One of the main gripes I had with this game way back was the optimization issues, and it is still very much present. I'm running an I7 4,5ghz, gtx 1080ti, 16gig ddr4 ram - an ok rig, and the gameplay is silky smooth in certain places and super choppy in others. The stuttering when mounting/dismounting and using certain abilities is particurarly offputting.

 

I'm not holding my breath for any improvements but I do wish for them to atleast try to optimize the engine - even if it's a major task. I think the game has a lot to gain with better marketing and a more optimized engine.

Edited January 16, 2020 by nilssen

I get it and I I understand, but if they don't put that kind of support into the game, they will only make it to 10 or 11 years. Surely, the Star Wars IP is worthy of a modern MMO engine?

 

Heck, every mobile game uses a 64bit engine now.

 

I guess EA wins either way, cause they have the license, but if they choose to do nothing with it, save ride it as-is, I hope someone else takes it over.

 

You cannot just change a game's engine.

 

This game's engine does get regular updates.

Edited January 16, 2020 by jedimasterjac

First of all, tittle has a mistake. You are writing to devs. There is no such thing as devs. Is dev. And also he is really busy playing another game.

Second, the engine has always been a problem for me. I pvp mostly, and the dsync is absolutely garbage. Roll bugs, rocket out bugs, etc. You playing in a high ground, then a sorc who you are chasing force speed and you have an hologram upstairs but he is actually downstairs. Well, this is all because of game engine.

Third, A lot of people has been asking for a new engine, or at least a serious update on the one we have, but again "dev" is way too busy playing tetris online.

Third, If they (he, I meant) realize how much better the game would be with a new engine (Like modern pc actually not lagging in ops or world bosses, for example) and how much more people would play it, they (****, he I meant) should implement this right now.

You cannot just change a game's engine.

 

This game's engine does get regular updates.

 

The game's engine cannot be improved anymore than it has already been done. They cannot improve on the graphics or engine's abilities other than minor tweaks. The current "Hero" engine does not resemble anything like the Alpha engine they purchased. Replacement is the only option to improve game quality.

 

However, you are correct they cannot "just change the engine." It would take them a minimum of a year to code into a new engine the current game. Time and resources would probably cost as half as much as its predecessor. EA will not front the money for that nor will they allow BW to use any game engine other than Frostbite.

 

Conversely, we already have an idea how that will screw up the game if Frostbite was used. Frostbite was never meant for or designed for use with a RPGMMO without some really intense modifications. It is known BW devs aren't able to do that without the help of the original Frostbite engineer/devs as it was revealed with Anthem.

 

We'll just have to do with what we have. Nothing is going to change unless and until EA drops a boatload of money into this game for a complete overhaul to improve it. Wish in one hand and spit in the other. We know which will fill up first.

I've been harping on this topic for years with no answer, so don't count on EAWare to giving you one either. It's honestly one of my biggest problems with the game... the fact that I'm running a 1080 STRIX and can barely maintain 30 fps in warzones or high populated areas regardless of graphics settings, but yet I can run any current game on the market on Ultra (with the exception of RDR2) well above 60 fps with ease. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever get a true performance upgrade. This is arguably the least supported AAA MMO on the market with the most popular IP behind it... and idk about anyone else, but that's pretty sad to me. Edited January 17, 2020 by XxHazenxX

I've been harping on this topic for years with no answer, so don't count on EAWare to giving you one either. It's honestly one of my biggest problems with the game... the fact that I'm running a 1080 STRIX and can barely maintain 30 fps in warzones or high populated areas regardless of graphics settings, but yet I can run any current game on the market on Ultra (with the exception of RDR2) well above 60 fps with ease. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever get a true performance upgrade. This is arguably the least supported AAA MMO on the market with the most popular IP behind it... and idk about anyone else, but that's pretty sad to me.

 

Have you tried changing your PhysX setting from 'automatic' to your graphics card? If not, that allows the game to choose your CPU instead of your GPU. You can change all the graphic settings in the game it will not change your FPS unless you manually select your GPU via PhysX. Lowering Shadows to off or low will help with FPS too but nothing like selecting your GPU as I mentioned.

I've been harping on this topic for years with no answer, so don't count on EAWare to giving you one either. It's honestly one of my biggest problems with the game... the fact that I'm running a 1080 STRIX and can barely maintain 30 fps in warzones or high populated areas regardless of graphics settings, but yet I can run any current game on the market on Ultra (with the exception of RDR2) well above 60 fps with ease.

Well, you should stop harping on the topic and learn a little about it instead. 🙄

 

SWTOR is CPU bound. Your 1080 has nothing to do with the FPS you get in warzones - which is why, as you said, it's "regardless of graphics settings" (which should be an obvious clue).

 

Another simple fact is that the "engine" in SWTOR is about as "optimized" as it's ever going to be. There's only so much optimizing you can do - at some point you need to start over with a newer, better engine.

