Guild Wars 2

Hello again,

I’ve searched the forums but I haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for in terms of graphical corruption.

The issue is as follows, anywhere around the world, at no specific time, with almost no way to certainly reproduce except just run around, I see tiny, maybe 1 centimeter long blue squares on any kind of surface (except characters and props, so for example mountains, fields, any kind of terrain) that flash for a short period of time, very quickly, then stop. It’s almost impossible to catch in a screenshot, however, I do notice that A LOT of these graphical corruptions are found on stairs.

My graphics card is updated with its latest drivers (306.23 nvidia 540m) I haven’t overclocked my laptop, I haven’t touched ANYTHING. My settings are all at medium except for shaders, my nvidia control panel is set to perfomance, basically ambient occlusion and all that jazz is set to off. Changing resolutions doesn’t fix it.

Now, I’m just wondering, is it a problem on my end? Or is anyone else having this issue as well? I stress, this is DEFINITELY not my graphics card overheating, since this only happens with guild wars 2, and the temperatures are fine too. Any other issue that could be causing this? Thanks for the replies.

Here are some screenshots of the issue, extremely hard to get, but I managed it. Two different scenarios with a screenshot with and with out the blue squares.

Added a few screenshots, difficult as hell to get, but I managed it.

IS your GPU overclocked by any chance. if it is, downclock it a bit and try again.

Oh and btw, when ever you ask for technical help, its bets to give your system specs so we dont have ot ask for them later …like now :P

those are Transparency Multisampling artifacts.

Sorry, and no I don’t overclock my laptop. Here’s the DXDIAG, should have attached it before, my apologies.

NOTE: I’m not sure why it doesn’t mention in the DXDIAG that I actually have an Nvidia geforce 540m on this laptop, which I use for running games. I’m pretty sure GW2 is running on the Nvidia 540m, since the intel one can’t handle the game at all.
I have the latest WHQL nvidia driver installed (306.97) i’ve tried rolling back to older drivers but the issue with the blue squares persists.

DxDiag will only display the gpu presented to the system, unless you start it using the run on nvidia performance graphics context menu item

the nvidia gpu is otherwise hidden from the system.

Heres a screenshot with my nvidia information

Adding more screenshots, this issue is relatively easy to capture on staircases for some reason, theres loads of them there.

with the latest patch, is the game even running on the 540m?, i’ve seen a couple of others reporting it is using the Intel IGP only!.

that really looks like a bug that Intel recently fixed in the HD drivers, thats why im asking :|

I’m 100% sure its the Nvidia GPU thats having this issue. When I force GW2 to run with the integrated graphics card, the issue disappears but I get terrible perfomance. I then switch back to the nvidia card and get good perfomance, but the issue persists. Is my GPU faulty? I’ve never had any problems with any other games beside GW2, and I’ve played AoC and Swtor with out any issues like this. Even TERA, which is a visually stunning game never game me any graphical issues.

Hmm, is it possible to go into the BIOS and disable the built-in Video Chip. Or is the BIOS locked down like most non-DIY computers?

-I know Dell locks their’s down, not sure if (looks like it from DxDiag) Asus does.

So this may be an issue with the two graphics cards conflicting with each other? I don’t understand, since the Intel graphics card doesn’t have this issue, but the nvidia one does, wouldn’t this happen on both cards if that was the case?

The issue is Intel’s chip isn’t really designed for gaming beyond stuff like maybe WoW. It’s primary function is for Home Theater.

In theory, the system is suppose to switch to the dedicated video chip (Nvidia) when it detects certain conditions….like a flagged game exe, or a flagged DLL. You can see this happen if you try and run a game on a computer using Remote Desktop, you’ll get an error stating the Video Card doesn’t support DirectX.

This is why they say if you’re running a dedicated video chip to disable (in the bios) the on-board one, because the system doesn’t always switch between them. Worst of all, the two can end up fighting over processes that can run (barely) on the on-board, but runs great on the dedicated. (Same reason they say don’t install two antivirus programs, they compete and can mess you up).

But, like I said, most mass-produced systems (Dell, HP, Gateway, ASUS, etc) lock the BIOS down so they can use the same BIOS in multiple levels of computers and charge you extra for the enhancements*.

