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

[fruitofvictory]

Age of Conan all over again. Back then you had people telling you it was an hardware issue too.

 

 

Yeah, there are always two types of people who say its a hardware issue:

 

- Trolls who know damn well there are issues and just want to make people angry.

 

- People who got lucky enough for the game to perform well on their system by pure chance, and therefore refuse to accept that there is anything wrong with the game itself.

 

I ignore them. Game has issues, period. I really, truly love the game and want to see it succeed, but at this point all my friends who asked me how it was got told to hold off on buying it. I let them know that once it runs right it will be well worth it (if the population hasnt dropped by then to the point it goes on the f2p schedule), but for now, they should save their money.

 

As for me, we're building my girlfriend a new gaming computer (not just for this game, but just because she could use one in general), but sad to say, it's not going to be much better than mine. Of course, it might still run it, since it isn't a hardware issue to begin with.

 

And myself? Made it to Balmorra, and my issues began to be almost as bad as the girlfriend. When I do try to log in and get something done, it takes 10 minutes to get into the game, and then another 5 for everything to load up. Then I am stuck occasionally going into freezeframe mode, to the point I have actually failed one quest due to it. I spend most of my time trying to play cursing at the monitor, until it either relents and smooths out, or I give up and go play Lord of the Rings Online (which, by the way, has superior graphics to this - full water effects, realistic models, etc), which runs at all maxed settings on my pc.

[fruitofvictory]

Well, I managed to improve my framerate back to pre-Balmorra functionality by using this fix:

 

1. Open preferences, set the autosetting to "high" - click apply.

2. After high settings kicked in, change it back to "low" using the autosetting, and then disable bloom and shadows - click apply

 

This put my performance back to what it was at medium before I got to Balmorra. This is still highly unsatisfying, however, considering it did nothing to help on my gf's PC and she is still unable to play for more than five or ten minutes before the game becomes unplayable. I am, for myself, going to add some RAM to my PC soon and hope that works - but I just don't know what to do for her besides wait and hope Bioware starts hard-working on this issue in the next patch.

[fiayuana]

This game is throwing my system around quite badly. For the last few days before playing this game I was playing RAGE and SKYRIM on max with my overclock, no issues whatsoever. Star playing TOR and my GPU and CPU is getting destroyed.

 

asus p67 sabertooth

2600k @ 4.5ghz

hd6970 x2 @ 900 mhz GPU clock / 1400mhz mem clock (I turned this down to stock and removed the second card, it changed nothing) Im starting to thinkits ATI related.

ocz agility 3 60gb x2 raid 0

ill throw in its all in a corsair 600t case and an h70 on the cpu.

 

Never ever seen a game do this to this pc.

[Abanoth]

This is why console gaming owns PC gaming in the marketplace despite how much better PC games are in terms of depth and quality. Every new game that comes out for a console will work 100% if there's not a physical issue, and since everyone with a console is using the same "specs" there's more synchronization between consumer and producer. Edited January 10, 2012 by Abanoth

[Xariyth]

Does the laptop have one of those graphics switching features?

 

My wife has a laptop that she games on that well surpassed the requirements. At first, it ran like total... and it was bad. I was dropping all the setting to lows, dropping the resolution, turning off this and that... and it was still stuttering horribly where she was about to quit because it was giving her a headache.

 

Some fiddling later, I found the switching option and basically, the computer was the worse graphic card and not the good one. Some playing with it there and forcing swtor into performance mode and all her problems went away.

 

Look into it. It might fix something if you have it.

 

(After that, she hasn't had an issue another issue at all on her laptop)

[KajiKingStarzky]

I love people saying this game will eventually go f2p, stupid they truly are.

[Katrar]

I've got a liquid cooled CPU, vertical mobo in a Silverstone Raven, faaaaaans, solid airflow profile and this game even runs hot for me. Hot like no other game I own. Definitely not a "hardware issue" on this end.

[Nadru]

The problem is not with the OPs hardware, or his settings.

