Poor Performance

[KripTed.2806]

This game has poor performance in cities and places where there's a high volume of NPC's or characters. Out in the world and just grinding the game gets like 100 FPS. Soon as you enter a city, certain ones anyways. The game barely pushes 60 fps. I mean the game is literally 9 years old lol. It shouldn't be functioning this bad with new hardware. Are we ever gonna get an upgrade? Performance patch? Maybe just make a Guild Wars 3? Anyways, here are my specs. 

 

RTX 2070 SUPER

32GB of RAM (4000MHZ)

i7-11700k

Edited June 28, 2021 by KripTed.2806

[Ayrilana.1396]

Upgrading the engine may be unlikely as the cost/resources may not be worth it over what would be gained. Players do have options to improve the performance by adjusting settings such as player model limit and shadows/reflections. It’s not perfect but it should work for most people who don’t run the game on a potato. 
 

Having a new engine in GW3 would probably be the most likely scenario and that’s assuming there will even be such a thing.  How the next expansion performs will possibly determine the future of the franchise. 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Ayrilana.1396

[Follyfoot.2803]

Sometimes in Lions arch it's a very slow slide show I know.  I don't think your hardware can change this.  It's something we all learn to put up with.  As long as your getting a good fps in the field I wouldn't worry about it to much.

Turning other player models down to the lowest it will go does help somewhat.  All the glowing people take their toll.

Edited June 28, 2021 by Follyfoot.2803

[Zephire.8049]

The engine is actually about 20 years old, not 9, so it definitely doesn't work well on today's tech. The bottleneck is on the CPU as it only uses one core or thread (can't remember which) so past a certain point your GPU and RAM don't matter unless you have other programs running on your computer.

 

A new engine would be fantastic, to say the least. Whether we'll get one or not is a different matter. All the new particle effects each store update certainly doesn't help.

 

But in the meantime, turning on character culling in cities or during populated meta events is a workaround and will dramatically increase your FPS if you don't have it on already.

[joneirikb.7506]

Improve FPS

Guild Wars 2 uses the same game engine that ArenaNet created for Guild Wars 1 back in 2005, which means the basic engine is very old and not optimised for modern hardware like multi-cores at all, and is still stuck on DirectX 9, and can't make use of DirectX 12 features.

Almost all problems with FPS in the game is tied to the CPU and not the GPU unlike most other modern games, because the game is almost incapable of using multiple threads to make use of the multi-core's of modern CPUs.

FPS problems is most visible when there are a lot of players gathered in the same place, examples: World Bosses, Huge map Meta events, Lions Arch, and Large scale WvW battles. Because the game needs the CPU to calculate and keep track of all those players. The same situations can also cause “skill-lag” which is something else, and not related to FPS.

Some settings you can tweak to improve FPS, these four has the largest impact:

1. Character Model Limit: Lowest
2. Character Model Quality: Lowest
3. Shadows: None
4. Reflections: None

A couple of others that can be tweaked for minor benefits:

1. Animation: Low, if you want to avoid seeing some infusion effects.
2. LOD Distance: Low, can make your pc draw less players on the screen.
3. Effect LOD: Yes, to reduce some spell effects.

Edited June 28, 2021 by joneirikb.7506

[Follyfoot.2803]

Just out of interest but who would trade in the next expansion EOD for a graphics update?

[Stalkingwolf.6035]

11 hours ago, KripTed.2806 said:

This game has poor performance in cities and places where there's a high volume of NPC's or characters. Out in the world and just grinding the game gets like 100 FPS. Soon as you enter a city, certain ones anyways. The game barely pushes 60 fps. I mean the game is literally 9 years old lol. It shouldn't be functioning this bad with new hardware. Are we ever gonna get an upgrade? Performance patch? Maybe just make a Guild Wars 3? Anyways, here are my specs. 

 

RTX 2070 SUPER

32GB of RAM (4000MHZ)

i7-11700k

Single Core Performance is the only way to get better results. but imo 60fps is ok for a MMO.

i can run more in other MMOs and always cap at 60fps.

