Guild Wars 2

SolarNova.1052:

GW2 has major optimisation issues, the game engine is crap, and runs crap on all machines.

You only chance of getting better FPS is to OC further.

What he said. This engine is a POS.

Sorry bro. You can’t run this game on your toaster.

In fact, most desktop high end rigs struggle with it, because the optimization is a joke.

Or to be more precise – there is absolutely no optimization whatsover.

Lediath.7593:

thanks for the additional reports guys

hope anet resolves this soon fingers crossed

Of course they won’t. The engine is a piece of crap. It’s a freaking DirectX9 engine, that cannot utilize modern hardware in any efficient manner.

Once a game is live with a horrible engine – it stays that way until it dies.

Just look at SWTOR.

Snoflake.9087:

Let’s take dodging. Not enough people are dodging – which is meant to be a core mechanic of the combat. That seems to be a definite thing just looking over the last 16 pages of crying (OMG I HAVE TO DODGE! LAME!). So AN adds it to the dailies. It’s something you should be doing as part of combat anyway.

- For those who don’t dodge – hey look! Its a new thing I am being taught. Neat. I’m taking less damage! This is a good thing.

If not enough people are dodging – that’s AN’s fault, because that would mean that combat is way to easy. However, this seems unlikely to me, because I know that I would die like 3x more if I wasn’t constantly dodging.

Wow. Who designed this ? I mean really… How does a designer come up with something like “ok, let’s make them harder, more annoying… and let’s involve crafting!”.

The new dailies are absolutely horrible.

If the only option to achieve playable framerates in this game is to buy an i5 and freaking OC it to 4.5Ghz then… well… that’s all there is to say.

Because changing graphic options SHOULD have an impact on performance. But it does not.

Multicore processors have been mainstream before they even started to work on this game. There is just no excuse for what they are selling.

SolarNova.1052:

GW2 shows up the weakensses of CPU’s very harshly ..specialy AMD cpu’s.

What ? GW2 shows up the weakness of ArenaNet’s engineers, because they failed to make a game that’s playable even on 2000 USD rigs.

If CPU usage sits at 30-40% it’s not the CPU’s weakness. It’s the developers fault. There IS a LOT of spare horsepower. Game just can’t use it, because it’s not properly optimized.

Period.

Gryph.8237:

Why in god’s name is my FPS 20-30 in WvW.

Because ArenaNet has no idea how to code games for multicore processors.
Also they used a prehistoric API (DX9).

Well, I really can’t help you in any way. Just saying you will not get any support from AN regarding this matter.

Bro, it’s never going to happen. Do some research before you buy something.

SolarNova.1052:

Honestly ..u were trying to game on a Xeon chip ?! o.0

The number of cores is not more important than the speed of the core.
Speed is everything(along with architecture ofc) with games.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

PassMark – CPU Mark
Single Thread Performance – Updated 19th of December 2012

Xeon is on top of the list and as such would run GW2 like a beast. That invalidates your point.

I’m not planning to spend 700+ USD on a CPU plus a new mobo, just to be able to enjoy Guild Wars 2.

Also back in the day, when Age Of Conan launched (2008) I had a Quad Core Intel Xeon @ 2.66, with a 2 x Geforce 8800 GTs in SLI.

I couldn’t get more than 20 frames per second in certain places in Tarantia.

A broken engine is a broken engine, I’m just not going to bother with bad developers and their poor excuses.

But anyway man, thanks for your posts, they are very informative for people that are less tech savvy.

Yes, I know all that.

My point is: what kind of excuse is that ?

It basically boils down to – “you have a fast CPU with a lot of spare horsepower, but the game simply cannot use it, because it’s not coded to utilize multicore CPUs”.

Effectively the advice is to DOWNGRADE a CPU. Yes, in my case it would be a downgrade, because I do use this CPU it for 3D rendering, where it’s all about the number of cores. Also, back at the time I bought my rig, Intel simply did not have a six core CPU and 6870’s were like three weeks old, so the choice was rather obvious.

