Guild Wars 2

I posted this here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Random-freezes-and-crashes/47380

Another thing that I did that I forgot to mention in that thread:

Uninstalled Microsoft .NET 4.0. This has caused stability issues in the past for me, but idk why. Very few pieces of software will require 4.0 anyways. You may or may not have 4.0 installed.

Also did a few other things that are ATI related. Tell me what card you have because it may or may not be relevant and I’ll check back later.

When I attempted to use the TS3 overlay in our guilds RIFT days, it would crash the game. It’s nifty, but it certainly has issues with some games. Have never tried Vent’s overlay. Just FYI.

Sounds like either the mouse button is worn out (happens) or you are playing in windowed mode. Or another app is stealing focus. Or possibly something with the game is acting weird, but I run a dual screen setup (monitor/LCD TV) and have never had mouse focus issues with this game, fortunately.

Are you guys able to try another mouse and repeat the issue? That’s where I’d start.

I’m using a Logitech G700 and my displays are powered by a 7870 (Monitor = DVI, TV = HDMI). Had no issues using my old 4890 either.

edit: If it makes any difference, I do NOT have the Logitech mouse software running on my PC. I installed it on my laptop and saved my profiles to the mouse’s RAM so I wouldn’t have to install the junk on my gaming rig. Not sure if that matters but I thought it may be relevant.

HogWash.3928:

I read your 2 cents and took it like a grain of salt. You are just some dude in a forum that has to put his 2 cents in every thread they see. Every forum has these people. I have turned in 2 support tickets about this Still waiting for a real answer. Just really hoping that they will just make mouse wheel up and down where you can bind them.

Well then I suggest if you don’t want peoples 2 cents then don’t ask a question on the forum. What exactly do you want? Also, I’m fairly certain I’ve only responded to a handful of forum threads, so your assumption isn’t needed, warranted, or appreciated. If you demand a response from only a GM why are you only posting here? Either wait for your ticket to be answered or call A.Net/NCSoft. I’m out.

gosu.8153:

Yep, flicker happens here too. No FPS issues though. I have i5 3570k and Radeon 7950. All settings at high and ultra, even shadows.

I’ve actually FRAPSed the flicker. I will try to upload it later today.

Please do so and link your vid from here; I’d like to see if what I’m seeing is the same “flicker” you guys are talking about.

VisceralMonkey.6128:

Hmmm…urge to upgrade rising.

I lol’d.

VisceralMonkey.6128:

Those win 7 numbers are obviously messed up to being with, but I wonder what it is that’s killing it for win 7 for everyone?

Fixed that part. :P

If this is true…I sure hope A.Net can sort out the W7 performance because that is ridiculous. And I really, REALLY do NOT want to use Win8. Ever.

You should try to get this info to A.Net by any means if this is really the case.

Good catch Zelta, and I’d tend to agree – at least that is a good starting point, anyways.

Run a windows search for RTSSHooks.dll, identify the application using said DLL, and uninstall/disable/block it from running. Reboot, and try again.

Report back so we will know if this helped or not – could be useful for other people having issues starting the game.

Tomkatt.1684:

You’re right, there’s no GPU setting in Power management, but I’ve checked with CPU-Z in the past, in balanced mode my GPU speed gets throttled, but in high performance mode it does not throttle. Not sure why this is the case, but I do know it works.

You sure? Do you have NVidia (dumb question in an ATI thread, I know)? I do not, but I know they have power management options in their drivers that need to be disabled, as well. Couldn’t tell you exactly where to look though. ATI on the other hand uses the ‘Power Play’ system, which automatically switches clocks and voltages on the fly whether it be for 2d mode or 3d mode. These are settings in the video card BIOS and requires no driver settings (meaning Power Play is ALWAYS enabled). Power Play causes no issues as long as the app/game properly switches the video card into 3d mode when required – which seems to be the issue here that many are having. I find that strange since my 4890 and 7870 have no issues switching modes for this game, but just because I have no issues doesn’t mean that others won’t.

I have ran on Balanced Power settings before, and the only time the GPU would “throttle” in any way is when it enabled Link State Power Management/ASPM, hence I said this should always be disabled for desktop PCs – no matter the profile (check Advanced Power Settings after selecting profile) – because it is known to cause issues in apps/games that make use of the vid card.

