Guild Wars 2

In the beginning I played this game a lot! Inspite of the horrible FPS. I endured the stuttering from 90 degree turns, the 60 fps landscapes down to the 10 fps when you got in a certain area.

But eventually I just quit. Most of the time I would be hanging on 22 FPS on average at most places.

Now when I log in, and I see those low frame rates… I just have no desire to play. Does anyone else feel like this or is it just me?

I have a Nvidia 680GTX and it is one of the best cards around you can buy at this time. I enjoy 60 FPS on the majority of games and to go from that.. to GW2 which I was hoping would be more optimized than it is today.. I just can’t do it.

I’m tired of switching drivers every week only to see zero performance gain. I figured I will come back and play once the FPS issue is resolved. I didn’t drop over 1,000 dollars on my computer just to get this poor performance whlie those with lower end machines are having a better time than we are.

Just my thoughts and wondered if anyone else felt the same.

i get almost constant 30fps (capped to) on a 550ti, i assume your cpu is holding you back, which you failed to disclose

My CPU is a i5-2500k unlocked quad 3.3ghz. Its not my CPU either.

What resolution, how much VRAM is on the card, and what graphics settings are you using?

I’m doubtful its a general problem with the engine, and could be one of those very specific combination in your setup that leads to the problem. Or it could be your pushing it too hard, and its pushing back.

Its not my CPU either

Says who?

starlinvf.1358:

What resolution, how much VRAM is on the card, and what graphics settings are you using?

I’m doubtful its a general problem with the engine, and could be one of those very specific combination in your setup that leads to the problem. Or it could be your pushing it too hard, and its pushing back.

It has 2 GB’s of Vram.

Don’t you guys know anything about computers???

alot more than you, it seems.

Hi,

Please refrain from resorting to personal attacks and flaming as we don’t like this kind of behaviour in our forums. Keep the discussion civil and friendly please.

Thanks for your understanding

What resolution, how much VRAM is on the card, and what graphics settings are you using?

I’m doubtful its a general problem with the engine, and could be one of those very specific combination in your setup that leads to the problem. Or it could be your pushing it too hard, and its pushing back.

I hate to see how people still try to attribute the issues to hardware/drivers, when is clear that it is the unoptimized game engine the culprit.

Neither AMD nor nvidia will release optimized drivers for this game until the issues in the game are fixed.

Personal observations aside, mmo’s like GW2 scale almost directly with cpu clock rate when many effects and pc’s are on screen.

Not sure how Anet handled d3d9 multithreading, but it can be a double edged sword even if implemented right.

time better spent on multithreaded D3D11 using feature levels for downlevel support, which unlike 9/10, supports thread safe multithreading.

@Leonhart

I’m guessing you think that 30 fps is good. Well, you can enjoy that terrible fps while me and my 4 year old system are enjoying a constant 60 fps in every single area besides WvW maxed out and playing in HD on a 25" monitor.

This game is broke. I haven’t stopped playing completely, but I have been playing much less due to bugs and the terrible state of the necro class.

no, i don’t think its that good at all, a minimum of 45 is required atleast for the games i play usually as i otherwise notice it isn’t smooth, If this is a case of compile time optimisations being scaled back in the client, then a post skyliner made elsewhere may hold the key.

@Squall Leonheart: No, 45 is not a minimum required to play games.
It is YOUR minimum.
My girlfriend doesen’t really notice the difference between 30 and 45 fps. I do.
It depends on the person. The movies are presented at 27 FPS but you don’t experience “low fps” in the cinema, lol.

perception differs per screen as well fyi, on crappy displays that pad frames i can see how bad 45 is, on low latency displays its impossible to notice.

Squall Leonhart.2075:

perception differs per screen as well fyi, on crappy displays that pad frames i can see how bad 45 is, on low latency displays its impossible to notice.

Not untrue.

I’m talking about the same monitor obviously, with the example that I made i shown her a videogame @45 FPS capped and @30FPS. I could see the difference, she didn’t (and we are both gamers and computer scientists aswell).

Just accept it, we are different, and we see different.

And to anyone comparing movies with games… note that the images you see in theatre are exposures of a practically infinite number of “frames” summed over 1/24 of a second (minus some % of time the camera might spend with its real or electronic shutter shut to get ready for the next frame).