So… who’s fault is this ? Mine or ArenaNet’s ? It’s a freaking DX9 game that doesn’t look all that amazing in terms o FX, texture resolution, polycount, etc. (it has incredible art style though).

SolarNova.1052:

Its harsh but those that complain about performance when using dated and/or cheap hardware, media computers, or cheap gaming rigs.. need to understand that u get what u pay for.

I have an X6 OC’d to 4ghz, 2 Radeons 6870 running in Crossfire and 16GB of RAM. While by no means its a high end rig (it’s two years old) now, I certainly would not call it a “cheap gaming rig”.

Care to comment ?

Terrible coding = performance issues for everybody. Not your rig bro.

You are not missing on anything. It’s not your rig. It’s ArenaNet’s poor coding and complete lack of optmization.

I’m gettin 20 frames per second in Lion’s Arch on LOWEST possible settings, with an X6 @ 4ghz, 2 × 6870′s in Crossfire and 16 GBs of RAM.

I haven’t played such poorly optimized MMO since Age Of Conan.

Don’t buy AMD for gaming. Plain and simple.

I’m using Phenom II X6 OC’d to 4ghz, with 2 × 6870′s in Crossfire.

25 frames per second on LOWEST possible settings in Lion’s Arch during the event.

WvW is unplayable.

Overall, this game is an unoptimized mess.

The game engine is a joke.

With an X6 @ 4 Ghz, 16 GB of RAM and 2 x Radeons 6870’s Crossfired I’m getting around 25 frames per second at LOWEST POSSIBLE SETTINGS in Lion’s Arch during the event.

This is such a joke. Luckily I haven’t spent a dime in the Gem Store and don’t intend to paying for such a poorly optimized game.

michaeljhuman.3940:

Try only one 690 (turn off SLI.)

More drastic – pull one of the cards out of the system, then try that. Then put the card back in, pull the other card, then try that. Just in case one of the cards is causing the problem.

Wow… seriously ?

What kind of advice is that ?

He should also do some voodoo magic right ?

Game is poorly optimized (and is CPU bound) and uses multicore processors poorly. They are working to improve things, but it will take them A LONG TIME. That’s all there really is to it.

Rofl, what they posted is completely and utterly useless and sometimes kind of insulting.

Basically, update your drivers (lol) and set reflections to none (lol).

I love companies that treat their customers as morons.

Swordbreaker.2581:

Top of the line AMD cpu is still not that great for this game. They just dont do as well as intel processors.

Phenom X6 II should be MORE than enough to run this game when you consider the minimum requirements.

I just fail to see, how is an X6 “bottlenecking” my crossfired 6870’s ?

The answer is – it isn’t.

The bottleneck is the shoddy programming by Anet. The game does not really scale will with multiple GPU’s, AMD guys said, crossfire gives around 7-10% increase in framerates.

All in all, just browse the forums, I see people with i7’s complaining about poor framerates just as much as I see AMD owners.

And for support people to come here and suggest that MAYBE you have put your second GPU in a wrong PCI slot is well…. kind of insulting.

It’s like ALL the support people, anytime an unoptimized game comes out think that we ONLY play this one game (since obviously if the rig was at fault, the problem would manifest in other games), hence it is safe to blame it on our machines.

What is being done ?

Nothing.

/thread

I have one, very serious question.

I have:

Phenom X6 II 1090T @ 3.8 Ghz
16 GB Ram
2 x Radeon 6870 in Crossfire
Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD Mainboard, 750W PSU

I bought my rig two years ago. At the time it was the top of the line AMD CPU.

How the KITTEN is that a bottleneck ?

Why the KITTEN is that CPU giving me 10-15 frames per second on sieges at LOWEST possible settings ?

Surely, there is nothing wrong with optimization right ?

Right ?

AshleySegovia.3948:

We are still tracking down common driver issues and hardware problems and weeding out the differences between things that are our problem vs. a system related issue.

