Low FPS? Try this.

[VLudovico]

The .ini is the client_settings.ini and is located somewhere in C:\Users\<windows account name>\AppData\Local\SWTOR\ Go to that folder and look for it. To get to that folder you need to be able to view hidden files and navigate to it. Alternatively press WIN + R (WIN = windows key) and type the following --> %appdata% ---> go one folder up and then into "Local" and "swtor", find the .ini. Add the following lines:

 

AntiAliasingLevel = 4

DebugAdvEnviroLighting = true

TRY IT AT YOUR OWN RISK and please don't come to the forums complaining about experimental settings, if they give you crap performance (I say this for everyone, not for you Krum). BW having them disabled atm means that BW has a good reason. Probably because combined with the rest of settings, the game becomes a big performance hit for most machines and they are maybe waiting for better optimized drivers and a better optimized game. Still, if you got the hardware for it, the game looks better for me

 

Forcing AA through Nvidia drivers didn't work for me with the first try and I never bothered to spend time to make it work through the drivers, since it works fine enabled in game with the above lines added to the .ini. Not sure if you can get more that 4x AA, but 4x AA is fine for me at 2560x1600, so never tried. Note that I know how to make it work through drivers, I used nvidia inspector and the correct override, bla bla flags, etc but nada.

 

Anyway, I post these settings here because it's a widely known fact in the internet, al one has to do is to google "swtor enabling AA". Otherwise, I wasn;t going to post "experimental" settings. Still, as I said above, better wait for for BW to make these settings available, Ofc you can always try if you feel that your hardware is coping up with the game comfortably.

 

I thank you for this.

[angrYdog]

nor problems at all..shadows or not...its not the game..its your PC

[Polutornick]

nor problems at all..shadows or not...its not the game..its your PC

 

Right. Everyone should use a top rig, even if the game's graphics look outdated. The games have min specs for a reason.

[pitdingo]

or.

 

buy a graphics card.

 

shader 3 is 7 years old now, theres no excuse for not being able to run it, the xbox 360 runs dx9. my ps2 ran dx9.

 

wish the game had dx11 and shader 5, check my laptops specs in sig.

 

ps does not run dx9. Direct X is a proprietary, patent crippled, Microsoft technology. Sony, Nintendo, Apple, Google and every one else uses the superior, freely availble, OpenGL framework.

[DarthBlackwood]

heh. I play FFXIV on highest settings and have much better fps than in this game....

 

my computer is fine the way it is.

 

then again, I'm also happy with my 30-40 fps and just laugh at people who brag with 110 fps. I don't know about you guys, but my eyes cannot see 110fps:eek:

 

Pretty sure anything beyond 45 fps the eye won't recognize anyways.

[Epiphone]

I'm literally getting 5-20 FPS. It's very bad. For the most part my comp can handle any game, LotRO and WoW both run nearly perfect, I don't know what is wrong. I've updated my drivers, virus scans, all low graphic settings, shadows/bloom/conversation focus are all off.

 

I'll have to try your suggestion.

 

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT

3.40 GHz

2.00 GB of RAM

Pentium 4

[Tylerlee]

Low FPS fix, tested multiple times.

 

Go to C;\user\<name>\appdata\SWTOR and delete the contents, load up the launcher, run a repair, then log in.

 

Congrats, double or triple your fps as your pc doesnt look up your beta settings etc.

[Epiphone]

Low FPS fix, tested multiple times.

 

Go to C;\user\<name>\appdata\SWTOR and delete the contents, load up the launcher, run a repair, then log in.

 

Congrats, double or triple your fps as your pc doesnt look up your beta settings etc.

 

This be true?

[Aaluria]

Low FPS fix, tested multiple times.

 

Go to C;\user\<name>\appdata\SWTOR and delete the contents, load up the launcher, run a repair, then log in.

 

Congrats, double or triple your fps as your pc doesnt look up your beta settings etc.

 

No offense Tylerlee but I am looking for confirmation from other people that this works? Anyone else do what Tylerlee said and have it work for them to fix FPS issues? I get horrible frame rates now as compared to the ones I was getting in beta. Please post if you have successfully applied this solution to frame rates. Thanks.

[gothshark]

Shadows only get me if I have been playing 2-3 hours and I go in doors.

[HotCod]

Shadows only get me if I have been playing 2-3 hours and I go in doors.

 

I have perfect fps when I'm either not loading content or not indoors. Like you it used to be only after a few hours play that going in doors would kill the game but it's gotten worse over the last few days to the point that if I go inside anywhere at all ever, even instanced small rooms, the game becomes unplayable.

 

There has got to be something wrong somewhere for this to be happening to so many people across all kinds of hardware. I hope that the extended down time is due to them trying to sort this problem out. If they don't I'm going to have to return the game

Edited December 16, 2011 by HotCod

[jugeum]

This may sound extremely stupid, but it worked for me.