The natural motion blur this generates helps the illusion of motion enough to push the low-framerate movie past most people’s motion perception threshold (even if it will have that characteristic “movie” look — that many actually like).

Games don’t have that. They instead draw one discrete moment in time for each frame, with no “motion” to be seen in individual images. It takes a lot more than 24 FPS to deliver smooth-looking fast movement like this.

Pretty much stopped playing indeed.

FPS went from middle 30ies to 20 when I switched my x2 Phenom II 555 out with a P II x4 965.
Helped me greatly with my decision of not giving ANet any more of my money.

@teistiz,
that is correct it takes a bare minimum of 30 fps in a game to be considered playable and not be stuttery to a degree that harms the gameplay.

but it requires higher fps than that to remove the stutter/judder when turning and such.

This post is in reply to the OP of this thread, as I have nothing polite to say to the people that posted after him:
Edit: Squall is the only person in this thread who seems to know what he’s talking about.
Edit2: Tiestiz is also on the level, good show.

To answer your first and main question, no I have not stopped playing as a result of FPS issues. I have been playing a bit more Battlefield 3 lately thanks to Armored Kill being awesome, and SC2: HOTS has been taking up some of my time (Widow Mines are sick), but I still get in a decent amount of GW2 time.

A follow up to that would be to observe that your frame rates are obviously way too low for the hardware that you have. I have an EVGA 670 and my frame rates vary from 44-100 in some areas. The key is to figure out what is causing your performance issues in the first place. I have few general tweaks you CAN and SHOULD try.

-Disable Reflections:
This causes a huge performance hit, arguably the largest in the game (at least for me). I had around a 20-30% boost after I disabled those, even in areas without water.

-Disable ANY type of Vertical Sync:
The reasons why should be apparent.

-Reduce LOD distance to low:
I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I notice VERY little difference, if any, between low and high on this. Better to keep it on low as it can help reduce pressure on your system when you turn around and look at new areas.

-Change Shadow Quality from Ultra to just High or Medium:
This is a big one that definitely effects frame rate drop when turning. You’ll notice minimal difference in visuals, but a healthy boost to performance.

-If using Third-Party Software for your GPU, consider disabling or removing it:
This one’s a bit more convoluted; I’m sure you’re aware of the “Set Target Framerate” feature of your 600 series card, which overclocks itself to meet a specified frame rate. The problem here is that it ALSO limits frame rate, in that it will NEVER go over your specified goal. Meaning, if you tell this software to achieve 70 FPS and overclock dynamically, this means that experiencing a dip might drop you down to the mid-40’s. If you don’t use this feature at all, it automatically runs at the maximum frame rate possible with your card, including OC’ing, so now you’ll get, say, 98 FPS and experience a dip down to 65 instead of 45, which you won’t notice.

That’s my experience with the game. Like I said, your frame rates are very inconsistent with your hardware and if you’re telling the truth, and you have what you say you have, these suggestions should help. If you expect to blindly walk into any game and immediately blast all the settings up to full without considering the load on your system, well…welcome to being a PC gamer, time to learn a few things. The argument “I paid x amount of dollars so I should be able to blindly push all the sliders to the max without thinking” doesn’t really fly.

Although I will concede that Guild Wars 2 DOES have some optimization problems, you certainly seem to be blowing them out of proportion. Someone with a 680 and a 2500K really has things better than most.

Secondly, (and I mean this politely) I would recommend before telling other people they should learn something about computers, you should probably know that VRAM isn’t the only thing that effects how a card functions. “I have a 2GB card, why can’t I max everything? Learn something about computers!” just makes you look silly.

I am pretty tired of coming on this forum and hearing the same old same old from those peoples that consider them self improvised computer tech, saying oh your cpu is a bottleneck, oh this game need a very good cpu, oh this and kitten is not good. Have you red the requirement for this game? Why peoples with system that exceed 5 times the game requirement cannot even get a steady 30 fps? While some peoples running 7years old notebook can run this game smooth. Stop spreading lies and misinformation to peoples saying your cpu is a bottleneck when its above pc requirement for the game. The game itself is badly coded and is not using hardware ressource properly right now, i really hope Anet manage to sort out the problem.

Or maybe Anet lied about pc requirement for the game to increase sales, i hope i am wrong.

