I'm asking here because the swotr forums are down.
I read the minimum settings stated on the website. My computer is above these specs and yet my FPS is horrible on the lowest possible settings.
I can play other games without a problem on low settings. Turning my characters camera is delayed, which makes the game unplayable. Has anyone else experienced this horrible fps with a decent machine? I understand a "good" machine is probably required to enjoy this game, but the specs they list would probably make the game play at 5fps
try turning off shadows, they are buggy. Guildmate went from 10 FPS to like 100 FPS.
Try turning off shadows. That made a huge difference for me. The FPS still drops a bit when I'm indoors for some reason but not to the point where it's unplayable. I'm playing on a shitty laptop just barely above minimum requirements (even failing on the CPU part).
agreed Shadows right now is causing the game to get real fps. They should fix ti soon. I turned mine off and i had about 20 fps improvment.
I should have read the thread before posting but nice to see others saying that shadows could be the root cause of your issues.
I'm asking here because the swotr forums are down.
I read the minimum settings stated on the website. My computer is above these specs and yet my FPS is horrible on the lowest possible settings.
I can play other games without a problem on low settings. Turning my characters camera is delayed, which makes the game unplayable. Has anyone else experienced this horrible fps with a decent machine? I understand a "good" machine is probably required to enjoy this game, but the specs they list would probably make the game play at 5fps
I don't care what game it is (or any software for that matter), you should never expect it to run well with the minimum system requirements. The minimum specs mean it will run, period. It does not mean it is going to be a good experience, and it likely won't be. You should have at least the recommended requirements.
That said, try some of the other stuff that was recommended (drivers, shadow settings, etc...), and somethhing might help.
I'm asking here because the swotr forums are down.
I read the minimum settings stated on the website. My computer is above these specs and yet my FPS is horrible on the lowest possible settings.
I can play other games without a problem on low settings. Turning my characters camera is delayed, which makes the game unplayable. Has anyone else experienced this horrible fps with a decent machine? I understand a "good" machine is probably required to enjoy this game, but the specs they list would probably make the game play at 5fps
Video card is as important as your comp specs - if it's an older card or not a card geared for games (ie. General purpose card) then you'll get low FPS. That said - you might want to try keeping the textures on high - shadows and the other extra stuff off and everything else that can be on low - low. You'll be surprised at how good it'll still look and work.
If that doesn't work - get another card and make sure it's a good one
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
I run the game Smooth with shadows off and everything else max, but If I put everything else on low, the game is unplayable its very weird, thinking it could be my ati card...
No, I have a GTX 590 and the shadows look like 8bit graphics from the 90s. It's the same issue with having textures on High, games use the medium textures.
There some issues with the graphic engine atm, hopefully they have them fixed soon.
Also I think it mite be your compooter. Most people who write about client and stability say it runs very smooth.
Well, I don't know about that. My computer plays Skyrim on ultra settings, with a ton of fan produced, higher resolution textures, a lot more smoothly than it plays TOR. It's playable, but I definitely have moments in some areas where the frame rate drops to barely acceptable levels. TOR seems to have a very resource hungry, considering the "cartoonish" graphics.
The graphics seem to get better as you get deeper into the game, but that may cause issues for people who are barely able to play the first ten levels.
I'm really hoping there is still some graphics optimization that can be done, at the client and driver levels, to improve performance.
That said, if someone meets or exceeds the official minimums and is only getting 5fps, there must be some technical issue at play. I've seen mention that some people have fixed problems by selecting the ultra setting, then manually adjusting down the individual settings. Might be worth a try.
2 PC's the low end box is a few years old but here is the stats for comparison
9800 gt 1gb ddr3 powersaver card
Athlon 64x2 4200+ 2.2 GHZ
3 GB DDR2
Win XP (direct X 9.0c)
with all settings on low (including shadows)I avg 39 FPS outdoors and in crazy busy areas 28-30 fps/ All drivers are up to date, minimal harddrive fragmentation (raptor 7200 rpm 1TB drive). Game is more than playable on this box just not awesome. MMO seems pretty accessable as most of this hardware is 2k6ish.
