Guild Wars 2

From http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=368995

NVIDIA GeForce 306.63 Vista and 7 64-bit Download
NVIDIA GeForce 306.63 Vista and 7 32-bit Download
NVIDIA GeForce 306.63 Windows XP 32-bit Download

These seem smoother than the 306.23 WHQL on my GTX 560Ti, I’m no longer seeing 100% GPU utilization on some places where it previously happened.

How come they’re not on the nvidia website ;/

EliteZ.1682:

How come they’re not on the nvidia website ;/

There you go!
http://developer.nvidia.com/opengl-driver

Game doesn’t even use OpenGL. Not worth messing with if the only thing that changed was adding support for a new revision of OpenGL.

lcizzle.8219:

Game doesn’t even use OpenGL. Not worth messing with if the only thing that changed was adding support for a new revision of OpenGL.

306.23: branch r304_70-93
306.63: branch r304_83-34

nVidia never only changes one thing. These drivers are from a newer branch (83), than the latest WHQL (70).

Like I said, I saw a performance increase on my card.

For me, I had easier time fixing fps to 60. And this driver also fixed my huge fps drop in the the Black Citadel.

My experiance.

GPU = Gigabyte 560ti SOC edition
CPU = Intel i7 3930k 4.6ghz

Timberline Falls – North of Malorean Wilds checkpoint – Swamp area

Drivers 306.02 beta / Before = 33 FPS 1920×1080, Max settings,native sampling
Drivers 306.63 beta / After = 37 FPS 1920×1080, max settings, native sampling

Slight improvment, though i will point out that chances are im at the limits of my gpu anyway, the area in question has heavy mist effects lots of reflections(water in swamp), npc’s ,trees, buildings etc.
I didnt really need to put the dirvers in since i was happy with my performance. Usualy being between 45-60 fps depending on the area. Very few areas droped me as low as the area stated above. Infact i think that was the worst. (excluding WvWvW)

But its an improvment none the less, so thanks.

I think the bigger question is: does it fix the black screens/crashes tons of people are having right now?

The black screen/crash is not only specific to nvidia. AMD also has it. Its not a driver issues or graphic as a whole.
it is a configuration in there system, coupled with the software and applications on there.
many not having issues and many have the exact same build. Yet one crashes the other dont.

Anyone tested Ambient Occlusion via nvidia inspector with reflections ALL and super sampling on? Currently, you have to have to have reflections turned down and SS off for this to work…

Can anyone else confirm with a GTX 560 TI or any 500 series card that this driver gives any improvement?

I would like to try but unsure since it hasn’t been officially posted on the beta driver page for the consumer base.

@ Platinum. See first post…

Glad to read this info. I also have an Nvidia 550 GTX ti and its been overheating on best settings which is dectected by ‘auto-detect’. I’ve had to reduce settings to best performance with noticeable loss of quality and just been doing some research on it.
The card is fine for video editing and other games, Aion and Gw1, yet with Gw2, fan is running constant 99% and just before temp was up to 80C until l lowered settings again, then instantly drops to 50-60C.
Noticed the load around smoke/particle effects. Water/reflection shaders do not seem to affect it so badly.
As for Black Citadel, it’s crunched my card since beta.

Will be interested to see if there’s a performance gain with new drivers.
Thanks for sharing the link VirtualBS

Benchmark Test link:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/guild-wars-2-performance-benchmark,3268-5.html
Nvidia 550 GTX Ti way down the list on a 30" monitor.

MB: Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
CPU: Intel i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
RAM: 24G
GPU: Nvidia 550 GTX Ti
Win 7 64bit
DX 11
1680×1050 windowed dual 21" monitors

Didn’t see an improvement, more stable constant fps range.
That is still good.

FPS is more stable now but no real FPS gains. Spinning a circle in various places would cause a massive dip in FPS from 60-30s. Now spinning a circle in the same places only dips 60-52s. There was a slight increase in places like Divinities Reach.

No complaints here.

lcizzle.8219:

FPS is more stable now but no real FPS gains. Spinning a circle in various places would cause a massive dip in FPS from 60-30s. Now spinning a circle in the same places only dips 60-52s. There was a slight increase in places like Divinities Reach.

No complaints here.

Did you have shadows and reflections on?

I only get stutter when I turn the camera with shadows above medium and reflections on. Would be nice to play this game with both of those settings on for me…those are the only two options that make me lag, so having them both off keeps my fps from dropping like a rock when I turn my camera.

Edit: btw I haven’t tried the new beta driver yet.

Shadows were on High with reflections on I drop down to 55-45s when I spin around. Previously it was almost unplayable with reflections on and it was buggy. I could see through walls and terrain in various places.

Shadows were on high and with reflections on I drop down to 55-45s when I spin around. Previously it was almost unplayable with reflections on and it was buggy. I could see through walls and terrain in various places.

Platinumz.8756:

lcizzle.8219:

FPS is more stable now but no real FPS gains. Spinning a circle in various places would cause a massive dip in FPS from 60-30s. Now spinning a circle in the same places only dips 60-52s. There was a slight increase in places like Divinities Reach.

No complaints here.

Did you have shadows and reflections on?

I only get stutter when I turn the camera with shadows above medium and reflections on. Would be nice to play this game with both of those settings on for me…those are the only two options that make me lag, so having them both off keeps my fps from dropping like a rock when I turn my camera.

Edit: btw I haven’t tried the new beta driver yet.

Oh, neat, maybe now I’ll be able to play the game after not being able to play since the 25th due to some black screen bug that has yet to be addressed (the one supposed fix does. not. work.)