Well, I’m pretty sure that you are not allowed to come in here and say something like:

“Well, I’m terribly sorry but I must admit that our minimal system requirements are a LIE. Yes, our MMO is not the worst out there, but it’s still completely unoptimized. Now that the game went live, our developer team got cut short, so we won’t be able to rewrite the 3D engine anytime soon and we will just hope the problem goes away in a year or two, when people buy new hardware.

Please don’t expect any sort of improvement anytime soon. Maybe in a year.

We screwed up the code, screwed up the polycount and screwed up the netcode so as a result it’s pretty much impossible to get any PLAYABLE framerates (in WvW and towns) even on the most expensive rigs there are."

Yes. We are all pretty much aware that you will never, ever speak the truth (nothing personal ofc Ashley, company policies, yadda yadda), because the truth is NEVER a part of any real money making business.

That being said, your “we know it’s on our end” shift to “it’s PARTIALLY on our end” is VERY disturbing.

ALSO (yes, I’m quite serious here) I think it’s time to get some INTERNATIONAL LAWS in place (lol) concerning so called “minimal system requirements”. Those prerequistite should be:

“This system can run the game at 30+ FPS, AT ANY GIVEN TIME at the lowest possible detail settings” (this should be translated to a law gibberish language).

Cbuzz.5083:

CptBadger.5918: Your pc is broken & you severely underestimate high end hardware. If you think my rig can’t get more than 15fps in a HUMONGOUS ZERG then you need to go back to xbox.

My PC is fine. Thank you for your concern. Also, I never owned a console.

Trouble is, even he spends 2000 USD on a gaming rig, he won’t get more than 15 frames per second on a crowded WvW event.

GW2’s engine badly optimized mess.

Anet already acknowledged the issue. Now it’s time they actually do something about it.

Nobody AVERAGES 90 frames per second in this game. Period.

So… any updates regarding the -perfdebug command ? I have tried it, but it seems it’s not working.

I would be more happy to help Arena optimize their engine.

What amazes me is how the game gets 9/10 reviews all over the place, despite performing absolutely terrible 3000 USD rigs.

The only idea is to wait approximately one year for Arenanet to rewrite some parts of the shoddy engine.

Well, that’s cause Macs are pretty much PCs these days. EFI is the only difference. So if you run it via Bootcamp, you get the PC performance.

ROFL, I can’t imagine how terrible the performance on Mac OS X will be, compared to the PC version, which is an unoptimized mess.

Good luck playing at 15 frames per second.

Adam Chattaway.6418:

AMD Phenom II 3.2 955BE, 12gig 1600mhz Dominator Ram, 120gig SSD agility 3, Radeon AMD 6970 2gig @ 1920×1080, windows 7 64 bit running Minimum gfx.

Small Skirmish – 20-30 fps
Medium Battle – 15-25 fps
Keep Siege – 6-16 fps

… people with lower specs or the same as me claiming 30-60 fps in sieges… sorry but that’s just crap and a lie and you know it, stop e peening and misleading people, the WvW lagg is horrific and on max gfx down right UNPLAYABLE with freezes and pauses and jitters and sub 10 constant fps. i need to upgrade to an I7 3770k this weekend.

^^This pretty much. So many false claims here (just like in many others performance related threads). It’s really unbelievable how delusional / uneducated some people seem to be. Or maybe they just enjoy trolling.

You claim have 60+ fps in WvW ? FRAPS IT AND POST IT.

mar.7103:

It is on your side…not coding considering people are running the game fine.

EVERYTIME, in ANY MMO, where there are people with high-end rigs complaining about poor framerates (RIFT, Age Of Conan, SWTOR, etc, etc), there is ALWAYS this magic phrase.

Sometimes it’s even used by developers (say hi to James Ohlen).

“IT IS YOUR RIG”

So it seems to me, that 95% of PC owners have trouble with their hardware. Even though we all run PROPERLY OPTIMIZED games just fine.