Well I’ve been playing through beta and launch day and I can’t say I have ever witnessed an FPS issue with the game. Taking into consideration the different levels of effects the game has to tweak with in the video settings and hardware requirements I would say it’s pretty balanced.
I am running an i7 2700k @ 4ghz with 8gb RAM on a GTX480 graphics card and with all the settings in maximum, I never drop below 40fps with raid like crowds and spells/flashes hammering down. My fps will rise to around 100+ when wandering a zone quite happily. What you have to remember is that CPU is just as if not more important than the graphics card with this game. It was similar in RIFT where you really need decent processing power to accompany the high graphics. Obviously you can dumb things down in the settings but I am having difficulty understanding how your fps can be dropping that low in with that card and processor. Even with only 2gb ram I think you should be ok although doubling it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Find me just one person running this game smoothly on a 7 year old notebook. Just one. And pulling these “smooth” framerates in WvW or LA, not looking at a wall in an empty PVE environment.
Bonus point for finding me one person with a 3.5GHz+ sandy or ivy with problems that isn’t an obvious issue with their system.

I honestly can’t wait to see the whining on Crysis 3’s launch from the laptop/outdated/budget hardware crowd.

@OP: disable the GTX600 series turbo and frame limiter.

GW2 is still heavily CPU bound, but not all of it. If ArenaNET were to tell you how many lines of code this game has, you would fall out of your chair. Code places a lot of stress on CPUs because that is what it is intended to do.

Priore to the game going live the game was all CPU bound, but they have since removed a huge majority of that. GW2 does use the CPU for a lot of calculations and, in simpler words, bleeds into the Graphics Card for other necessary calculations.

Many of you also forget to mention how important BIOS settings are within your computer. Countless times I have seen those with high-end systems not understand the important of proper BIOS settings (coughAlienWareBuyers).

Make sure your BIOS setters are in fact correct, and when I say this I am talking about proper memory timers, proper FSB settings, etc., etc.

If your problems continue and you have all of the latest drivers (along with a clean machine), then and only then consider upgrading if you have the extra cash to do so (seriously, this economy isn’t a spending spree).

Things to consider when purchaicing a new PC:

- Fastest Memory timings you can obtain
- The most, affordable that is, L2/L3 Cache on the CPU you’re eyeballing (this does matter!)
- Head for the hills and get the most, affordable, memory you can so you ‘can’ disable Virtual Memory in Windows
- Head into SSD (this helps load times, NOT FPS)
- Quality video card with plenty of memory (textures LOVE eating up memory)
- Quality motherboard, know what you’re buying before you buy one, or get someone to help you that ‘actually’ understands the ins-and-outs of the board for the CPU you want. (don’t listen to those who act like the understand the electronics behind the technology, you can easily spot those folks)

Really a lot of it simply comes down to understanding how every works from top to bottom, and if you don’t that’s fine — just find a trusting friend to help assist you with this.

Now I’m going to say something that is going to bring out those I mentioned above out of the woodwork: stop buying i5 processors! No, they’re not bad CPUs, but they are more affordable. However the problem with i5’s is less L2/L3 onboard Cache — you don’t want less for a gaming system, you want more.

i5 and i7 CPUs for gaming is a factor — and I know i7’s are more expensive, but in terms of more really does play a part here. Every computer I have build I have always gone for the most L2/L3 cache as possible. When I didn’t, I noticed a difference. (no, not a HUGE difference, but enough to notice).

Also because you have a GTX 680, or whatever the case, this doesn’t mean you’re going to notice head over heals performance. It’s like one bad apple mixed in with several good apples: it will effect all of the apples in the basket. If you spent that money on a GPU, you should also consider upgrading your CPU along with it (and in the end, setup your BIOS correctly, and have good memory to punch it further down the road)

I have a great system. It’s not the latest and greatest, no, but it runs great. Do I have low FPS in WvW? You bet, who doesn’t? That’s a developer issue there. But when I’m in low pop-area’s in WvW I maintain my 65 FPS. Why? I have a great CPU, Memory, Videocard, and perfectly pitched BIOS settings on the motherboard that take full advantage of the CPU, Memory and Video card.