Rolo.9248:

If you are just using AHK (or any software) to bind MWHEEL UP/DN to a single existing in-game function, then I don’t see a problem.

I pretty much stated this in my first reply, seems OP just doesn’t want to listen. You still run a risk of account ban IF A.Net bans for using these kinds of tools. Nobody can answer that besides a GM.

wunderkind.9752:

You’re wrong. I don’t have or intend to use a gamepad.

<snip>

No prob, I didn’t realize what you were going for there, just a shot in the dark on my part.

Unfortunately, I can’t think of any way for you to achieve what you’re trying to do without 3rd party tools. There may or may not be a reason A.Net didn’t code directional look as a bindable key. Perhaps it has to do with that terrible mouse-smoothing they have going on… :| haha. Is there a way/forum to submit feature requests?

GonzoNeo.4965:

Furthemore im not begging for all 60fps in WvWvW, at least i want the perfomance that i had until today, i lost half of my fps in some zones, and where before i could play at 30fps just fine now is unplayable.

Is not, “im just buy the game and suprirse low fps…” , now, i have the game since headstart and until yesterday patch the game run much smother to me. And seeing the post im not the only one, this isnt a hardware issue, if the game just rune fine until yesterday patch.

I just want a answer of arena.net to know what they done, i paid 150€ for a CE and that the game run much worse in less a day and not give a explication what they done just annoying me.

I feel your pain and I realize many people are in the same situation as you – where it ran fine at launch, etc. and now performance is worse. I wasn’t trying to talk down to you or about your system – your numbers just seemed a little off. I know you just want your “old performance” back.

Also, I really think this is a general game-wide issue and not related to NVidia or ATI specifically. Some people are just more affected than others, and their voices speak the loudest.

Swedemon.4670:

2. Incorrect – I have 4GB ram (Win7 64b) and I generally have about 800MB to 1GB to spare after hours of WvW. Windows 7 occupies about a GB outside of game.

Admittedly, that all depends on software installed, Windows updates/optional updates, amount of hardware attached/installed (drivers), background apps, etc. :P

GonzoNeo.4965:

You call BS, I call real deal, the real perfomance between a 4870 and a 4890 is minimal, a E8400 true is a dual core, but is much better than many quadcore, or I5 in the market, more cores dont only made a CPU better, you know that a e8400 still sell around of 150$ -200$ ? .

If you dont belive my perfomance well, take a look of a screen of two days ago, keep a PC update and clean and you will surprise:

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1759/gw027l.jpg

I work in hardware support to users and bussines, and the optimization of the game right now is bad, you have this forum like proof,.

Now right here i have 25 fps, what change in 1 day ?

Before at least i could play great alone or in small groups, but now is terrible.

Oh for SURE the game needs optimizations, and badly! But even IF an E8400 sells for $150-$200 still, that does not make it better than a Core 2 Quad, etc. Worst case scenario is a game/app will only utilize 1 or 2 cores of the Quad, meaning performance would be nearly identical of a dual-core; not worse (especially considering the architecture of the C2Q’s). Likewise, DDR2 is also more expensive than DDR3 – but that’s because it’s discontinued and hard to acquire – it doesn’t make it better/faster. I watched the C2D prices rise as they got phased out from my local Fry’s Electronics. Of course they are unattainable in retail stores now but I digress. I do know how to keep a system clean and optimized – I would hope so after being a PC builder for 17 years. And there is actually a sizeable difference between a 4870 and a 4890, as the latter uses the revised RV790 chipset vs. the older RV770 from the 4870. Here’s a snippet: “A minor update was introduced on April 2, 2009 with the launch of Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards based on the RV790 GPU. Featuring an improved design with decoupling capacitors to reduce signal noise, altered ASIC power distribution and re-timed the whole GPU chip, which resulted in a slightly increased die size but overall much better stability at high clock rates and a higher default clock.”

wunderkind.9752:

For me AHK is a topic, because I’d like to play completely without a mouse.

