Guild Wars 2

After the update on Nov. 7th I am now having issues with my frame rate. About 3hrs before the update on Nov. 7th I was getting somewhere between 20-30 fps. Now, when I first log into a character my frame rate is significantly lower. The odd thing about it though is that I see the frame rate as 20-30 fps the first minute or two after logging into a character, but then I actually can watch as the frame rate drops down to 4-10 fps without ever moving my character or the camera. I even tried this in the early morning hours when barely anyone was on and still no change. I tried changing the settings to the lowest possible, but that had a very small affect on my fps.

I am running this on a Mac Book Pro, 15 inch mid 2010:
OS X version 10.8.2
2.4 GHz Intel Core i5
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 256 MB

Any help or answer as to why this is happening would be greatly appreciated!

Update: I recently logged on to my Necro, everything was working fine, I was right around 30 fps and that frame rate was lasting longer than before. I then attempted to summon my minions using the skills: “Summon Bone Minions,” “Summon Bone Fiend,” and the elite “Summon Flesh Golem.” As soon as this happened it dropped below 10 fps again and couldn’t get above that even after I dismissed them.

I strongly suggest doing an SMC reset. I personally haven’t had any problems of the sort, in fact I would be inclined to say my performance increased >.>
Alternatively, there are instructions in this forum somewhere on how to edit the MT3D value in the config file which does boost performance (I permanently have this done because it offers no boost in visuals but the change Anet made to it severely hindered my FPS)

Thanks FlamingFoxx,

I read about that fix and was just about to try it. I was a little worried about how it would affect my system. Should I back up my files before attempting it? Is there a chance it could cause problems to my system or any installed programs?

BrunchSirs.7408:

Thanks FlamingFoxx,

I read about that fix and was just about to try it. I was a little worried about how it would affect my system. Should I back up my files before attempting it? Is there a chance it could cause problems to my system or any installed programs?

Changing the MT3D number shouldn’t have any negative consequences whatsoever.
The file is the Guild Wars 2 config file and as such it will only change how Guild Wars 2 runs.
It is also worth noting that the original value was 0, it is only recently that Anet changed it to 4, which they did because it improves graphics. So in reality all you are doing is reverting it back to it’s old state. What that does mean however is that later updates to the client might mean you need to manually change it back to 0 again.

If you are worried at all and you want to be cautious I suggest you copy your Guild Wars 2 app to the desktop so that if something goes wrong (which it shouldnt) you can just drag the copy you made back into the applications folder and everything will go back to normal

Another thing that might help is to check what the VideoRam value is set to. I discovered that on my Macbook Pro it was registering half what it should, so I changed it to the actual value. (it was probably detecting the Intel graphics, which aren’t used when gaming). I have my MT3D value at 0 because that seemed to help some, but the Videoram=512 (which is the real value) vs Videoram=256 made a HUGE difference.

Rie.6789:

Another thing that might help is to check what the VideoRam value is set to. I discovered that on my Macbook Pro it was registering half what it should, so I changed it to the actual value. (it was probably detecting the Intel graphics, which aren’t used when gaming). I have my MT3D value at 0 because that seemed to help some, but the Videoram=512 (which is the real value) vs Videoram=256 made a HUGE difference.

I am on retina MacBook Pro, and I have it set at 256 too (intel graphics is 512mb), so I set it manually to 1024 and I see no difference.

Deimos.6493:

I am on retina MacBook Pro, and I have it set at 256 too (intel graphics is 512mb), so I set it manually to 1024 and I see no difference.

You have to take into account the ridiculous pixel density and resolution of the retina display, the graphics card is probably already pushing itself while you play, so you can open up GW2 and tell it it’s allowed to use more Vram, but the system is probably already making use of it, explaining why you see absolutely no change.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Deimos.6493:

I am on retina MacBook Pro, and I have it set at 256 too (intel graphics is 512mb), so I set it manually to 1024 and I see no difference.