Battlefield 3 ? Runs great.
Deus EX ? Pretty flawless.
Grand Theft Auto IV ? Not so much.
Brink ? Not so much either.
Shogun 2 ? Same story.

All very different breed than GW2, but I hope you get the point.

Sawgrim.8471:

So i was trying to to fix the LOW FPS in a friend’s computer. I Tryed Everything, nothing works. Always getting 30~35 FPS on any setting and area.

GTX 580
Core i5 2500k 4.0Ghz OC
4GB ram

Then remembered that in Warhammer online there was a temporary fix for low fps.

---

>> Just do it if you know what you are doing <<—-

Just increase the voltage of your GPU a little bit.

EVGA Precision X has a little voltage slider that is easy and fast to change it.

An Exemple.

His GTX 580 Default voltage is 1.038MV, i changed it to 1.075MV and now hes getting 60+ fps.

Hope it helps!

For the love of all that is holy – STOP posting useless placebo fixes before somebody actually believes it and damages his GPU.

Seriously ? GPU overvoltage ? On a CPU bound game ?

mar.7103:

Anyhow, I have these specs below:

Phenom II X4 3.8Ghz
HD 6870 1Gb (newest drivers)
Windows 7 64bit
Game on “High” settings running at 60-80 FPS everywhere except WvW (~20-80 FPS).

Sounds to me like your PC or setup (software or hardware wise) is the problem. 1st thing I would do is start with the crossfire setup. Some games are picky about 2 VGA cards. Then I would play with your drivers. Anyhow, good luck.

60 FPS everywhere ? Even in Lion’s Arch or Black Citadel ? Could you please FRAPS it and post it ?

Also, my drivers are fine. Everything is updated, including the CAP profile.
If I disable Crossfire, my framerate plummets even further so it’s not the case. My PSU is perfectly fine too.

It’s just shoddy coding.

Varna.5162:

The only way I can see getting around this is to allow end users to override GPU Boost, which Nvidia said will never happen. Frustrating! "

Well, but I have 2 AMD cards, not sure what kind of technology they use, but the game runs terrible for what it looks.

They did a good job ? You gotta be joking.

Please explaing to me, how barely achieving 30 frames per second in Lion’s Arch or Black Citadel at LOWEST POSSIBLE SETTINGS with 2 x Radeon 6870 (Crossfired), Phenom X6 @ 4 Ghz, 16 GB of RAM is a “job well done” on their part ?

And don’t get me started about WvW.

What are you smoking ?

@Varna: Could you please go in more details ? You seem to know what you’re talking about.

It’s an absolute mess.

There are places (like Black Citadel or Lion’s Arch) where a DirectX 9 game barely runs at 30 frames per second at LOWEST POSSIBLE SETTINGS (!) on a 2 x Radeon 6870 (Crossfired), Phenom X6 @ OC’d to 4 Ghz and 16 GB of RAM.

I’m not even gonna mention how terrible the WvW performance is.

Great job Arenanet.

This game is terribly coded.

Naughty.5064:

I run an i5-3570, 8 GB RAM, and a GTX 670. I have ZERO performance issues. Rarely drops below 55-60 fps, and very little stutter.

Oh yeah ? Go to Eternal Battlegrounds. Do a siege. FRAPS it with framerate counter on. Post it.

Otherwise I simply call it lies.

SILENTPHEER.2574:

1. This is what fixed my Low FPS <Go to youtube.com and find a video> next right click the video and a menu will appear> next click “Settings”> Make sure “Enable Hardware Acceleration” is not check/disabled. Launch Guild Wars 2 post results on Thread.

2. Download Driver Fusion<Unistall Current Graphics Drivers>Reboot Computer into “Safe Mode”<Wipe All Current “Display” Drives Don’t Delete Anything else just the “Display” Portion.<Reboot Computer download latest drivers from AMD/Nvidia.

3. Update ALL Drivers, you’d be surprise how many people don’t.

4. If you just upgraded, make sure you graphics card is in the correct PCIE x16 Lane.

5. If you considering and PC Upgrade Avoid it for a while. Many people are telling people they should upgrade. They should have a “Patch” hopefully soon for you all.

