Game performance and crashing since GSF patch

[Loki_]

Since the GSF patch was launched last week I have noticed that every couple of minutes the game freezes for 1-2 seconds, usually it clears up and is fine again for a few minutes and keeps repeating this over and over.

 

At first I thought maybe it was a graphics card issue or packet loss issue but after testing other applications are running fine. I am not experiencing this game freeze / stutter issue, nor am i having any network issues with any other application.

 

Swtor seems to be crashing to desktop now occasionally too and I have never had this issue with the game ever since launch. I can only conclude that since it started occurring since last weeks GSF patch that something in the latest patch has triggered this.

 

Is anybody else experiencing similar issues ?

[Tyson_Krix]

Nothing for me. I don't have a hardcore pc but it's running as smoothly as it did before GSF

[Cregen]

Yup, same thing here for my comp and my wife's comp.

 

Loads to the splash screen, and on first launch, crashes the display driver. Have to force quit SWTOR, and start over. 2nd attempt will freeze a bit, occasionally crash the driver, but usually gets to the character selection screen. Just for experiment's sake, exited, launched a third time, and had no issues.

 

I changed the fullscreen setting in the config file in user\appdata, but that had no affect on the problem (solved a graphics issue back in '11).

 

Both computers have up to date drivers, and are decently built. Keeping an eye on the available RAM and proc power while it loads, I noticed that it isn't maxing out at all... so no memory dumps. Never went over 20% RAM useage (out of 12 gigs), and proc never went over 50% (3.5ghz, dual core).

 

Looking at event viewer doesn't give me much to go on. Just says "Display driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has successfully recovered." No clue as to what caused it to crash, just what the failed process was.

 

I've noticed that this is happening mostly to AMD cards... found some instances on the forums where GeForce users were affected, but it seemed to really attack AMD. In most cases, the users claimed that they had up to date drivers. This is obviously not an issue with our computers, but a massive bug released with the latest patch, and it isn't even on Bio's known bugs page yet.

[Infernixx]

Yup, same thing here for my comp and my wife's comp.

 

Loads to the splash screen, and on first launch, crashes the display driver. Have to force quit SWTOR, and start over. 2nd attempt will freeze a bit, occasionally crash the driver, but usually gets to the character selection screen. Just for experiment's sake, exited, launched a third time, and had no issues.

 

I changed the fullscreen setting in the config file in user\appdata, but that had no affect on the problem (solved a graphics issue back in '11).

 

Both computers have up to date drivers, and are decently built. Keeping an eye on the available RAM and proc power while it loads, I noticed that it isn't maxing out at all... so no memory dumps. Never went over 20% RAM useage (out of 12 gigs), and proc never went over 50% (3.5ghz, dual core).

 

Looking at event viewer doesn't give me much to go on. Just says "Display driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has successfully recovered." No clue as to what caused it to crash, just what the failed process was.

 

I've noticed that this is happening mostly to AMD cards... found some instances on the forums where GeForce users were affected, but it seemed to really attack AMD. In most cases, the users claimed that they had up to date drivers. This is obviously not an issue with our computers, but a massive bug released with the latest patch, and it isn't even on Bio's known bugs page yet.

 

If your display drivers stop responding, then it's an issue on your end.

[Cregen]

If your display drivers stop responding, then it's an issue on your end.

 

Except if you go on the forums, it's happening to lots of people. It worked fine before the patch, it doesn't work now. Explain how that's a problem on my end?

 

Like I said, drivers are up to date, there's nothing more we can do here. BW needs to fix whatever is crashing the display drivers.

[Traesk]

Except if you go on the forums, it's happening to lots of people. It worked fine before the patch, it doesn't work now. Explain how that's a problem on my end?

 

Like I said, drivers are up to date, there's nothing more we can do here. BW needs to fix whatever is crashing the display drivers.

 

Happens to me too. It's happening to a lot of people. It's not on our end.

[hooty]

In a simply bizarre turn of events, my system which has had a long history of similar problems (going all the way back to launch) has been rock solid all week since the 2.5 update. *knocks on wood*

 

I have given up trying to figure it out. Best I can think of is there are ongoing compatibility issues between swtor and any numbers of graphics cards'/drivers. Every new update (of either) is a crap shoot as to how it's going to perform. I go and tinker with my settings every patch to get it to run as reliably as possible.

[Cynonymous]

Just wanted to say the same thing is happening to me. Everything was working fine until this patch. Now every time I start the game my display drivers are crashing. The drivers are up to date. It seems to be an issue Bioware needs to look into and fix on their end.

[Darth-Malice]

I've never crashed before, but on the day GSF came out I started crashing once an hour and getting error 4001 on the first day. It hasn't happened since the second day after the patch. Now anytime I log in for the first time my load screen and UI is broken and I am forced to shut down and log in twice. It's not my video card, not my drivers, not my processor. It's a bad update period. Edited December 8, 2013 by Darth-Malice

[Alec_Fortescue]

It's getting worse on performance with each patch. My computer can't keep up

[jakler]

Hell, I can't even get the game to get past the launcher without alt-tabbing at the loading screen. BSODs or locks up every time. So much for AMD support .

[DarthNyquil]

Yeah the game's performance is a crap-shoot.

 

I took a break away from it in September. Up until then the game ran flawlessly for me (and I've played since beta, with the occasional break).

 

I came back the week before GSF launched. The game patched who knows how many patch iterations since September, and now it runs like utter hitchy/stuttery crap that no amount of tinkering has corrected.

 

Sad really. I was starting to get back into it, but simply can't enjoy it with this unprecedentedly (for me) horrible performance.

