My Only Problem with TOR (but it's a breaker)

[fruitofvictory]

So, I played The Old Republic in beta, and when the game was released, we bought two copies - one for myself and one for my girlfriend. My computer is slightly higher end than her laptop, but both meet the requirements for the game handily. Both our PC and laptop will easily play other MMO games on the highest settings. My PC handles Skyrim on the highest settings quite nicely.

 

This game, however, runs them both into the ground. On my computer, I can get the game to run with only minor occasional video lag if I turn the shadows off and turn the game down to medium on all settings but character model, which I can leave set to high.

 

Her laptop, however, despite easily over-meeting the requirements, just sucks with this game. She has it set to all low settings, and suffers horrible video lag, sometimes including complete freezing for minutes at a time, and some level of video lag at all times, even when she is alone in an instance. Just now, she joined her first ever group, only to have her game freeze, and to miss a storyline component. She is so frustrated and upset at this point by this that we're BOTH wishing we hadn't bought the game, because we can't play together.

 

She constantly also plays World of Warcraft (I dont play it, she does) on this same laptop with all the settings turned up and in areas with 50+ people running around. She raids on it, again, running tons of mods and with settings turned up - with no issues.

 

So, while she sits and curses and keeps trying to play (because she loves the game itself and was really looking forward to playing it with me) and gets frustrated almost to the point of tears, I thought I'd take a minute to ask here if anyone knows WHY this game eats resources like a hog. It doesn't look much better than most MMOs out there, and it certainly doesn't look as good as some of the higher end games available that both of our computers run just fine.

 

So why can't I run it on top settings? Why can't she play it effectively AT ALL on a laptop that runs every other game we've tried on it just fine? Why do about half the people I know have these same problems?

 

Either Bioware needs to fix something, or they need to change the system requirements for the game to be MUCH, much higher than they currently are. Right now my girlfriend is feeling like she wasted $60 - we aren't rich. And feeling even more letdown that her and I won't be able to play together if something doesn't change, soon.

 

We both love the game, don't get me wrong. But this is a dealbreaker for her, and for me through her. We've been following the game since it was announced, and were both terribly excited. In beta, I didn't have many problems. Still couldn't run EVERYTHING on high, which is ridiculous considering how good my machine is, but it was ok. But this? Just stupid.

[Maigrey]

I think it has to do with the engine, they are just using a bad engine, and if they can;t get it cleaned up, it will kill the game.

 

I am running on a high end system on a 50 MB connection. I notice some delays in responsiveness and as a healer it is a deal breaker.

 

This is the absolute one thing that will make me quit if it doesn't get fixed.

[aznthecapn]

I honestly don't see the issue. I've got everything maxed and even upped the anti aliasing and I run at 50+ frames everywhere I go.

[Holly_MF]

I honestly don't see the issue. I've got everything maxed and even upped the anti aliasing and I run at 50+ frames everywhere I go.

 

Same. There are some planets where the load screens are strangely long, but that's about it.

[Chasted]

Exactly how good is your machine (and laptop)? Care to post your specs Edited January 1, 2012 by Chasted

[Kekuhaupio]

My computer is slightly higher end than her laptop, but both meet the requirements for the game handily. Both our PC and laptop will easily play other MMO games on the highest settings. My PC handles Skyrim on the highest settings quite nicely.

 

This game, however, runs them both into the ground. On my computer, I can get the game to run with only minor occasional video lag if I turn the shadows off and turn the game down to medium on all settings but character model, which I can leave set to high.

 

Her laptop, however, despite easily over-meeting the requirements, just sucks with this game. She has it set to all low settings, and suffers horrible video lag, sometimes including complete freezing for minutes at a time, and some level of video lag at all times, even when she is alone in an instance.

 

Try updating your Driver's to most recent versions. My brother is playing this game on a 3ghz pentium 4(7-8 year old computer). its a bit stuttery but he says it hasnt lagged or crashed on him yet and he's level 34 atm.

[SodaOfYoda]

While I haven't had any latency issues really, I have had some UI response hiccups (which I know are being addressed) and memory leakage. Doesn't seem to effect me until after a few hours, in which case I just restart the game and all is well.

[Ponderr]

This must only apply to certain hardware. I run the game with all settings on high (except I turn shadows off) and here's the fun part... I play on a Macbook pro hah.

[Maigrey]

I honestly don't see the issue. I've got everything maxed and even upped the anti aliasing and I run at 50+ frames everywhere I go.

 

I am running at 60+ frames per second and ~50-60 ms latency, I see it all the time. even when running at 50 ms.

[Qlimitus]

I have a high end spec PC but try to do a world PVP with over say 20 people a side and you'll notice problems with your FPS... if you machine handles 40 people try more eventually it will become like Aion's world abyss raids and be none playable.Unless you have a high end PC i don't recommend high settings.

[Lamontvii]

Posting your specs would help a little bit...

