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Will 1.3 bring new lower graphics options?


DarthWoad

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Yeah I dont have a link but in that MCM Expo, It was said that they know some people have a spouse etc that probably has the lower end computer in the house and they want to make it easier for them to get into the game. That was a terrible quote but I think I got the jist of it in there.
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My computer is probably the slowest in the world. Even at minimum settings, its quite bad. I need to go deeper.

 

You need to upgrade. TOR graphics are already too simple.

 

We need higher settings.

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I seriously doubt anyone who says they are/have been playing this game on a single-core system. Single core processors have been obsolete for over 10 years, and even dual cores are very close close to that point. A single core processor computer can barely handle a modern desktop web browser or PDF file.

 

The "standard" today is a quad core, although 6 and 8 core machines are starting to become more common.

 

Besides which, load times are largely driven on our end by hard drive speed. If you are using an old IDE platter (also obsolete), you are going to see ridiculously long load times. A modern 7600rpm SATA II hard drive (standard, not exceptional) will give you marked improvement. An SSD upgrade would reduce load times to almost nil (assuming the rest of your board was up to date and can handle the data transfer speed).

 

As it stands now, the load time can be pretty long, and fairly aggravating, even on a standard to above average modern computer. But I don't believe for a minute that anyone is or has been playing this game at any time on a single core machine. And if you are, you have no right to complain. A single core computer is worth literally $2.50. Spend another $5 and buy yourself an obsolete dual core, where you'll at least get 10fps and might actually have a SATA hard drive interface.

 

Actually, I was running a single core... when I started it was fine, but this game *killed it* alongside with the Graphic card. I was triple logging SWG and Browsing on two different browser types and running Skype... all at the same time with my old card.

 

Point is, my load times have gone back to what the single core used to be a little before it died. That should not happen.

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We're always working on improving the performance of the game, and we do have more improvements for players on lower-spec machines coming in 1.3. This may not include new, lower settings, but optimizations should help many players using those machines.
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We're always working on improving the performance of the game, and we do have more improvements for players on lower-spec machines coming in 1.3. This may not include new, lower settings, but optimizations should help many players using those machines.

 

Nice to know. I especially hope for a CPU usage optimization, since that's the problem 90% of the time.

Edited by TheNotorius
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Honestly if the textures of the game get even more nerfed ("stylized") I can as well go back to PS2 gaming...

^ while i can understand the plight of the people with slow machines - i think it's counter intuitive to spend a lot of programming time to cater to the subset of people with very slow computers.

 

optimizing is good, but going the extra mile so that someone on a Pentium 4 can run the game? seems wasted.

 

on the opposite end of the spectrum though. I have everything (EVERYTHING) maxed, and the game still looks horrible unless i'm playing first person and 2 feet from the other players' models. why do i have to be THAT close for the high res textures to show up?

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^ while i can understand the plight of the people with slow machines - i think it's counter intuitive to spend a lot of programming time to cater to the subset of people with very slow computers.

 

optimizing is good, but going the extra mile so that someone on a Pentium 4 can run the game? seems wasted.

 

on the opposite end of the spectrum though. I have everything (EVERYTHING) maxed, and the game still looks horrible unless i'm playing first person and 2 feet from the other players' models. why do i have to be THAT close for the high res textures to show up?

 

Well I have a Dual Core E2180 3.2ghz with an Ati 6850. It's not a Pentium 4.

 

I know it's still outdated, I don't pretend to play with everything at MAX settings, but I want the game to be playable with the LOWEST settings (and it's not at the moment >> 10-15 Fps in WZ).

Edited by TheNotorius
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Don't care enough to read every post. But lower graphics? No

Bioware need to make the new high quality textures" appear during cutscenes, not just out of them, before they even consider helping out people whining about having a crappy machine.

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Don't care enough to read every post. But lower graphics? No

Bioware need to make the new high quality textures" appear during cutscenes, not just out of them, before they even consider helping out people whining about having a crappy machine.

 

It's a lot more important to cater to them, because if they can't play properly, well they won't play (they would loose a lot of subs). While you haven't any gameplay problems, so it's not a priority at all.

 

PS: Would you enjoy your new *ULTRA-VERY LOW* graphic settings? :DUltra-Very Low Graphic

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We're always working on improving the performance of the game, and we do have more improvements for players on lower-spec machines coming in 1.3. This may not include new, lower settings, but optimizations should help many players using those machines.