*My dad had a Dell that had HyperThreading disabled on it…..for ~$100 more he could get it turned on. What did he do? Got the BIOS of the HT-enabled series and saved ~$100. It was the exact same mobo I think it was like an 8200 and like the 8250 had the HT-enabled BIOS

no, you cannot disable the intel chip in optimus laptops.

Sonvil, what are your settings in the nvidia control panel?

Instead of writing it up I’ll give a few screenshots of my nvidia settings, I’ve played around with these a bit, but I installed my new driver recently and its completely fresh, so I only changed the single display perfomance and the adjust image settings to perfomance.

SS#1: Have you tried setting it to ’Let the application decide"

If so:

Have you tried setting things to “Application-controlled” for ‘Manage 3D settings’ section of the control panel?

Could you also post what your Power Management settings are:
Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings
→
Change advanced power settings
→ list or screen shot EACH of the ‘+’ (expanded of course)

People think that ‘High Performance’ means everything is turned on, but even at ‘High Performance’ Dell laptops are still set to turn the HDD off after awhile.

I’d say I’m pretty sure its not only on my end, prepare to be blown away :P

Here are my power options
Power4Gear High performance
Require password on wakeup
- Yes
Hard disk, turn off hard disk after
- 20 min
Desktop background settings, slide show
- Available
Asus p4g power settings
Hide gadget
- On
Battery saving desktop
- Disabled
Hide desktop icon
- Disabled
Presentation mode
- Disabled
Intel DPST control
- Turn off intel DPST control
Wireless adapter, power saving mode
- Maximum performance
Sleep
- All disabled
USB selectinve suspend setting
- enabled
Intel GP
- Max performance
Power buttons
- Hibernate/sleep
Link state power managemenet
- off
Processor power management (minimum state)
- 100%
System Cooling policy
- Active
Maximum processor state
- 100%
Multimedia settings, sharing media
- prevent idling to sleep
When playing video
- Optimize video quality

P.S. I’ll try that Illutian, I’ll be back with more info.

EDIT: I’ve tried your suggestions Illutian, but the blue squares of death are still there. Everything runs smooth except for this issue, its as if there is a compatibilty issue with the 540m GPU and GW2 when it comes to rendering terrain and props.

Here is my last set of screenshots, I’m just trying to give scale to this issue, its definitely bigger than just me.

EDIT: It might look harmless, and in essence it is, but it’s extremely distracting and bothersome.

I’m guessing there isn’t much you guys can do about this, since it seems to be a compatibility issue with the 540m graphics card and GW2 program. Thanks for the replies and I do hope Anet will look into this issue.

I’ll try and get in touch with JohnS or NickS from nVidia.

Thanks a lot, appreciate all the help.

hmm, not much luck without th nv forums up, there was a blog post i could comment on awhile back but its locked up now too

So I thought I’d come back to check on this issue, I’ve quit playing GW2, I do log on every now and again to see if issues have been fixed… anyway I wanted to revive this thread. I tried the Nvidia forums a while back, but the tech support is relatively lifeless, I feel rather alone in this issue and it being something that affects all 540m graphics cards is a tad worrying. The fact that there is little to no official feedback is pretty irritating, a simple “we’ll look into it” or “you’re just seeing things” would suffice. So yeah, any new info on the matter?

Reset to default all settings on your nvidia card from the nvidia control panel. As in, factory reset.

Run gw2 and try to recreate the problem.

IF that doesn’t work…

Disable multi gpu display to single. Run gw2 and try to recreate the problem.

And if THAT doesn’t work.

Follow these instructions: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Black-Screen-Issue-Nvidia/first#post3964

And if none of those work, return your card for a refund or exchange under warranty, deeming it “Defective” as it is unable to render video adequately. I’d say that blue blots everywhere is considered as defective. Maybe it’s a manufacturing batch that messed up all the cards of this line, you never know. Industrialization and mass production does that kind of stuff, so it’s no surprise that if you sent it back for a new one, you’d get another faulty card that is substandard but deemed “working” by nvidia.

Hi Seeker,

I tried the above tips and it didn’t make a difference. I’m really dissapointed by this issue, it completely ruins the experience for me. I use this laptop for gaming and I’ve played quite a few games on it, including Swtor, Aion and a few other MMO’s as well as single player games, and this is the only game I encounter this issue. It’s hard for me to agree that it could be a defective batch of graphics card, as i’d probably have issues in other games too if that was the case.

Anyway, thanks for your input though, wonder if anyone else has any ideas?