 

As a person who is having the same issue on a high-end Alienware Computer that I have optimized, updated drivers, and spent hours attempting various tweaks I've found on the internet across multiple websites, I have concluded that the choppiness in this game is not due to insufficient hardware.

 

1) If you actually knew how to optimize a computer, you'd be smart enough to not waste your money on an AlienWare computer and build one yourself.

 

2) Yes, we all know some people are having problems. No one is saying it's your hardware being INFERIOR. What they are saying is for every person having an issue, there are 1-x not having an issue. I am running on a $700 system. I NEVER drop below 25 FPS. EVER. My load times are slow, but once loaded it is smooth as glass.

 

The issue, as stated, is a compatibility problem between your hardware and the engine. They need to tweak the engine FOR YOUR SPECIFIC config. Not giving it, means they CANNOT work on the issue. Saying the engine is crap and they should fix it is NOT going to help them fix it!

 

3) THEY WANT TO FIX IT! They want you to be happy and become a long time subscriber! Shocking I know.

[Toweleeeie]

On the laptop change the power settings on the video card to performance when plugged in. This jumped my fps by 20 on my work laptop. Also try while the game is running go to task manager and change the priority of both swtor.exe to high.

[Roezz]

There is no problem with AMD users... Its just users that havent up to date drivers. Download the driver called 1.12 or something, its a preview driver.

The 1.11 dosent render SWTOR properly so its the drivers fault not SWTOR....

Download the 1.12 patch and your game should run super smooth with AMD systems.

 

i7 860

Radeon 5770, upgraded to 6850 last week to see if that would help--it did in open worlds.

8 RAM DDR3

1 TB hard drive.

 

12.1(a) driver seems to work slightly better for me than the 11.12.

 

Performance:

In all cases with a decrease in FPS comes an increase in constant stuttering, which frankly hurts my eyes after a bit.

 

-Ilum with 8 people running around (on foot) my FPS was 10 to 17 today. We start fighting two people, and it dropped to 5-7.

 

-Warzones I go between 20-35 more consistently after the fixes I've followed below. The FPS and stutter is inconsistent, and frankly it's annoying. It will drop much worse than this at times.

 

-World planets with lots of trees and grass, I can run around at 45-80 FPS on high settings with bloom and shadows OFF, providing there are no other players around. I still get stuttering effects once in a while which drive me nuts. Again, this is after fixes below. At times it won't go over 30 FPS.

 

-Imperial Fleet, standing still I can get 45-50 if there are few people on the fleet and I am not near the cantina. If I move and there are like 100+ people on the fleet I am looking at about 17-23 FPS (which I consider pretty bad).

 

 

 

Fixes which help in areas like Warzones:

 

--turning all settings to "High" per the preset option, then turning off Bloom and Shadows.

 

--Restarting the game client every few hours and/or rebooting.

 

--My RAM was hardly used before while running TOR. I implemented a RAM drive suggested on a private forum and that has helped stop my FPS to dropping to 10 when I get on my speeder, and has helped reduce some stutter in Warzones. It just allows a cache to sit in the ram as virtual drive, rather than the hard drive, as I understand it anyway. It's the most legit suggestion I have found that works consistently.

 

--When I am having FPS and stuttering issues, dropping settings improves performance (usually a 15 to 20 FPS increase from good settings to low settings, but not so much in warzones). It's hard to say consistently what the difference is, because it seems to depend more on the area and number of people around. I played most of the time with the Radeon 5770 on low settings with shadows off and grass/tree set to like 10. The 6850 is better but not substantially.

 

-Using the Catalyst Control Center, turning off the game control options for AA and using 4x has, oddly, seemed to improve performance. Don't ask why, it just did.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Roezz

[fruitofvictory]

Updating this thread. After the last couple patches, my computer will now run the game without any lag to speak of, but only on low settings, still. Kind of sucks but oh well.

 

My girlfriend's computer will run it slightly better, but still not enough for her to enjoy it, and she is cancelling her sub and considering contacting the place she got the game to request a refund because of this. We can't play together, so it looks like if something more isn't done about the FPS issues, I will probably end up playing something she can play.