You have to take into account the ridiculous pixel density and resolution of the retina display, the graphics card is probably already pushing itself while you play, so you can open up GW2 and tell it it’s allowed to use more Vram, but the system is probably already making use of it, explaining why you see absolutely no change.

I use 1680×1050 fullscreen resolution, so retina is irrelevant.

Deimos.6493:

I use 1680×1050 fullscreen resolution, so retina is irrelevant.

Except that the pixel density is still much higher so even though it is only rendering at 1680×1050 it still has to render with all of it’s pixels which takes a whole lot more effort than something which has a native display of 1680×1050. Also, if you’re running GW2 in 1680×1050 then the actual computer itself is still running in a higher resolution and is therefore still taking up large amounts of resource, especially with how Apple has chosen to run the Retina Displays.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

Deimos.6493:

I use 1680×1050 fullscreen resolution, so retina is irrelevant.

Except that the pixel density is still much higher so even though it is only rendering at 1680×1050 it still has to render with all of it’s pixels which takes a whole lot more effort than something which has a native display of 1680×1050. Also, if you’re running GW2 in 1680×1050 then the actual computer itself is still running in a higher resolution and is therefore still taking up large amounts of resource, especially with how Apple has chosen to run the Retina Displays.

No, you’r wrong, if it’s rendering at 1680×1050 fullscreen, it’s rendering 1680×1050 pixels and the “actual computer” like you say, running 1680×1050 resolution. If you cmd+tab of the game, the resolution changes to your desktop retina resolution and back to 1680×1050 when you switch back to game.

I’m running at 1280×800 because my eyes are bad, that could explain why my performance is decent.

I’m running GW2 on a mid 2011 macbook pro 15, on auto-detect on and with MTD3D on value 0 and the memory value set to 1024 (tried 512, didnt work). i still have low fps when playing, sometimes when im on a small map it still has a bit of fps lag which is VERY noticeable when walking around, my character will do small “skip” every 1 second and it is very irritating. i really want to know if this is a client problem or is just the fact that macbooks are useless for gaming, even with above recommendation specs.

in any case my mac specs are:
Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1024 MB
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)

WesleySnipes.3917:

I’m running GW2 on a mid 2011 macbook pro 15, on auto-detect on and with MTD3D on value 0 and the memory value set to 1024 (tried 512, didnt work). i still have low fps when playing, sometimes when im on a small map it still has a bit of fps lag which is VERY noticeable when walking around, my character will do small “skip” every 1 second and it is very irritating. i really want to know if this is a client problem or is just the fact that macbooks are useless for gaming, even with above recommendation specs.

in any case my mac specs are:
Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1024 MB
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)

You have a slightly better MBP than me (I have the 6750M with 512mb) and the only other difference is that I’m running Mountain Lion. I have no stutter problems anymore though, once I set MTD3D to 0 mine ran really smoothly. Try doing an SMC reset?

FlamingFoxx.1305:

WesleySnipes.3917:

I’m running GW2 on a mid 2011 macbook pro 15, on auto-detect on and with MTD3D on value 0 and the memory value set to 1024 (tried 512, didnt work). i still have low fps when playing, sometimes when im on a small map it still has a bit of fps lag which is VERY noticeable when walking around, my character will do small “skip” every 1 second and it is very irritating. i really want to know if this is a client problem or is just the fact that macbooks are useless for gaming, even with above recommendation specs.

in any case my mac specs are:
Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1024 MB
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63)

You have a slightly better MBP than me (I have the 6750M with 512mb) and the only other difference is that I’m running Mountain Lion. I have no stutter problems anymore though, once I set MTD3D to 0 mine ran really smoothly. Try doing an SMC reset?

I have tried doing smc reset and still lags ._.

Ive seen a huge drop in large group settings (Cursed Shore, WvWvW) since the last update. I have a late 2010 MBP with the 6750M 512 mb card, i7 processor, 16 gb ram.