[aznthecapn]

Exactly how good is your machine (and laptop)? Care to post your specs

 

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory

 

2x OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive

 

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor

 

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

 

GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

 

And an old 200GB SATA II hard drive for storage

[kbshadow]

No problems atall here, runs smooth as butter. Using 580s and I have forced AA to 32xQ

Max of 130 odd FPS all on max

[elvavwiel]

Biggest problem that you described is that she's playing on a laptop. Check the energy saving settings, it might be that her cpu/gpu constantly under-clocks and only goes to normal speeds when necessary.

 

For wow being a game thats out for quite some time now, and thus has less 'demanding' graphics, thats not a big problem, but for newer games that can be a problem.

 

Updating drivers as mentioned before in this thread can also help.

[Senadin]

The hero Engine is close to 8-10 years old. Sure they have a more recent tweaked version but this engine is ****. In 2005 or thereabout, Simutronic introduced their vaporware MMO and this engine.

 

it never seen the light of the day.

 

 

Bioware licensed it and made some changes to it. In essence this game is run on a quite old engine. They cheaped out and this explains a lot of the issue with the game. Yes updating drivers may help, but at the core, several of the issues are related to this engine.

[fruitofvictory]

The hero Engine is close to 8-10 years old. Sure they have a more recent tweaked version but this engine is ****. In 2005 or thereabout, Simutronic introduced their vaporware MMO and this engine.

 

it never seen the light of the day.

 

 

Bioware licensed it and made some changes to it. In essence this game is run on a quite old engine. They cheaped out and this explains a lot of the issue with the game. Yes updating drivers may help, but at the core, several of the issues are related to this engine.

 

Yes. I'd post my specs, but it's not going to help unless I post mine, hers, and the ten other people I know with issues. It's nothing to do with my computer, her computer, their computers. It is something about the game itself.

 

She isnt overclocking, we checked her energy settings - she keeps it plugged in and has the settings to high usage. She is running a cooler board, so it stays chill. Our drivers are up-to-date.

 

Same with all my friends who have issues.

 

I'm sorry, but if I can run Skyrim at max on this PC, I should be able to run TOR. If she can RAID on Warcraft with all settings up, she should be able to run TOR. Warcraft may be older but let's face it, the graphics aren't worse than this game. If anything, between spell effect, sheer number of people playing PLUS all her addons, it should be MORE intensive if anything, than running TOR on low settings.

 

I just hope they fix it.

 

At this point, we both badly want to play, but for her its upsetting her badly even trying, and for me, its upsetting me that she cant, enough to where I don't have fun playing when I try.

 

Love the game but they need to do something about this.

 

We dropped 120 on this during the holiday season when both my kids have birthdays near Xmas, too. And we aren't rich. So it's more than disappointing. At this point, it is also a huge waste of money we could have used for other things....

Edited January 1, 2012 by fruitofvictory

[KrakenJeff]

Yes. I'd post my specs, but it's not going to help unless I post mine, hers, and the ten other people I know with issues. It's nothing to do with my computer, her computer, their computers. It is something about the game itself.

 

She isnt overclocking, we checked her energy settings - she keeps it plugged in and has the settings to high usage. She is running a cooler board, so it stays chill. Our drivers are up-to-date.

 

Same with all my friends who have issues.

 

I just hope they fix it.

 

At this point, we both badly want to play, but for her its upsetting her badly even trying, and for me, its upsetting me that she cant, enough to where I don't have fun playing when I try.

 

Love the game but they need to do something about this.

 

We dropped 120 on this during the holiday season when both my kids have birthdays near Xmas, too. And we aren't rich. So it's more than disappointing. At this point, it is also a huge waste of money we could have used for other things....

 

Look, I understand that this game is poorly optimized. There are plenty of people who meet the "recommended requirements" and still have fps issues. However, you not posting at least the laptop's specs is weird to me, since it seems that that's she's the one having the most difficulty running it. I have a laptop that runs the game without a fault, so you simply saying "it's not our machines' fault, it's just the game's" is a bit offsetting.

[Chasted]

Then repost this on the Customer Service Board with your DXDiag in spoiler tags (To shorten those massive things) with those 10 other people. Considering not everyone is suffering the same problem you are it's a problem with how the hardware (Or software) interacts with SW:ToR.

 

To get a DXDiag report:

1. If you're running Windows 7 type "Dxdiag" into the search tab

2. Click on it

3. "Save all Information"

4. Select "Notepad"

5. Post this and your issue on the Customer service forum

[Pigeye]

Duck, or you'll hit a low-flying spec fetishist...

 

The game is very GPU hungry, and it doesn't run great on older hardware. This is where WoW and LoTRO both win for the mass market, but they'll still run like silk on old rigs - you knock down the visual quality and it really does go so far down it looks pants, but you can play it on a dinosaur.

 

Don't underestimate how many people have bad gear...customer's always right, even when they're wrong.