I always find it interesting when people complain on a gaming website that it requires a gaming computer to run an MMO. You could buy a computer that will run this game with decent FPS for less than $400 new, probably less if you get a eBay one or perhaps a comp from a refurbished/outlet site. Whatever dinosaur you have that doesn't run this game probably doesn't run any other game released this year. To complain that you were had seems pretty silly.
I'm asking here because the swotr forums are down.
I read the minimum settings stated on the website. My computer is above these specs and yet my FPS is horrible on the lowest possible settings.
I can play other games without a problem on low settings. Turning my characters camera is delayed, which makes the game unplayable. Has anyone else experienced this horrible fps with a decent machine? I understand a "good" machine is probably required to enjoy this game, but the specs they list would probably make the game play at 5fps
Sorry I think its your computer . I loaded this onto my 2007 pc and the frame rates were between 15-30 which is ok . But on the PC i recently brought its 120 fps average .
I knew my old PC was starting to show its age when I had problems like your getting in Rift earlier this year which wouldn't play it very well on lowest settings .
I doubt you can get a refund because your machine isnt upto the job . The only thing I can suggest is upgrade if you can afford it or if you cant then perhaps you may have to forget about playing newer games .
There are currently at least 2 unexplainable FPS problems with SWTOR
1. Some people report that they get immense drops of frame rate while going to indoors. Game that runs without hitch outdoors becomes unplayable indoors
2. Some people report that their good computers get low fps while alone, and so large fps drops with other players around that battlegrounds are nearly unplayable.
Some people report that one of these probelms can be solved by
a) turning off shadows
b) turning all settings to high (using the drop-down menu with presets), applying it, then turning all settings again back to low using the same drop-down menu and applying it
c) using your video card drivers to manually force 16x antialising and anistrophic filtering
d) turning your settings to high instead of low
Then again some people report that none of these solutions has any effect. Many even report that no graphic option has any effect: The frame-rate can be the same or even higher on maxium settings as they get on minimum settings.
The community hasn't been able to determine the cause, and Bioware has requested information but been otherwise silent about the matter.
EDIT: Some people have also reported that setting SWTOR to use only one or two cores of your multi-core processor actually speeds the game up. But this doesn't seem to be working for everyone either /EDIT
EDIT2: What is your processor clock speed? It looks like if you have 3, 4 or 6 core processor with slow clock speed (less than 2 Ghz for Intel processors, less than 2.2 Ghz for Amd processors), SWTOR simply won't run properly because it can't utilize more than 2 cores. But there have been reports that the game runs well on high speed single core processors /EDIT
Try turning off shadows. That made a huge difference for me. The FPS still drops a bit when I'm indoors for some reason but not to the point where it's unplayable. I'm playing on a shitty laptop just barely above minimum requirements (even failing on the CPU part).
The exact problem I had on the very last beta weekend when I was trying out the Trooper on Ord Mantell. Tick Vsync, it fixed it for me. Makes no sense but it works..
Turning shadows down from high to low made my fps go from about 15 to about 60. I have left everything else on high and the game looks great still I think the shadows need some optimization or something.
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
As much as people have been bitching about the low-res graphics, it's hard to believe any computer made in the last 5 years can't run it. Cough up some dough and upgrade that e-machines buddy.
Well my laptop(8GB, Core i7(1st gen) 740, 1GB 360GTS OCed to 625(Core) 1500(Shaders) 1550(Mem)) runs crysis 2 on high at 35-40FPS, BF3 at high with 45fps, runs WoW at about 70-80fps all at 1080p.
With the previous build SWTOR was unplayable on certain planets and in warzones at shaders set to high(was running at ~30-40 fps with unexplained drops to 10-15, sometimes even when zooming into a wall or the skydome).
The new build is much better and i run it at high settings(with grass clutter and trees quality set to 50%) at 25-50fps depedning on the planet with no drops in cluttered enviorments.
They made some improvments with the build but there is a long way to go, WoW had horrid performance when it first launched, i played it at the time on an ATI X850, during the first 8-6 months the FPS increased with patches by about 30% atleast, especially in raids.