for the record:
i7 960 Intel CPU (8Mb L3 Cache)
12GB G. SKill Memory (7-9 latency capability)
EVGA GTX 590 (dual GPU video card, 3GB of video memory)
EVGA SLI-3Way motherboard

Game settings are all set to High (Ultra shadowing hurts performance, ArenaNET is using horrible DX9 shadowing instead of DX10 shadowing which performs better on DX11 cards)

I’ll even add this to my post: I don’t use the in-game FXAA (Nvidia can take FXAA/TXAA and shove it up their rear-ends because it stinks!) I have full blown AA with 2x SSAA and my graphics are wonderful! So, with that said, I’m actually pushing my video card harder (it runs around 70% – 90% usage until I have about 70 players on my screen, then my CPU gets pushed harder while the video card goes down to around 30% usage).

All of this, and my game runs really well — but I won’t sit here and say this game runs as smooth as World of Warcraft because GW2 uses a lot more polygon count, so you’re going to suffer more in some areas. In all the game has done quite well for being out a few months now compared to other game launches that have blown.

Anyway, I hope I have helped. Also to avoid any arguments that will more than likely be started up by geeks, I will not respond to any posts or come back and read any comments to my post — I don’t have to time bicker about “you’re wrong” statements. If you, the OP, need help you can Private Message me and I will respond to you directly if you would like some assistance.

Now, back to smacking players around in WvW!

“Have you quit playing due to FPS?”

Pretty much, my FPS are good in every part of the game but WvW where it’s so bad it’s unplayable.

Knowing I’ll never be able to enjoy that aspect of the game ruins the whole thing for me.

Natas.1306:

I am pretty tired of coming on this forum and hearing the same old same old from those peoples that consider them self improvised computer tech

What you’re really tired of, is having reality shoved in your face when you would choose to remain in your fantastical delusions.

saying oh your cpu is a bottleneck, oh this game need a very good cpu, oh this and kitten is not good.

I don’t think you understand how important the cpu is when feeding irregular batches of graphical data to the GPU for processing. In most cases the performance problems are Low gpu usage because the engine and physics are choking the Graphics thread(s). Which often execute on the same core as the engine.

Have you red the requirement for this game? Why peoples with system that exceed 5 times the game requirement cannot even get a steady 30 fps?

I’m not sure you understand what Minimum Requirements actually means.

its the minimum spec hardware to get the game into a playable state. It does not imply a framerate to your expectation.

While some peoples running 7years old notebook can run this game smooth. Stop spreading lies and misinformation to peoples saying your cpu is a bottleneck when its above pc requirement for the game. The game itself is badly coded and is not using hardware ressource properly right now, i really hope Anet manage to sort out the problem.

I think you need to consult your doctor, these delusions are a sign of a mental health problem.

Or maybe Anet lied about pc requirement for the game to increase sales, i hope i am wrong.

Bordering on libel there mate.

If you’re getting low frame rates..

1) specific your system, especially how much system memory you have
2) where you’re getting these.

Try and do a clean uninstall of your video drivers too. I had issues with AoC…like no body, just floating hair, eye balls, and tattoos. A clean install of the video drives (using Driver Sweeper) fixed that…might help here.

i love this game…but i haven’t played since i installed MoP..due to getting ready for raiding( was planning to play Gw2 during raid down time)..i come on tonight to see my game stuttering like crazy…wasn’t doing that last time i played..and i haven’t change and thing on my pc. was a let down to see this…back to wow w/ my 150 fps…and no issues..good luck arena net in getting this worked out…i didn’t have these issues in swtor..and wow as a old as it is is running flawlessly..hope you get it fixed

@Squall Leonhart.2075

Since your so knowledgeable about gw2 performance explain to me. Why peoples with lower spec can play this game with higher fps then some peoples?
Explain to me why peoples during beta and in previous patch had higher performance then post patch?
Explain to me why my game run at around 40 to 60fps most of the time then suddenly i get inside an empty room and my fps drop to 25fps ?
Tell me how come only reducing shadow and reflection give an fps boost while all other graphic setting barely do any different fps wise? And this without mentioning lowering resolution to 1024×728 have zero impact on performance.

