carnac_fett Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 (edited) Star Wars is a very visual universe. Its roots lie in the cinema. When George Lucas tried to explain his ideas to studios, nearly all of them balked at the idea. It would either be impossible to film or would cost ten times its budget. Thankfully, it happened, and we're all the nerdier for it. Star Wars: The Old Republic was announced in October 2008. About a year later, the hype train rolled out of the station. For two years, we were bombarded with screenshots and videos. The game looked amazing. It was colorful, the characters were expressive, and textures were detailed and had great depth. 2010 went by. 2011 went by. Many of us ate up every screenshot and movie Bioware released. When beta rolled around, I was disappointed to see that the game did not look anywhere as good as the hype portrayed it. This was largely due to the "High" texture setting having absolutely no effect except in conversation cutscenes. The game was also rife with strange graphical glitches, such as floating green laser grids hovering in midair over most towns and outposts. Still, beta is beta, and as of the time I joined the beta there were still two months to go before the game came out. Early access began on December 13th, 2011, and High quality textures were still not in the game. The screenshots on the box and on the website you ordered the game from proudly displayed them, but they were nowhere to be found during normal gameplay. I almost refrained from inputting my product key when the 'grace period' ended on December 22nd. I felt very strongly about seeing the world the way it was meant to be seen, the way it looked every time Bioware tantalizingly teased us with it in the two years running up to release. In the end, I chose to continue - proceeding with Medium quality textures and graphical bugs would be worth it. It's not like the visuals could get any worse. The visuals have gotten worse. Since the game's official launch on the 20th, the Medium texture quality setting has also broken. Medium now shows a hodgepodge of varying texture qualities. The terrain - grass, stone, and metal underfoot - looks like it's using the correct Medium-quality textures, but many world objects - tents, boxes, large vehicles like tanks, structures, machinery, beds, computer consoles - use textures worse than they do at the Low setting, textures so abysmal it is absolutely impossible to make out any detail whatsoever on them. So here I am, 15 days after the game has launched, playing TOR at the only working texture setting - Low. This is not the game that was being advertised to me for the past two years. I am not asking for a refund. I am not quitting in a huff. I am not saying people need to be fired for this. All I ask is that the graphics department at Bioware let us know that they hear us and are working hard on bringing the TOR of December 2011 up to par with the TOR of August 2011. The gameplay systems folk are doing a good job fixing gameplay bugs, but we haven't heard a peep from the people in charge of graphics. These are critical graphics issues. They're very important to me. I will not presume to speak for others, but I am sure there must be others out there who feel the same. I will not be playing until the game's visuals live up to the hype, but I will be watching Bioware closely and hoping that they restore the game to the standards it set for itself during its long hype campaign. Edited December 28, 2011 by carnac_fett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stradoo Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Not mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlexGlabra Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The game looks great on my machine. Have you updated your drivers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carthedani Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The visuals aren't bad imo.....it's not like Minecraft or anything lol. To each their own though. The game is fun, but needs tweaks. Maybe they'll tweak this down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QDMcGraw Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Post your specs, my system runs it just fine. Even my old system runs it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnaggleFox Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 They already acknowledged the high setting textures are bugged and are working on a fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flunkorg Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I think you need to calm down and properly assess the problem. For example, my game is fine. The only "graphics" issue I get are small hiccups like lips not moving or my companion turning all black (These don't occur that often and fix themselves in mere seconds) Most people tend to forget this, but have you done a full troubleshoot? Have you checked everything system wise? Have you made sure that some of the files haven't gone corrupted? If theirs files corrupted or broken, you can fix them via the launcher. It has a built in "fixer". Perhaps its just a issue with your specific graphics card/drivers. Perhaps its your chipset drivers. I'm not saying this isn't a game issue. But its best to go through ALL your options before admitting defeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strader Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I built a new rig to play this game and i have no issues with the graphics. Unfortunately for my wife she got my old rig and likes to remind me that the playing experience for her is kinda choppy at times. Newer rig might be your answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnac_fett Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 The game looks great on my machine. Have you updated your drivers? All drivers are up to date. To boot, I've tried out multiple drivers, including pre-release beta drivers and the five most recent drivers for my machine. I've doubled my RAM, tried two different machines with two different processors, and swapped in three different video cards. Some people are more attentive to detail than others, which is perfectly fine. I have a big eye for it and I can't help but noticing that many of the graphics settings are broken or nonexistant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gohlar Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Do trees look strange to anyone else? I'm thinking it's some small issue because they look pretty bad. Everything else is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevalon Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Not mine. Yes they are broken...just because your ignorance doesn't allow you to see this fact doesn't make it any less of a fact. They have said that they are broken..yes they are broken... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flunkorg Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 All drivers are up to date. To boot, I've tried out multiple drivers, including pre-release beta drivers and the five most recent drivers for my machine. I've doubled my RAM, tried two different machines with two different processors, and swapped in three different video cards. Some people are more attentive to detail than others, which is perfectly fine. I have a big eye for it and I can't help but noticing that many of the graphics settings are broken or nonexistant. Hmm, would you mind posting your specs? I don't question if you can run the game or not, its just better knowing it and its all around helpful information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnac_fett Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 Post your specs, my system runs it just fine. Even my old system runs it. My system runs the game fine. My post isn't about framerate issues, it's about two levels of texture quality that are broken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevalon Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The game looks great on my machine. Have you updated your drivers? THE GRAPHICS ARE BROKEN - BIOWARE HAS SAID THEY ARE BROKEN....Just because YOU do not understand how graphics work does not mean that the graphics are not broken! Omg - Its like telling someone the sky is blue and then they argue that its green because they are coloblind! