Experiencing "video lag" but only in warzones?

[Lalicat]

My game runs great if I'm leveling/out in the world, but as soon as I join a warzone I get really horrible video lag. My PC is definitely not the issue, and just purchased a new video card to ensure I get the best playing experience (and my old one was dying - yum, screen tearing).

Is it possible that I'm experiencing the fabled "ability" lag? Running around seems fine, but as soon as I use any abilities I get a 3-4 second lag between hitting the button and the ability casting etc. I don't experience any freezes.

[Rawt]

Sounds like a bottleneck with your CPU - what is yours?

[philefluxx]

WZ are going to stress your machine far more than running around in a static environment. Try turning down graphic options one at a time until you see your FPS rise. I usually turn off shadows in WZ, I dont need my computer rendering 20 different shadows as it makes no benefit to my ability to win. Also keep in mind that you have 20 people using abilities too so the higher level of detail your graphics are set to it has to account for every player in the WZ.

[Armond]

I doubt it's your ability lag. Ability lag just means - give or take - that "instant" cast abilities aren't actually "instant" - they lock you out from doing anything until the animation finishes. (A great example is the Jedi Knight's Force Sweep. I press the button and can instantly move, but I don't do damage and can't use any other abilities until the animation finishes.)

Warzones in general require a lot more bandwidth and computing power because instead of one PC and a dozen or two fairly simple NPCs, you now have 16 PCs casting a bunch of different spells, moving to various locations, interacting with obstacles, etc. It could be your processor, but it could also be your internet connection. What's your ping like in and out of warzones?

[Jamber]

I get the same reaction lag as I do in the fleet. Any action I do on the key board takes a second (or sometimes two) to even show up reacting on my screen. I assumed it had to do with something on the game, being terrible keeping data and reactions consistent amongst multiple players.

[Armond]

I get the same reaction lag as I do in the fleet. Any action I do on the key board takes a second (or sometimes two) to even show up reacting on my screen. I assumed it had to do with something on the game, being terrible keeping data and reactions consistent amongst multiple players.

When in doubt, blame the devs, right?

[Roose]

When in doubt, blame the devs, right?

Why is it so hard for some people to accept that the thing they love is not perfect? I know tons of gamers with beefy rigs that have the same problem.

Ya, it is the developers fault that the game is so poorly optimized. That does not mean the game is bad. It just means they need to fix some things still.

[Armond]

Why is it so hard for some people to accept that the thing they love is not perfect? I know tons of gamers with beefy rigs that have the same problem.

Ya, it is the developers fault that the game is so poorly optimized. That does not mean the game is bad. It just means they need to fix some things still.

I'm not sleeping with the developers. I rage every time I hit sub-20 fps in space missions because there's a million things on screen. I rage every time my ping spikes above 20k and I die in huttball because I literally have no idea what's happening. I could go on, but you get the idea. Does that make it Bioware's fault? No. These problems would be solved, respectively, by having a graphics card that's not tickling three years old and by not having the upstairs neighbors watch netflix while I'm playing. The guy I quoted gave absolutely no information about his setup or his internet connection and expected us to believe everything was Bioware's fault.

When there's a problem, the first and most efficient thing to do is to figure out how you can solve it yourself instead of blaming others.

[Lalicat]

Mmkay, figured this might help...

Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
4 GB RAM (+ 4GB ReadyBoost)
AMD Radeon HD 6850

My internet connection is 14mbps down and 1.5 mbps up. No one else using it but me at the times I've attempted WZs.

My ping in and out of warzones isn't much different. Out of warzones it's between 90 - 110ms. In warzones the highest I've seen is 130ms.

Maybe I'm totally wrong about my PC being able to handle it? Runs great on high settings + anti-aliasing out of warzones. I realize my CPU is older.

I've heard the suggestion of disabling shadows (I do experience some weird shadow/clipping issues during cutscenes anyways), so I will try that first and go from there. Just sucks having to fiddle with settings to switch between warzones/pve.

[Jamber]

When in doubt, blame the devs, right?