[fruitofvictory]

Look, I understand that this game is poorly optimized. There are plenty of people who meet the "recommended requirements" and still have fps issues. However, you not posting at least the laptop's specs is weird to me, since it seems that that's she's the one having the most difficulty running it. I have a laptop that runs the game without a fault, so you simply saying "it's not our machines' fault, it's just the game's" is a bit offsetting.

 

Because I don't want to take the focus off of the problem and have it redirected onto our machines. I have told you what they run just fine, and that they meet the requirements for this game as set out by Bioware. They are better than the requirements listed, easily.

 

If it's a problem with our machines, it's still Bioware's problem, because -they- listed the requirements, they made the game the way it is where it eats peoples' machines alive even if they meet or exceed those requirements.

 

There is NO way this game should require more to run than numerous other MMOs with equal or superior graphics. There is no way this game should require more from the video card than Skyrim.

 

I've seen enough of the forums to know how MANY people here handle criticism directed at this game, and I'm not having it here. The issue isn't my machine, nor hers. If it was, we wouldn't be able to play HALF of what we play on both of them with zero issues.

[fruitofvictory]

WoW and LoTRO both win

 

We both play LOTRO, and honestly, that game has far superior graphics to this one. =/ Not that I'm complaining about TOR in that respect. I like the art style, I like the graphics.

 

Or at least, I would if the game didn't treat our video as if it was playing 8 open instances of Skyrim.

[Ponderr]

Once again, and as others have said too... From your description it seems the game has issues with CERTAIN hardware. That's why people are wondering about exact specs... But do as you will

[KrakenJeff]

Because I don't want to take the focus off of the problem and have it redirected onto our machines. I have told you what they run just fine, and that they meet the requirements for this game as set out by Bioware. They are better than the requirements listed, easily.

 

If it's a problem with our machines, it's still Bioware's problem, because -they- listed the requirements, they made the game the way it is where it eats peoples' machines alive even if they meet or exceed those requirements.

 

There is NO way this game should require more to run than numerous other MMOs with equal or superior graphics. There is no way this game should require more from the video card than Skyrim.

 

I've seen enough of the forums to know how MANY people here handle criticism directed at this game, and I'm not having it here. The issue isn't my machine, nor hers. If it was, we wouldn't be able to play HALF of what we play on both of them with zero issues.

 

It doesn't really mean anything when you say you're able to run other games like WoW perfectly fine. My dinosaur desktop can run WoW without a halt, because WoW is a very graphically old game. However, I definitely see where your coming from when you bring up the recommend specs of the game. However, my desktop is around the recommended settings as well, and it CAN run the game, just not as well as I'd like (primarily large fps drops in warzones). But regardless of all this, I'm just saying that it might help for you to post the specs of the laptop, so that people with similar/the same hardware as you can maybe speak up and say "Hey, I seem to run the game alright, maybe try xxxx" or "Yeah, I have the same specs and I can't run it at all, let's attack BW hq". Ya know?

[Seismax]

Because I don't want to take the focus off of the problem and have it redirected onto our machines. I have told you what they run just fine, and that they meet the requirements for this game as set out by Bioware. They are better than the requirements listed, easily.

 

If it's a problem with our machines, it's still Bioware's problem, because -they- listed the requirements, they made the game the way it is where it eats peoples' machines alive even if they meet or exceed those requirements.

 

There is NO way this game should require more to run than numerous other MMOs with equal or superior graphics. There is no way this game should require more from the video card than Skyrim.

 

I've seen enough of the forums to know how MANY people here handle criticism directed at this game, and I'm not having it here. The issue isn't my machine, nor hers. If it was, we wouldn't be able to play HALF of what we play on both of them with zero issues.

 

I haven't looked into graphics issues for this game - haven't had any myself - but I'm sure the engine isn't optimized yet. For example if the game isn't set to work well with multi-gpu systems then your performance will take a dramatic hit despite working with other software.

[fruitofvictory]

It doesn't really mean anything when you say you're able to run other games like WoW perfectly fine. My dinosaur desktop can run WoW without a halt, because WoW is a very graphically old game. However, I definitely see where your coming from when you bring up the recommend specs of the game. However, my desktop is around the recommended settings as well, and it CAN run the game, just not as well as I'd like (primarily large fps drops in warzones). But regardless of all this, I'm just saying that it might help for you to post the specs of the laptop, so that people with similar/the same hardware as you can maybe speak up and say "Hey, I seem to run the game alright, maybe try xxxx" or "Yeah, I have the same specs and I can't run it at all, let's attack BW hq". Ya know?

 

well, if WoW is graphically old, maybe Bioware shouldve gone with that, because WoW in my opinion is comparable graphically with this game.

 

AS for the specs I just don't have them onhand at the moment, I'd have to get her to key up her laptop and she got angry, shut if off and went to bed.

 

Just ugh. We both looked forward to this so much, and we played together enough to know we'd love it, but now I just KNOW she's not gonna function off the starter world....