GAME FREEZES: Just Cancelled my Subscription

[ibtor]

Hey guys. I recently returned to the US from Europe and dug my old machine out and got back to playing SWTOR after three years. I even subscribed last month because I believe in paying for good content, and I believe that SWTOR is good content.

 

Unfortunately, I can't access that content anymore. Some background: my machine is ancient. Until recently, it had gone largely unupgraded since I bought it in late 2007, only getting a new graphics card in 2013 (ATI Radeon HD 5770). Recently, I maxed out the RAM (8GB DDR2) and bought the fastest "new" processor I could find that was still compatible with my AMD2-socket motherboard: 3.2GHz. Should be enough for this game, and before the 5.0 patch, it was plenty. I was able to actually use some SHADING! I was in love.

 

But then came 5.0. Things were okay on Nar Shaddaa, and I liked the improved graphics. Things loaded more slowly, and sometimes the UI disappeared after cutscenes, but there were visible improvements even on low settings. But then things started to bog down more on Tatooine and I had to restart my computer because the game would freeze or the UI would be so far gone that I couldn't exit or logout. I managed to get through it, though, but then when I got to Alderaan, I was able to successfully complete one cutscene, and one cutscene only without a freeze.

 

I've tried everything. I'm at lowest settings, I've tried lower resolutions. I've tried full screen, I've tried windowed. I've gone from the streaming client to the local one (I'm on Windows Vista 32-bit, and some posts have suggested that would improve things). I've upgraded my drivers. But nothing works. When I can successfully log in (which is not every time), I have to sit an extra five minutes for the world to go from black to visible. When I enter a cutscene, if it loads at all, I have to cross my fingers and hope that I'll make it through the other side.

 

There have been multiple complaints and no responses from BioWare. Whatever they did in the graphical update with 5.0 has made the game unplayable for me. And I'm not going to pay for content I can't access. I'll keep the game installed in the hopes that they address this issue, but in the meantime I'll be looking to send my money elsewhere.

Edited December 5, 2016 by ibtor

[OwenBrooks]

Given you use a 32 bit OS see this thread , where 32 bit is discussed, short line are you running the non streaming launcher ?

 

Tatooine was a common place of game crash on a 32 bit OS using streaming, and would throw a C12 error on crashing

 

Here is a search link for C12 crashes just in Tatooine

 

Not sure if this will help if related to 5.0 but I can say if using a 32 bit OS you should be only using the non streaming launcher

 

Can you post a dxdiag per this link and can have a quick look

 

Your bit about 5 minutes of black screen doesn't sound right

Edited December 5, 2016 by OwenBrooks

[ibtor]

Given you use a 32 bit OS see this thread , where 32 bit is discussed, short line are you running the non streaming launcher ?

 

Tatooine was a common place of game crash on a 32 bit OS using streaming, and would throw a C12 error on crashing

 

Yeah, I am now. In my search for a solution, I actually saw that post, and followed your instructions for going non-streaming. Tatooine was actually more stable than Alderaan, and I've just thrown up my hands. In Tatooine, I only had a handful of freezes; the bigger problem was that all the skillbars would vanish and I would just have a minimap for my UI when exiting certain cutscenes (planet story arc).

 

Here is a search link for C12 crashes just in Tatooine

 

Not sure if this will help if related to 5.0 but I can say if using a 32 bit OS you should be only using the non streaming launcher

 

Can you post a dxdiag per this link and can have a quick look

 

Sure, I'll try to do that tonight.

 

Your bit about 5 minutes of black screen doesn't sound right

 

Yeah, my load times for both areas and cutscenes were noticeably longer after 5.0, and loading into an area on start-up would go something like this:

 

1. A few minutes at load screen

2. Character selection

3. A few minutes at load screen

4. Enter world, no textures or lighting; entire world is black

5. A few minutes later, textures and lighting would eventually be loaded

 

In (5) there, it's generally a black screen behind the fully-visible UI. Then some things start to load (weapons, items, things like that), then characters start to pop in, sometimes just as black figures. Then some shapes start to show up, but still all black. A little while later, textures would show up, and eventually become less "fuzzy" as they populate.

[Galphar]

I also have a "low-end" system and have had same problems; long load times and lengthy blackscreens while textures load. All that was fine until the first maintenance patch after KOTET hit last week. Now I get unplayable lag anytime I go through a cutscene. I could handle the long load times and lag when in high-pop areas before but now the lag is making it unplayable at times.