it's getting worse and worse

maji · September 2009

- friday evening. I bought the game, downloaded over night. wasn't sure exactly what to expect

- saturday: installed the game, played a good chunk of the day. loved it, was in heaven, enjoyed it a lot. only a single crash, minor to no lag

- sunday: I get near a larger town and things got worse. the lag in the area of that town makes it near unplayable, and the crashes start to increase in frequency

- monday: in addition to crashes I now get sometimes black screens, disconnects, and the music and sounds now started to twitch when the game is loading some stuff. sometimes my char was underground, the lag made it about unplayable. the only thing is left is frustration. Managed to complete TWO quests in about 6 hours I tried to play the game. Everything else was crashing, dying by lag, walking to my horse since that stood where I last died by lag etc

Just an example of a typical todays experience:

I thought "ok, the game is buggy and crashy and laggy around the larger cities. So, I will just make second char, try out some different skills, have a look at the quests at another starting town and so on. So I create a char, tinker around for 15mins or so until I like it's looks, click on "play" and once the game finished loading, the char is stuck underground with about one frame every five seconds, and the introduction voice asking me why I don't hurry up.

Beeing an experienced gamer, the first i did was trying to relog. The char was still stuck underground, and unstuck function didn't work.

I logged back to my normal char, asking a gm what to do. Before he could reply my game crashes. No wonder, I was in a city with people, and there the game just keeps crashing. So, I restart the client, ask the gm again. His reply "make a new char". I was too tired of this to spend another 15mins making a new char, so I thought "ok, I'll do some quest outside town, where lag is not so horrible".

I got a quest to kill some guy. I just finished crafting new grenades. So I plan to take my painkillers, eat buff food, throw a grenade on him, switching to my crossbow, keep shooting, using my heals and knockback skills and whatnot to overcome him. Good plan. I throw the grenade, hit the guy, he gets acid damage, and then warps randomly around me, zooming back and forth. I try to switch to my crossbow. It takes about 10 seconds until I the game reacts and I hold the crossbow in my hands. I shoot. I take another 10 seconds or so to reload, while the guy is hitting me. I randomly push my hotkeys for the armor boost, heal and knockback skills, while trying to shoot, while the guy is still randomly twiching around me, but of course I die.

But I don't give up. The game is new, it's a bit laggy, was to be expected. But the company wouldn't sell a game where I couldn't complete any quest that has to do with combat right? So I go back, eat my buff food, painkillers, buff myself up. Some time later I'm dead again. Exactly the same happens.

But, I'm stubborn. I mean, if I'd be a bad player, or the mob would be a dozen levels higher or anything, I'd accept that. But lag shouldn't prevent me from doing any combat quests, right? Back in. Dying again the same way.

I'd have tried it a fourth time but I ran out of pain killers and my buff food supplies were getting low too. Ammo I had still masses of, because reloading takes ages. I consider creating another char, but then remember what happens to the last one, that is still trapped underground.

I have to think about Aion, and wonder if queues would be better. I mean, if I'd have to wait 3 hours to play FE but then can play it smoothly, I'd accept that. But having FE availble at most times, but it beeing unplayable, that makes no sense. I feel miserable.

I exit the game, and launch TF2 where I have a latency of 10 to 20 milliseconds, and not 10 to 20 seconds. A game that looks great even though it's some years old. That does not crash when other players are near you, that has constantly new stuff added without a monthly payment.

I love FE. I love the crafting, the setting, the music. But still I regret having bought it. It's launch is worse than the AOC launch I experienced, than the LOTRO launch I went through, the WoW launch I went through, and worse than the War launch. Because those I could play from the first day on. They were all buggy and laggy, some more some less, but all were playable, in contrast to FE.

This is no troll attempt. I'm just sad and miserable. I don't mind the minor bugs that force me relog or dump and redo quests. I don't mind minor lag, a crash once a day and unexpected downtimes. But I do mind it when a char of mine becomes unplayable because it's stuck under the ground, and the only response from a gm is "create a new one". And I do mind it that the game is unplayable in matters of crash- and disconnect-frequency, and in matters of lag.

