in Crysis Warhead to max at 37 FPS

 

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,695689/Radeon-HD-5870-Review-of-the-first-DirectX-11-graphics-card/Reviews/?page=9

 

In a Crossfire set up the 5870 averaged 39 to 44 FPS

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/2934/sapphire_radeon_hd_5870_1gb_in_crossfire/index6.html

 

Even in a 7 year old game like WoW it was benchmarked at between 49 and 74 FPS.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,695689/Radeon-HD-5870-Review-of-the-first-DirectX-11-graphics-card/Reviews/?page=16

 

Expecting sustained 60 FPS in SWTOR is likely an unrealistic goal.

[Mannce]

Although my Machine is old, 3 year old Quad with a GTx 460 pair, 64 bit os and 8 gigs of ram. I can run Battlefield 3, Mw 3, Witcher 2, Skyrim and high to ultra and they run smooth as silk. Every single MMO in the last 3 years as well. Even rift with 200 people around ran fine. I find it very insulting to suggest, it's 'lowbie machines'. There is certainly something not right. My machine is a gaming computer, nothing else. I do not accept biowares statement. What I find really funny is the generic, update your drivers bs. Listen, I dunno what you guys are smoking, but my drivers have been in auto update mode for 2 years now from nvidia. Which brings me to another point. I'm so sick of this hardware/software epeen thing going on. Over a million gamers, and still between the developer and ATI/Nvidia, no new drivers? I call shanagins. I wasn't expecting the game to run on MAX. However, to not even get 20 fps on low at 1074x768, again when I can play everything else in the last 36 months at high 1440x900 non issue. Something stinks.

[Ibuki]

Your expectations are too high then, the 5870 was an early DirectX-11 card. It was benchmarked in Crysis Warhead to max at 37 FPS

 

The CPU is heavily bottlenecking this game and not the GPU. Even a single 5870 is more than enough for SWTOR.

 

My 3,8Ghz Core i7 is working at full load while my HD 5870 is at 25% load in Ilum. My framerate is between 10 and 20 FPS there. 1920x1080, 4xMSAA.

[WereMops]

He gave the impression that those 5% or 100k is based on number of people who have complained. The actual number of people with problems can be much higher.

 

Or Bioware could have extrapolated/estimated that the percantage is around 5 ish but the reported/unreported problems could be a whole lot lower number, both our statements about this is purely based on assumptions.

 

Since the issues doesn't affect everyone or even affect people with the same computer specs then it's probably a question about "incompatible" graphic drivers, anti-virus, firewalls, faulty (or failing) hardware, corrupted files, windows patches, background activities, directx version (not the big version but the smaller "subversions"), soundcard drivers etc, the list goes on.

 

Locating, replicating and isolating an issue that affects everyone or atleast a large percentage (read higher double digits) is pretty straightforward and relatively "easy".

 

Locating, replicating and isolating an issue that affects a "small" percentage of users (and not everyone with a certain computer spec is affected) is painstakingly difficult at best.

Edited January 11, 2012 by WereMops

[Mannce]

Or Bioware could have extrapolated/estimated that the percantage is around 5 ish but the reported/unreported problems could be a whole lot lower number, both our statements about this is purely based on assumptions.

 

Since the issues doesn't affect everyone or even affect people with the same computer specs then it's probably a question about "incompatible" graphic drivers, anti-virus, firewalls, faulty (or failing) hardware, corrupted files, windows patches, background activities, directx version (not the big version but the smaller "subversions"), soundcard drivers etc, the list goes on.

 

Locating, replicating and isolating an issue that affects everyone or atleast a large percentage (read higher double digits) is pretty straightforward and relatively "easy".

 

Locating, replicating and isolating an issue that affects a "small" percentage of users (and not everyone with a certain computer spec is affected) is painstakingly difficult at best.

 

Just to weigh in on that. And for those us that know what were doing, and keep a clean house (pc) with everything updated like some kind of OCD patient. I know more about my pc then my body at this point in life. It may be 'some' of those things. But not in my case. I will not accept that, not when in an industry of gaming choices, the other 50 options i own in the last 12 months work 110%. Something is wrong with the software in this case. They know it, they just don't want to out and say... buy our game! *Warning 25% may not be able to play 'perfectly' at this point, but buy anyways were working on it". Not very good business sense. Doesn't change the fact they are lying about the number of people having issues. And from a product selling point of view, with good reason.

[jarjarloves]

Just to weigh in on that. And for those us that know what were doing, and keep a clean house (pc) with everything updated like some kind of OCD patient. I know more about my pc then my body at this point in life. It may be 'some' of those things. But not in my case. I will not accept that, not when in an industry of gaming choices, the other 50 options i own in the last 12 months work 110%. Something is wrong with the software in this case. They know it, they just don't want to out and say... buy our game! *Warning 25% may not be able to play 'perfectly' at this point, but buy anyways were working on it". Not very good business sense. Doesn't change the fact they are lying about the number of people having issues. And from a product selling point of view, with good reason.

 

but what else do you want them to do? They already said they know people are having a problem and they already said they have an entire team working on it.

[Mannce]

but what else do you want them to do? They already said they know people are having a problem and they already said they have an entire team working on it.

 

And thats good enough for me. I can wait. Doesn't mean I'am gonna keep paying while I wait though.

[Kebabz]

My Computer:

 

Crysis 2 fps > SWTOR fps in Ilum and Warzones.

[jarjarloves]

And thats good enough for me. I can wait. Doesn't mean I'am gonna keep paying while I wait though.

 

see why can't more people be mature like you. That is a reasonable response not the typical

 

"I WANT IT FIXED NOW!!! BIOWARE IS FAIL YOU STOLE MY MONEY AND KICK PUPPIES FALSE ADVERTISING RAAAAWWRRRR"

[Mannce]

see why can't more people be mature like you. That is a reasonable response not the typical

 

"I WANT IT FIXED NOW!!! BIOWARE IS FAIL YOU STOLE MY MONEY AND KICK PUPPIES FALSE ADVERTISING RAAAAWWRRRR"

 

It is the only option as customer that you have. Everything else is just nonsensical ramblings. Tech issues will happen. Although I can play witcher 2 NOW on high, I couldn't when it first came out. It wasn't till about 4 months after I bought, and a patch or two. This is typical PC land. I've lost track over time the number of games purchased that out of the box sucked, but give the dev's 6 months and its 'working as intended'. I have no doubt this will be the case here.

 

EDIT: But 6x14.99 will stay in my account, or buy another game till then. Not my lose at all. All kinds of great games out there.

Edited January 11, 2012 by Mannce

[MilesTeg_cy]

The CPU is heavily bottlenecking this game and not the GPU. Even a single 5870 is more than enough for SWTOR.

 

My 3,8Ghz Core i7 is working at full load while my HD 5870 is at 25% load in Ilum. My framerate is between 10 and 20 FPS there. 1920x1080, 4xMSAA.

 

This is strange bec my i5 2500k @4.5GHz runs at 50% while my GTX460 runs at 99%. This can be a reason of GPU difference. I wonder if it is same with other AMD GPU and Nvidia users...