You have to be serious here, this game run off the modified gw1 engine, using dx9 technologie, game have very low polygon count and 2d sprite same as gw1. Yes i understand that having alot of spells effect and player models use alot of cpu ressource, but this engine is no where near demanding for a top of the line pc. Peoples with High end intel/amd with 600$ video should be running this game at a steady 100fps with barely any drop below 60fps and its not even the case here.

Anet stated them self they wanted this game to run on older hardware so they have broader audience of peoples to play the game. Right now peoples feel obligated to upgraded and buy new computers to play the game and often peoples come back on these forums saying upgrading barely made a difference in the performance.

And for your information i did not talk about minimum requirement i was talking about the recommended requirement.

And btw someone with minimum requirement should be able to play at a steady 20fps at lowest setting. And someone with Recommended requirement should be able to pull 30fps with low setting. This is clearly not the case with this game. If Anet expected peoples to play with 5fps at the minimum spec then they did lie to all their customer about the game requirement to increase their sells.

No, I haven’t quit. However, I have basically quit WvW and large scale dynamic events where I get less than 10 fps. My computer is old but man, that is really bad. I think it’s like 7fps. That’s too low for even me to handle.

Natas.1306:

@Squall Leonhart.2075

Since your so knowledgeable about gw2 performance explain to me. Why peoples with lower spec can play this game with higher fps then some peoples?

This is typically not the case, but the experience of a few users, almost always makes it seem like it is. Believe me, the people here claiming as such are outnumbered by a factor of 1000 by people who aren’t having such issues.

First things first. If this is a matter of optimisations being neglected, a low end cpu will never do better than a higher end cpu. That is, an AMD cpu simply cannot out perform a Core i nahalem and higher processors where optimisations are neglected. AMD cpu’s crave code optimisations (they prefer machine code actually) to make up for their branch and execution pipe restrictions

The reason for the lower FPS in the latest patch seems to be some kind of change to the Graphics engine.

CrossFire enabled cards are taking major hits atm, which may(likely will) require a new CAP update.

Optimus enabled laptops are also failing to switch to the nVidia device, though i was unable to reproduce that on the 630m i have handy (there may be something else at play!?)

There is always reasons for these things, that are not explicitly a fault in the game. Or, they can be a acceptable regression caused by code that is currently undergoing refactoring for design, readability or future enhancement.

I can’t say for sure, but some of the performance hit may be caused by ongoing changes to the graphics engine. Someone may have attempted to multithread a function and increased cpu usage (and reduced gpu usage) as a result.

Explain to me why peoples during beta and in previous patch had higher performance then post patch?

Theres a possibility that the PGO profiles need to be regenerated, or that a current refactoring of code is going on which requires that optimisations be lowered a bit to prevent complete unplayability in the mean time.

Explain to me why my game run at around 40 to 60fps most of the time then suddenly i get inside an empty room and my fps drop to 25fps ?

Can you post some screenshots of the room in question? Theres a possibility a dynamic light or shadow source is updating to much.

Tell me how come only reducing shadow and reflection give an fps boost while all other graphic setting barely do any different fps wise? And this without mentioning lowering resolution to 1024×728 have zero impact on performance.

Now this one i do have experience with. Shadows, dynamic shadows in particular, have always been the bane of a video game.

Dynamic shadows are one of several effects that are dependant on decent cpu performance, as typically, the batch updates are frequent and not especially optimisation friendly. DirectX usage guidelines usually have a recommendation to batch 1000 primatives average.

Direct3D is optimized for large batches of primitives. The more polygons that can be sent in a single call, the better. A good rule of thumb is to aim to average 1000 vertices per primitive call. Below that level you’re probably not getting optimal performance, above that and you’re into diminishing returns and potential conflicts with concurrency considerations (see below).

You either get realtime shadow updates and a fair amount of cpu usage, or you get shadow changes that are delayed a few frames and just don’t look very natural. (I’m sure you’ve seen the latter in Skyrim if you’ve played it).

As for Reflections, Water reflections specifically, the game doesn’t seem to handle these well at all. Looking towards any body of water the framerate takes a dip, even if you can’t see the water at in the distance.

You have to be serious here, this game run off the modified gw1 engine, using dx9 technologie, game have very low polygon count and 2d sprite same as gw1.

Skyrim didn’t really up the polygon count over Oblivion, but still requires a far beefier system to max out.

If i had to take a guess, I expect a major performance improving patch in the near future will be released.