Actually this isn’t possible, because Arenanet “forgot” to implement the option of looking up- or downwards through the keyboard (e.g., DAOC). Especially in WvW/PvP it is an essential function and so I’m forced to use/move the mouse. The only option to bypass this usability-horror (for me), seems so far by using AHK, and so I’m more than eager to know, if the use of AHK leads inevitably to a ban.

I assume you are trying to rig the game to work properly with a gamepad? Can’t think of another reason as to why you would not want to use the mouse at all. I would not assume that A.Net “forgot” to implement k/b controls for look up/down either. They may not want people using gamepads at all. Technically, that could fall under the “create an unfair advantage over other players in any way” clause, but that is just a guess…

A.Net really needs to get on the ball with all the Exception: c0000005 CTDs.

Memory at address ‘xxx’ could not be read/written, etc. So many of these CTDs lately.

Also, lots of:

• Crash <—*
  Assertion: frameId

as well.

Sorry I couldn’t actually help, just a little irritated with the [in]stability of this game. =P

HogWash.3928:

Idolicious.6091:

Um…you aren’t being “punished for the kind of mouse you have.”

I’m just gonna leave this convo right here, as you obviously don’t get it, man.

No you don’t get it. I know about gaming mouse. I don’t want to get a new mouse. Got a fine one already. Not what the topic was about. You came in giving your 2 cents about buying a gaming mouse. I’m looking for a answer from them, not hearing some opinion from someone that has nothing to do with the game.

…then scroll up? Can you not see that big red response to your question?

Lmao, are you arguing just to argue? U mad bro, that your mouse can’t program the wheel? Aww, sorry ‘bout that! However, you asked if AHK would get you banned. I said it might. I offered legit alternatives. You said that’s dumb and want an answer from A.Net. They answered you and told you the same thing I did.

How was I not on topic, exactly?

/thread

PS – Go ahead and use AHK if you think it’s the same as using mouse software, it’s your account and your ban.

Um…you aren’t being “punished for the kind of mouse you have.”

“It is no different then gaming mouse software.”

Actually, yes it is. Quite different. Not to mention the fact that apps such as AHK support scripting, etc. that people could use to bot. Can’t do that with the Logitech Profiler, sorry. Hell, you don’t even have to run the software more than once, and certainly not while the game is running.

I’m just gonna leave this convo right here, as you obviously don’t get it, man. Besides, you got your A.Net answer – same thing I already told you, basically.

I’m about to close my ticket with support as well, because the last response I got regarding my /crashing/ ticket was instructions and tweaks on ways to improve in-game performance.

Srsly?

HogWash.3928:

Didn’t want to buy a new mouse for a game. I don’t need a new mouse got a good one here.

I didn’t say your mouse wasn’t good. I told you the options that you have, you just don’t seem to like them.

It isn’t like this is a new thing for GW2 or something. There are lots of keys in other games that are not bindable/hard-coded. The only legit way to get around that without worrying about being banned is using a programmable mouse.

Orson.8034:

So until they patch it enjoy pressing 1 repeatedly to use the engie bombkit.

HogWash.3928:

That is to bad. All i want to do is bind my mouse wheel up and down.

Then use programmable mouse software. Modern-day gaming mice will have this, i.e. any Logitech or Razer gaming mouse, etc. Cheap junk like a $25 Wal-Mart 3 button mouse of course will not have programmable buttons. This is one of the selling features of gaming mice. Especially since a lot of games have hard-coded controls, or are straight 360 ports with no custom keybinding.

Example: In my G700 software, I can set Mousewheel Up and Mousewheel Down to any available keystroke. Then it saves to the mouse. Then you don’t ever have to run the software again. Using this method I can assign custom mouse controls in games that don’t even support custom control configs.

FurMaz.1645:

Idolicious.6091:

Your spelling and grammar sucks. Stop complaining about others complaining and get a life.

/thread

What do you mean? My grammar and spelling is perfect, sir.

See the title of your thread; I rest my case.

Oh, I can play the “delete my own post” game too. You can delete your own OP but you can’t change your thread title. GG.