 

If you are on low with absolutely everything and your FPS is bottoming out badly do this. Turn your settings to medium in graphics and then turn shadows off. Touch nothing else. I had a huge improvement in gameplay, game went from 30 fps constant to 51 fps constant with absolutely no stutter in PvE and PvP.

 

Not sure why it does it but try it, see if it works for you.

 

It seems very simple, but for those suffering from performance issues it may be some of the best advice. I am grateful you took the time out to post that. Thanks.

[JBakers]

The game can be very demanding in some areas with certain settings. So play with settings, that's your best shot and ofc keep your drivers updated, etc.

 

I am one of the few running a monster of a PC, i7- 4.2ghz, gtx580 SLI o/ced. The game can max these... yes, at grassy areas (dromund kaas and probably to other areas too), the game can max 2x over clocked gtx580.

 

Of course this is with 2560x1600 resolution, everything turned to max, 4x AA and advanced lighting through the .ini and 2x Transparency Super Sampling through the drivers. Load at the GPUs (I monitor real time through a G19) is usually at 50-75%, but when I get to a really grassy area, lots of grass on ground, that AA and TrAA settings make grass super "heavy" for me. Loads go to 97-99% and fps drop from 60 to 54 or something.

 

Bottom line, what FPS you are getting is heavily tied to your settings and hardware. "Play" with settings, especially settings like bloom/shadows. Maybe it's how your card or drivers handles bloom and bloom is a big hit for you. You need to try for yourself. I saw a guy complaining about how big a hit Bloom is for him. For me it's about 10-12% (gpu load) hit, which is considerable but not that big as the fps hit he was experiencing. Still, it seems like a considerable "hit". Ofc, don't enable AA if your card can't handle it.

 

So play with settings and don't be "afraid" to disable bloom, etc if your fps is not good. Trust me, the game will look fine (even without bloom, AA, etc) when you get used to it and having good FPS is more important. ithout bloom, just NEVER visit a friend that plays at 2560x1600, max settings + AA and see what the game looks like for him. You'll cry

 

Your e-peen must be humongous!

[Goretog]

I'm literally getting 5-20 FPS. It's very bad. For the most part my comp can handle any game, LotRO and WoW both run nearly perfect, I don't know what is wrong. I've updated my drivers, virus scans, all low graphic settings, shadows/bloom/conversation focus are all off.

 

I'll have to try your suggestion.

 

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT

3.40 GHz

2.00 GB of RAM

Pentium 4

 

First off i'm running

 

Core 2 duo 3.0 GHz

4 GB of Ram

Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT 512mb

 

Started game was getting 20 FPS max, turned off grass and trees and shadows, went up to 25 FPS (rest on low)

 

I then turned on High settings from drop down menu, FPS dropped to 14....

 

Lowered Grass to 10% and tree's to 10%, turned Shadows off BOOM 45 FPS

 

Bugger me if i know why this happens but get them settings up and see what you get, turn things down as needed.

[Luminati]

It's the shadows. I am also running a monster system (RAWR) with i7 2600k @ 4.8ghz, 2x radeon 6950s [unlocked to 6970s] and eyefinity at 6048x1200 and was getting weird shifts in FPS. Yesterday I was getting like 30 fps and when I turned off shadows it went up to 70fps. Today when I logged in [after a pc restart] I was at 70-100 fps WITH shadows on high. however it didn't FEEL like 70-100 so I started tweaking. Changed shaders to low then back to high and all of a sudden my FPS was smooth as butter. Bloom also kills my FPS so it is OFF. Edited December 16, 2011 by Luminati

[NinjaApacHe]

It's not weird. If you have a LOT of peeps on screen, shadows will be more demanding than if you are alone. On the other hand, Bloom will always be about the same demanding. So, I expect shadows to be less or more intensive than Bloom, depending on how many people on screen. Additionally, depending on your GPU, settings like bloom, shadows, AA can appear less or more intensive. A lot of factors affect performance, especially in odd cases of old hardware and especially if there's some kind of bug and the settings you put in are "translated" in some weird way.

 

The only true advice is EXPERIMENT with settings, it's the only really powerful tool. The game can max out overclocked gtx580 SLI with the right settings, so it's more about the setting. Ofc if you have really old hardware...

 

Ok you have a monster Pc, now we know........ But you are not alone and you are not one of the few, you are just average.

[RubberDoll]

Try this also

 

Upgrade your pc

 

works every time

 

Wonder why this allways comes up

Its not all that are born with a golden spoon in the butt and cant afford to upgrade ons a year so every little thing there can be done helps

[Cary]

Shadows tend to be the biggest single FPS killer in any MMO.

 

I agree, with my old Core 2 Quad 8400 and ati radeon 5770 on rift, with shadows on I got like 20fps, turned them off and it went upto 50.

 

However, I can run this game on max and it doesn't break a sweat, same for Skyrim and F1 2011, Crysis 1 and 2.

 

This is the first time I have a had a top end system and I love it.

 

(See sig for rig)

[Wrevan]

Turning Shadows off was a big boost.