Yes i understand that having alot of spells effect and player models use alot of cpu ressource, but this engine is no where near demanding for a top of the line pc. Peoples with High end intel/amd with 600$ video should be running this game at a steady 100fps with barely any drop below 60fps and its not even the case here.

I don’t disagree at all. Which is why i expect the current performance problems right now, are the lead up to something good coming.

some things to note:

Anet use umbra for occlusion culling, but had to disable the gpu support for it due to a bug that umbra blam on all current videocard drivers, so this is running on cpu if you dont use the -umbra gpu command line augment, this means the cpu isnt just doing game engine work, its doing physics and culling….and apparently isnt to smart about how it uses multi core chips(tho my 8 cores never go over 40% each so…..)

the whole maps got “water” under it, i have fallen thru enough times to know this to be fact, so this could be part of the perf issues…..

the maps build in many layers, you can see this if you climb around the map enough outside where they expected people, the maps not just what you see but huge ammounts of sub turaine and full models that you only see small parts of buried in the landscape/ground(try Lions Arch for an easy place to see this, hose ships you see sticking out of the hill, the whole ship model is actually there….not just the back or front or side….)

I have a feeling all or most of this is being rendered OR umbra is expected to do all the culling work…..

I have this feeling it would hve been better for anet to have done their own culling OR used some kind of script to remove hidden sub landscape features rather then expect umbra to do it all. specially with how umbra fails to perform properly on gpu’s….

the funny part is that you see reports like this on most gw2 related forums, people with beefy systems having issues, and if they dont mention their cpu, its auto assumed its a “Crappy AMD chip” yet, many of these people with 2500k/2600k/3770k(or other 3k chips) and better video then I have, are getting worse fps then I get on my 8120@4.5 with dual 6870’s…….

the best fix at themoment for crossfire users at the moment is to grab radeon pro, make a profile for the game, and force supertile mode for cf, doubled my fps (more then doubled them) in black cit…….neverhad major fps issues till this last patch…..

maybe anet should hire some more programmers to help them get the game debugged and optimized…….i love this game but…..it really need optimized……baddly…….

I had frame rate problems when I first started playing then game. Then I upgraded my MB, CPU, memory (cos it was getting old) and now the game runs sweet!

interesting, i just tried with -umbra gpu and while it does increase gpu usage from 72 to 80%, it also increased the first core from 44 to 54% average. However the combined cpu usage did not increase from its 15-22% range.

No i havent quit, infact my rig runs the game very smoothly with nearly maxed out settings (except the best textures unchecked), fps between 45-60 most of the time.

Yea I quit for whole, until I upgrade cause I only care to play spvp.

Sometimes you just go bad luck.

I had rolling BSoD with one of the recent Nvidia Driver Sets (280.96 or something; in between 280.26 and 295.73). I had that same driver set on the work machines, no issue. On my second rig, no problems. But this rig….it just didn’t like ’em. Even popped in a blank drive and did a OS+Video install, still BSoD on me.

I had issues with BF3, on my GTX 570 1.2GB it would CtD after about 40min of gameplay, regardless of settings, regardless of SP-campaign or MP. But it runs for hoooours on my GTX 670 4GB. Using the same amount of memory as it did on the 570.

Any number of things could affect game performance including Antivirus programs that monitor (aka scan) files/processes being accessed for suspicious activity. Could also be software-based Firewalls; sniffing the packets isn’t CPU-free :P

I’ve been seeing a pattern that most users with FPS problems are using a 660 or 680 or similar video card regardless of their super duper uber CPU… hmmm.

BF3 runs great on my 560Ti, in the first 2 months last year when it launched it crashed on me a few times (it had a serious memory leak) but never does now, I can play it for hours, I’ve been using the 285.62 drivers for a long time until this week when I went to 306.97.

I’m definitely playing less due to the issues. I find myself taking screen shots and writing down bugs and trying to figure out my own issues and resolutions to these issues rather than actually playing and enjoying the game. It’s sad, I really like this game, but I’m focusing too much on the problems to be able to enjoy it fully at the moment.

Just to name a few:
- Frame Limiter not capping at 30 frames, instead capping at 25.
- Unnecessarily over the top particle effects.
- Mesmer phase retreat sometimes teleports you underground.
- Artifacting of props, small blue squares on terrain surfaces (the worst one).