After giving much thought I decided to bite the bullet and install the beta driver…

Now I did a test before installing, my fps in Divinity’s Reach goes from 60fps to 40fps in some parts as long I set reflections off and shadows to medium. Everything else on max does no impact on my fps.

After installing the beta driver I ran around the same places in Divinity’s Reach my fps actually dropped! It goes from 60fps to as low as 35fps but…

I get no stuttering at all, even when cranking up the settings and my fps plummets, I don’t get any stutter when spinning my camera. I used to get minimal stutter before the driver update and big stutter when I crank up the settings.

Now I am a little disappointed that I’m getting less fps overall but I am happy that the stuttering issue seems to be gone so now I can actually look around with more ease.

As long I don’t run into problems like crashing ( not that I’ve had any mind you) I’ll keep this on for now.

the only way i could solve the black screen crashing stuff is reducing the graphics settings, actually looks good not as good as it supposed to be but now i can play endlessly with no crash finally… my system specs.

Asus Sabertooth AM3 990FX
AMD Zambezi FX-4100 QuadCore 3.60 GHZ
Nvidia GTX 660Ti
PSU Corsair 750 Wtts
RAM: 8 GB

Saw no improvements at all.

i5 3570k @ 4.5
GTX 670 @ 1049
8GB Ram

Getting around 50 in Lion’s Arch with everything on Ultra and native sampling.

This set of drivers also fixes the screen flashing bug.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Screen-Flashing-Bug-Video/first#post243126

This driver is great! My fps hasn’t really gone up but the game is much smoother, no sudden FPS drops like before and I’ve been able to crank up shadows to Ultra and other settings to Max without compromising on performance, so that’s cool too

The Ambient Occlusion transparent terrain and flashing on/off issue still exists which is disappointing. Can’t wait till AO is functioning correctly – makes the game even more beautiful.

Platinumz.8756

Read peoples posts before asking a question. I for one also answered your question before you asked it, as i posted my results.

Remember to take even you own results with a pinch of salt as there will always be very slight variations in whats actually being rendered on your screen when you have npc’s moving around you…and players

Could anyone explain why some times in cities or RvR both GPU and CPU usage drops low, resulting to low FPS? Anyone has an answer on that?

Game engine and/or software issues between GW2 and drivers.

Other mmo’s have this issues aswell. When the game engine, that runs fine most the time, comes across somthing that it just cant sort through efficiently enough.. like LOADS of players in the same area, then it slows down making your computer have to wait for the information.

SolarNova.1052:

Game engine and/or software issues between GW2 and drivers.

Other mmo’s have this issues aswell. When the game engine, that runs fine most the time, comes across somthing that it just cant sort through efficiently enough.. like LOADS of players in the same area, then it slows down making your computer have to wait for the information.

Exactly. It is also sometimes related to network issues. If the client isn’t receiving network data fast enough it will also slowdown, which will be reflected in reduced CPU and GPU usage (they are both waiting for the network connection data).

Shadows were on high and with reflections on I drop down to 55-45s when I spin around. Previously it was almost unplayable with reflections on and it was buggy. I could see through walls and terrain in various places.

That happens when you enable ambient occlusion. You most likely did a clean install of the driver which would have solved that.

I noticed with the previous beta and release that all of a sudden smoke effects turned some moments into slo-mo expecially while being trebbed on the clocktower. where before i did not have this issue onceim going to give these a try tonight tho it sounds promising enough.

I tried these drivers, GPU usage went way down and CPU usage went up so one of my 6 cores hits 99% half the time while GPU sits at 40% and gave a few slow motion hiccups during WvW. With 285.62 GPU was 85-87% usage while CPU was around 65%. Think I’ll go back.

+10 fps for me loved it =)

Teknobug.3782:

I tried these drivers, GPU usage went way down and CPU usage went up so one of my 6 cores hits 99% half the time while GPU sits at 40% and gave a few slow motion hiccups during WvW. With 285.62 GPU was 85-87% usage while CPU was around 65%. Think I’ll go back.

Personally I would actually want more CPU utilisation, GPU is hovering around 70% which is ridiculous with native sampling.

Apparently Gw2 shaders and atmospheric effects e.g. smoke, rely heavily on DX11. This is why Nvidia pre Series 600 cards are struggling as only 600+ are optimised for DX11.

Apparently Gw2 shaders and atmospheric effects e.g. smoke, rely heavily on DX11. This is why Nvidia pre Series 600 cards are struggling as only 600+ are optimised for DX11.

That’s not correct, 400 and 500 series are fine with DX11 as well.

Also if you read through the “low fps” posts, A MAJORITY of them are using 600 series Nvidia cards, mostly 680’s.

Zelta.6829:

Teknobug.3782:

I tried these drivers, GPU usage went way down and CPU usage went up so one of my 6 cores hits 99% half the time while GPU sits at 40% and gave a few slow motion hiccups during WvW. With 285.62 GPU was 85-87% usage while CPU was around 65%. Think I’ll go back.

Personally I would actually want more CPU utilisation, GPU is hovering around 70% which is ridiculous with native sampling.

Why would you want more CPU usage? That’s putting a load onto the CPU that’s already rendering the game engine as you play, the problem is when you go into WvWvW, the resources gets shifted from the GPU to CPU, now my CPU usage hits 95-99% while the GPU sits at 25% usage and fps drops to 15-18fps.

306.97 is now available

306.97 is now available

I see that, gonna try it.

Also this made me laugh

Planetside 2 – rated Not recommended

Teknobug.3782:

306.97 is now available

I see that, gonna try it.

Also this made me laugh

Planetside 2 – rated Not recommended

The not recommended is for a 3D Vision profile….

306.97 topic: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/New-nVidia-driver-306-97-WHQL