Guild Wars 2

I seem to have completely fixed the input lag and acceleration on my configuration, along with the microstutters.
I have done it by following this guide and disabling HPET which was introduced in Windows 7.

For more info about HPET, testing tools, and variants (enabling it exclusively might help, depends on hardware) consult this topic

This may or may not help you, try both, and check your performance.

HEAR YE, HEAR YE!

I seem to have completely fixed the input lag and acceleration on my configuration, along with the microstutters.
I have done it by following this guide and disabling HPET which was introduced in Windows 7.

For more info about HPET, testing tools, and variants (enabling it exclusively might help, depends on hardware) consult this topic

The waterfall in Sharkmaw caverns will flicker all the time, like there is a colored light source turning on and off. This effect does not appear when using low quality shaders, and is less pronounced on medium shaders. Other settings do not affect it.

Well the camera smoothing has definetly been tweaked. Feels a bit more responsive now, but still very weird.

I don’t think they did much of anything. I support this claim with the fact that I can use an extremely widescreen resolution or a third-party tool to get the same higher FoV in the rest of the game with no issues. No massive performance drops, no stability drops, no giant holes in the world that suck everything in and divide by zero thereby breaking down the very fundamentals of existence and destroying all life on Tyria…

Well if that’s the case, the end result for me is the same: not playing the game till it gets fixed properly, but with the added bonus of losing respect for the devs.

What exactly do you suggest was changed in those parts of the game other than the FoV to get the FoV to work? If it were just the story mission I might buy this, but the dragon lieutenant fights take place in areas that are fully accessible outside of the event at default FoV.

I’ve no idea to be honest. My best guess is that they redid the areas where the boss fights take place, tweaking the shaders, doodads, models, collision, Umbra culling and the likes manually.
Also, I’m pretty sure that it’s not (just?) the FoV that was tweaked, but the camera distance and available angles.

bwillb.2165:

Baxuz.1943:

Also, tellling him that you know how the game works better than the dev team is horribly arrogant.

I’m sorry, but in this case the players DO know how the game works better than the developer. For the kitten’s sake, there are points in the game where it already increases your FoV, such as dragon lieutenant fights and the penultimate personal story mission. And you know what? It. Works. GREAT. It works great, it looks great, it’s much more playable than the rest of the game.

In those points of the game, the game has been hard-coded not to fall apart. That’s why it looks great. But it was an after-thought, with a blog post to prove it.

There are already 3rd party hacks that allow you to change the fov, which has alleviated the nausea issue for some people (without performance issues). Also, what about triple-monitor setups and manually resizing the game in windowed-mode?

The 3rd party hacks induce artifacting and LoD and culling problems outside the default FoV. Hell, it happens all the time even without hacking the FoV. Clearly it’s a sign of bad coding. As for triple monitor setups and windowed mode, you are changing the aspect ratio with the FoV following. For some reason the game doesn’t like changing FoV on the standard ratio.

If you try to play any game with a computer below the specs your performance will be less than stellar.

I’d say that a 3.8 ghz C2D, 4GB of ram and a HD6850 which runs all the latest games on a stable 60 fps on medium-high settings counts as “within spec”. There is no logical reason why I should have 15 FPS in the Black Citadel with no players around on medium-low details.

Hughs.6549:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Camera-and-FOV-field-of-view

They commented on the FOV.

I’ve seen it, and while I understand their response, I’m definetly not happy with it. Here’s my take on the response:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Camera-and-FOV-field-of-view/346973

Hey guys. I’m the OP of the first and currently largest thread on camera-related issues: Camera control issues – a documented list and have been following the issue since BWE1.

First of all, thanks Jon for the upfront reply, I appreciate it greatly that you view it as an issue which needs addresing.
For the community: Resorting to personal attacks on Jon is higly unnecessary and counter-productive. Also, tellling him that you know how the game works better than the dev team is horribly arrogant. The fact is that changing just the horizontal FoV without changing the aspect ratio does lead to distortion. The fact is also that changing the FoV obviously would lead to some issues, be it performance or something else, otherwise, we would have seen it changed a while ago.