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevalon Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 My system runs the game fine. My post isn't about framerate issues, it's about two levels of texture quality that are broken. omg omg, OP - I am usually calm and collected but this thread is making my head spin. The complete and utter ignorance of people is so flabbergasting that it makes me sad for the entire human race... Do you know what the average person is? Average ....That is all this thread has...Mediocre people... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevalon Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Hmm, would you mind posting your specs? I don't question if you can run the game or not, its just better knowing it and its all around helpful information. wow, do you have ANY idea what the OP was trying to say? .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gohlar Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 omg omg, OP - I am usually calm and collected but this thread is making my head spin. The complete and utter ignorance of people is so flabbergasting that it makes me sad for the entire human race... Do you know what the average person is? Average ....That is all this thread has...Mediocre people... So what's broken? I'm not arguing I want to know. My trees are jacked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lankybrit Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Well, one thing I noticed was that panning up and down was laggy for me before the patch, but after the patch it's much more responsive. So, I believe they're actually doing things to improve the graphics performance. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeeth Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 (edited) From my experience character textures are awesome, but from your post it sounds like objects would get crap textures. I have an issue where items in cutscenes etc sometimes get borked to lowest resolution, when this happens I have to ctrl-U twice to reset UI and it usually fixes it. Give it a shot and see if it helps. I also noticed that changing from low to medium textures actually improved frame rate o_O And trees look normal to me? Edited December 28, 2011 by Zeeth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titanmike Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 So here I am, 15 days after the game has launched, playing TOR at the only working texture setting - Low. This is not the game that was being advertised to me for the past two years. Low and medium work for me, with little to no change between that and high. The game looks fine to me. Once the high settings are correctly working I think it will look even better. As it stands now I think the game manages to look great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlexGlabra Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 THE GRAPHICS ARE BROKEN - BIOWARE HAS SAID THEY ARE BROKEN....Just because YOU do not understand how graphics work does not mean that the graphics are not broken! Omg - Its like telling someone the sky is blue and then they argue that its green because they are coloblind! Is it necessary to be so rude? Guy posted a topic and I gave a suggestion that might help. Take a deep breath, will ya? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevalon Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 So what's broken? I'm not arguing I want to know. My trees are jacked up. There are no High Res Textures...They are not working...Medium Settings and High Settings have the exact same texture quality ... Bioware has confirmed this and says the are working on it (But that was back during Thanksgiving Beta and there is STILL no fix)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyInternets Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I think you need to calm down and properly assess the problem. For example, my game is fine. The only "graphics" issue I get are small hiccups like lips not moving or my companion turning all black (These don't occur that often and fix themselves in mere seconds) Most people tend to forget this, but have you done a full troubleshoot? Have you checked everything system wise? Have you made sure that some of the files haven't gone corrupted? If theirs files corrupted or broken, you can fix them via the launcher. It has a built in "fixer". Perhaps its just a issue with your specific graphics card/drivers. Perhaps its your chipset drivers. I'm not saying this isn't a game issue. But its best to go through ALL your options before admitting defeat. Calm down? How is his post not calm? Perhaps you should try reading it before writing a reply. Regarding the graphics, the developers themselves acknowledged that the high resolution texture setting is currently broken, so obviously it's not "fine." No offense, but you don't know what the **** you're talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnac_fett Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 (edited) I think you need to calm down and properly assess the problem. For example, my game is fine. The only "graphics" issue I get are small hiccups like lips not moving or my companion turning all black (These don't occur that often and fix themselves in mere seconds) Most people tend to forget this, but have you done a full troubleshoot? Have you checked everything system wise? Have you made sure that some of the files haven't gone corrupted? If theirs files corrupted or broken, you can fix them via the launcher. It has a built in "fixer". Perhaps its just a issue with your specific graphics card/drivers. Perhaps its your chipset drivers. I'm not saying this isn't a game issue. But its best to go through ALL your options before admitting defeat. I have tried five different drivers for my card. I have doubled the amount of RAM in my machine, from 4 gigs to 8 gigs. I have tried running the game with a Radeon HD 5970, 5670, and 4670. I have repaired the game via the launcher. I have uninstalled the game and then reinstalled it. I have defragmented my drive. I have run virus scans and adware scans that have removed everything down to the last tracking cookie. The only thing I have not yet tried is reformatting my PC, but I may do that if the problem persists. I have a favor to ask those of you who believe their graphics are perfectly fine. Would you please go to Republic Taris? Take a speeder or quick-travel to the easternmost outpost in the Sinking City region. There should be a large bulldozer-like vehicle there. Can you take a screenshot of it? This is what it looks like for me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbXrx88VVmk The proper quality texture only loads if I go into first-person view and stare at it. If I move away, it reverts back to muddiness. Edited December 28, 2011 by carnac_fett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al_Sparagus Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Lots of hyperbole here. Big difference between missing a level of textures and being "completely broken". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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