SWTOR "The Old Republic" M14x Thread

[Stevenxowens792]

Reserving for screenshots, performance review, optimization techniques, etc...

Performance:

System: M14x, I7-2630qm, Nvidia 555mGT 1.5, 4gb ram @ 1333mhz, 60+64gb SSD

Game Graphics Options:

Native Resolution 1366x768 (full screen or windowed full screen)

All Option Enabled and HIGH

Grass - Max

Trees - Max

FPS - As with any MMO the FPS will fluctuate depending on server latency. Intro Area I average around 40fps with dips into low to mid 30s. The game does not require TURBO with the I7 processor as detected with FRAPS. It made zero impact nor did it impact loading times into different zones. Overclocking the GPU makes a large difference as I noticed on two screenshots that it was a 10 fps increase and its much smoother.

The settings file is located at C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\SWTOR\swtor\settings

Shadows High causes the largest impact to FPS. If you try it for yourself you will notice as much as a 15 FPS difference going from HIGH to LOW shadows. I didn't see much of an impact going from LOW to NONE. It would be nice to be able to edit the config to allow a "MEDIUM". Low shadows are just a minor step above NONE.

GPU Utilization during game: 99-100 percent

GPU Temps: 70-71c (post IC Diamond 24 re-pasted 2 weeks ago) clocks 752/1002

CPU Utilization during game: 36-45 percent (6 out of 8 threads active)

CPU Temps: 80-87c (Depends on if I enable turbo and set to max or use Tstop to disable it)

Here are 69 screenshots. Sorry I didn't post them inside the thread but too many. Planning on making a video as well when I can clear up some space. Thanks!

http://imageshack.us/g/412/swtor2011121511410394.png/

Gaming on the go? No problem! Just make sure the executables are set to use the Intel HD GPU and set the game preferences to LOW. Works great at native resolution but you can drop it to 1280x720 if you need a few extra FPS. Had no problem keeping the game around 30fps.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Stevenxowens792

[unreal25]

Hey Steven,

I know this is an M14x thread but nevertheless, I thought I'd share what I am getting:

System: M17x-r2, i7-620m, ATI 5870m crossfire, 4gb ram @ 1067mhz, OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD

Game Graphics Options:

Native Resolution 1920x1200 (full screen)

All Option Enabled and HIGH

Grass - 75%

Trees - 50%

I get anywhere between 20 and 100 FPS depending on the area. Given that you said you had grass and trees on 100% I guess you haven't been on Alderaan. Let me know whether you still get good FPS there. Shadows High-Low does have a massive FPS impact. Also, sometimes I am getting FPS loss if I alt+tab and come back into the game.

GPU Utilization during game: 99-100 % on both GPUs

GPU Temps: 67-77 C on both GPUs (Arctic Cooling MX-4 on Memory, AS5 on GPU die, no retention mod (yet), stock clocks 700/1000MHz, repasted ~6months ago)

CPU Utilization during game: ~80 %

CPU Temps: ~70 C (never repasted, stock with default TurboBoost settings)

[Stevenxowens792]

You kidding me? Your welcome to add whatever you want to any thread man. I just appreciate the updates/feedback. I can't wait to get to Alderaan. May get some more time to play today. ONly lvl 19. Im making purple stuff out the max!

[unreal25]

Hey just found better settings:

all HIGH except Shadows (I set it to Low). Grass and Trees to 100% and VSync on (I took me about 20 tried to get it on without flickering.) With that GPU load is about 63% on both cards and the fans on M17x are on their lowest setting (quiet humming sound). Getting steady 40-60FPS.

[Stevenxowens792]

Shadows low gives you a huge increase but I can't stand not having full shadows. Even though im almost 40, I love comics and graphic novels. In my opinion, shading and shadows really help make the art stand out. It also makes gaming stand out as well. So unless I absolutely have to remove or lower shadows I usually wont. Now certain games like BFBC2 and BF3 lowering shadows is not as big of a visual impact. Maybe the edges aren't quite as smooth or something like that but I can deal with it. In games like SWTOR where setting it to LOW almost removes the shadows it just doesn't look as good to me.

(again this is just my opinion here, not the gospel)

Thanks for the update. Best Wishes, StevenX

[unreal25]

Yeah it does remove a lot of shadows but still looks pretty good to me. It also depends on the location... e.g. I'd definitely turn the shadows high on tattooine but I did get some FPS loss when we did a raid boss (vsync was off however, so it could have been that too). Also a lot of the shadows are pixelated, the same problem I had in Skyrim and just looked weird. I am usually more bothered by pixelated edges, but on the resolution I am playing there's no problem there. On the other hand, they did improve their engine by quite a bit since the first beta I was in. At that time, playing this game was like running Furmark burn test. Just doesn't feel like properly coded game.

[unreal25]

Hey Steven,

You still playing SWTOR? I just cancelled my subscription but have 7 days left, so I'll be able to finish my class story and ding level 50. (Almost 49 now.) Got really boring and WoWish for me. What are your thoughts?

[Brian]

Can't say I'm surprised you got bored of it Unreal. From the outset based on the description this game sounded like a WoW clone set in the SW universe. Everyone is trying to duplicate Blizzards success.

[unreal25]

Yeah, the beginning of the game is awesome (the story is great and the first instance is fantastic) but it drops down a bit as you progress through the game and just becomes so incredibly similar to WoW, it's not fun. At least on the Empire, the quests on every single planet are like fighting the rebels. I don't get why they copied SO many things, it would be much better if they put more original things even if they weren't as good. If I hadn't played with my friend I think the grind would have killed me way before. I am currently almost (1 bar away from level 49 Bounty Hunter).

Basically here are my thoughts:

- the story is amazing at beginning of the game but waters down a lot as you level through the game

- the quests become very repetitive, even character responsive become so predictable i already know if I press 3 at some point that the character always says a generic statements "Let's get to the point"

- for Bounty Hunter, 1 out 6 companions on Empire side are evil (what the f...?)

- PvP (if you want to call it that way) significantly behind WoW, since WoW right now has a lot of other interesting mechanics such as vehicles

- space missions a joke (Wing Commander 1 from 1990 is light years ahead of this), even though the engine looks pretty cool and seems to have a lot of potential

- not open world

- all characters look very similar (compare to GW2 or even WoW and you'll know what I mean)

- so many bad things copied from WoW its not even funny (e.g. why not copy quests from Fallout?)

- to level properly you either have to: 1. do space missions (very arcady and shitty), 2. do grindy bonus missions on each planet or 3. do instances (WoW style but for 4 instead of 5 people)

- annoying to be able to keep going either purely Light or Dark side (Dark side really purely evil, Light annoyingly good)

- I started leveling alt but there is always just one planet for each level range (and except for the first, they are recycled on Republic side) and you can't choose, like in WoW, to level a certain range in a different zone, so it became repetitive

Also note I am in the guild with my old WoW friends and my 2 RL friends, and with one I pretty much leveled all the time together.