Major Lag and FPS drops.. Plus 2 SWTOR.exe instances

[Zoom_VI]

Just ran the Makeb Arena, ranked, i was on the bridge, my game dropped to 1 FPS !!! I wish i could untick that arena because it is a loss whenever I get there. It starts nicely at 100+ fps and then drops to 1!!! Anyways, forum heroes keep saying it is my pc, no problem, i am planning an upgrade.Moving on x99 deluxe and gtx 980. When that rig won't run SWTOR properly and FPS drops will occur, I will laugh at everyone who says they have enough FPS with a toaster when the majority have no clue they play with 15 which for some of us is unacceptable.

 

You realize most of SWTOR is done off the CPU and not the GPU right?

[Evolixe]

You realize most of SWTOR is done off the CPU and not the GPU right?

 

You realise X99 is the most powerful consumer CPU chipset on the market, right?

Edited September 16, 2014 by Evolixe

[Zoom_VI]

You realise X99 is the most powerful consumer CPU chipset on the market, right?

 

Derp, was reading x99 as times 99. LOL

[sauerkraut]

Nope, each and every PC has it's differences, even 2 completely identical PC's will have some minute differences between them. So, no not everyone would have the same problem.

 

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! That difference makes the problem and it's client sided, you need to change your build or/and software, BW (and not just BW) can't figure out every single software and hardware combination possible (of course you suppose to know it ) and yes if it server sided problem it would effect everybody with similar parts (for example: at the release AoC would not run on AMD video cards). It's obvious that one or more of he's components causing the problem, it could be a hardware or a software or both. You need to uninstall or replace items until u find the problem.

 

I would start with the video card.

Edited September 16, 2014 by sauerkraut

[DarthOvertone]

About a month ago, I started experiencing some pretty severe lag and FPS issues. They were occurring mainly while playing SWTOR, but also occurred during BF4. Did some systems monitoring and discovered the lag was primarily caused by the recent GeForce Experience update.

 

Apparently, NVidia decided to include some sort of LiveStream capability and auto-activated it to send them player usage data during normal gameplay even if the LiveStream feature was turned off. After I disabled it, everything chilled and went back to normal for the most part.

Edited September 16, 2014 by DarthOvertone

[Evolixe]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! That difference makes the problem and it's client sided, you need to change your build or/and software, BW (and not just BW) can't figure out every single software and hardware combination possible (of course you suppose to know it ) and yes if it server sided problem it would effect everybody with similar parts (for example: at the release AoC would not run on AMD video cards). It's obvious that one or more of he's components causing the problem, it could be a hardware or a software or both. You need to uninstall or replace items until u find the problem.

 

I would start with the video card.

 

.......

 

It's quite apparent you have no IT experience. Thankfully you have no say in any of this.

[tehrealdealz]

So it is September 2014 and this is still an issue. I can't see how any optimisation has been done. The game is more laggy then ever. Every new update/expansion/event puts more lag into the game. I don't know if this is bad coding or hardware related. My guess is it's a combination of both. Because every time they merged a server it also becomes worse.

Memory leakage is also a problem. When the first instance nearly maxes 2GB of memory (OMG), the second starts to climb. I have had nearly 3GB of system memory being used by SWTOR. At this point the lag in PVP jumps to nearly 2+ seconds! which feels like forever in PVP.

A game, or even better, a system restart is needed to fix this. Strong holds and lots of PVP pops accelerate the problem. The longer your play session the worse it becomes.

 

Before anyone says it's my machine, please take the following into account.

1st I am a server manager and system builder. I have optimised Windows services, network and limited all non necessary back ground applications on my PC for gaming

2nd I have the following system-

Intel CPU 4770k (4.4ghz water cooled)

8GB G.skill Trident 2400mhz RAM

3x Intel 520 SSD drives (1 for OS, 1 for Game installation, 1. For system memory

Sapphire HD7970 GHZ OC Vapor-X 6GB graphics card

Asus z87 WS motherboard

3rd I run all graphics on low to get better pvp performance

4th I have a fibre optic network connection

My FPS is always coloured red. It fluctuates between 111 to 30, depending on where I am in the game. A low population fleet map will give me 110-111 all the time. A high pop map (160+people) will drop it to 30FPS

Makeb Imp starting area still hasn't been fixed and drops can even go lower than 30FPS

PVP fluctuates between 30-90FPS, I never get 110FPS, except before the match starts.