[kharmin.7683]

41 minutes ago, Follyfoot.2803 said:

Just out of interest but who would trade in the next expansion EOD for a graphics update?

This wouldn't generate any additional revenue.  I don't think that the investors would approve of such an update.

[Follyfoot.2803]

4 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

This wouldn't generate any additional revenue.  I don't think that the investors would approve of such an update.

That's why I was putting it to us, the players.  We already know money talks or should I say money shapes game development.

[Follyfoot.2803]

I just ran Geforce experience and let it optimize my games.  I couldn't believe what it done to GW2.  It was one big splash of vulgar colour.  I could hardly make out my character. 😄 

Made FFXIV look tops though.

[kharmin.7683]

1 hour ago, Follyfoot.2803 said:

That's why I was putting it to us, the players.  We already know money talks or should I say money shapes game development.

That's my point, though.  This would benefit current players and not really incentivize new players (revenue).  Releasing a new expansion will generate more cash than making an engine change that no one needs to pay for. 

[Super Hayes.6890]

I just upgraded my gen8 i3 to a gen8 i5 and saw a modest improvement in load times but the fps still tanks in highly populated areas. It is discouraging to see the OP's computer specs who is having the same performance issues. I guess I can't upgrade my way into smooth group gameplay 😕 When the time comes, I hope there will be a GW 3 because I don't want it to end.

[Veprovina.4876]

3 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

That's my point, though.  This would benefit current players and not really incentivize new players (revenue).  Releasing a new expansion will generate more cash than making an engine change that no one needs to pay for. 

What if the players make a kickstarter or some such campaign and invest directly in a new engine? Money talk, so let the players say what they want...

 

Doesn't even need new assets, just a new engine that can handle midern multi threading and graphics technologies to optimise assets loading and netcode. 

 

With some Cool in game items for the ones that pay more and such...

[Eddbopkins.2630]

I have a ryzen9 3900, 5700xt, 16 gigs ram.  I only get 20-40 frames in wvw. And something like 30- 100 in pvp....theres biiig fps dips in this game. Using the same engine as gw1 was a baaaaaad choice.

Edited June 28, 2021 by Eddbopkins.2630
Spelling

[Eraden.8740]

I get from 100 to 130 fps on my system in most places. However, I have a brand new 10 gen i9 in my machine along with a 3090 card and a couple of SSDs. The only time I see a noticeable decline in performance is when 50-100+ people are all blasting away during an event.

[KripTed.2806]

Is it not possible to even maybe try and make a performance patch to utilize current hardware and CPUs? I mean this company definitely has the revenue for it. I mean at this point I rather a Guild Wars 3. I feel like I can’t fully enjoy this game, cause I know my system can outperform this game and should be hitting 240+ frames. Is there maybe something we can do in the Nvidia Control Panel?? 

 

 

On 6/29/2021 at 12:21 AM, Eraden.8740 said:

I get from 100 to 130 fps on my system in most places. However, I have a brand new 10 gen i9 in my machine along with a 3090 card and a couple of SSDs. The only time I see a noticeable decline in performance is when 50-100+ people are all blasting away during an event.

 

I don’t believe you. Sorry. I believe you’re getting 100-130 fps out in the world, but not in Lion’s Arch. No one is. 

Edited July 4, 2021 by KripTed.2806

[Linken.6345]

55 minutes ago, KripTed.2806 said:

Is it not possible to even maybe try and make a performance patch to utilize current hardware and CPUs? I mean this company definitely has the revenue for it. I mean at this point I rather a Guild Wars 3. I feel like I can’t fully enjoy this game, cause I know my system can outperform this game and should be hitting 240+ frames. Is there maybe something we can do in the Nvidia Control Panel?? 

 

 

 

I don’t believe you. Sorry. I believe you’re getting 100-130 fps out in the world, but not in Lion’s Arch. No one is. 