[ChairmanMeoow]

I'm literally getting 5-20 FPS. It's very bad. For the most part my comp can handle any game, LotRO and WoW both run nearly perfect, I don't know what is wrong. I've updated my drivers, virus scans, all low graphic settings, shadows/bloom/conversation focus are all off.

 

I'll have to try your suggestion.

 

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT

3.40 GHz

2.00 GB of RAM

Pentium 4

 

Well, this game isn't really that demanding, but it's a bit more demanding than WoW and LotRO. Are you running Windows 32bit?

 

If you are, I would recommend buying 8gig ram and upgrading to windows 7 64bit. Ram is pretty cheap, like 44 dollars for dual stick corsair 8gigs.

 

If you have some extra money over the holidays, you can save up and upgrade your graphics card to a GTX460 1gig card, they are only about $150 and will probably go on sale after Christmas for like 70 bucks. I upgraded to one of these bad boys from a 8800GTX and it was a BIG difference. Just always remember, the cheapest part of a noticeable PC upgrade is RAM!

[baryonic-member]

I can run both Crysis and BF3 on high/ultra with constant 60fps, yet I only get around 40 in this game (with shadows off)!

[Lasica]

I found AA to bit of a fps hit in beta, so didn't bother with live. At the moment I'm getting around 50 fps on average with everything else turned up to full though, so maybe I'll take shadows down and put AA on and see how it goes.

[ckoneful]

Wonder why this allways comes up

Its not all that are born with a golden spoon in the butt and cant afford to upgrade ons a year so every little thing there can be done helps

 

Except the people complaining the majority of the time are running 5 year old computers. Also, if you buidl your own(which is NOT hard) you can get quite a nice computer for A LOT cheaper.

[Rasticles]

This isn't one of those idiot replies......bear with me ...

 

------------------------------------

 

Processor:

 

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz or better

Operating System:

Windows XP or later

 

RAM:

 

Windows XP: 1.5GB RAM

Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB RAM

 

Note: PCs using a built-in graphical chipset are recommended to have 2GB of RAM.

 

Star Wars: The Old Republic requires a video card that has a minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM as well as support for Shader 3.0 or better. Examples include:

 

ATI X1800 or better

nVidia 7800 or better

Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better

 

DVD-ROM drive – 8x speed or better (required for installation from physical editions only) Internet connection required to play.

----------------------------------------------

 

Remember, XP was sold needing 256mb of RAM, which most people found to be false when it was released. Essentially, XP with the service packs, needs a gig of RAM by itself to operate. A 2 gig system will run ToR, but not very well. With ToR's requirements, and XP needing a gig to work well, that leaves half of a gig of RAM for the game.... not enough.

 

A pentium 4 is simply not going to cut it. Hyperthreading is not multiple cores, it is a prototype of multiple cores.

 

Lastly, remember, video drivers tailored towards games are usually released after the game is launched.. I'd look for new nVidia and ATI drivers in a week or two after launch...

[jimdove]

The .ini is the client_settings.ini and is located somewhere in C:\Users\<windows account name>\AppData\Local\SWTOR\ Go to that folder and look for it. To get to that folder you need to be able to view hidden files and navigate to it. Alternatively press WIN + R (WIN = windows key) and type the following --> %appdata% ---> go one folder up and then into "Local" and "swtor", find the .ini. Add the following lines:

 

AntiAliasingLevel = 4

DebugAdvEnviroLighting = true

TRY IT AT YOUR OWN RISK and please don't come to the forums complaining about experimental settings, if they give you crap performance (I say this for everyone, not for you Krum). BW having them disabled atm means that BW has a good reason. Probably because combined with the rest of settings, the game becomes a big performance hit for most machines and they are maybe waiting for better optimized drivers and a better optimized game. Still, if you got the hardware for it, the game looks better for me

 

Forcing AA through Nvidia drivers didn't work for me with the first try and I never bothered to spend time to make it work through the drivers, since it works fine enabled in game with the above lines added to the .ini. Not sure if you can get more that 4x AA, but 4x AA is fine for me at 2560x1600, so never tried. Note that I know how to make it work through drivers, I used nvidia inspector and the correct override, bla bla flags, etc but nada.

 

Anyway, I post these settings here because it's a widely known fact in the internet, al one has to do is to google "swtor enabling AA". Otherwise, I wasn;t going to post "experimental" settings. Still, as I said above, better wait for for BW to make these settings available, Ofc you can always try if you feel that your hardware is coping up with the game comfortably.

 

cheers buddy was just about to start asking when and if they would be putting an AA into the game, i assume we stick those 2 cmds in the renderer part of the ini? will give em a go when they bring the servers back online. I got up especially early to play MOAR TOR today and the servers are down till midday, this is after i made myself goto bed at 2am last night so I could get up earlier to play more LOL

 

Loving the game so far.

 

Guess im gonna go tinker with skyrim for an hour, perhaps do a 10000 spawn of cabbages zerg then a 50 dragons vs 50 dremora lords battle royale