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A Final Goodbye


Spartanator

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Prior to reading: This post will bounce around a bit since it makes me a bit emotional to write about a game that for so long I enjoyed and have found I no longer want to play. It is not to attack the game, but to provide honest feedback on my experiences over 8 years and remember the times that I am fond of.

 

Back at E3 2009 the first trailer for this game was released and it was the start of my journey with SWTOR. At the time, I was captivated in creating my own Star Wars story and playing a game that really enhanced my personal vision. I was in awe of the game and got immediately sucked into the MMO experience. How people described playing WoW for the first time was identical to my experience with SWTOR (especially since it was my first MMO). However, after many times of leaving and coming back (mainly because of money), I have finally hit my endpoint with SWTOR and as a larger picture consistent gaming.

 

I really do not want to spend a lot of time rambling about problems I have had since my return or things of the past, but specifically two key problems that have lead me to today: consistent bugs and my willing investment in the KOTET storyline. I am saddened by things that in the past were crystal clean that are now riddled with problems that make it difficult to turn away and keep moving. Newer content has been especially hard to enjoy when random graphical glitches, companions don't fight back, enemies do not target properly, cutscenes have overused animations and shallow dialogue options, etc. I can deal with these problems for a while, but when the story content and voice acting became very difficult to believe or even interesting to listen to, it was impossible to continue on. As a result, by the end of KOTET I could care less and after starting Iokath, I could not tolerate anymore. It is such a shame because there are pockets that are brilliant and awesome (Senya and Arcann are incredible), albeit no where near enough to make me even care for the Jedi I have been playing since launch. I felt that I could no longer play as a Jedi knight who had so much history and ability, but rather a Jedi who became a no named figure overnight rather than a Jedi Master that killed Vitate twice. I don't want to go any further than that, but overall the weight of the story feels lost and distant from the past. No longer do I feel there are unique narrative threads, but just a homogenization of ideas and concepts.

 

Before I leave I want to mention things I have thoroughly enjoyed about the game. Contrary to many, my nostalgia for the old content was what kept me coming back to the game. As much as story was a highlight, when I got into progression raiding on a mercenary, my investment in the mechanics and abilities of the operations, flashpoints, Innovative Ordinance and the teams I would participate in were the selling point of staying. It never really mattered that the content was old, but that it was enjoyable and difficult enough to want to repeat over and over again. It was well developed in all aspects and whisked you to areas and places you wanted to explore and spend hours playing in. I cannot remember how many times I was in Ravagers and Temple of Sacrifice in 3.0, but I never stopped liking zoning in and killing a giant dog or giant frog gross thing that made rocks fall on people. Heck even doing the False Emperor a billon times I still enjoyed killing some lunatic Sith who thought he was the next Justin Bieber (even though sometimes it took 45 minutes). Don't even get me started with the many heinous and stupid experiences I had with friends and random players (some of them way to bizarre to recollect).

 

I don't think there will be anything that brings me back again nor sure if that opportunity will arise, but I guess my biggest takeback in my time is to find what you enjoy and sometimes knowing when to move on remembering the good experiences you had rather than constantly thinking about what there never was. I don't think I would have been able to come to that conclusion if I hadn't played SWTOR.

 

I hope that others that have left and are thinking of leaving see this post and commemorate the experiences they have had with this game and also wish the best for the remaining developers and their futures.

Edited by Spartanator
Some clarity additions/rewrites that were needed.
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(Summary---> ENHANCED SHADOWS fixes continous ''Random Textures that pop/flash in your screen'')

MORE DOWN BELOW!

 

''Random Textures that pop in''? To what do you refer with this? Are you talking about Artifact Flashes that pop up?

and....

(this guy has it a lot....)

 

Who are from NPC's that get spawned and that the flash is actually the loading and placement of the texture what gets smeared over the entire screen?

 

If so i have an decent fix for you for this: --> Turn on Enhanced Shadows.

 

If it is really this bug you are talking about. It is indeed very nasty! And tbh I could also not play anymore almost, it was that dreadsome, I tried to do everything with the game on the outside, and then I turned on ''Enhanced Shadows'' while experimenting with the graphics inside the game..... and this Fixed it!! I was like ***. Seems to what I recall from 2016 december 5.0 release until and in stages during last year in february/may in 2017 that to more and more people this bug suddenly popped up in the game, and it seems that the introduction of ''enhanced shadows'' later in the year afther 2017 june or so, fixed unknowingly this bug. A lot of people report about it, but nobody I have seen so far from bioware or the audience can make clear to eachother what is going on with several people who are affected.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=903817

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Video-Cards-with-Artifacting-after-5-0/td-p/5739739/page/13

 

For Bioware:

So Bioware if you are reading, turn of ''Enhanced shadows'' on a average computer with 1060 nvidea/ryzen 580 and walk around on korriban starting are with the klorslugs/ or ride around on voss (where those purple creatures spawn), just try to continiously load this creatures at your beginning draw distance, if you do not see something flash through your screen for a sudden second, just ride around for 2-3 more minutes and continously try to get npc's pop up at your draw distance. It should happen without ''Enhanced shadows'' so I hope you see it on your screen if not, just private message me. Because we need a fix for this, a lot of people complained about it and have no idea it can be decently fixed with ''Enhanced shadows'' and you as bioware need to look into this, because even with enhanced shadows, it will be 10x less sometimes a flash still comes, luckily it is then not that irritating, but still a nuisance if you are on a planet, enjoying the scenery, with a lot of creatures around you and you ride through this beautifull landscape... and then ''FLASH'' ^^

 

 

PS: People with up to date PC's turn on ''enhanced shadows'' on now as auto, so they hardly notice it luckily. If you have an old rig who has trouble to run swtor with enhanced shadows (BTW this is funny you do NOT NEED to turn on SHADOWS to turn on ENHANCED SHADOWS!!! IMPORTANT, so do not worry you do not need to turn of aditional shadows to burden your PC, it is completely seperated from the normal shadows. If you wonder why, it is because it is an effect that is added to objects what is an black sphere effect on a object what if it comes into the influence of an other object will give a small dark hue to this other object, and ENHANCED SHADOWS wil fix the artifacts flashing mostly because the game, has now the command/tendency to load first this hue, and then the texture. So if the texture gets loaded raw, it has the tendency if the GPU of the PC straggles a bit with loading or simply from certain angles a creature gets loaded you get these artifacts. so do not worry there is a fix but we need to fix this issue by not doing this. And sorry for my bad text I am tired. If you still have questions and do not understand my brabbling then just PM me, greets!

Edited by -JE-BLAZAR-
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(Summary---> ENHANCED SHADOWS fixes continous ''Random Textures that pop/flash in your screen'')

 

 

Well I have never use Enhanced Shadows and have never seen any artifacts flashes smears or other graphics glitches...

 

Ok, this is strange since I just today posted about a bug that nobody else seems to have and now it's my turn to say, Nope have not seen anything like that ever...

 

Check drivers, Windows updates, Memory, if your GPU or CPU are over heading or beginning to fail. Test your hardware just to be sure. There is lots of free testing software you can use.

Make sure there are no file issues with the game by scanning the game files, Check windows by running SFC (system file checker) to make sure there are no windows system file errors. Reinstall DX9c (you can find the public release at Windrivers.com)

If none of that works then uninstall / delete the game, download and install it again. That will eliminate any possible missing textures.

Since you like and enjoy the game you should do what ever you can to find and fix this issue.

 

If you can not then gather as much information as you can, then PM Eric and Keith and see if they can help you.

Don't simply give up and leave as that will not solve anything.

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Um, did you guys read his post? It's not the only reason he's leaving. Actually, one of several.

 

Sorry you're leaving OP. That day comes for all of us. Mine doesn't feel very far away.

 

Regarding the artifact screen issue: Turning on "Enhanced Shadows" immediately puts "Shadow Complexity" to high. My video card starts heating up and the fans kick in. I don't want to burn out my card and I can't upgrade at the moment so I have to live with the screen bugs. It did start happening at 5.0 or 5.0a. Again, unfortunately, EAware won't fix it if it works even a little or isn't related to the CM.

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Um, did you guys read his post? It's not the only reason he's leaving. Actually, one of several.

 

Sorry you're leaving OP. That day comes for all of us. Mine doesn't feel very far away.

 

Regarding the artifact screen issue: Turning on "Enhanced Shadows" immediately puts "Shadow Complexity" to high. My video card starts heating up and the fans kick in. I don't want to burn out my card and I can't upgrade at the moment so I have to live with the screen bugs. It did start happening at 5.0 or 5.0a. Again, unfortunately, EAware won't fix it if it works even a little or isn't related to the CM.

 

Thanks for understanding.

I ended up clearing up the OP a bit so that it was clearer and more succinct. Helps to have some sleep.

 

P.S. To those talking about the graphics issue, I run the game max by the way and always have. I do not think it is a simple fix issue nor exactly what I meant when I said textures popping. Changed it to graphical glitches.

Edited by Spartanator
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Thanks for understanding.

I ended up clearing up the OP a bit so that it was clearer and more succinct. Helps to have some sleep.

 

P.S. To those talking about the graphics issue, I run the game max by the way and always have. I do not think it is a simple fix issue nor exactly what I meant when I said textures popping. Changed it to graphical glitches.

 

I experience it too, so it's not the case that both our graphics cards are failing at the same time.

It's poorly implemented in the game. If you have an nvidia card and want to use ambient occlusion, turn enhanced shadows OFF in the game and turn it ON in nvidia profile inspector in OVERRIDE mode.

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