Info has been somewhat vague, but I will say this: A.Net has always and still does take automation and botting very seriously. I would only risk using AHK if you don’t mind your account getting perma-banned, whether you automated a task (definitely will be banned) or just reassigned some buttons (in which case I’d bet your account gets flagged and watched like a hawk henceforth). If you’re worried about having a “Free-look” function for the mouse, then request it on the forum, as there are other people who have asked about this already. Using 3rd party tools to change the way the game is played is just not a good idea, IMO. I’ve seen what A.Net does to those people in GW1 :P

Also, make sure you don’t have your system set to auto-reboot on BSOD. Check:

Right click My Computer – Properties – Advanced System Settings – Advanced – Startup and Recovery – uncheck Automatically Restart.

Now if you’re actually getting a BSOD it should display on-screen. If you get a BSOD, write down the error and report back. If you are getting a black screen and the PC freezes (may have looping sound/loud noise, and have to hit reset button on case), it’s most likely a different issue.

Here is something to check:

Power Options – High Performance [select this if it isn’t already] – Advanced Power Settings – PCI Express – Link State Power Management

LSPM should always be OFF, as this can cause major issues in game and apps that rely on the video card. No reason at all for this to be on in a desktop PC, but I have seen it enabled by default on many systems. Probably have to restart the PC if you change this setting, to have any effect.

GonzoNeo.4965:

After today path the game run worst to me, when i played alone or in small groups i can get 40-60fps and with big grups 20-40 in High, WvWvW or dragons unplayable but well, the rest is ok.

But now when im alone or small gropus 15-35 FPS, and now big groups unplayable, dragons no comment, great job arena.net -_- , we are going backwards.

And of course change to the highest graphics to lowest only change 3-4 fps at max.

E8400 3.0GHZ
4GB Ram
Ati 4870 HD with 12,6 CCC

I call BS dude =P. I had a 3.6ghz Core 2 Quad (Q9400 @ 450fsb) with a 4890 1GB (also OC’d) and 8GB DDR2 before I upgraded my vid card for this game (hahaha), and did not EVER get anywhere close to 60 fps in group combat, let alone solo questing. Staring at the ground, maybe.

Here’s your real issues:

1. Dual cores are not very good for this game. Too CPU-dependant, hopefully this is fixed sooner than later though.
2. 4GB of RAM leaves roughly 2GB or less for the game. Not enough. Game uses 1.5gb+ pretty consistently, if you have pretty much anything else running you will run out of memory. You might still even with nothing else running.
3. 4870, noticeably slower than my 4890, and that could barely handle the game. Time to upgrade man, those cards are over 4 years old. We are 3 generations beyond the 4xxx series now. And if your 4870 isn’t even the 1GB model then you’re just going to be SOL performance-wise (goes back to the “time to upgrade your card” bit). Modern day games use well over 512mb VRAM.

Zee.1294:

Well … here is the story !
Key to success ….Windows 64 bit…. I tried everything but nothing was working. having 20fps in normal play end 1-3 in zerg was bad.. Core 2 duo 2.66. 4gb ram, gtx 560 TI windows 7 32 bit. so i got windows 64 bit end boy …. now i,m getting 40-50 fps over all end 9 -15 in zergs. MY PC got 50 % better performance just going to 64 bit windows so any one that having 32 bit i suggest going to 64 bit…. stile Anet need to do something for the WvW but now i,m over all happy with my PC. Have fun !
EDIT; end i dont Crush at all…

Your fps issues are due to having “only” a dual-core CPU and 4gb ram. Using 32bit Windows was just hurting you even more. I thought that would have been self-explanatory really, as most people here already have Win7 x64 (they’ve mentioned this in their posts). So while I’m glad you’ve “fixed your issue,” it is not really a solution for anyone else.

Tomkatt.1684:

Wouldn’t it be easier to just set your PC’s power management to “High Performance?” In high performance mode the CPU never throttles and downclocks. This just seems a bit more convoluted when power management profiles are built right into Windows.

The instructions in this thread are related to the GPU, not the CPU. Adjusting Windows Power Profiles will not affect GPU behavior (save for PCI-E LSPM which should always be set OFF on a desktop PC).

Also, just changing the Power Profile to “High Performance” will not disable hardware-level CPU throttling features such as C-States, etc. so you could very well still see CPU throttling at the High Performance setting if your BIOS isn’t set up properly in the first place.

Any news on these issues, Allie?