How about “undust your PC” ? I guess you forgot to add this to a list of your rather useless advice.

Not all of us are completely clueless about our hardware you know.

Game is poorly optimized. Period.

Victus.9631:

Tech is there, not everyone can afford it. And for what it’s worth, GW2 DOES do a decent job at handling all this considering it JUST released and is still being tweaked to yield the best results.

There are no “magic tweaks”. It took them FIVE years to create this game.

What they need is a 100% increase in WvW framerates. It’s just not going to happen.

Just browse these boards. There are people with top of the line hardware (beastly i7’s, 7970’s, SSDs, 680’s, etc, etc) still getting 15 frames per second at WvW.

Please don’t play the “people can’t afford the hardware” card as it simply is not true.

Caedmon.6798:

Btw when will you learn that packing hundreds of people together in one server in the same area fighting each other creates lag,and your fps Will drop,no matter what game you’re playing.Gw2 does a pretty fine job tbh espec in wvwvw the lowest fps i get is 26,and thats when assaulting or defending,everything still maxed out.

Solution ? DO NOT pack hundreds of people in the same area. Plain and simple. The tech is not there yet.

GW2 does a pretty fine job ? You gotta be joking.

Avectius.3271:

Is this a problem with the game itself?

Of course it’s a problem with the game itself.

It always amazes me why do MMO developers continue to design unplayable mess ?

Massive PvP in current MMOs goes like this (to name just a few):

Age Of Conan ? ROFL (no need to say more, still runs like crap 4 years after release)
WAR ? Unplayble choppy mess.
RIFT ? Unplayable choppy mess.
STO ? Unplayable choppy mess.
SWTOR ? ROFL. They complelely removed open world PvP. The engine is that badly optimized.
EVE Online ? Time dilatation made is SOMEWHAT playable, but it’s still a laggy mess.
Guild Wars 2 ? Unplayable choppy mess.

Seriously when will developers learn ?

Before anyone asks: my rigs were always way… WAY past recommended specs for any of the above mentioned games.

odinist.2147:

Was pointed to this: http://ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php

Will try it when I get home from work later.

This achieves absolutely nothing.

AshleySegovia.3948:

We are in no way blaming these performance issues on players’ systems which is exactly why we need to collect this information.

This is nice to hear. Thanks for the update.

However, what you need to achieve is at least a 100% improvement in framerates regarding heavy populated combat areas (World vs World).

We (well, most of us I guess) all know that is pretty much impossible to achieve in any reasonable timeframe.

AshleySegovia.3948:

One thing I would like to note, however, is of the many causes for low performance for players with high end graphics cards is that their PCi-Express GPU is plugged into a 1x|4x slot rather than a 16x slot.

Both of my cards are in a 16x slot. Yet still, World vs World is a slideshow.

Please oh please, stop playing Bioware and don’t blame it on our rigs.

xknyght.3098:

I hope ArenaNet will fix this issue because to me the minimum and recommended system requirements that they boast is false, unless you want to play the game with less than 20 fps. I feel sorry for those that look at the requirements thinking they have the hardware to run it fine.

I have faith in you ArenaNet and hopefully you get this fixed soon so we all can enjoy this beautiful game the way it was meant to be.

Expect maybe 10-15% increase in framerates in about 6 months time.

And that’s if things go the good way.

Easypeasy.1246:

Almost all the FPS issues I’ve read are a user issue. They all appear to be GPU memory bandwidth limited (“My GPU isn’t working flat out” is what gives it away) .

I haven’t seen countless top of the line systems in those threads mostly I’ve seen people with mobile GPU’s or cheap desktop GPU’s

That is just simply untrue.

If you are such an expert you should have figured out by now, that pretty much EVERY SINGLE MMO on the market has the exact same issues (massive framerate drops in crowded areas).

It’s client -> server -> client communication that is the bottleneck, not our rigs.

Nice info. Bump.