I'd love to play the game, but I know I'd just be frustrated when I keep attacking a mob, and the mob does nothing, and suddenly zooms at me, past me, then back, and then I fall over dead. Or when it keeps crashing and disconnecting and crap. And yes, I did spend hours to try out loads of different settings and drivers and following advice that I found on the FE boards, but nothing really helped.

Somnulus · September 2009

Originally posted by maji

- friday evening. I bought the game, downloaded over night. wasn't sure exactly what to expect

- saturday: installed the game, played a good chunk of the day. loved it, was in heaven, enjoyed it a lot. only a single crash, minor to no lag
- sunday: I get near a larger town and things got worse. the lag in the area of that town makes it near unplayable, and the crashes start to increase in frequency
Where are you located, maji? Cause the single Fallen Earth server was down all day Sunday, until 11:30 pm ET, U.S.
I got on right after that, and had zero issues playing around Embry Crossroads, which is normally one of the high population areas that people have lag issues with.
- monday: in addition to crashes I now get sometimes black screens, disconnects, and the music and sounds now started to twitch when the game is loading some stuff. sometimes my char was underground, the lag made it about unplayable. the only thing is left is frustration. Managed to complete TWO quests in about 6 hours I tried to play the game. Everything else was crashing, dying by lag, walking to my horse since that stood where I last died by lag etc

Just an example of a typical todays experience:

I thought "ok, the game is buggy and crashy and laggy around the larger cities. So, I will just make second char, try out some different skills, have a look at the quests at another starting town and so on. So I create a char, tinker around for 15mins or so until I like it's looks, click on "play" and once the game finished loading, the char is stuck underground with about one frame every five seconds, and the introduction voice asking me why I don't hurry up.

Beeing an experienced gamer, the first i did was trying to relog. The char was still stuck underground, and unstuck function didn't work.
I logged back to my normal char, asking a gm what to do. Before he could reply my game crashes. No wonder, I was in a city with people, and there the game just keeps crashing. So, I restart the client, ask the gm again. His reply "make a new char". I was too tired of this to spend another 15mins making a new char, so I thought "ok, I'll do some quest outside town, where lag is not so horrible".

Give a full file check a try; check the option on the launcher to go through all of your files. Once that is done, shut down the launcher and restart it, then try playing the game. It could possibly be that you are missing some files or some of them have become corrupted.

I got a quest to kill some guy. I just finished crafting new grenades. So I plan to take my painkillers, eat buff food, throw a grenade on him, switching to my crossbow, keep shooting, using my heals and knockback skills and whatnot to overcome him. Good plan. I throw the grenade, hit the guy, he gets acid damage, and then warps randomly around me, zooming back and forth. I try to switch to my crossbow. It takes about 10 seconds until I the game reacts and I hold the crossbow in my hands. I shoot. I take another 10 seconds or so to reload, while the guy is hitting me. I randomly push my hotkeys for the armor boost, heal and knockback skills, while trying to shoot, while the guy is still randomly twiching around me, but of course I die.