Atrocity.5794:

The above method also works, but seeing as AB hates me and doesn’t let me adjust my voltage on my card it’s no use to me lol

Heck, I’d still prefer it even without voltage adjustment, if not only because of the ability to set a static fan speed % per clock mode (say, 33% for 2d clocks and 75% for 3d). That alone makes it worth it! Depending on either CCC or your vid cards default fan speed profile (“ramp”) in its BIOS to control fan RPMs on the fly is asking for trouble or a shortened life on your card, IMO. CCC can set a static fan speed rpm, but this encompasses both 2d and 3d modes, and who wants a noisy GPU fan when not gaming?

If you can’t adjust voltage on your card with AB then either it’s voltage locked (my old 4890 was), or you must use a “trick” to unlock AB’s “Unofficial Overclocking Mode.” Look that up if that interests you, but I don’t want to delve into that here.

There is also the method of flashing your video cards BIOS, which is what I did on my 4890, and to be honest it is the best method IF you are 100% certain of what you are doing. Flashing lets you create a custom fan profile directly in the BIOS (improving or eliminating the default “ramp,” and avoiding software CPU overhead), as well as alter voltages, 2d and 3d clocks, etc. and does not depend on software to do this at boot. This method is NOT RECOMMENDED unless you’re a real nerd who knows what you’re doing though…and by that point you’d already have a massive aftermarket heatsink on your GPU with Delta server fans strapped on top of it and regulated with a 40w+/chan. fan controller (liquid-cooling is for sissies!).

:)

teistiz.3298:

The game doesn’t seem to be architected for keeping more than 2 cores completely busy in many situations. It does spawn a lot of threads, but as in many games one of them does much more work than the others, so the engine’s running speed is largely limited by that. The other threads’ tasks are not heavy enough to completely occupy other cores, so the CPU doesn’t look very busy overall.

And when that one thread is running slowly enough on the CPU, the GPU becomes starved for instructions and ends up idling part of the time.

I think this is what’s happening in your screenshot; your FPS is similar to what others have been reporting as well.

This man knows what he’s talking about. What we’re looking at is a waiting game – waiting for A.Net to optimize the game/load across more CPU cores, ways to offload CPU tasks to the GPU, etc. Plain and simple – it just isn’t optimized. And that’s unfortunate. Hopefully A.Net will take the time to really optimize this game soon, as MANY people (even with very high end systems) are suffering from lackluster performance right now.

Serbius.1256:

It seems to be an issue whenever the floor textures are at “sea level” aka a flat surface as apposed to a hilly region with a grass texture. Whenever there are polygons on the ground it isn’t an issue. When its a texture on a flat surface the gridlines are very apparent. I’ve also noticed other issues with the HD 7xxx Drivers.

This could very well be true and requires more investigation. Next time I see the lines I will take note of the terrain. You guys should too, and report back here on your findings.

Hellstrom.8641:

On a different note, next time either attach your log or use the spoiler tag to post your logs/results, also put some time into reading the forums because these issues have been posted before and you may find a fix for it while searching the forums

Posted, yes – solved, no. Not really. Not beyond what I did, anyways. And believe me I have searched long and hard, not only this forum, but Guru, and all of Google. What info I could find was all questions, no solutions.

I do however agree about using the spoiler function to post logs, etc. though!

An alternative (especially for those that use just the AMD driver without CCC) would be to use MSI Afterburner. With AB, you can manually set 2D/3D clocks, voltages, fan speeds for each, etc. Begin by making a profile with 2D clocks, and one for 3D clocks. Save them and then set them appropriately under “Automatic Profile Management.” [Settings->Profiles. See attached screenshot. You do not have to copy my settings, as they are custom for my 7870.] It is not recommended to make an automated fan profile as this creates CPU overhead and can make games stutter. What I recommend is setting a fan setting for 2D (low) and 3D (higher RPM). This way there is no CPU overhead from temperature/fan polling and your GPU will remain cool during 3D operations.

FYI it is NOT recommended to use MSI AB and CCC concurrently (at the same time). You can still have CCC installed, but if you want to use AB exclusively (recommended; it can load profiles at boot/on the fly), disable CCC from run->services.msc and run->msconfig. Disable anything with “ATI, Catalyst, or CCC” in the name. Reboot. You should no longer have CCC.exe or MOM.exe running in the background if it’s been fully disabled.