Allison, does that include general engine optimization for all settings? You mention improvements and optimizations for lower-spec machines, but we know that there's general performance issues that affect everyone. Can we expect improvements on that coming in 1.3 too?

 

Cheers.

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The problem is that many games that look MUCH better also run far smoother with lower end systems.

 

People act like the graphics are amazing in this game, they're not and if it takes more computer horsepower to run a less visually attractive game then something is wrong on the developer's end.

Edited by Skullbash
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It's a lot more important to cater to them, because if they can't play properly, well they won't play (they would loose a lot of subs). While you haven't any gameplay problems, so it's not a priority at all.

 

PS: Would you enjoy your new *ULTRA-VERY LOW* graphic settings? :DUltra-Very Low Graphic

 

A lot of subs? I have doubts about that. My machine is over 5 years old and I live in a village with terrible internet connection, yet aside from longer load times I have no trouble playing this game on the highest settings with pretty much no lag. People need to upgrade if they can't run the game, the graphics aren't exactly good to start with. They need improving, rather than catering the minority of people with outdated machines.

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Well I have a Dual Core E2180 3.2ghz with an Ati 6850. It's not a Pentium 4.

 

I know it's still outdated, I don't pretend to play with everything at MAX settings, but I want the game to be playable with the LOWEST settings (and it's not at the moment >> 10-15 Fps in WZ).

 

That's ridiculous, having to cater for your machine (and others) is holding the game back from meeting modern day standards... I can loan you the processor from a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone if it helps! That's quad core...

 

I'm partially joking - your Graphics card is the model above mine.

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We're always working on improving the performance of the game, and we do have more improvements for players on lower-spec machines coming in 1.3. This may not include new, lower settings, but optimizations should help many players using those machines.

 

Good. Because this game has a LOT of optimizing it needs to do - the load screens take far too long. How many people work on the performance issues Allison?

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A lot of subs? I have doubts about that. My machine is over 5 years old and I live in a village with terrible internet connection, yet aside from longer load times I have no trouble playing this game on the highest settings with pretty much no lag. People need to upgrade if they can't run the game, the graphics aren't exactly good to start with. They need improving, rather than catering the minority of people with outdated machines.

 

I have a top-end PC from a couple years ago and since 1.2, I can't do 16-mans on the highest settings, or even medium without lag. I think a lot of the problem is with the engine.

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I have a top-end PC from a couple years ago and since 1.2, I can't do 16-mans on the highest settings, or even medium without lag. I think a lot of the problem is with the engine.

 

Engine improvements are fine, if it benefits everyone, it's just paying special attention to low-capability PC's that I'm against.

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Controversial view:

 

How about not accomodating people with low spec PCs?

 

Time was the PC industry was about new, better, faster, more powerful technology. None of us are running WIn7 on a 486, right? New games would come out and PC enthusiast would go out buy ram, GPU etc just to run the game on medium. Console gaming saw the same thing (we won't see Halo 4 come out and expect to play it on the original X-box or even the 360, maybe. So is teh logic different for this game?). The next gen games don't code so they can be run on a PSone or P133. Nope, they demand new hardware in an industry built on the notion of development and improvement - and the public buys into that. That's why my modile phone is capable of running Grand Theft Auto 3 with a stablity that my PS2 could never do.

 

Honestly, it is counter intuitive to cater for PCs that are low-spec as to be borderline outdated.

 

I actually think it is unfair that people with low spec-computers are asking/expecting optimization that hinders the performance and enjoyment of those who follow the trend and have PCs capable of running this game at its best.

 

Other games, be they stand alone or MMO (which, IMO should be the most demanding of spec) are not afraid to say, "Buy a better PC/Upgrade".

 

[i want HD graphics]

 

There's a big spread there. Bioware probably bought the fastest computers they could in 2006 which ended up being commercial parts in 2007, and that set the minimum requirements of a nvidia 7800 or ATI (yes ATI still) x1800.

 

That limits you to directx 9, because directx 10 never really added much, and directx 11 was too far off in the distance to have built tech to support it meaningfully that far into the future.

