Getting better FPS

[Rhetoric]

So for some reason with these last patches, my FPS has been getting worse. I've done all the recommended .ini file changes, however I notice in some cases things like grass quality is on when it used to not be. Here is my .ini as it stands, any tips on ways to get maximum FPS? I know some people have added lines, but I would be completely lost as to what lines to add and how to make the game run better overall.

 

[Renderer]

D3DFullScreen = true

Height = 1050

NativeHeight = 1050

NativeWidth = 1680

TextureAnisotropy = 16

Width = 1680

WindowX = 0

WindowY = 0

doShadows = false

doBlobShadows = false

PlantDensity = 100

SpeedTreeDistanceScale = 0.5

FullScreen = true

MeshLODQuality = 0

TextureQuality = 0

EnableBloom = false

AllowDepthOfField = false

UseMinSpecShaders = false

FarClipScale = 0.33711949

AntiAliasingLevel = 0

Buckets = 2

GraphicsDeviceId = 1570

GammaRamp = 1.1647283

 

One thing to note, is that I get a pretty decent 30-50 FPS in most places, but one real problem for me is the Alderaan warzone. I get maximum 15 FPS in that place and it's quite annoying.

[Evertal]

Whats your HW spec?

 

Seems this game is really taxing the memory for some reason (sloppy coding?). Anyway, I was suffering from that as well but after increasing RAM from 4G to 8G and my GfX from 512M to 1G FPS has been no problem.

[Rhetoric]

Windows 7

AMD Phenom 9150e Quad Core (1.8GHz)

8GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT (512MB)

 

I'm completely aware that it's my processor that's killing me at this rate. The computer itself is an oldish HP, only real upgrade is the video card which I purchased myself. Unfortunately, funds are low, so a new computer is out of the question at this rate. Upgrades might be more doable, however my processor chip set is AMD 2, and no place really sells processors from that chip set line anymore.

 

My issue is that in beta and launch, I was running this game very well, and with the newest patches, it all seems to be going downhill.

[Thekze]

Go post in this thread about Horrid FPS:

 

Over 53,000 views:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=233714

[Rhetoric]

Go post in this thread about Horrid FPS:

 

Over 53,000 views:

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=233714

 

Am quite aware of this post.

 

Though I do believe that with some more ini tweaks, I could be running this game the way I used to. As I mention, I believe it's some things such as grass quality that are killing me at the moment, which can't be changed within the game yet. I seem to recall having it turned off prior to these patches though.

[Evertal]

Windows 7

AMD Phenom 9150e Quad Core (1.8GHz)

8GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT (512MB)

 

I'm completely aware that it's my processor that's killing me at this rate. The computer itself is an oldish HP, only real upgrade is the video card which I purchased myself. Unfortunately, funds are low, so a new computer is out of the question at this rate. Upgrades might be more doable, however my processor chip set is AMD 2, and no place really sells processors from that chip set line anymore.

 

My issue is that in beta and launch, I was running this game very well, and with the newest patches, it all seems to be going downhill.

Dont think its your proc but rather your GfX with 512MB that is the problem. Reason I upgraded from 512M to 1G is that my wife, with almost identical comp only diff she had 1G and I 512M Gfx, could play without any serious FPS prob while I had to reload the game after an hour to get the FPS to a playable lvl. And as I said it worked.

 

Seems BWs spec for min and recommended HW is a bit off so I do think they got some optimization to do to reach their own targets. Making the game playable for those with low-end comps is actually good business for BW so I am certain they will do what is required. For me I just could not wait for BW to fix it so I bought new HW instead.

[Rhetoric]

Dont think its your proc but rather your GfX with 512MB that is the problem. Reason I upgraded from 512M to 1G is that my wife, with almost identical comp only diff she had 1G and I 512M Gfx, could play without any serious FPS prob while I had to reload the game after an hour to get the FPS to a playable lvl. And as I said it worked.

 

Seems BWs spec for min and recommended HW is a bit off so I do think they got some optimization to do to reach their own targets. Making the game playable for those with low-end comps is actually good business for BW so I am certain they will do what is required. For me I just could not wait for BW to fix it so I bought new HW instead.

 

I may well look into getting a 1GB video card, though I know after a certain extent there are bottlenecks, which may be especially true with my machine.

 

Would love to run max graphics, but for now I'll settle with everything off just to play at a good enough rate. I'm loving the game at the moment with a 50 getting into end game and an alt I'm purely PvPing with.

 

PvP is by far the worst of the FPS problems for me. So once again, in a long round about bump of a reply, anyone have any tips or new lines I can enter to tweak my .ini further with?

 

Another note is that I'm using Game Booster, which seems to help, however I can never get SWTOR to boot with the program. After the launcher, it simply does nothing.

[Evertal]

You can get a decent GfX with 1G for around 100 Euro or $180. Just make sure your PSU can handle it (at least 400W).

 

I agree with you that BW currently seems to be trying to control how and what we set the graphics to instead of optimizing the game and leave the settings to us.

 

If funds are low then patience is your best friend right now. As you said its a great game and it will only get better from here on.

 

EDIT: also before I changed HW the thing that worked the best for me was to change from fullscreen to windowed fullscreen.

Edited January 29, 2012 by Evertal

[traft]

Are you running the game in XP SP3 compatibility mode? I got a massive fps boost doing so, not sure if they fixed the issue that caused the game to run like a dog in Win7 with some video cards.

