Hi-resolution character textures causing severe FPS drops

[Kelso.8279]

Hello,as title suggest, i have serious FPS drops when i activate this feature in graphics options. FPS drops to single-digit numbers every time when the game loads player textures, e.g. when approaching group of players or when players getting near me. Afterward the game smoothes out again. This manifests in-game as stutters and frame hitches (short freezes).

My setup: i7 8700K oc´ed to 4.6 Ghz, 32GB ram (DDR4 3200Mhz), gtx 1080ti, SSD 960 evo.Game installed on SSD disk, clean windows 10 installation updated to newest version, newest GPU driver.

My guess is that there appeared some incompabilities between the game and newer drivers or maybe win updates?

Do you also have a problems with this feature?
I just want to know if problem is at my side, or if it is a problem in general so I can just "tick off" this feature and dont bother with it anymore

By the way I played this game several months ago and dont remember this problem back then, game stuttered for a bit only when I was approching really big mob of players during meta events. Now it stutters even with a few players around.

Best regards

[Blocki.4931]

If your amount of player characters shown is high and all of them have very high res then you're going to lag, is it that?

[Skotlex.7580]

Hmm. Loading characters shouldn't be an issue as that happens in the background. If the low fps goes away after a while within a battle, it's possible your graphics driver is still compiling the shaders of other players, once those are cached the next time it goes much faster. Granted, if you keep bumping into tons of new particle-infested characters (that is, pretty much any open world large event), then this will keep happening.

My best guess to attempt and get high resolution textures for other characters working is to reduce the number of other players visible to the minimum (you don't really need to see if you have 10 or 100 players around you).

[Kelso.8279]

So, the problem has returned even after Hi-res feature turned off. The problem lies somewhere else sadly. :/I tried to lower character limit and character models to medium but it is still happening, even on half empty map as soon as some players appears near me. I have no clue what is happening. Do you guys are using actual GPU drivers? or is it best to search for some older ones? also, did u tweaked some settings in GPU control panel or windows? :)

Tried to reset bios settings in case this game does not like overclock, but that was not the issue too. Still happening.

[Vilin.8056]

Does this happens outside of Drizzlewood as well? What resolution are you running?

[TheQuickFox.3826]

Overclocking of your CPU may cause stuttering if the processor cannot handle the speed or if it gets too hot.

If that is not the issue: GW2 can have bad performance even on high-end system specs like yours. Especially character model limit and character model quality settings need to be lowered to get acceptable frame rates in areas with lots of characters like boss fights and WvW battles.

I would suggest my settings as a baseline for high-end systems.

Works great on these specs: Xeon W-2145 - GeForce GTX 1080 - 32GB DDR4 2400 - Win7x64

[Kelso.8279]

I was not in Drizzlewood yet, but played some event and metas in BJora marches (trying to catchup missed content while i was not playing GW2) Same drops are in cities. I already tried older GPU driver which i was using before and was stable in all games i tried but problem persisted. It is maybe time to check some windows tweak guides maybe some win features are causing problems with this particular game.

Ty for answer and screenshot "TheQuickFox.3826" I tried lowest character and model limit and it really alleviated my problem. But it still does not explain why i was playing with high on both char limit & quality few months ago. With char model on low, other players looks like scarecrows =) :# It does not really adds enjoyment and immersion haha

[Kelso.8279]

Well :*I solved my problem with dx912pxy mod. Now the game runs smooth in 2K resolution at ultra settings, with both char limit and models on high. Only slight microstuttering appears during massive PVE events during models loading (tested in Auric Basin meta, which always tanked my FPS)It is shame that i must use unsupported 3rd party software for the game to be playable on modern hardware. Why developers does not implement switchable - optional dx12 api inside GW2 client is beyond my understanding, when it make such a magic in this game :o

[Ashantara.8731]

@Kelso.8279 said:I tried to lower character limit and character models to medium but it is still happening

Try "Low" for the first character model setting, "Lowest" for the second one.

even on half empty map as soon as some players appears near me.

Might you have overheating issues?

Do you guys are using actual GPU drivers?

You mean "the latest", not "actual", I presume? ;) Yes.

also, did u tweaked some settings in GPU control panel or windows? :)

If you are using Windows 10, there is tons of stuff to tweak or fully deactivate in order to improve performance. It's an OS bloated with tons of kitten that nobody needs nor wants, really.

As for the nVidia Control Panel, you can always use the "High Performance" settings that are available.

@Kelso.8279 said:Well :*I solved my problem with dx912pxy mod.

Glad you solved the issue! I'll have to upgrade my whole system before I can make use of that. Looking forward to trying out that mod. :)

[Kelso.8279]

Thanks for your answer.

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@"Kelso.8279" said:Do you guys are using actual GPU drivers?

You mean "the latest", not "actual", I presume? ;) Yes.

Just my crude english, sry :)

About that overheating, this game does not even fully use my hardware and both CPU and GPU sits at around 65°C