Both Hutt Balls are the worst, the newer one being extremely bad. My guess is it's all the bright flashing signs and the flame/green goo mechanics and animation putting strain on your system resources. A quick fix or testing on the PTS, with those removed would show if that is the problem.

 

When/what is Bio going to fix this?? I know some people never experience this, but I would say a majority do.

 

A "technical" explanation from Bio as to why it happens and when or if it is being addressed, would be appreciated. If it is going to be fixed, exactly what are they doing to fix it?? Hardware upgrades, network upgrades or code improvements

 

 

.

 

I thought I was the only one but it's true. The longer I stay logged on to SWTOR the worse and worse my lag gets. In FPs its not so bad but OMG in WZs its almost unplayable. What i have to do like ever hour or so is completely shut down swtor and sometimes I have to reboot. It seems like SWTOR just eats up my RAM if I stay logged in for too long. Is that what you mean my memore leak?

[sauerkraut]

.......

 

It's quite apparent you have no IT experience. Thankfully you have no say in any of this.

 

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!! You and your big IT experience and none of u can solve this simple problem. Meantime I have no problems with SWTOR at all (other than the PvP sucks big time but it's not a technical issue). Go back to school.

[Evolixe]

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!! You and your big IT experience and none of u can solve this simple problem. Meantime I have no problems with SWTOR at all (other than the PvP sucks big time but it's not a technical issue). Go back to school.

 

Point proven.

[Icykill_]

I thought I was the only one but it's true. The longer I stay logged on to SWTOR the worse and worse my lag gets. In FPs its not so bad but OMG in WZs its almost unplayable. What i have to do like ever hour or so is completely shut down swtor and sometimes I have to reboot. It seems like SWTOR just eats up my RAM if I stay logged in for too long. Is that what you mean my memore leak?

 

Yes... That is memory leak

 

I found this simple explanation/analogy on the web for you

 

- Memory Leak

A memory leak is like a virtual oil leak in your computer. It slowly drains the available memory, reducing the amount of free memory the system can use. Most memory leaks are caused by a program that unintentionally uses up increasing amounts of memory while it is running. This is typically a gradual process that gets worse as the program remains open. If the leak is bad enough, it can cause the program to crash or even make the whole computer freeze.

 

The most common reason programs have memory leaks is due to a programming error where unused memory is not allocated back to the system. This means the amount of RAM the program uses is always growing. Therefore, the program is constantly "leaking" memory. A memory leak may also be caused by a program that requests new memory too frequently, instead of using available memory. This means each time more memory is requested, the program takes up additional RAM instead of using memory that has already been made available to the program.

 

Fortunately, memory leaks are not as messy as oil leaks and can be more easily fixed. Software development applications often include debuggers that can check programs for memory leaks. Once the source of the leak is found, the programmer can modify the code so that the program uses memory more efficiently. If you are using a program that has a memory leak, you can temporarily fix the problem by simply quitting the program and opening it again. Once the program has been quit, the memory is automatically allocated back to the system. Of course, if the leak continues to be a problem, the best solution is to let the developer know about the issue so it can be fixed.

I guess Bio's debugger is working over time fixing all the other problems... And they have never gotten around to addressing this issue

I love the bit about letting the developer know... Pretty sure they know and it's 2 years later

Obviously our only option at the moment is the system restart if you find lag building up after a few hours of play

But really, this isn't good enough... They really should have fixed this by now

 

 

.

[Ramtar]

I have 16gb of memory and I still get lag and low fps in WZs.

[Evolixe]

I have 16gb of memory and I still get lag and low fps in WZs.

 

Memory isn't everything.. far from it even.

[Icykill_]

SWTOR? Lol it doesn't even come close to 2GB VRAM.