Telling some one to buy a new computer when it's been tested that the game is absolutly unplayble on minimum settings is just stupid, BW/EA should make some statement about performance improvments, because all during the beta people reported various performance issues even when running the game on the same or allmost the same hardware.
To the OP, posting the age of the computer is not saying much due to the fact that high-end machines from 4-5 years ago can still have better perfomance than low-end machines these days, my old computer at home with a 4850 and a Core 2 Quad will still runs games better than your "average" pre-made dell/hp crap which they market as family gaming computer which comes with a very cheap descrete and these days even "built" in graphics card.
If your hardware is well with in the supported hardware list then i would just wait for newer derivers and some engine updates, forget about refunds and such but i agree that it sucks.
I get FPS drops indoors which is an issue with ati cards and after I spoke to ATI support and bioware support and they both said there were some issues with ATI cards with swtor, so either turn off shadows (a good fps boost) or wait till new drivers are released/ swtor patch is released. Or buy a new computer LOL.
I'm asking here because the swotr forums are down.
I read the minimum settings stated on the website. My computer is above these specs and yet my FPS is horrible on the lowest possible settings.
I can play other games without a problem on low settings. Turning my characters camera is delayed, which makes the game unplayable. Has anyone else experienced this horrible fps with a decent machine? I understand a "good" machine is probably required to enjoy this game, but the specs they list would probably make the game play at 5fps
I'm sorry you have a low end machine. I'm sure there are low end games out there that you can successfully play. Best of luck.
Comments
try turning off shadows, they are buggy. Guildmate went from 10 FPS to like 100 FPS.
I should have read the thread before posting but nice to see others saying that shadows could be the root cause of your issues.
I don't care what game it is (or any software for that matter), you should never expect it to run well with the minimum system requirements. The minimum specs mean it will run, period. It does not mean it is going to be a good experience, and it likely won't be. You should have at least the recommended requirements.
That said, try some of the other stuff that was recommended (drivers, shadow settings, etc...), and somethhing might help.
Video card is as important as your comp specs - if it's an older card or not a card geared for games (ie. General purpose card) then you'll get low FPS. That said - you might want to try keeping the textures on high - shadows and the other extra stuff off and everything else that can be on low - low. You'll be surprised at how good it'll still look and work.
If that doesn't work - get another card and make sure it's a good one
Currently playing SWTOR and it's MUCH better than it was at launch.
No, I have a GTX 590 and the shadows look like 8bit graphics from the 90s. It's the same issue with having textures on High, games use the medium textures.
There some issues with the graphic engine atm, hopefully they have them fixed soon.
Well, I don't know about that. My computer plays Skyrim on ultra settings, with a ton of fan produced, higher resolution textures, a lot more smoothly than it plays TOR. It's playable, but I definitely have moments in some areas where the frame rate drops to barely acceptable levels. TOR seems to have a very resource hungry, considering the "cartoonish" graphics.
The graphics seem to get better as you get deeper into the game, but that may cause issues for people who are barely able to play the first ten levels.
I'm really hoping there is still some graphics optimization that can be done, at the client and driver levels, to improve performance.
That said, if someone meets or exceeds the official minimums and is only getting 5fps, there must be some technical issue at play. I've seen mention that some people have fixed problems by selecting the ultra setting, then manually adjusting down the individual settings. Might be worth a try.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
2 PC's the low end box is a few years old but here is the stats for comparison
9800 gt 1gb ddr3 powersaver card
Athlon 64x2 4200+ 2.2 GHZ
3 GB DDR2
Win XP (direct X 9.0c)
with all settings on low (including shadows)I avg 39 FPS outdoors and in crazy busy areas 28-30 fps/ All drivers are up to date, minimal harddrive fragmentation (raptor 7200 rpm 1TB drive). Game is more than playable on this box just not awesome. MMO seems pretty accessable as most of this hardware is 2k6ish.