 

On top of that, I have come to realize that some of the places they have put datacrons are annoying, stupid, and a platformer without the controls or responsiveness to be anything but a headache, which dampens my enthusiasm quite a bit (had a thread on that topic, but it got closed - SURPRISE).

[ratfanatic]

WoW is like 8 YEARS OLD! It gets some graphics updates with expansions but it's still an 8-year-old game. Why is it so inconceivable that your computer could run WoW and not TOR?

[The_Anf]

I have 3 PC's at my home, 1 Alienware laptop, 1 very good gaming desktop and also a dell off the shelf desktop for my wife.

 

I have the game installed on all three PC's and it runs terribly on the gaming desktop which runs Rift, FFXIV (much much better graphics then tor) skyrim, Cod and many other MMO's all of which I can run at top spec's, simply fluctuates far to often and lags for no at all.

 

The Alienware laptop is a year old but still runs any game I can find on high with no problems, Tor runs in an acceptable manner but not to the level I would expect.

 

the Dell off the shelf PC that is 7 months old (older then my gaming rig) runs the game on high with little to no problems except on fleet.

 

Simply put too many people are experiencing out of the normal graphic issues and lag/delays with this game for it to be everyones PC's.

 

Sort it out BW or you will lose subs...people will stay waiting for you to add endgame content but they WILL NOT STAY TO PLAY A GAME WITH BROKEN GRAPHICS...SIMPLY PUT THERE ARE TOO MANY OPTIONS OUT THERE FOR THE MMO COMMUNITY FOR PEOPLE TO PAY FOR ISSUES.

 

Rift, Lotro, FFxiv, WoW, GW2 coming, Eve etc etc

 

BW these other games are willing to take our money (Lotro doesn't even ask for it) and if you don't get this crap sorted out soon we will gladly give it to them.

[PantheraMorag]

From my personal experience and my bf's, I'd say there's a lot of weird things going on with the game.

 

I run the game fine with a drop to 30 fps on the fleet (I played WOW for over a year with a graphics card whose drivers did not support something in WOW and had max 15 fps if I was lucky (0 fps in towns/raids), so everything over 20 fps is fully playable for me), and I have all settings on high besides shadows (which are on low).

 

My graphics card is a non-gaming ATI Radeon HD 5670.

 

After forcing AA and antisotropic filtering through AMD vision engine control along with enabling surface format optimization, my game performance increased, even though I went from nearly no strain on the GPU to about 80-90%.

 

If I try using the in-game AA my game lags on every other step, but forcing AA through my graphics card works fine and is smooth.

 

 

My BF who has a powerful GTX-card is running V-sync and about 60 fps, but see a lot more fluctuations in FPS, and have had huge drops in performance. Also his GPU overheats about 5 minutes into the game, going over 90 degrees and performing emergency cool-down, this happens no matter his graphics settings and AA level.

While my older GPU never goes over 70 degrees.

 

We have the same amount of RAM (8gb), same CPU (Phenom II x4 965, 3,4 Ghz), he has a better hard drive (besides the better graphics card), and still my pc runs the game more reliably.

 

 

@OP, I'm sorry to hear she has given up. If she has an ATI card, try forcing graphics through the manager instead of using the ingame settings. I know it sounds really backwards, but I saw a massive jump in performance after activating this.

Edited January 23, 2012 by PantheraMorag

[urborror]

"Constructive" criticism: how hard is it for Bioware to re-code for offering 640 resolution? For people with low-end systems, you're talking about maybe a 25-50% increase in performance.

 

You know what games offer 640? Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim, Mass Effect 2.

 

I run them all on my laptop, really well.

 

This game runs horribly on my laptop, maybe 25 frames a second at best, usually worse. PvP is unplayable, flashpoints can get unplayably choppy. Everything is on low.

 

I have no doubt the framerate would be MUCH better in 640 resolution. I'm surprised nobody brings this up, since I cheer when I see 640 under settings (Modern Warfare 3, playable at 640) and sigh when it's not offered (Black Ops, unplayable in multiplayer at 800x600.)