 

But the spread between a modern top end GPU, like a GTX 680 and a 7800 is something like a factor of 7 or 8. (A GTX 680 is almost exactly 6x faster than an 8800 GTX which it itself somewhat faster than a 7800). It's completely impractical to take advantage of the GTX 680 and still have it workable at all on the 7800. There's a huge industry problem here in explaining to people than an 8400 series is probably worse than a 7800 and therefore not up to minimum specs, and even if it was up to minimum specs why would you voluntarily subject yourself to trying to build a game to run on hardware that old. The 7800 was a decent enough card, and on a smaller monitor it's probably viable, but a slower card...eeeewww.

 

The big performance problem with SWTOR is really load times anyway. Solid state drives help a lot, but you can't count on everyone having an SSD yet, and even then, it's still terrible performance in general. They really screwed up with weekend testing because the really bad planets (notably corellia) didn't get hit with the weekend tests, and well, it shows. Probably there is a combination caching and file format problem. That or they're doing some networking during the load times and that's not working out.

 

At this point, any lower settings and you start really having problems with designing gameplay. Visual effects for spells etc... can only be turned down so much before you have to turn them off or do some terrible 2D hack to make them visible. If you have people trying to play with ultra low settings they simply won't be able to see effects as well as people with better hardware etc. It's a disaster gameplay wise.

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Allison, does that include general engine optimization for all settings? You mention improvements and optimizations for lower-spec machines, but we know that there's general performance issues that affect everyone. Can we expect improvements on that coming in 1.3 too?

 

Cheers.

 

In general, large updates include some performance optimizations for the game, and that includes 1.3. Now, not every player is going to see a huge leap in performance, but we are always working on improving it across the spectrum.

Edited by AllisonBerryman
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Ivi, production of SWG started around 1999, which is 13 years ago. Of course you could run multiple instances of SWG on a single core processor. The game was old and decrepit. I ran as many as 6 concurrent instances on my dual core back during the game's peak.

 

But it is no wonder that SWTOR killed your single core computer. I am surprised it even started up. Hell, my smartphone is three years old and has higher specs than a single core desktop PC. That is not an exaggeration. We have several single core units at work and I use my phone instead of those, because it opens apps and processes data faster. A computer like that is literally worthless. You could not sell it to someone for any amount of money. Even a dual core machine is practically worthless.

 

What hard drive are you using? If it is an old IDE drive, like I said, your load times probably feel like days rather than minutes. I am using a 7600rpm drive on a 6gb SATA connection, on a board that can process the data, and even I get crazy long loading times on some planets (Corellia and Belsavis in particular).

 

It sounds to me like you really, seriously need a major computer upgrade, not just for SWTOR but for everyday computing in general. I built a machine a few months ago around an AMD 8 Core black edition CPU and nVidia 520ti for under $1000, including upgrading my monitor. For less money than that, you could upgrade your computer to something 50 times faster than what you're using now.

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In general, large updates include some performance optimizations for the game, and that includes 1.3. Now, not every player is going to see a huge leap in performance, but we are always working on improving it across the spectrum.

 

Two issues.

Optimisation:

 

How the game runs. When I go to the Fleet and specific sections of planets gameplay becomes choppy (best word I can find) and doesn't run smoothly. This I don't believe to do with 'graphics' 'per se' but how the game loads those sections of the map. The stop start gameplay (probably bad bit of code) is translated to me through the graphics.

 

Loading times need to be made shorter and reduce the number of loading screens in game.

 

Graphics - update them, hi-def, make them better - low end is great and all but I kinda feel a game like this should should make me want to buy a better GPU.

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Even a dual core machine is practically worthless.

 

Gonna disagree here. I just built a new computer to run SW:ToR on, and my Pentium G850 runs much better than the ancient quad core I had. I get framerates that rarely drop below 60 now. And, it uses the same socket as the higher end Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge processors, so I've got room to upgrade.

 

Carry on. :rak_03:

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Gonna disagree here. I just built a new computer to run SW:ToR on, and my Pentium G850 runs much better than the ancient quad core I had. I get framerates that rarely drop below 60 now. And, it uses the same socket as the higher end Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge processors, so I've got room to upgrade.

 

Carry on. :rak_03:

 

In broad terms dual-core processors (and the technology around it) was surpassed by quad-core processors (and like for like tech around it). You are not going to get away from this fact. Towards the latter end of the dual-core life cycle there may be some high-end processors that were faster than a cheap low spec quad-core, built to replace the equivilent low spec dual-core. But bottom line, I'd be surprised to see people rocking a dual-core rig to run a game in 2010 or later.

 

I'm stating this without considering what other hardware you have working alongside the processor that contributes to the overal performance of the PC.

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