Hey guys! So I just updated my graphics drivers, and the game runs worse then before. I have noticeably less FPS than before, and the font/icons/etc. all look smudged. I tried tinkering with settings, and switchable graphics, but I’m completely lost.
My hardware
So, I have a Samsung laptop with 2 display adapters:
- Intel HD Graphics 4000
- AMD Radeon R9 M270X
What I installed
I first went to the AMD website and downloaded the AMD Catalyst AutoDetect Utility, and ran it. It told me, I had some outdated driver, and I downloaded what the tool proposed, which was “amd-catalyst-14.4-64bit-win8.1-win8-win7-whql-aug.exe” (AMD Catalyst Install Manager). I ran that, and the installer made me install a few things, among those a tool called “AMD Gaming Evolved”.
After restarting, this Gaming Evolved thing opened, and told me I had an outdated INTEL GPU driver. I followed the link, downloaded Intel Driver Update Utility and ran it. It only found 2 outdated drivers: for WIFI and Bluetooth. This has nothing to do with my problem at hand, but I installed those. It didn’t tell me anything about the GPU driver.
After another reboot, Gaming Evolved now told me I had an outdated AMD graphics driver, and made me download & install pretty much the same thing as before (presumably with a newer version of Catalyst Control Center or of the graphics card driver).
Cue another reboot. Then I checked for software updates inside the CCC, and it actually told me I still didn’t have the newest version, so I downloaded and installed the newer version it gave me. Now, both the CCC and the AMD Catalyst Install Manager tell me I have the newest version.
Settings and switchable graphics
Another reboot, and everything seemed fine. So I launched GW2, and ingame was a complete mess: 4-6 FPS. I shut it down, and went into the CCC to check the settings. I followed the settings prescribed here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/PC-FPS-and-Performance-based-issues/first#post338300
I also checked that gw2.exe was still set on high performance in the switchable graphics (so that it uses my AMD GPU and not the Intel one). This didn’t induce any notable change. I went back into switchable graphics, set gw2.exe to Power saving, just as a test, and launched gw2.exe. This actually made the game run better (around 15-20 FPS). I went back and changed gw2.exe back to high performance. Things stayed at 15-20 FPS.
So, before I updated all this stuff, the game was much smoother (I never checked how much FPS I actually had, but I assume 60, even during world bosses it stayed relatively ok). Also all text is now “smudged”, not as clear as before.
It looks like I have the newest drivers. I know that I have the right settings in the CCC. GW2 is set on high performance so that it uses the right GPU (I also checked that it actually does). And still, the game runs much kittentier than before.
So yeah, I’m pretty lost. Any help would be much appreciated!
Alex
Time to delete my thread, didn’t see this one ><