But I don't give up. The game is new, it's a bit laggy, was to be expected. But the company wouldn't sell a game where I couldn't complete any quest that has to do with combat right? So I go back, eat my buff food, painkillers, buff myself up. Some time later I'm dead again. Exactly the same happens.
But, I'm stubborn. I mean, if I'd be a bad player, or the mob would be a dozen levels higher or anything, I'd accept that. But lag shouldn't prevent me from doing any combat quests, right? Back in. Dying again the same way.
I'd have tried it a fourth time but I ran out of pain killers and my buff food supplies were getting low too. Ammo I had still masses of, because reloading takes ages. I consider creating another char, but then remember what happens to the last one, that is still trapped underground.
I have to think about Aion, and wonder if queues would be better. I mean, if I'd have to wait 3 hours to play FE but then can play it smoothly, I'd accept that. But having FE availble at most times, but it beeing unplayable, that makes no sense. I feel miserable.
I exit the game, and launch TF2 where I have a latency of 10 to 20 milliseconds, and not 10 to 20 seconds. A game that looks great even though it's some years old. That does not crash when other players are near you, that has constantly new stuff added without a monthly payment.
I love FE. I love the crafting, the setting, the music. But still I regret having bought it. It's launch is worse than the AOC launch I experienced, than the LOTRO launch I went through, the WoW launch I went through, and worse than the War launch. Because those I could play from the first day on. They were all buggy and laggy, some more some less, but all were playable, in contrast to FE.
This is no troll attempt. I'm just sad and miserable. I don't mind the minor bugs that force me relog or dump and redo quests. I don't mind minor lag, a crash once a day and unexpected downtimes. But I do mind it when a char of mine becomes unplayable because it's stuck under the ground, and the only response from a gm is "create a new one". And I do mind it that the game is unplayable in matters of crash- and disconnect-frequency, and in matters of lag.
I'd love to play the game, but I know I'd just be frustrated when I keep attacking a mob, and the mob does nothing, and suddenly zooms at me, past me, then back, and then I fall over dead. Or when it keeps crashing and disconnecting and crap. And yes, I did spend hours to try out loads of different settings and drivers and following advice that I found on the FE boards, but nothing really helped.
Post up your computer hardware / OS specs, maji; I'd like to try to give you a hand with getting your FE experience back on track, okay? PM me with your specs if you don't want to post them up here.

twhint · September 2009

How does 4 hours equate to 'down all day' would be the first thing that caught my eye. Second thing is that my experience has been the exact opposite of the OP's. I do get hit with an annoying little bug where your horse information doesn't show up, but I can still ride him around and know the bug fixes itself on relog. Quests have been working smoothly without a problem through 3 towns that I went through since yesterday.

markyturnip · September 2009

Yesterday was abysmal for me.

Today I just steered clear of Embry, and it has been absolutely fine.

Kaynos1972 · September 2009

Saturday was fine. Sunday was hellish. Today it was fine as long as you were away from Bree.

We all have 25 days left on our free month, i say give them time. I'm really enjoying the game, if they can fix the lag the game would be almost perfect. I fallen through the world once since buying the game so for me it's not a major issue. As for game crashing, it always happened when i was running or riding my horse are a crowded or in a crowded city.

metsoa · September 2009

Since the server downtime yesterday it has been flawless for me. I finished up Embry and Oilville with no problems and minimal lag spikes.

blakavar · September 2009

I havent had a problem today either. Oilville turned into a slide show, but I toned the graphics down to medium and did a quick log out log in and the lag wasn't too bad.

Of course as soon as I left the lag disapearred and I turned my graphics back up.

Aercus · September 2009

I fixed game crashed in high-pop areas on my computer:

-Turn graphics aaaalll the way down. Unclick all boxes and put gfx quality on "low".

-Turn view distances to single digit percentages

The warping near high-pop is still a problem tho, but I think it might abate as people move on.

And the first minute after launch the frame rate is about 1 fpm Just wait a minute, and it shoots up.

VultureSkull · September 2009

Please note the following:

1. After Sunday's experience with lag and crashing server it is clear that the server hardware they have in place is not powerful enough for all the players that are joining the game, and you will experience lag the closer you are to the cities.

This problem will not disaapear overnight and the only reason that it is bearable at the moment is not due to some fix but simply due to the fact that there are not as much people on as Sunday, on Sunday expect the same again.

2. The graphics engine of this game is built by devs and it is obivious that it has not been optimised fully, given the graphics in this game i would expect my PC to have an FPS of about 200+ but i have about 60fps (outside the towns).

The good news is that these problems are technical problems that can be solved relatively easily by them updating their hardware, opening new servers and optimising their graphics engine etc.

The game design remains solid and that is the most important thing, there also seems to be very few actual bugs that are not caused by the lag.