All stuff that directly affects how I perceive the world. It just feels like I’m back in Q/A testing a game.

- Mesmer phase retreat sometimes teleports you underground.

This one bugs me the most, oddly enough casting it again pushes me back out but the rest of the time I have to teleport to the nearest WP (going to HoM and back doesn’t always work). On the bright side, I managed to swim down under the map and find one of the skillpoint NPCs that fell under the map as well and kill him.

I have similar problems :-( When I start to play I have about 50 fps, after some time 30-40 minutes game slows down to 10-12 fps. I asked support to help me, however they didn’t find any solution yet. It stops me from playing the game :-(

Teknobug.3782:

- Mesmer phase retreat sometimes teleports you underground.

This one bugs me the most, oddly enough casting it again pushes me back out but the rest of the time I have to teleport to the nearest WP (going to HoM and back doesn’t always work). On the bright side, I managed to swim down under the map and find one of the skillpoint NPCs that fell under the map as well and kill him.

Yeah, theres a lot of interesting stuff to be found under the world, I saw some strange textures that resembled a dragon, think its the boss that spawns in the swamp in Queensdale.

Squall Leonhart.2075:

interesting, i just tried with -umbra gpu and while it does increase gpu usage from 72 to 80%, it also increased the first core from 44 to 54% average. However the combined cpu usage did not increase from its 15-22% range.

its a strange thing, i really think a big part of the problem with this game is that the dev’s rely on umbra to much, if you are a climber(somebody who likes to see where they can get even if dev’s didnt intend you to get there) you will find the terrain in this game is multi layered some are visual only, others have collision (some you can walk thtu others you cant) in some cases, you will see MANY layers, i have a weird feeling something to do with umbra is caculating what you can and cant see for every layer instead of ignoring deeper layers…..(layers they could remove manually)

also anybody whos fallen thru the map can tell you, under the map is ALL WATER…..i fell thru a dozen or so times climbing or just doing events(tried to pick something up and fell thru, tried to plant a morter seed and fell thru….that kinda thing)

if the games also constantly caculating water reflections on cpu that could also be part of the issue.

as to cpy/gpu arguements, I have friends with many configurations amd and intel, among he high end ones, its hit and miss who gets great fps and who gets poor fps……and WvWvW “Zergs” lead to large fps hits for most if not all of us…..(funny enough im less effected then my friends with their 970x and 980x chips….and better videocards…) my cpu NEVER goes over 40% per core…..and its just a “Crappy” fx-8120@4.5….

0 response from anet regarding performance issues which are partially gamebreaking. I would love to play WvW but not at 7fps. It isnt my system. It is this unoptimized engine.

Well i got a i5 2500k as well and 2 × 570 cards running in 2560 × 1440p and i get stable 60 fps with v-sync. (up to around 50 players going crazy then it drops) sounds to me more like a driver problem, i’ve read of many that got problems with the 680

Squall Leonhart.2075:

Its not my CPU either

Says who?

The game was fine at launch week. I have an i7 920 3.8GHz, with an nVidia GTX 690. Still a very fast CPU and the fastest GPU you can get from nVidia right now.

Game runs poorly now, was fine on launch week and for some time after. It started performing badly after certain game patches.

Each patch that changes graphics, it gets slower with more artifacts and frame rate jitter.

During the last 2 months, several other games I have are running faster with newer nVidia drivers, same with some GPU computation software and some GPU accelerated commercial code I have.

All of it runs faster now.

With GW2 the only application showing issues on my system, it seems highly unlikely the problem lies elsewhere.

Of course, I’m always looking, but so far this seems an issue out of our hands until Arena fixes it.

Shannon.9583:

The game was fine at launch week. I have an i7 920 3.8GHz, with an nVidia GTX 690. Still a very fast CPU and the fastest GPU you can get from nVidia right now.

Game runs poorly now, was fine on launch week and for some time after. It started performing badly after certain game patches.

Runs about the same for me, but my graphics card is still holding me back, so i plan on rectifying that.

Each patch that changes graphics, it gets slower with more artifacts and frame rate jitter.

Can’t say i experience any problems with artifacts. those are usually driver or hardware clock speed issues.

With GW2 the only application showing issues on my system, it seems highly unlikely the problem lies elsewhere.