 

Yep... I checked what was being used... It's pathetic...

You would think in this day and age, with new added graphics setting they put in... Swtor would require more VRAM... But instead they load it into the system ram which already has bad memory leak

Sure, they want people to be able to play without the best highend graphics cards with high vram cards... But shouldn't that be what the settings are for... It's obvious they didnt design the game for a Nvidia GT550 to run full settings... So they have to run at low settings... How about if you want to run at full settings you need a min of 3GB VRAM .... Or at least run it to max 2GB VRAM

 

.

[sauerkraut]

Point proven.

 

If you are so good don't hold it back. Tell the guys what to do, and read your own quote.

[PhatMcMuffins]

Swtor has run like **** for me since 2.9

[Icykill_]

I have 16gb of memory and I still get lag and low fps in WZs.

 

Yeah, 16GB doesn't matter in a game like swtor... You wouldn't notice the differences between 8, 12, 16, 24 or 32GB...

The problem is the memory leak slowing the system down

The more memory leaking the slower your system/game

 

Try a reboot to clear the memory every hour... Keep your game graphics settings low... Turn all unnecessary services and program's off in the back ground... To find out what Windows services you can safely turn off... Do a google search on it... Then make sure you don't have a heap of program's running in the back ground... There are a lot of program's that start up when Windows starts... Most people don't even know it

I run my system at the bare minimum when I'm gaming... I even have Windows update turned off... But I have to remember to check and update it manually each week

The only program I run in the back ground is my security firewall... Even then, it has a gaming setting... I find that if I don't switch to gaming, even that effects lag in WZs

 

.

[Icykill_]

Swtor has run like **** for me since 2.9

 

Yep...

 

I find ever time they add new content via events or expansions, there is a drop on performance... I especially hate how it seems to effect things like pvp WZs, which they rarely add anything new...

4sec lag while in Nar Shad strong hold is extremely bad... You click your cargo hold 4 secs or more latter it "might" open or you have to try multiple times... Same with searching the GTN in your strong hold

[Leafy_Bug]

Yep...

 

I find ever time they add new content via events or expansions, there is a drop on performance... I especially hate how it seems to effect things like pvp WZs, which they rarely add anything new...

4sec lag while in Nar Shad strong hold is extremely bad... You click your cargo hold 4 secs or more latter it "might" open or you have to try multiple times... Same with searching the GTN in your strong hold

 

 

 

Its fine! 5 guys have no issues, those who have are not relevant !

 

 

PS: pro tip, when building a system / buying a new computer please ask 'Can it run SWTOR?' Back in the day we used to ask 'Can it run Crysis?' Obviously SWTOR is the real deal and it needs 10 GB of VRAM with 128 GB or RAM!

Edited September 17, 2014 by Leafy_Bug

[Posixgod]

I did two things that drastically improved my framerate in Swtor, mileage may vary between HW configurations. The biggest improvement for me was disabling the background streaming application, Bitraider.

 

Within the base installation folder, open up launcher.settings file in notepad / sublime text, etc

 

Make sure your settings reflect what's posted below, don't touch any of the other settings!

 

, "PatchingMode": "{ \"swtor\": \"SSN\"}"

, "bitraider_disable": "true"

 

Secondly, uninstall the BitRaider agent entirely and relaunch Swtor. Once you do this the first time, it will forcibly re-download ALL of the game assets which might take some time - you've been warned.

 

Second step which also drastically improved my framerates and the ever so dreaded performance degradation over time is turning off Ambient Occlusion and overridding the built in AA settings in favor for FXAA.

 

First step is to download and install Nvidia Inspector. You can find a link to that 3rd party application here: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html

 

I'd get into the specifics of how you actually apply this custom configuration but it's already been covered in previous threads...

 

Anyhow, I'm happy to report that with the above changes, I've been running stable. I performed a "soak" test of sorts and spent 8 or so hours doing solely WZ's and didn't notice the FPS degradation.

 

As for my in-game settings, everything is set to high with the exception of shadows which is turned off entirely and AA which is being overridden by the enabling of FXAA using NVInspector

 

If you decide to try this method, please report back on your results.