So just be patient and i am sure the above mentioned problems with be resolved soon, as i guess they are working to resolve them as we speak, also they would have a financial injection with the sale of the boxes and digital downloads, they may even employ a graphics expert to sort out their engine.

Note: these are my opinions and are not fact.

DonnieBrasco · September 2009

Originally posted by Aercus

I fixed game crashed in high-pop areas on my computer:
-Turn graphics aaaalll the way down. Unclick all boxes and put gfx quality on "low".
-Turn view distances to single digit percentages
The warping near high-pop is still a problem tho, but I think it might abate as people move on.
And the first minute after launch the frame rate is about 1 fpm Just wait a minute, and it shoots up.

I might do that, cause now I crash to desktop in every 30s in Embry Crossroads.

However, I am not at all happy. I did not buy a 1MB HD4890, a quad CPU and 4GB of DDR3 ram to make any compromise. Some other games squeeze my config hard (playing at Enthusiast DX10 in Crysis), but none of them crashes to the desktop due to this.

Funny thing as well: FPS does not drop, it's steady 25 even in towns at max settings - the only thing that happens 9 out of 10 in the middle of Embry crossroads: client crashes.

Me no likey

DB

DonnieBrasco · September 2009

And, to avoid fanboi's false alarm: I still love this game, and will .... quests were at least working yesterday, so they sorted that bug.

Also, today's maintenance is about upgrading their hardware. We shall see!

DB

Gorp3 · September 2009

Ow I got Pwnd by a wall of text.

VultureSkull · September 2009

A patch has been released today with the following notes

Fallen Earth v1.0.9

Graphics

· Fixed a shadow issue with cloth objects that could cause a crash.

· Fixed the cloth flags so they are affected by volumetric fog.

Resources

· Updated the resource thread to sleep when there are no resources to load, which brings the total CPU use down to around 50% or lower on a dual-core machine.

General

· Added the Large Address Aware option, which enables up to 4GB process space for 64-bit operating systems instead of the default 2GB.

· Fixed a possible server crash when harvesting.

· Fixed two areas of the code base that could cause slowdowns or even stall the server for a few seconds.

Physics

· Fixed an issue with trees that could cause a crash inside the Ageia SDK and also affect performance over time.

· Fixed an issue with characters falling through the world when moving fast over a tunnel or entering certain levels.

· Enabled particle debris on vehicles driving over dirt or gravel.

UI

· Added an optimization to the filtering and sorting of recipes.

· Added mission waypoints and custom waypoints to the map filter.

· Updated the target and weapon windows to be hidden when empty.

· Updated the mount window to save opacity settings between sessions.

· Fixed an issue with the Unspent AP display sometimes displaying a negative number.

· Fixed an issue where the AP spending spinner would not show the right maximum value until a selection was made.

· Fixed the faction wheel so that it won’t label the player according to the highest faction total if all factions have negative values.

· Fixed an issue with the faction window, which was giving a title automatically if the player clicked Apply before selecting one.

· Fixed the trade window to allow you to trade all your chips at once.

· Fixed the scope mode to correctly hide windows that are tabbed together.

· Fixed a display issue with pack inventory weight.

· Fixed a crash that would happen when a non-item was dragged to an item slot.

· Updated the overhead and interior maps so opacity applies to them.

· Fixed a bug where you could not click the AP button in the stat window while it was glowing.

· Enabled vertical resizing on the Auction window.

Mounts

· Fixed a new issue with vehicles sometimes not playing their engine sound.

· Updated mounts so that clicking on one while moving or dismounting won’t start a mount action.

· Increased the range at which the mount window pops up. You can click the mount window to target your mount at any time.

· Fixed an issue which could cause a character to be displaced to the back when dismounting.

Predictor

· Made few more optimizations on position updates.

Also this is quoted from Thrilos of the FE Team

"Lastly, I'm pleased to let you know that are further graphic engine optimizations that are in testing phase which will further improve the frame rate in big towns like Embry, Oilville and Midway. We are hoping to have that version out as early as next week.