Which leads me to the second point, which is my personal view on the subject. Let’s see what we know so far:

1) performance suffers greatly because of how things are built and view distances

2) art suffers because of texture tiling, LOD problems and just general stretching from the fisheye effect.

…we are not just limiting it for technical reasons, there are also gameplay implications that we are taking into account that we believe are a core part of the game…

If there was a single reason we might think about looking for a workaround, but because it relates to core issues for 3 of our major departments this is not an easy problem and will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

What this info tells us, combined with the info we have so far (FoV hacks, boss fights, culling, optimization, etc.), is that sadly the GW2 engine is not flexible enough compared to other engines (UT3, Source…) to allow these changes without adding issues, some of which are present even in the current state of the game (culling, texture corruption, LoD).

The fact that the game is not well optimized, and that there is only talk about fixing the mouse smoothing, and not completely removing it, while also taking into account that Jon said that it’s not an easy problem and it’s related to core issues just reinforces my estimation that it’s all very hard-coded with very little engine flexibilty.

If I am to speak my mind freely, I’d say that it’s bad coding, probably due to time/resource constraints.

What does that mean for me personally?
In my topic I’ve talked about a number of points, which all seem to be mutually dependant:

1. Input Lag
2. Negative Acceleration
3. Smoothing
4. Easing
5. Camera behaviour
6. FoV

The first three points are related to game performance, which is not optimized for a wide range of not-high-end machines. The second two points are developer decisions which are not being considered to be completely removed in the forseeable future, probably due to being hard-coded when co-developing for the console. The camera behaviour is being addressed and hopefully it will be fixed. The FoV is also a developer decision, which I have discussed previously.

What this sadly means for me, that in the forseeable future, I will not be playing this game. Be it bad coding, dev decisions, or something else entirely, the fact remains that I don’t feel comfortable playing the game.
The team has put great effort into the hype train, primarily on the art and personal story. The personal story has proven to be a hit-miss scenario, and the technical aspect of the game has also left me wanting. If nothing else, I still have the wallpapers and concept art to put a smile on my face.

Makovorn.1706:

So, I started playing an asura today. I’ve longed to delve into that race, but I have to say that the camera collision problems are really spoiling the experience for me at the moment. For some reason, the asura seems more affected … just doing simple stuff, like jumping on steps seem challenging camera-wise.

We seem to have 2 very good threads going on the various camera issues, so I thought it might be a good idea to post this short 30 sec video I’ve made here as well – it illustrates the problems I’m currently having with the camera, and specifically playing the asura:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PegX3QH-gy0

:D Thank you, that video made my day

We got another red post in another thread, from Eva:

Hi everyone.
So far, we have received a great deal of feedback from the community regarding the camera issue and we are working on it. I will forward the concerns to the team again and proceed to close this thread as this is a petition thread rather than a general GW2 discussion.
Thanks for your concerns.

I have to sadly say, that in the current state of the game, I find WoW a lot more enjoyable, and am indefinetly postponing playing GW2.

The game runs at 20 fps when it matters, while I can run Borderlands 2 at 60 FPS, the camera and controls are horrid, and not to mention the invisible monsters and players.
Everything else can be as good as you want, but until the game runs properly, it’s all just words on paper.

Signed and bumped to top.

That’s partly camera smoothing, partly inertia, and partly just plain old input lag due to bad optimization. Check out the link in my signature.

Here’s a comparison video with a FOV hacked to 100°. Watch it in full screen only.
Guild Wars 2 field of view fix pledge demonstration
Notice that the 100° is on the higher end of the spectrum, since the usual PC FOV is around 90°.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/albioneurope/sets/72157629988787774/
Something like this?