 

That card is fairly old though, I wouldn't be expecting miracles.

[pursang]

Your graphics card is a little bit out of date.

[xXcronicXx]

try running fraps or windows media in the background for some it helps

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=180832&page=3

 

 

World of Warcraft had something similar in it long time ago.

Someone discovered that having Media Player open in the background helped a lot. Blizzard took notice and managed to solve the issue and implemented whatever it was from Media Player that helped to improve the performance.

[braydendg]

You may need to update the graphics card, and perhaps the processor.

I think the minimum for graphics was around 500.

 

 

I myself use (don't know the names off my head)

3.1 processor

8gig ram

1064( I think) graphics

And with this I have no troubles, all settings on high and a steady 60fps

[Rhetoric]

Are you running the game in XP SP3 compatibility mode? I got a massive fps boost doing so, not sure if they fixed the issue that caused the game to run like a dog in Win7 with some video cards.

 

That card is fairly old though, I wouldn't be expecting miracles.

 

How do I go about this? I haven't done this yet, so I'll give it a go.

 

I always have windows media player running in the background, though it plays music. Would playing music in the background negate this effect of having WMP open?

 

The computer is slightly out of date, and if it weren't for the fact that I know I could run this on the lowest settings possible (outside of the in-game options; being able to change grass and environment quality, view distance, ect), I could run it smoothly enough for me to happy. At this rate, I'd be happy if I could even get 20-30 fps in warzones, which isn't asking for too much in my mind.

 

Thanks to those giving constructive feedback so far, I appreciate it.

[Evertal]

You may need to update the graphics card, and perhaps the processor.

I think the minimum for graphics was around 500.

 

 

I myself use (don't know the names off my head)

3.1 processor

8gig ram

1064( I think) graphics

And with this I have no troubles, all settings on high and a steady 60fps

 

According to FAQ and backside of box minimum is 256 and recommended is 512. In reality though 512 is barely minimum.

[gangbot]

I posted a thread with a guide on how to config ini. and what each commands actually do etc.

then a mod deleted the thread because they dont want you touching the ini files.

[Lasarith]

According to FAQ and backside of box minimum is 256 and recommended is 512. In reality though 512 is barely minimum.

 

Should Relly Say, 512MB minimum, 1GB Recommended, >>>>

[Lasarith]

I posted a thread with a guide on how to config ini. and what each commands actually do etc.

then a mod deleted the thread because they dont want you touching the ini files.

 

They have Stoped Giveing the ini file - (Black screen @ Startup) Fix, that Other user found, and i also from him Gave the Fix,

 

-Due to getting a Compleat black screen that Required a Full PC ReBoot to get Out off,

 

Like you said - Seems they dont want you touching the ini files, And Rather Try and Fix it on Thier End - Though While Thouse that dont know it still get it,

 

Perhaps a (window mode) on the Startup Launcher (where the settings are -repair tool)

 

(drop down menu) Would help.

Edited January 29, 2012 by Lasarith

[Valkirus]

How do I go about this? I haven't done this yet, so I'll give it a go.

 

I always have windows media player running in the background, though it plays music. Would playing music in the background negate this effect of having WMP open?

 

The computer is slightly out of date, and if it weren't for the fact that I know I could run this on the lowest settings possible (outside of the in-game options; being able to change grass and environment quality, view distance, ect), I could run it smoothly enough for me to happy. At this rate, I'd be happy if I could even get 20-30 fps in warzones, which isn't asking for too much in my mind.

 

Thanks to those giving constructive feedback so far, I appreciate it.

 

With your system any background program you can turn off, the better your performance will be running TOR. The game is very CPU intensive. I think what they mean with the Windows Media running is..you start it up, but donot have it running anything else. Just the Windows Media program is open.

[Lightmaguz]

His config is a bit out of place but should be enough to run this still... I have the same problem with a much better computer actually.

[Rhetoric]

His config is a bit out of place but should be enough to run this still... I have the same problem with a much better computer actually.

 

What configs do you recommend?

 

I did the booting from XP and I will say it's loads better. Getting anywhere from 40-60fps throughout the game now. However my warzones are still quite laggy with little improvement. Getting around 10-25fps in those which I hope can be hammered out further.

[SIMJEDI]

Make sure you have your NVIDIA control panel 3d setting tweaked also. The single biggest fps killer is Antialiasing - Transparency. I have mine set to Multisample.

 

I have a evga gtx580 classified ultra and with the settings I have the gpu cruises along at about 50%-80% usage with vsync on depending where I'm at and still get slowdowns. Whenever I get a drop in fps the gpu percentage does not increase either.

 

I've even been trying to put some of the files from the Assets folder into a ramdrive and it still happens. So IMO there is nothing that we can really do on our end to help it along....

 

My .ini settings. Remember to make BOTH these files read-only.

 

 

http://s68.photobucket.com/albums/i22/SIMJEDI/SWTOR/Configurations/

 

 

ETA: These are the settings that I have tweaked for the hardware that I OWN. If anybody wants to try these settings please adjust them for your hardware. And I will not be responsible if you try these exact settings and fry your stuff. And as always, make a backup before you begin fiddling around.

Edited February 8, 2012 by SIMJEDI