"

afoaa · September 2009

Don't see any messages about server hardware upgrades in that. The only opgrade mentioned anywhere is the upgrade to the forum server.

Lots of client updates but its really not that which is the problem, the problem is that their servers can only handle a limited number of players in a single area before they get overloaded and hang up.

I experienced the same kind of server lag as the OP describe while having 150+ fps so optimizing the client does nothing to help with the problems that make the game unplayable near Embry.

RealmLords · September 2009

RE: I try to switch to my crossbow. It takes about 10 seconds until I the game reacts

That's almost definitely server cpu. My guess would be the zones are larger than what the server hardware can handle, usually in terms of PC and NPC counts. Everything ticking (time slicing) ends up waiting and performance drops badly.

Ken

afoaa · September 2009

Originally posted by RealmLords

That's almost definitely server cpu. My guess would be the zones are larger than what the server hardware can handle, usually i terms of PC and NPC counts. Everything ticking (time slicing) ends up waiting and performance drops badly.

And you know its server lag because if you enter the Embry area outside prime time like early EU day then there is no lag in the area that were unplayable during US prime time.

Interesting · September 2009

Is it getting worse and worse for everyone else, or just the TS?

Gestankfaust · September 2009

Originally posted by twhint

How does 4 hours equate to 'down all day' would be the first thing that caught my eye. Second thing is that my experience has been the exact opposite of the OP's. I do get hit with an annoying little bug where your horse information doesn't show up, but I can still ride him around and know the bug fixes itself on relog. Quests have been working smoothly without a problem through 3 towns that I went through since yesterday.

4 hours to most people would equal a day of gaming...that's how. Most won't wait around.

Somnulus · September 2009

Originally posted by DonnieBrasco

Originally posted by Aercus

I fixed game crashed in high-pop areas on my computer:
-Turn graphics aaaalll the way down. Unclick all boxes and put gfx quality on "low".
-Turn view distances to single digit percentages
The warping near high-pop is still a problem tho, but I think it might abate as people move on.
And the first minute after launch the frame rate is about 1 fpm Just wait a minute, and it shoots up.

I might do that, cause now I crash to desktop in every 30s in Embry Crossroads.

However, I am not at all happy. I did not buy a 1MB HD4890, a quad CPU and 4GB of DDR3 ram to make any compromise. Some other games squeeze my config hard (playing at Enthusiast DX10 in Crysis), but none of them crashes to the desktop due to this.

Funny thing as well: FPS does not drop, it's steady 25 even in towns at max settings - the only thing that happens 9 out of 10 in the middle of Embry crossroads: client crashes.

Me no likey

DB

I wouldn't be happy if I were you either, Donnie. Just a few questions:

Are you getting any FE client error messages when you crash, or is it just a straight crash to the desktop?

Are you getting any unique Windows error messages (beyond "The application has stopped responding")?

Are you running the newest Catalyst driver, with the default 3D settings in the Catalyst Control Center?

Are you running any utilities that control your card fan speed?

The ATI HD4800 series chips run really hot; so if you haven't done it already, I would recommend going into the Catalyst Control Center and checking ATI Overdrive.
Click the lock button to unlock it, and check "Enable ATI Overdrive".
Ignore (leave alone) the GPU and Memory Clock settings (unless you are an overclock enthusiast, in which case this part of my post is a complete waste of time.
Check "Enable Manual Fan Control" and set that sucker for 100%.

Even if that doesn't solve your issues with FE, I am willing to bet that you will still see a marked improvement in your card stability and a slight increase in performance (although many stock fans are really loud at 100%).

I am running an Intel Core 2 Extreme (quad core) 3 ghz and dual HD4870s in Crossfire with 4GB OCZ Reaper PC8500. I normally get about 45 fps in town and anywhere from 76 to 110 fps outside of heavy population areas.