So we finally got a great reply from Jon Peters about the mouse smoothing issue:
link

Guild Wars 2 has some camera smoothing built into it. It is generally more intrusive than it needs to be, but it also has a bug with it that makes it feel really bad for people with specific mouse look styles, like mine. This bug, and reducing the amount of smoothing is being actively looked at, but must be done carefully and tested carefully as its impact will effect every single player. Thanks for your patience.

Jon

p.s. These are not the only camera issues, but are far and away the most egregious so we will address them first.

Thank you Jon for the awesome news.
Would you consider making an option to completely remove mouse smoothing?

Same thing here…

Apoc.8346:

this has to be the single most frustrating point about GW2 at this time. It is so frustrating to not have the controls working as they should. My RMB camera turn will not respond many times. the issue seems intermittent and can be seen more often when there is a lot of action on screen. It really breaks the fluidity of the combat.

This was the thing that broke the straw for me. I can accept, although not be happy with bad controls. When the controls stop working altogether is an entire different matter. My main is still level 20, and I log in once after each update to see how the camera and controls behave.
The sad trend sofar is that it becomes worse with each subsequent patch. One asks himself about the coding quality of the game if each patch breaks more things than it fixes.

What do you mean by “depth of field”? You have an option in the last 4 checkboxes to toggle distant landscape blurring. That’s depth of field.

The FoV can’t be customized except by changing your aspect ratio to a wider format.

Bumped. This happens to me as well.

SeanPoez.8407:

snip

What I’d also like to add is to make the right mouse button turn the character while standing still. I can’t remember how many times I leapt in the wrong direction in jumping puzzles and combat. Not to mention the character disconnection, inability to read player facing in PvP and more.

It’s bad game design, since both mouse buttons do the same when you are not moving and add redundancy.

If you’re upset that it doesn’t show your actual character turning until you actually move, this has no impact on game play and is purely cosmetic.

Not true, since it disconnects you from your character, gives false info on enemy facing in PvP and impacts the direction of spell casts. You have no idea how many times I leapt in the wrong direction on jumping puzzles or in combat.

Totalbiscuit: What a PC Options menu is supposed to look like
Some people understand.

They did go for the bouncy, exaggerated look. The end result is that the Asura feel alive, unlike the other races which act like robot mannequins. Feels like playing Everquest all over again.
Oh, and the Charr behave like they are in a low gravity environment / slow motion camera.

A few ideas on how the camera/player should react to mouse controls after plaing TF: Fall of Cybertron:

• naturally, 1:1 camera movement without acceleration and input lag, and adjustable/larger FoV
• pressing RMB (or even mouse look) should turn the character in the following way, while standing still:
  1. the head should follow the camera facing up to the point of natural rotation, along with torso adjustment near the end of the movement
  2. after the camera has changed facing over the upper body movement limit, the feet follow naturally (turn animation) and re-center.
  3. if the mouse/camera movement is too fast after reaching the upper body treshold, only the camera follows (unless it returns to original facing area), until the mouse stops/slows down, and #2 is then executed (re-centering)
  This will add connection to your character instead of feeling like you’re playing an RTS camera when standing still, and greatly improve the game feeling.
• The camera should have the option of acting like a true over-the-shoulder UT3 – engine style camera (think mass effect/arkham asylum, etc), for maximum visibility, even when your back is against a wall.
• The camera should, when not in 1st person or OTS, be positioned higher.
• When targetting the ground, the camera should automatically zoom out and position itself higher for easier targetting.
• Add the option to move the camera without holding down RMB. When in that mode, the camera moves out and up, facing lower (maybe even increases FoV), and you target the floor with your mouse centered in front of you, like aiming at the ground (think WoW vehicle cannons), or this example

theonewhoknocks.8641:

I mean will you look at this beautiful mountain: http://i.imgur.com/iiyCY.jpg

Yep. And this is what can be achieved with simple FoV adjustment and camera placement:
http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17twpz3erbkefjpg/original.jpg
http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/205101-BAC%20Paris%20Comicon%20062911%201280x720%20H264-poster.jpg

This has been reported ever since BWE1. I really don’t see it being changed.
And yes, it’s obvious that different animators were working on the Asura. The lack of quality consistency in GW2 is jarring.