Oh yea, I'm out on a vendetta. Gotta bash everything about this game.

No. I love the game, and I wish it only played on my PC better. The game isn't out long enough yet to help me diagnose all my issues. For one, I have much longer load times than other players. This is much easily tested by my releasing in an op and coming back in, I'm always last. The load time on the fleet is so long. I know this is an issue with my set up, but overall, the population has noticed longer load times with larger planets, load times that are longer than some competitor's games.

A less easily tested issue is this reaction lag. It's a real thing, and I know many people in my guild (who have the faster load time than I) have even more trouble than I do on the fleet and reaction times. But, this event is hard to test, and each player will percieve it differently. Some might not even notice it, while others can't help but to. But, for me, it's very real. And maybe everyone out here can help me diagnose where my problem might lie (in my loading and reaction lag).

Specs are: AMD Athalon II X4 645 Processor 3.1GHz, (Corsair) 4 GB DDR3 RAM 667MHz, Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5

Not so great with optimizing my own stuff, so tell me if you need more info.

[Armond]

@Lalicat: The processor is the bottleneck, but you're still within the minimum specs, so that's probably a bioware thing. Messing with shadows should help, but yeah, it sucks having to toggle between warzones and PvE.

@Jamber: Hell of a vendetta, man. You need to smell yourself some coffee. Makes life all better.

But seriously. In wow, any time I had issues with reaction lag or load times, it was usually the fault of my internet, not so much my processor (and your processor is better than mine). Multitasking is also a great way to slow things down, but I do that all the time (see also: doing space missions in between writing this post).

Reaction lag I don't know much about. All I know is that large capital cities have always lagged. Dalaran destroyed my computer back in the day, probably because Blizzard did something silly like make my character load textures from the ground way below in addition to the city. The fleets might be doing something similar, I just don't know.

[grandpab]

Specs are: AMD Athalon II X4 645 Processor 3.1GHz, (Corsair) 4 GB DDR3 RAM 667MHz, Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5

I don't know if the ram would make a big difference or not, but my computer is fairly similar to yours. I have an amd athlon II x4 630 2.80ghz processor, radeon hd 6870, and then 6 gb of ram, and I play the game almost lag free. My fps drops a lot on the fleet, but it's still fairly smooth.

[Lalicat]

@Armond: Yeah, I was pretty sure I was within minimum specs... I guess I'll give the no shadows thing a try and see if it helps. If it makes them PLAYABLE, at least, I'll be happy. As it is I'm getting my ass handed to me because my abilities are lagging so badly.

[Glorious Leader]

Oh yea, I'm out on a vendetta. Gotta bash everything about this game.

No. I love the game, and I wish it only played on my PC better. The game isn't out long enough yet to help me diagnose all my issues. For one, I have much longer load times than other players. This is much easily tested by my releasing in an op and coming back in, I'm always last. The load time on the fleet is so long. I know this is an issue with my set up, but overall, the population has noticed longer load times with larger planets, load times that are longer than some competitor's games.

A less easily tested issue is this reaction lag. It's a real thing, and I know many people in my guild (who have the faster load time than I) have even more trouble than I do on the fleet and reaction times. But, this event is hard to test, and each player will percieve it differently. Some might not even notice it, while others can't help but to. But, for me, it's very real. And maybe everyone out here can help me diagnose where my problem might lie (in my loading and reaction lag).

Specs are: AMD Athalon II X4 645 Processor 3.1GHz, (Corsair) 4 GB DDR3 RAM 667MHz, Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5

Not so great with optimizing my own stuff, so tell me if you need more info.

If that processor is a black edition you need to over clock the shit out of it. 3.1ghz is slow and even a boost to 3.6 will see noticeable improvement. The latest edition of CCC contains a tool to let you OC your amd processors from windows. CPU Overdrive or some such. If its not a black edition consider investing in one. It should run on the same motherboard and is relatively inexpensive. You'll see a good performance boost out of it simply because its unlocked and you can OC the fuck out of it. Without a voltage tweak I'm running mine at 4.0ghz. You'll need an after market cooler as well.

