Guild Wars 2

I come back to this game every couple of weeks hoping to see that it runs better on my computer. Every time I am sorely disappointed.

i5 2500k @ 4.3GHz
16GB DDR3
2x GTX 670 SLI

The game performs just as it did when it was released (maybe worse.) Still have massive lag when first loading the surrounding world (spinning the camera) and overall a low FPS. 40 FPS in blazeridge steppes with everything maxed. The game is using maybe 90% of my CPU and 40% of my GPUs. Compared to a PC optimized game where I get REALLY high FPS and 99% GPU usage and 20-30% CPU usage.

I just don’t understand this. The game was optimized first and foremost for PC right? Then why is it so heavily CPU bound like a console port? How have they not fixed this yet? Is it ever going to change?

Try running the gw2.exe at high priority in the task manager. Did wonders for my duo core.

As far as the console stuff? This is perhaps the best mmo game engine I have ever seen as far as using multiple cores.

On most mmo’s my e8400 at 3.8ghz blew away quads, and the only thing that beat it was a sandybridge.

max shadows/reflections? MMO’s always run like crap with these on max. This isn’t a fps game you can run at 100 fps. Would you rather have them make the game look like crap just so you have a higher fps number?

Guess what? The next gen MMO? Will probably run alot better on the I7. Are you going to be mad about that as well?

SLI optimization sometimes takes YEARS to implement well in almost every MMO. Why? Because they aren’t going to go all out coding the game for a computer that makes up .0000001 percent of their playerbase.

Hell, in “the other big mmo” SLI was SLOWER for YEARS then a single card.

Read Part 4.11 here to learn about optimization issues and what the developers have commented on.

Something special must be happening for me. I just lowered my graphics a little bit more and I’m still seeing CPU usage push 95%. This is with a quad core running over 4GHz. That CAN’T be right. I even set the priority for GW2 to high and there is no improvement in FPS.

spacecraft.4968:

Something special must be happening for me. I just lowered my graphics a little bit more and I’m still seeing CPU usage push 95%. This is with a quad core running over 4GHz. That CAN’T be right. I even set the priority for GW2 to high and there is no improvement in FPS.

If it’s not a 3770k, then that’s the reason.

could be that the intel hd graphics is being used by the game instead of the SLi, most likely why the cpu is at 95%

Iyeru.5240:

spacecraft.4968:

Something special must be happening for me. I just lowered my graphics a little bit more and I’m still seeing CPU usage push 95%. This is with a quad core running over 4GHz. That CAN’T be right. I even set the priority for GW2 to high and there is no improvement in FPS.

If it’s not a 3770k, then that’s the reason.

What is the reason? The priority I set it to? I’m playing again right now with it on default and still seeing around 95% CPU and really low GPU. Considering GW2 doesn’t make use of hypertheading, my CPU should be overkill.

Nitro.4732:

could be that the intel hd graphics is being used by the game instead of the SLi, most likely why the cpu is at 95%

Integrated GPU is automatically disabled when a discrete GPU is installed.

As far as the console stuff? This is perhaps the best mmo game engine I have ever seen as far as using multiple cores.

Wow… I laughed so hard.

I disabled core parking on my I5 and it increased performance. More information here:

http://bitsum.com/about_cpu_core_parking.php

Of course do this at your own risk.

“CPU Parking dynamically disables unused CPU cores to conserve energy and reduce heat dissipation. It is a sleep state (C6) that is supported by most newer x86 processors, and newer editions of Windows. CPU Parking temporary disables unused logical cores and/or entire CPU packages (for SMP systems), turning them back on as the load on the CPU increases. CPU parking is similar to frequency scaling, a technology that reduces the speed of cores, except that it scales it to OFF.

Unfortunately, Windows is often far too aggressive in its parking. You can easily have a 75% total CPU load and still have parked cores! Further, while unparked is extremely rapid, it isn’t instantaneous, and therefore does induce a miniscule delay."

They have started to optimize the game but it will take several stages due to the engine being poorly build in the first place. Here is a quote from Mark Katzbach in the May 14th updates

Optimizations

We’re rolling out our first set of optimizations. This is the first in many steps involved in helping resolve issues with “skill lag.” Some players will experience a slight improvement in skill lag issues with large groups of players, while some players may also experience a slight raise in their FPS.

I have noticed my cores are a little more evenly load wise.