Tyestor.7028:

Looks like Kripparian shares the same sentiment with us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0i0dS7lHNM#t=0m48s – Good example linked right there. It’s so true, the fluidity is just amazing.

Yep. That’s what I miss most. I have to be brutally honest, and I really tried not to rant.
After picking up Fall of Cybertron yesterday, I just can’t get myself to play Guild Wars 2 again. The controls are that bad, and so is the framerate. The game feels like trying to steer a rubber raft.
Hopefully this will be fixed soon, because I really want to continue playing the game.

Aside from the topic in my signature, here’s some things I’d like to see:

• option to disable targeting allies, since it’s actually useless and deterimental to gameplay
• adding a cel-shaded effect, or a blue outline on your character when behind walls, in a crowd, or otherwise hard to see
• adding a whisper notification icon/inbox in the UI
• rework some UI elements and icons to make them more consistent and intuitive. The add bank space button is extremely hard to find. The gear icon in the inventory tells us nothing of its function, or that it will open a dropdown menu. Also, the dropdown arrow button in crafting next to the search field is widely used as a history selector, not a filter modal window.
• Add an option to stop pulsating the glow when making a Sylvari character. It makes it really frustrating to choose a color when you literary have a timer to judge it, and to wait to see your new one.

With two big threads on camera issues, I don’t think that this will go on for long unnoticed. It’s probably the most reported gameplay issue, apart from the general bugs and balance issues (and ofc account/server problems).

While underwater, Forked Lightning, Ice Globe, Rock Blade and Spray often miss the targets, especially while in melee range where they sometimes miss all the time.
I find myself playing exclusively in water attunement underwater for that reason.

A great example of 60° vs 100° field of view, and responsive controls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-CnTvRe_U

The funny thing is, if you go http://www.gaikai.com/games/tera, and play Tera by essentially streaming a video, you still have more responsive controls than on your own PC (if your ping is around 50ms).

Yep, the same sometimes even triggers when going through Asura gates.

Another like-minded fellow player. Great topic.
I also made a similar lenghty topic on the issue. Could you please refer to it in the post reserved for links?

The Charr and Asura have by far the best dialogues in the game. The Charr have a less corny dialogue, while the Asura are very cynical and the technobabble corny-ness actually fits them as a sort of a comic relief race.

However the Sylvari, Norn and Human made me actually skip the conversation. It was like listening to an 80s cartoon action figure commercial.

While the cutscenes look fine in theory, they aren’t really good in practice. They take you completely out of the world and put you into this artificial sentence – retort play with very limited emotions in the dialogue.
I personally preffered the text bubbles and in-world character speeches. The worst parts are when something is about to happen. Then the game pauses, goes into cutscene mode, and you have 2 characters staring blankly at each other saying some variant of “Oh no.”, and then pushes you back in the game…

If you want to make an instanced, scripted event, then atleast take the courtesy to do it GW1 style, with the surroundings, characters actually being and moving in the world, and such.
Because what we have now feels like the JRPG-style 2 paper cutouts and “Press A to continue” when the text bar fills up.

Hey, please add my topic into the list:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Camera-control-issues-a-documented-list/

And thanks for linking my BWE vids

It’s not the zoom distance that’s the problem in itself. Check out a detailed explanation here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Camera-control-issues-a-documented-list

Now that the Suggestions forum is open, maybe this whole thread should be moved there? I’m not sure if this topic fits in the Game Bugs section.

I’d like to add my voice to this discussion too. I’ve made a topic which has gotten a ton of replies, and even one from ArenaNet in the link in my signature.

Another irritating behaviour is auto-targetting mobs in front of your character even if he is looking at the screen.