As for load times your best bet is an SSD. After I bought my SSD it was night and day. I REALLY recommend investing in one. You could also set up a RAID configuration if you've got a couple of regular hard drives lying around.

[Standing]

My game runs great if I'm leveling/out in the world, but as soon as I join a warzone I get really horrible video lag. My PC is definitely not the issue, and just purchased a new video card to ensure I get the best playing experience (and my old one was dying - yum, screen tearing).

Is it possible that I'm experiencing the fabled "ability" lag? Running around seems fine, but as soon as I use any abilities I get a 3-4 second lag between hitting the button and the ability casting etc. I don't experience any freezes.

It's in large part the game. I run an i7 860, 8 DDR3, Radeon 6850 video card, drives up to date (even tried the 12.1 preview driver for vid card which is good). I also run gamebooster, defrag is fine, no malware, run a ram drive. The game runs OK out on the planets, but in Warzones and Ilum combat area, forget anything enjoyable. There are enough significant complaints about this, it's not trolling, and I completely understand your frustration.

In Ilum for the last week, if I am in an OPS group, every five to ten minutes someone will disconnect because their game crashes. People are constantly complaining about FPS issues, even if there is only 15 or 16 people going one-on-one.

There are all sorts of issues and tweeks to try to improve this game.

Graphic performance "tricks"

1- each time you log in, set all of your graphics to the preset "high" setting option, apply it, then lower your settings.
2- turn off shadows and Vertical sync. They are huge performance hits.
3- Add this to the .ini file: "FarClipScale = 0.10000000149" This was in during beta and removed. It significantly reduces your view distance, which means your system is doing less rendering.
4- Restart the game client every 3 hours.
5- google and install GameBooster 3. It's freeware and widely known. It will shut down unnecessary processes and background programs which are not needed while you game, freeing up your hardware. It's easy and handy, and worthwhile.
6- Try the 12.1 preview driver for the Catalyst Control Center, AMD drivers.
7- FORCE AA using Catalyst Control Center and do not use the in game AA settings. My system--along with many other posters on private gaming forums--runs better using the 4x or 8x AA through Catalyst Control with the in game Anti Alias off.


Good luck. None of these are cures to this graphics engine. They might in total reduce some of the frustration.

[PACOX]

When in doubt, blame the devs, right?

Uh, the game IS poorly optimized. They've been working on it since launch.


OT: Try setting the two swtor processes to one core.

1. Launch the game
2. Tab out
3. Run Task Manager (right click your toolbar/ctrl+alt+DEL)
4. Find the two processes 'swtor.exe'
5. Right Click them select 'Set Affinity', set both processes to CPU 3

- If that helps you have to do it every time you want to play...

[Armond]

Uh, the game IS poorly optimized. They've been working on it since launch.

I'll spell myself out more, since apparently it's necessary.

I'm not claiming that the game is optimized perfectly. I'm not saying it's poorly optimized. I'll be the first to say that Skyrim is better optimized.

What I am saying is that people appear to be complaining and blaming Bioware without looking at all into what they might be doing wrong.

I work with customers all day. That shit annoys me.

Also, for emphasis: appear to be. So far I've been wrong on two counts in this thread, which makes me happy because that's more than I usually get in a day.

On a related note, I wish it was noted more clearly somewhere that shadows require a strong GPU.

[Deleted]

There seem to be some optimization issues on the fleet and some WZs. The game runs perfectly fluid for me in all situation, but it stutters a fair bit on the fleet, even if there are only 30 or so people around. The stuttering goes away once I'm out of the middle and standing at the GTN or some other compartment.

Disabling shadows does increase my fps, but it doesn't do jack against this "stuttering". (I run with disabled shadows anyway.)

That's on i7 960 / 16gb 1066 / GF 590 / 16mb|4mb connection. Not absolutely top-end, but it should suffice.

[Rawt]

Mmkay, figured this might help...

Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
4 GB RAM (+ 4GB ReadyBoost)
AMD Radeon HD 6850

Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
4 GB RAM (+ 4GB ReadyBoost)

Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHZ

We've found the culprit.