My Crossfire rig might be making a difference, but honestly, I have the ATI Radeon card monitor gadget for Windows Sidebar ( I use Riva Tuner rather than the Catalyst Control Center for fan control) and I rarely see any increase in activity on my second card, so I'm not sure that's even a factor.

chryses · September 2009

Sorry to hear your grief with the game but I know its not game wide. I have had 2 crashes to desktop in 5 days and I have amazing FPS on max settings. I am based in the UK / London so not sure what the problem is. Also today they released a quick patch to address some crash / lag issue as well. Hope it gets better mate

Scortch · September 2009

I have the graphics cranked up to max settings, live on the East Coast, and have not experienced any lag whatsoever in highly populate cities or otherwise (knocks on wood). I have an i7 920, 6 gig RAM, and a Radeon 4670.

Khalathwyr · September 2009

Originally posted by chryses

Sorry to hear your grief with the game but I know its not game wide. I have had 2 crashes to desktop in 5 days and I have amazing FPS on max settings. I am based in the UK / London so not sure what the problem is. Also today they released a quick patch to address some crash / lag issue as well. Hope it gets better mate

I've had about the exact same experience. About to add a dual nVidia 9800 GT and a CPU upgrade to my machine. Not because of FE. I built my system in 2006 and it's just time to upgrade those things in my opinion. Plus I'm getting ready for Dragon Age: Origins, lol.

Darwa · September 2009

The community is getting worse too. Have you seen all the flaming/trolling that goes unchecked on their forum? At least here that kind of behaviour gets dealt with, not ignored.

The recent announcement to schedule daily maintenance at the start of EU peak time hasn't helped

Raltar · September 2009

Originally posted by darwa

Have you seen all the flaming/trolling that goes unchecked on their forum? At least here that kind of behaviour gets dealt with, not ignored.

...

You ARE being sarcastic, right?

Anyway, this isn't an EU game. It hasn't been released in the EU and the only way EU players can even get a copy is by buying online. There is only one server which is located in North America. When did you expect them to do the daily server down time? In the middle of the time when the MOST players would be on, or the FEWEST?

VultureSkull · September 2009

Originally posted by Raltar

Originally posted by darwa

Have you seen all the flaming/trolling that goes unchecked on their forum? At least here that kind of behaviour gets dealt with, not ignored.

...

You ARE being sarcastic, right?

Anyway, this isn't an EU game. It hasn't been released in the EU and the only way EU players can even get a copy is by buying online. There is only one server which is located in North America. When did you expect them to do the daily server down time? In the middle of the time when the MOST players would be on, or the FEWEST?

lol thats one way of looking at it. Although your arguments dont hold water i am afraid.

Some games released with only digital download, eg Darkfall, and Eve has its servers in the EU if i am not mistaken, but this doesnt make them EU or NA games.

To be fair to all they should find a time to do their downtime when it least affects everyone. FYI just before EU prime time doent not equate to FEWEST!!

Oh and btw i paid for my game in pounds sterling not US dollars from some foreign NA site.

Raltar · September 2009

Originally posted by VultureSkull

lol thats one way of looking at it. Although your arguments dont hold water i am afraid.
Some games released with only digital download, eg Darkfall, and Eve has its servers in the EU if i am not mistaken, but this doesnt make them EU or NA games.

Actually my arguement holds water just fine.

Drakfall is a terrible example for you to use. It is DIGITAL ONLY. You can't buy boxed versions of the game last time I checked because they had nobody willing to publish their game. Plus, it was developed in the EU and the first series of servers released was located in the EU. Players from other parts of the world were told that they could purcase the EU version of the game if they wanted, but there is a seperate version for the recently released NA servers. So yeah, its pretty clear where Darkfall stood on the whole location issue.

Right now its equally clear for Fallen Earth. Its been released in NA, the server is NA and the company that developed it is located in the NA. If you live in another pert of the world you are free to buy the game online and play it, but you gotta understand the server is still here for NA players first. If you can't handle that, wait until the game gets released in your part of the world.

You don't see me going over to Korea and yelling at them for not having an NA server for whatever wacky grinding MMO they are playing over there, do you?

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