At this time the main "performance" feature of SWTOR is your system's CPU. SWTOR only uses, at most, 2 cores/threads, so for the CPU, clock speed and IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) are more important than cores.

Edited January 17, 2020 by JediQuaker

Instead of new textures etc, I'd like more to see this game more optimized and thus, not see ppl teleporting instead of running in warzones.

Have you tried changing your PhysX setting from 'automatic' to your graphics card? If not, that allows the game to choose your CPU instead of your GPU. You can change all the graphic settings in the game it will not change your FPS unless you manually select your GPU via PhysX. Lowering Shadows to off or low will help with FPS too but nothing like selecting your GPU as I mentioned.

 

Yea it's set to my GPU. That's the first thing I change in the NVIDIA control panel every time I install a new driver. That was my point though - it's the game's Frankenstein'd and outdated engine, not my (or anyone else's) system. Just specs-wise, anyone who owns a current gen mobile phone are above the specs necessary to run SWTOR even. I have a Galaxy Fold which has 12GB RAM for God's sake.

Well, you should stop harping on the topic and learn a little about it instead. 🙄

 

SWTOR is CPU bound. Your 1080 has nothing to do with the FPS you get in warzones - which is why, as you said, it's "regardless of graphics settings" (which should be an obvious clue).

 

Another simple fact is that the "engine" in SWTOR is about as "optimized" as it's ever going to be. There's only so much optimizing you can do - at some point you need to start over with a newer, better engine.

At this time the main "performance" feature of SWTOR is your system's CPU. SWTOR only uses, at most, 2 cores/threads, so for the CPU, clock speed and IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) are more important than cores.

 

1) I'd be willing to bet it's safe to say I know as much as anyone else here (including you) about the topic based on what I do for a living, but that's neither here nor there.

 

2) I think I'll keep harping on the topic both because I can and because something needs to be done about it.

 

3) I'm aware that SWTOR is "CPU bound," but that isn't even a relevant term in a game as old as this with the hardware we have today. You just said yourself it uses, at most, 2 cores/threads. Therefore, the game isn't "bound" by anything from even the hardware capability of 5 years ago, let alone today. It's bound by it's own skin (the engine). That's why I gave the example of running current gen games well over 60 FPS with ease. There's no reason this game should perform so poorly for so many people. And while you're probably correct that the game is about as optimized as it can be (we don't know because we don't work there, obviously), they're just going to have to figure something out like every other persistent online game on the market does because the performance is inexcusable.

 

Look at LotRO and ESO. LotRO released in 2007 and ESO released in 2014. Both of those games have vastly better performance than SWTOR through extensive performance revamps. There are things SWTOR can do to further increase performance outside of "tHeY hAvE tO bUiLd a NeW gAmE wItH a NeW eNgiNe." They just clearly aren't doing those things.

1) I'd be willing to bet it's safe to say I know as much as anyone else here (including you) about the topic based on what I do for a living, but that's neither here nor there.

 

2) I think I'll keep harping on the topic both because I can and because something needs to be done about it.

 

3) I'm aware that SWTOR is "CPU bound," but that isn't even a relevant term in a game as old as this with the hardware we have today. You just said yourself it uses, at most, 2 cores/threads. Therefore, the game isn't "bound" by anything from even the hardware capability of 5 years ago, let alone today. It's bound by it's own skin (the engine). That's why I gave the example of running current gen games well over 60 FPS with ease. There's no reason this game should perform so poorly for so many people. And while you're probably correct that the game is about as optimized as it can be (we don't know because we don't work there, obviously), they're just going to have to figure something out like every other persistent online game on the market does because the performance is inexcusable.

 

Look at LotRO and ESO. LotRO released in 2007 and ESO released in 2014. Both of those games have vastly better performance than SWTOR through extensive performance revamps. There are things SWTOR can do to further increase performance outside of "tHeY hAvE tO bUiLd a NeW gAmE wItH a NeW eNgiNe." They just clearly aren't doing those things.

 

This.

This.

 

I agree with this.

 

It's like they fired all their engineers except one guy or moved them all to other projects.

 

I wish they worked on this. Heck i am not even convinced they will fix the air jets bug in warzones/arenas. I love this game and i'm sure many others do, but having the game performing badly and bugged for so long and seemingly getting worse with time is an extremely bad motivator. PvP is definitly the worst. Delay, lag, (probably due to bad net code), people teleporting all over the place while moving (and becoming untargetable while that happens with their model falling through the floor and you are unable to determine if this person is in the top floor or bottom one), rocket out making the target disappear (effectively becoming a vanish). I mean, let's be honest, the game is really fun in PvP but it's outright broken. PvE is better but not too much better.

We could really use focus on improving the engine. Last year's patch where they improved the way they create assets in the engine was a really good motivator. It sent the message that Bioware is still working on the future of this game. That work needs to be continued. Any other game that patch would have been lauded as no content patch, but here people were alright with it because we all know the state of the engine and any improvements are important "content" patches in themselves.

Edited January 18, 2020 by Nemmar