Noctred.6732:

Camera functionality in terms of LMB and RMB is identical in GW2 and WoW. If your character is standing still in either game, both LMB and RMB will only pan the camera. If your character is moving, LMB will pan the camera and RMB will turn your character.

That is simply not true: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BSuXriiiVng

In wow even when you are standing still, your character turns with the camera when using RMB which is the turn key. LMB pans the camera around your character.

In GW2, while standing still, both keys do the exact same: they pan the camera.

In WoW, the left mouse button behaves like “free camera”. Noone needs a camera that snaps back. The right mouse button will turn your head around how far it can go (90 degrees), further movement will turn your character.

So, left button = camera, right button = character. There is a lot of connection lost with your character in gw2 compared to wow for that reason alone, that your mouse doesn’t control your character, just the camera facing. The fact that your character realigns himself with the camera facing when pressing forward is just a side-effect.

This also causes the horrible behaviour that the game auto targets the enemy in front of your character, not the camera. Sometimes you don’t even see the target. If both were tied, that wouldn’t happen.

Apotheosize.4293:

No game update today, really hope its because theyre testing a better camera…lol

Don’t expect any new features and drastic changes (such as a camera rework) until they iron out all the game – breaking bugs, skills, balance, etc.

The forums being up is a good sign though.

Well nowhere does it say that… And if that’s the intended behaviour, they should’ve changes the cast bar to the volume-control one. Very confusing.

JDGumby.7685:

It would be so nice if the devs would go and look at the view and camera of GW1 and then replicate it in GW2. Never happen, though.

In my opinion, replicating the GW1 camera is the prime reason for all of the problems.
Both cameras have inertial panning, narrow FOV, a tendency to focus on the floor, targeting mechanics, and even the bugs I documented on YouTube (see 1st post).
Both cameras turn around your character, both when using LMB and RMB, not directly turning your own character. Both have the “free camera” and “turn 180” keybinds which are an unneccesary leftovers in this day.

The fact is that the camera algorithm worked on a flat, jumpless 2d world in gw1, which also a more static-strategic oriented game compared to GW2, which is trying to be a 3rd person action game.

However, you can’ change the max zoom distance, rebind Space to F, tweak the targeting algorithm and call it a day.

Sorry for not writing as well and eloquent as I should. I’m on vacation and the only thing I have is my smartphone

Good work on locating that. Very bothering.

I noticed that the spell is cast when the bar is near 1/3 of the cast bar. What’s the rest for? A similar issue for earth dagger skill 5. It says “release to cast” but it’s just a regular 3 second root channel skill. Don’t think it was like that in beta.

I edited my post to reflect this. The input lag is performance dependant, and probably the cause of negative acceleration and stuttering, backed up by massive FPS drops when turning.

As for the camera inertia, it’s built into the game as a feature, which should have an option of being turned off, since there is obviously a huge amount of people that dislike that feature. Other camera issues such as the FoV and wonky behaviour are also something that needs addressing.

The plea was put there, since there have been multiple attempts of making a similar topic on gw2guru and reddit, which were effectively ruined by fanboys and people who have no clue what they are talking about. For example, people saying to reinstall the game, or that their gaming mice have features that detect inertia in games and fix them.

Roybe.5896:

Isn’t the problem of FoV related to being able to see to much of the playing field relative to others? Game play might be broken if FoV goes out to far, particularly in PvP. Basically, a wider FoV forces everyone to play with a wider FoV because if you don’t, then those playing wider have an advantage over those that do not.

If you read my post, you’d see that changing your resolution already increases your FOV. This is not just a subjective statement, check out the screenshots, which were made without touching the controls in between. Furthermore, people with multi-monitor setups already enjoy the benefits of a wide FoV.
If it was truly gamebreaking, then the game shouldn’t have given people with more than one monitor an unfair advantage, nor to those that cut their vertical resolution intentionally, as I do atm.