 

Maybe you missed the new blogpost.

 

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/arenanet-studio-update-july-2021/ 

 

Client Performance Optimization

We’ve heard you loud and clear—Guild Wars 2 needs better frame rates. We agree. We’re actively working on upgrading our engine to DirectX 11, and we expect to be able to roll it out in an opt-in beta later this year. An important note is that the upgrade to DX11 itself isn’t a magical fix for frame rates on its own. Some players may not notice a difference at all. However, upgrading to DX11 opens a lot of doors for improving performance—CPU multithreading for instance. It also paves the way for some potential graphics upgrades down the road.

We’re investing in our infrastructure, engine, and graphics because we’re looking to the future. This is a long-term effort.

[Eraden.8740]

3 hours ago, KripTed.2806 said:

Is it not possible to even maybe try and make a performance patch to utilize current hardware and CPUs? I mean this company definitely has the revenue for it. I mean at this point I rather a Guild Wars 3. I feel like I can’t fully enjoy this game, cause I know my system can outperform this game and should be hitting 240+ frames. Is there maybe something we can do in the Nvidia Control Panel?? 

 

 

 

I don’t believe you. Sorry. I believe you’re getting 100-130 fps out in the world, but not in Lion’s Arch. No one is. 

That 100-130 fps was measured WHILE I WAS IN LION'S ARCH. Near the crafting area to be precise. To be honest though, I did measure it when there wasn't a lot of people.

 

Update: I measured it again around a lot of people when in Lion's Arch and my performance dropped down to 60 fps.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Eraden.8740

[KripTed.2806]

On 7/3/2021 at 10:22 PM, Linken.6345 said:

 

Maybe you missed the new blogpost.

 

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/arenanet-studio-update-july-2021/ 

 

Client Performance Optimization

We’ve heard you loud and clear—Guild Wars 2 needs better frame rates. We agree. We’re actively working on upgrading our engine to DirectX 11, and we expect to be able to roll it out in an opt-in beta later this year. An important note is that the upgrade to DX11 itself isn’t a magical fix for frame rates on its own. Some players may not notice a difference at all. However, upgrading to DX11 opens a lot of doors for improving performance—CPU multithreading for instance. It also paves the way for some potential graphics upgrades down the road.

We’re investing in our infrastructure, engine, and graphics because we’re looking to the future. This is a long-term effort.

 

Well, that's what I like to see. Least I know the money spent on this game is actually being used for something like that. 

 

23 hours ago, Eraden.8740 said:

That 100-130 fps was measured WHILE I WAS IN LION'S ARCH. Near the crafting area to be precise. To be honest though, I did measure it when there wasn't a lot of people.

 

Update: I measured it again around a lot of people when in Lion's Arch and my performance dropped down to 60 fps.

 

Yea....I mean I really love this game and I've spent quite a bit of money on it, but I feel like at this moment in time, I can't fully enjoy the game because of frame rates. 

[T G.7496]

On 6/28/2021 at 1:35 PM, kharmin.7683 said:

This wouldn't generate any additional revenue.  I don't think that the investors would approve of such an update.

I wonder what Jeff Bezos would have to say about that.

[Yuhai.1890]

Actually the newest unreal engine is free to use. I mean this would still cost something for development time etc. But i refuse to play this beautiful game becaue of the massive performance issues with the engine. And i am not alone about this. I think Gw2 could nearly double the playerbase with a new engine.

[kokocabana.8153]

The Unreal engine is only free of you are not using for commercial purposes.

When most people think of using a new game engine, all they think about is the graphics and not the backend infrastructure that needs to be created for the engine to support an MMO. You can probably hack together something pretty quickly for a playable single player or even multiplayer game, but MMOs have a lot of special backend stuff to maintain all the persistent game data and networking code to support thousands of players that most games do not require. The devs would be pretty much developing a brand new game from scratch even if they could port over graphics assets.

Edited June 17, 2022 by kokocabana.8153