Hokaine Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Hi guys, here is the computer I have (all drivers up to date): Alienware M17xR3 Bios: InsydeH20 1.0 A12 Intel Core i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (8CPUs) 8192MB RAM (1600) ATI HD 6990M I'm running SWTOR with everything maxed and that should be ok with such a computer. However, whenever I get into combat my FPS floors to less than 20 per second, probably less than 10 in 8 player operations. I tried to removed the shadows since I know they take a lot of FPS but it changed nothing. Does anyone have an idea of what's wrong here ? Thanks a lot ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostInReverie Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 My computer is very similar in specs to yours, and I'm not having the issues you are. Reducing shadows is a good idea. Do you have nameplates enabled? I've heard having all the nameplates enabled causes greater lag in people's games. Also, do you always experience this lag or has it just been happening recently? If it's recent, it may be due to high server population slowing things down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViridisDraco Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 update driver & windows, check ati settings, take a look at the CPU usage (swtor use a lot of CPU) and try to lower the shadows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeToo Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 note the fps color: <dev post> The color of the FPS display indicates whether the game is GPU bound or CPU bound. Most likely the display will be red when the game is CPU bound and yellow when GPU bound and green when neither of those. </dev post> Having said that .. I'm running usually 90-100 FPS usually and it shows all three colors rapidly, even though gpu nor and single core cpu never hits 100%. You might also consider turning off firewalls (temporarily) or virus checkers, etc while gaming and see if that helps. Those things can get quite glitchy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigbearbear Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 I have very little experience with gaming on laptops but I don't think the graphics chip on the laptop is powerful enough to handle max settings for SWTOR. You'll want to dial it down to Medium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atrimentus Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 (edited) Try disabling Bloom. If that doesn't do it, go to the task manager and right click on the two swtor.exe process and Set Priority to "High" or "Above Normal." I have a HD 7850 and I was getting <30 FPS in all settings (maxed and lowest) but after setting the priority to high my FPS improved dramatically. Edited November 21, 2012 by Atrimentus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Try disabling Bloom. If that doesn't do it, go to the task manager and right click on the two swtor.exe process and Set Priority to "High" or "Above Normal." I have a HD 7850 and I was getting <30 FPS in all settings (maxed and lowest) but after setting the priority to high my FPS improved dramatically. This, I have a lower end computer, but my FPS increased by 15 by doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielallinson Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Nice. I think I'll try this. How can I monitor the FPS? I'd be keen to know what it runs like before and after this. Assume this works for Windows 7? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hokaine Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 I've made some changes in the Catalyst Control Center and the game seems to run more fluently now. Mostly, I told it to bypass all SWTOR settings in order to do what I chose (max quality all the time). However, I haven't tried it in an 8 man operation yet. Thanks for answering this post, here are a few answers: I have very little experience with gaming on laptops but I don't think the graphics chip on the laptop is powerful enough to handle max settings for SWTOR. You'll want to dial it down to Medium. Nowadays, laptops can be very powerful. Mine can run any game with ultra specs: any game. SWTOR should make no difference. My computer is very similar in specs to yours, and I'm not having the issues you are. Reducing shadows is a good idea. Do you have nameplates enabled? I've heard having all the nameplates enabled causes greater lag in people's games. Also, do you always experience this lag or has it just been happening recently? If it's recent, it may be due to high server population slowing things down. My problem is not lag (latency problem) but frame per second problem. It happens only when lots of things are going on (engaging fights). No problem on Carrick station for example. note the fps color: <dev post> The color of the FPS display indicates whether the game is GPU bound or CPU bound. Most likely the display will be red when the game is CPU bound and yellow when GPU bound and green when neither of those. </dev post> Having said that .. I'm running usually 90-100 FPS usually and it shows all three colors rapidly, even though gpu nor and single core cpu never hits 100%. You might also consider turning off firewalls (temporarily) or virus checkers, etc while gaming and see if that helps. Those things can get quite glitchy. My FPS always goes from green to red in a very fast way. Try disabling Bloom. If that doesn't do it, go to the task manager and right click on the two swtor.exe process and Set Priority to "High" or "Above Normal." I have a HD 7850 and I was getting <30 FPS in all settings (maxed and lowest) but after setting the priority to high my FPS improved dramatically. Good advice, anyone should take it. Thanks ! Nice. I think I'll try this. How can I monitor the FPS? I'd be keen to know what it runs like before and after this. Assume this works for Windows 7? Thanks CTRL + SHIFT + F = your FPS in the lower left corner of the screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtangwai Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Isn't a HD6990M a Crossfire GPU? There are issues with Crossfire/SLI, try playing in fullscreen windowed mode. I have Crossfire (quadfire in fact) HD6950's and I get much better and smoother performance (with the loss of AA and other features) in fullscreen windowed mode (which uses only 1 GPU) on 3x30" monitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hokaine Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 Isn't a HD6990M a Crossfire GPU? I have no idea ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashaari Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Isn't a HD6990M a Crossfire GPU? There are issues with Crossfire/SLI, try playing in fullscreen windowed mode. I have Crossfire (quadfire in fact) HD6950's and I get much better and smoother performance (with the loss of AA and other features) in fullscreen windowed mode (which uses only 1 GPU) on 3x30" monitors. I would agree with the above advice, it seems to solve many peoples issues and was recommended to me by BW's online support when I replaced my rig and had major issues with SWTOR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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