[genghiscon]

my comp wont even run skyrim on any setting but it does ToR on lowest settings with only minor hiccups. Youre overreacting.

[Atreiya]

I have an Alienware M18x R1 and haven't had any major problems on my gaming laptop. *shrug* Did you list your system specs somewhere?

[BlackSpin]

It DOESN'T play fine for the vast majority. It's tolerated by the vast majority. Imperial fleet is horribly laggy, so is Ilum. Basically anywhere there is more than 3 people near you...

 

 

Way to not pay attention to anything that was said in 12 pages (unless it agrees with what you think). I don't know why she bothered restoring it to the factory defaults, odds were that would do nothing. Game runs fine here on multiple computers (typically over 70 FPS on a 4 year old machine, didn't check the other machine, but it runs happily 99% of the time). Guild mates run it fine on multiple computers. The problem likely has to do with the combination of hardware in the laptop, the OS and the video card drivers. It is also likely that the game is exposing a bug or bugs with the particular combination that your girlfriend has.

 

Is it frustrating for you guys? I am 100% sure it is. It it game breaking for you guys. Sounds like it is. But repeating your mantra of Game Engine Sucks isn't going to help anything, especially when there is loads of evidence that the game plays fine for the vast majority of people (meaning that the game engine doesn't suck for those people).

 

I see you didn't post the DxDiag results in the CS forum, too bad since it'll be harder for Bioware to figure out what the issue is without them. Again, here is the forum post for posting your specs.

[Ravyneye]

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.

 

Macpro here, works fine all on high.

[Benfea]

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.

 

Agreed. My computer is decent, but by no means top of the line. I run with all settings maxed (including shadows) and it generally runs fine for me.

 

There must be some kind of hardware or software the others have which I do not to explain such vastly different experiences in game.

[Miggzy]

THIS. A thousand times this.

 

I had the same problem right after I got my new laptop. There was no way in hell that thing should be running as badly as it did. It is an Asus gaming rig for goodness' sake!

 

Turn off those energy management settings completely for gaming! For sure. You will be shocked at the difference.

 

Sooooo true. I have a brand new laptop with all the latest hardware and all that but my game will completely freeze up when when its not plugged in and charging. Even playing with all the graphics settings on low I can not do heroics or flashpoints or anything hectic at all without my game locking up and forcing me to press the power button.

 

I have kept it plugged in at all times and so far so good so im just relieved but its still kinda messed up because I should be able to run this game easily. Idk about the energy settings yet but mine just has to be charged or charging

[Pink_Saber]

I have kept it plugged in at all times and so far so good so im just relieved but its still kinda messed up because I should be able to run this game easily. Idk about the energy settings yet but mine just has to be charged or charging

 

Most laptops have horrible performance when on battery, by default. They tend to assume that if you're not plugged in, you want the battery to last more than 15 minutes, and they'll crank down the CPU and GPU to do that.

 

You can usually change that behavior through BIOS settings or a control panel provided by the manufacturer.

Edited January 23, 2012 by Pink_Saber

[angrYdog]

playing wow dosnt mean that swtor have to run well..

 

buy a new laptop and shes happy...

[Daisai]

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

 

Perhapse its a AMD vid. card thing and that the engine runs better on nvidia cards.

On a system like that you shouldnt have any fps issues,i got a system with the 1090t and dont have fps issues.

[Zhiroc]

I just checked out the stated requirements, and they go something like a Core2 duo CPU, 2 GB of memory on Vista/7, an nVidia 7800 graphics card (which, looking it up, was released in 2005)....

 

Pretty lowball reqs, if you ask me.

 

I play fine on laptop, i7 Q820, 8BG of memory (w/Win7 64-bit), and an ATI Mobility Radeo HD 4670 using windowed fullscreen at 1920x1080. I usually get around 30 fps, which is fine for me (on low settings).

 

I only really have problems in "smoky" environments (the worst is the Syvris space mission).