I always find it interesting when people complain on a gaming website that it requires a gaming computer to run an MMO. You could buy a computer that will run this game with decent FPS for less than $400 new, probably less if you get a eBay one or perhaps a comp from a refurbished/outlet site. Whatever dinosaur you have that doesn't run this game probably doesn't run any other game released this year. To complain that you were had seems pretty silly.
Sorry I think its your computer . I loaded this onto my 2007 pc and the frame rates were between 15-30 which is ok . But on the PC i recently brought its 120 fps average .
I knew my old PC was starting to show its age when I had problems like your getting in Rift earlier this year which wouldn't play it very well on lowest settings .
I doubt you can get a refund because your machine isnt upto the job . The only thing I can suggest is upgrade if you can afford it or if you cant then perhaps you may have to forget about playing newer games .
There are currently at least 2 unexplainable FPS problems with SWTOR
1. Some people report that they get immense drops of frame rate while going to indoors. Game that runs without hitch outdoors becomes unplayable indoors
2. Some people report that their good computers get low fps while alone, and so large fps drops with other players around that battlegrounds are nearly unplayable.
Some people report that one of these probelms can be solved by
a) turning off shadows
b) turning all settings to high (using the drop-down menu with presets), applying it, then turning all settings again back to low using the same drop-down menu and applying it
c) using your video card drivers to manually force 16x antialising and anistrophic filtering
d) turning your settings to high instead of low
Then again some people report that none of these solutions has any effect. Many even report that no graphic option has any effect: The frame-rate can be the same or even higher on maxium settings as they get on minimum settings.
The community hasn't been able to determine the cause, and Bioware has requested information but been otherwise silent about the matter.
EDIT: Some people have also reported that setting SWTOR to use only one or two cores of your multi-core processor actually speeds the game up. But this doesn't seem to be working for everyone either /EDIT
EDIT2: What is your processor clock speed? It looks like if you have 3, 4 or 6 core processor with slow clock speed (less than 2 Ghz for Intel processors, less than 2.2 Ghz for Amd processors), SWTOR simply won't run properly because it can't utilize more than 2 cores. But there have been reports that the game runs well on high speed single core processors /EDIT
Turning shadows down from high to low made my fps go from about 15 to about 60. I have left everything else on high and the game looks great still
I think the shadows need some optimization or something.
Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom
Well my laptop(8GB, Core i7(1st gen) 740, 1GB 360GTS OCed to 625(Core) 1500(Shaders) 1550(Mem)) runs crysis 2 on high at 35-40FPS, BF3 at high with 45fps, runs WoW at about 70-80fps all at 1080p.
With the previous build SWTOR was unplayable on certain planets and in warzones at shaders set to high(was running at ~30-40 fps with unexplained drops to 10-15, sometimes even when zooming into a wall or the skydome).
The new build is much better and i run it at high settings(with grass clutter and trees quality set to 50%) at 25-50fps depedning on the planet with no drops in cluttered enviorments.
They made some improvments with the build but there is a long way to go, WoW had horrid performance when it first launched, i played it at the time on an ATI X850, during the first 8-6 months the FPS increased with patches by about 30% atleast, especially in raids.
Telling some one to buy a new computer when it's been tested that the game is absolutly unplayble on minimum settings is just stupid, BW/EA should make some statement about performance improvments, because all during the beta people reported various performance issues even when running the game on the same or allmost the same hardware.
To the OP, posting the age of the computer is not saying much due to the fact that high-end machines from 4-5 years ago can still have better perfomance than low-end machines these days, my old computer at home with a 4850 and a Core 2 Quad will still runs games better than your "average" pre-made dell/hp crap which they market as family gaming computer which comes with a very cheap descrete and these days even "built" in graphics card.
If your hardware is well with in the supported hardware list then i would just wait for newer derivers and some engine updates, forget about refunds and such but i agree that it sucks.
I get FPS drops indoors which is an issue with ati cards and after I spoke to ATI support and bioware support and they both said there were some issues with ATI cards with swtor, so either turn off shadows (a good fps boost) or wait till new drivers are released/ swtor patch is released. Or buy a new computer LOL.
I'm sorry you have a low end machine. I'm sure there are low end games out there that you can successfully play. Best of luck.