 

Thanks, please reach out with any questions you may have.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Posixgod

[Icykill_]

Its fine! 5 guys have no issues, those who have are not relevant !

 

 

PS: pro tip, when building a system / buying a new computer please ask 'Can it run SWTOR?' Back in the day we used to ask 'Can it run Crysis?' Obviously SWTOR is the real deal and it needs 10 GB of VRAM with 128 GB or RAM!

 

ROFL... Yeah those 5 work for bio and connect directly to the server... LMAO

 

Before anyone gets upset... That was a joke

[Icykill_]

I did two things that drastically improved my framerate in Swtor, mileage may vary between HW configurations. The biggest improvement for me was disabling the background streaming application, Bitraider.

 

Within the base installation folder, open up launcher.settings file in notepad / sublime text, etc

 

Make sure your settings reflect what's posted below, don't touch any of the other settings!

 

 

 

Secondly, uninstall the BitRaider agent entirely and relaunch Swtor. Once you do this the first time, it will forcibly re-download ALL of the game assets which might take some time - you've been warned.

 

Second step which also drastically improved my framerates and the ever so dreaded performance degradation over time is turning off Ambient Occlusion and overridding the built in AA settings in favor for FXAA.

 

First step is to download and install Nvidia Inspector. You can find a link to that 3rd party application here: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html

 

I'd get into the specifics of how you actually apply this custom configuration but it's already been covered in previous threads...

 

Anyhow, I'm happy to report that with the above changes, I've been running stable. I performed a "soak" test of sorts and spent 8 or so hours doing solely WZ's and didn't notice the FPS degradation.

 

As for my in-game settings, everything is set to high with the exception of shadows which is turned off entirely and AA which is being overridden by the enabling of FXAA using NVInspector

 

If you decide to try this method, please report back on your results.

 

Thanks, please reach out with any questions you may have.

 

I had a look at this a while ago and checked again after your post.. Bitraider is in the swtor folder... But the .exe is not running while in the game... Not even on loading... I don't know if this happens for everyone... But not on my system

Also "how" are you supposed to uninstall it?? It doesn't show up in the windows control centre, program uninstall?? Or at least not in mine... I'm not sure if Bio disabled this themselves after the 2.9 patch installations problems so many people were having... But I can't see how doing anything to the files will help when playing the game, "if" Bitrainder isn't running

 

Also Nvidia inspector is only good if you have an Nvidia card... Not if you use an AMD one

 

All of my graphics settings are set to low or off in the game... I also use classic Windows desktop with all the Bling features of Windows 7 turned off

 

Memory still leaks and FPS still jump depending on area and population...

 

May I ask what your system is so we can see what the differences might be from our own??

 

 

.

[Culbrelai]

two Xeon X5650s overclocked to 3.9 GHz on a EVGA SR-2, 2 GTX 670s, 24 GB RAM, 4k monitor

 

15 FPS on Alderaan.

 

It's the game, it's built on a beta game engine. Skyrim plays fine with the identical hardware at 4k Ultra settings 60 FPS all the time.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Culbrelai

[Evolixe]

two Xeon X5650s overclocked to 3.9 GHz on a EVGA SR-2, 2 GTX 670s, 24 GB RAM, 4k monitor

 

15 FPS on Alderaan.

 

It's the game, it's built on a beta game engine. Skyrim plays fine with the identical hardware at 4k Ultra settings 60 FPS all the time.

 

I doubt the game knows *** to do with 4 cores, let alone 12(24) devided over 2 different chips

 

Also, SLI is **** in swtor. Don't even try. It has negative impact.

[Culbrelai]

I know SLI sucks with SWTOR but I need it for 4k. If my FPS is 15 on Alderaan with SLI (both 670s at 100% load) what would it be with only 1...

 

*shudders*

 

and yeah I doubt SWTOR uses more than 2 cores honestly.

[Tellenn]

Funny I never drop below 30 and I have an old R9270. The engine must be very picky about hardware.