I have been using MSI AB for some time now and have never had clock issues with GW2. Not saying I haven’t had other issues…lol. But not related to clocks.

Wow 4 kittens stuck/melted to your heatsinks? Calling PETA now…

On a more serious note, I have ocassionally had these memory crashes. I seemed to have eliminated them, only to now have an infrequent CTD, albeit a different error now. This is what I did: I upped some voltages (mainly CPU, FSB, NB, RAM and GPU core) one (I repeat: ONE) notch above stock settings and that seems to have eliminated them…very strange since I am 100% stable in every other task including ALL other games, and stress testing applications such as IntelBurnTest, FurMark, OCCT, and MemTest…

This “solution” is not even an option without a configurable BIOS. It really shouldn’t even have to be done in the first place.

edit: running ATI Radeon 7870 GHz Edition. Memory CTDs occured at stock clocks and voltages.

Why is it necessary to post tons of DXDiags for a bug that has been screenshotted SEVERAL times, across completely different systems, and is also a trend on ATI cards? It isn’t a hardware issue per se – possibly the drivers; but again posting a DXDiag here isn’t going to get ATI to fix their shoddy drivers any quicker. Pretty sure A.Net knows what’s up and they’re running us through hoops until they 1) fix the issue (assuming it’s an engine bug) 2) ATI releases non-poop drivers. Now, if you want to make ATI aware of this issue, please see: http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D20B2F3EBF

That is for reporting issues with 12.8.

FYI – This issue seems prevelant mostly in “indoor locations” – caves, houses/buildings, dungeons, etc. I am pretty sure I’ve seen it a few times outdoors, but is much more easy to find in an “indoor” location.

RageATL.4371:

Open up a youtube video (any) and right click the video > click settings > make sure “enable hardware acceleration” is NOT checked! Disabling this made my cpu usage go from 90+ to 60-70 and I have had 60+ frames again! I think it has to do with flash messing with your gpu. I was getting 8-15 fps before until I did this. May not work for all of you but it’s a miracle for me.

Edit: Refresh the youtube page after doing this then launch the game or relaunch if it was already open.

AMD X4 970 Black Edition
AMD 6850 gpu
8g ram

Not sure why my thread (or was it posts? impossible to tell now) was merged here, but I just wanted to report that my Flash was already set with Hardware Acceleration disabled, so this ‘solution’ does not help. I wish it was something this easy/stupid though, but I have a feeling A.Net has been messing with the game engine and nothing we do will help…

Would like some clarification by devs, but that may be wishful thinking…

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Sep-8-patch-killed-FPS

Isn’t just an NVIDIA issue.

/shallicontinue?

/yetanotherscreenie

/checkoutscreenshot

Same issue (7870 GHz edition). Happens on non-oc or oc settings.

Screenshot attached, and I do have many of these screenshots with this “bug” visible.

Catalyst AI fully disabled (scoured the Registry and changed all hex/strings to fully disable this crap, too). Running 12.8 WHQL.

First question: Any hardware overclocked (CPU, GPU, Memory, etc.)?

You really need to list full system specs!

AllieMurdock, can you keep us updated on this issue please? I have seen this on my 7870 and my friends laptop with an NVidia card. Neither system has ANY hardware in common. So this is definitely an internal game issue.

Call them?

/15char

heiska.8236:

go to sleep.6187:

i just get bsod’s or complete freezes like yours heiska, will try this and report back

Bsods are from your graphics card or bad memory stick. Try to do the memtest.

You couldn’t be any more wrong.

They CAN be a cause for a BSOD, but they are most certainly not the cause of ALL BSODs. Try to stop spreading misinformation with such certainty.

12.8 is garbage; there are definite problems with it. Now, I’m not telling you to install older drivers. ATI needs to hurry up and release a driver that supports GW2 properly.

I have a Radeon 7870 GHz Edition and I too, noticed peformance decrease with the last patch. It’s very noticeable and not limited to just NVIDIA, that’s for sure.

Please fix, ANet.

Loads of screenshots regarding the terrain disappearing issues here http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/55463-graphical-artifacts/