Of course, I’m always looking, but so far this seems an issue out of our hands until Arena fixes it.

try running the game with the -umbra gpu command switch.

Not sure why some of these systems are having problems, especially those with i7s and 680s.

I have a 2600K running at 4.5Ghz, 16GB DDR3, EVGA 570 2.5GB, OS drive is an SSD and the game drive is 2 SSDs in RAID0.

There is not a single instance where the game is unplayable and I play with every setting turned to maximum except for render sampling which is as Normal and not Supersample (because that alone drops performance by about 20fps).

Most times my fps is around 80. So, I am unsure of what some of you are doing to get it to unplayable levels with such high end systems. Sounds like it is something wrong with your system, your drivers or whatever.

Most of us are talking about WVW not pve….and if you say your getting 80 fps with 50-60+ people on screen than either screenshot it or stop lying…
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Not sure why some of these systems are having problems, especially those with i7s and 680s.

I have a 2600K running at 4.5Ghz, 16GB DDR3, EVGA 570 2.5GB, OS drive is an SSD and the game drive is 2 SSDs in RAID0.

There is not a single instance where the game is unplayable and I play with every setting turned to maximum except for render sampling which is as Normal and not Supersample (because that alone drops performance by about 20fps).

Most times my fps is around 80. So, I am unsure of what some of you are doing to get it to unplayable levels with such high end systems. Sounds like it is something wrong with your system, your drivers or whatever.

Reading half the posts in this forum regarding fps really gives me a headache. There is far more of a Who Is The Biggest Computer Gaming Nerd competition going on than there is tech support.

I have also been having huge problems with fps issues, and nothing I do seems to get the fps above 16fps on average, with constant drops down to the 3-6fps range when doing certain activities. The oddest problem I am having is that Personal Story Events actually induce the biggest fps issue, which makes no sense to me since I am the only player participating in those. My fps drop to 6-8 during Personal Story Events, and I just end up flying around them with NPCs teleporting to me and striking me dead before I ever knew they were there.

I am not trying to play at the maximum settings. I would be happy if the LOWEST settings coughed up 30fps. During loading screens I get 60 fps, but the rest of the time 22 is the best I can do. That is with everything set to low, shadows off, reflections off, subsample, no anti-aliasing, no animations, no v-sync (or with it, I’ve tried both)….basically any combination.

I downloaded gameboost, and that took me from an average of 12fps to 16fps. -_-

I have an Intel Core I5 cpu with M480 @2.67GHz, 4 GB of RAM, 64-bit operating system, Intel HD Graphics card, 512 KBytes/3/Mbytes of Cache Memory, Microsoft Windows 7 Professional. No, it’s not an uber-supped up gaming rig, but it isn’t a POS either. It exceeds the minimum and the recommended requirements significantly.

I don’t think it is to much to ask that the game work without teleporting me/other players/npcs around the map, stuttering, freezing, etc.

I have not quit playing because of it. I love the game. When it works. I have spent a significant amount of time combing through these forums, my computer settings, google, my computer manufacturers website, Intel’s website, and anything else I can think of in an effort to improve my performance.

If anyone who is not trying to impress everyone else with their level of computer nerddom has any suggestions, that would be greatly appreciated.

I can now confirm that the cpu culling GW2 is using, is COMPLETELY BROKEN ON PARTICLE EFFECTS.

I’m in Phasmatis Corridor, and the fog is pushing the gpu right up to 99% load and dropping FPS to 10(and lower).

Enabling -umbra gpu brought the load down to 85 and the fps back up to the capped 30 i’ve been using.

I have an Intel Core I5 cpu with M480 @2.67GHz, 4 GB of RAM, 64-bit operating system, Intel HD Graphics card, 512 KBytes/3/Mbytes of Cache Memory, Microsoft Windows 7 Professional. No, it’s not an uber-supped up gaming rig, but it isn’t a POS either. It exceeds the minimum and the recommended requirements significantly.

Sorry to tell you, but no, the Intel HD graphics does not meet the minimum requirements. It doesn’t even compete with the video cards listed in the minimum requirements.

If it works, you got lucky, but it will never work well because its using System ram for framebuffer storage and has less shaders then the SM3 cards listed in the minimum requirements.