 

I can only hope they are taking a serious, professional look at the issue (and not another hand-waving campaign).

[TalkingDinosaur]

How about you actually post your computer's specs so Bioware can get an idea of where the problem is coming from and narrow it down instead of whining about bugs in an MMO.

[Knockerz]

Since the GSF patch was launched last week I have noticed that every couple of minutes the game freezes for 1-2 seconds, usually it clears up and is fine again for a few minutes and keeps repeating this over and over.

 

At first I thought maybe it was a graphics card issue or packet loss issue but after testing other applications are running fine. I am not experiencing this game freeze / stutter issue, nor am i having any network issues with any other application.

 

Swtor seems to be crashing to desktop now occasionally too and I have never had this issue with the game ever since launch. I can only conclude that since it started occurring since last weeks GSF patch that something in the latest patch has triggered this.

 

Is anybody else experiencing similar issues ?

 

Post your comp's specs.

[airfox]

having exact same problem here... since the latest patch my game would crash my AMD graphic ... music going in loop and flickering black screens

[DarthNyquil]

How about you actually post your computer's specs so Bioware can get an idea of where the problem is coming from and narrow it down instead of whining about bugs in an MMO.

 

Or I'll simply post that something that was working excellently before various (and unidentified) patches now works markedly worse than ever before and hope that they're taking note of customer complaints and investigating them.

 

See, that's how bugs work. Something stops working the way it's expected to. Someone points it out. Someone else listens and looks into it. Then, if all goes well, they fix it.

 

Very little in the world would get fixed if nobody ever spoke about things when they break.

[Shaedyone]

Same deal AMD Card crashes since 2.5 - no other game causes it - nothing else has changed - drivers are updated - hopefully fixed soon - kind of like the wow debacle where a patch caused gfx cards to burn out - (just not as bad here) this is not OUR END - it is multiple people across multiple cards with the common factor being this game and patch 2.5 - not realy a big issue in comparison to some we have had but irritating - maybe this 2.5a patch will fix it (no idea if the crashing of the gfx cards could cause any permanent damage to them as per the burnout issue but if so would also open up legal liability possibilities for replacements (yay could do with a new card lol)

[morfius]

ATI GPU owners - when start game and see 1st loading screen - alt+tab out of it for 30 seconds, then open it.

Work only in full screen mode.

Windowed mode do not care about foreground so game behave as opened even tabed out.

Edited December 10, 2013 by morfius

[Shukan]

Just wanted to say the same thing is happening to me. Everything was working fine until this patch. Now every time I start the game my display drivers are crashing. The drivers are up to date. It seems to be an issue Bioware needs to look into and fix on their end.

 

Same thing is happening to me and when I do finally load I have severe lag. Once that happens I close SWTOR normally and wait about 20 minutes then try again. Most of the time it loads correctly and runs fine after all of that.

 

Prior to the 2.5 patch the game ran like a champ but after the patch, no good. My computer is a top of the line pc with graphics, ram and processor so I hope BW finds a fix for this and soon.

[Morkhaine]

I dont have any crashes (except when I tab-out and come back in from time to time), but what I have been experiencing (since 2.5) is I'll be going along my merry way, and all of a sudden, I'll run into some invisible wall, and I cant move in any direction, but I can move the camera around.

 

I'll even see people running by me as Im stuck. Its very annoying.

[LilithRosamunde]

If your display drivers stop responding, then it's an issue on your end.

 

If you really think about it it's not really an issue on their end. It's an issue on AMD's end because the last patch for the driver was on 11/22 of this year before the latest patch for TOR came out ( yes I'm an AMD user and have an issue with this ) or TOR's issue because they with the last patch have made it so that AMD's ( and similar ) drivers cannot process the current updates graphics. I don't think it's a bug really just a thing that unfortunately AMD is going to have to fix on their end. Sorry guys. ( Remember I'm not an expert don't bite my head off )

[maganaho]

Was hoping there would be a fix today, after this little patch... Nope! Having the same issues as everyone else is having since GS came about. Near impossible to start the game without it crashing the video drivers, to which I have to use the alt-tab trick or going into task manager and letting the game load while it's up. Not to mention the random black screens and freezing at random for but a mere few seconds. What amuses me is all the people who pretend this is not an issue, even tho general chat was on fire after the last patch with the majority of Fleet flipping their **** over the problems. Ah well... At least the random black screens and freezes only last a few seconds and are not game breaking. On the other hand, having my drivers crash every time I launch the game is getting old and quick. TORtanic 2.0?

[Cregen]

If you really think about it it's not really an issue on their end. It's an issue on AMD's end because the last patch for the driver was on 11/22 of this year before the latest patch for TOR came out ( yes I'm an AMD user and have an issue with this ) or TOR's issue because they with the last patch have made it so that AMD's ( and similar ) drivers cannot process the current updates graphics. I don't think it's a bug really just a thing that unfortunately AMD is going to have to fix on their end. Sorry guys. ( Remember I'm not an expert don't bite my head off )

 

I'm sorry, but that is not how things should work. Bioware should support AMD drivers, not the other way around. I've had the latest driver from AMD prior to last week's patch, and it was working fine until then, so you can't blame it on AMD... BW changed something, and they should be the ones to fix it.

 

I'm not about to uninstall and reinstall various versions of drivers because Game X supports version 10.5 of a particular driver set, but Game Y supports only up to version 10.3. They should all be compatible with the latest driver set. After that, any driver issues should stem from not having the latest version.

 

I'm not trying to bite your head off, and I know that how things should work aren't always the way things do work, but this is beyond ridiculous. What kills me is I still haven't seen a response from them on this.

[Radimator]

Same here. Cant be on mi side.