Screen goes black, 1-10 FPS. Should I get new Video Card?

Well, this problem has been around for...well, a LONG time now. Around 1-4 months after Faction was released.

My problem is this:
I start up Guild Wars. Everything's loading up fine. I log in, select my character, and here I am, in a town. The thing is, first off, it does take a while to load. When it finally does load everything, my FPS is like 8, STANDING STILL. When I move around, my FPS is literally 1-5 FPS. After a few minutes of playing, I get this really odd thing. The screen just goes black. I can hear Guild Wars playing, and when I Alt+Tab, I can here the sound stop because GW was minimized. Then I Alt+Tab again and it starts because GW is maximized, meaning everything is working but the visuals.

Guild Wars used to work perfect. Things ran smoothly and fine, but around Faction's release, things have been so bad. I haven't been able to play GW

Microsoft Windows XP
AMD Semphron
1.10GHz
512 MD of RAM
RADEON 8500 / RADEON 8500 LE
64 MB

When I play games like Flyff, GunZ, etc. it runs fine (although there was one day when I played Flyff I got a Direct sound error thing and there was no sound when playing. And I have no lag when I get that error, and some lag when the sound does work. Maybe it's my sound?)

EDIT: I have tried -nosound (and many other -[command]'s), but I still get the same problem.


Well, that's my problem. I can't figure out how to fix it, any suggestions? I've tried de-fragging and other things but they don't help. The only thing I can think of that I haven't tried is a video card, but I want a more experienced opinion.

the problem is that your computer is outdate, the requirements have increased since proph was first released. you said they ran it fine until factions and now they barely meet the minimum specs to run NF and EotN. buy a new computer or upgrade. Current req for both NF and EotN are

Minimum System Specs:

* Windows XP/2000/ME/98
* Intel Pentium III 1.0 GHz or equivalent
* 512 MB RAM
* CD-ROM Drive
* 3 GB Available HDD Space
* ATI Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 Series Video Card with 64MB of VRAM
* 16-bit Sound Card
* Internet connection
* Keyboard and mouse
* DirectX 8

Recommended System Specs:

* Windows XP/2000
* Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or equivalent
* 1 GB RAM
* CD-ROM Drive
* 4 GB Available HDD Space
* ATI Radeon 9600 or GeForce FX 5700 Series Video Card or above
* Sound Blaster® X-FiTM series Sound Card
* Internet connection
* Keyboard and mouse
* DirectX 9

So getting a new video card wouldn't let me run in smoothly? I can't get a new computer right now, maybe in a year or so.

no FPS is determined by your system not just your video card. If you read the what determines minimum FPS? thread i would help you out since the OP there has the same problem trying to increase their FPS.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10186577

Yup, that's me.

I found out my friend with a worse 3D card gets 2.5 times better minimum FPS than me.

He has a dual core CPU and i have an old Celeron 2Ghz. It's clear now why he beat me, but it wasnt at the time.

Oh, and one more thing. I sent GWs support a question about how they determine minimum and recommended spec:

Wow they actually let a human reply!

Tell me about it!!! After waiting 2 days I ALMOST sent an annoyed email saying "even the most enthusiastic employee can copy+paste a response asking me to check my ISP, modem, router, firewall etc" but yeah...
Im actually happy with their answer instead of RQing 5 days later, cuz of the normal loop hole that ends in "its your ISPs fault" when u ask for Tech support.

Heh, I'm a bit of a dummy at the parts of a computer, so does getting a better (to be honest, I don't know what it's called) help/fix it?

Hey i didnt know a thing about computers until last week. I didnt even know what kind of 3D card slot i had (AGP or PCIe)

Ive come a long way and i can tell you these things helped immeasureably:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...ocessing_Units
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...ocessing_Units
CPU-Z (A system analyser for CPU, motherboard, RAM etc without having to pull your case apart)
Google
GW Guru
My friends who are big computer nerds.

Ive come up with a way to explain how the CPU, RAM and 3D card work together, its like a car:

"There's no point having a fast car (3D card) when the speed limit on your road is 20 mph (CPU). The RAM is how big your fuel tank is."

Now that ive done all the upgrades i suggest this order: CPU, RAM, 3D card.

Firstly you're gonna have to find out what motherboard you have (use google and CPU-Z). Then find out what CPUs you can use. Go on ebay or ask your friends if they have the best CPU that your motherboard can take.
Your local computer store should have some RAM that will work in your PC (CPU-Z again tells you what type).
The 3D card is a bit harder to pick, because its easy to get something way too fast for your computer (even tho you've upgraded) or get ripped off (buy something old but still high priced). Ask a knowledgeable friend, check specs on wiki, PC on ebay AND find some online stores in your country. Online stores ARE the cheapest place to find 3D card and parts in general. Ebay isnt really a good place at all to buy 3D cards (hard to find a real bargain).

Final tip: if you're on a budget RESEARCH BEFORE YOU BUY.

A few things you can do to generally make your computer run better

1. Update your Anti-virus and Scan (just to make sure)
2. Disable the Auto Monitoring service of your Anti-Virus, can sometimes be done through the software options, else you have to do it in the Services panel
3. Update your Anti-Spyware software and do a full scan, this is a major reason for slowing down computers.
4. Defrag your computer
5. Go through all the stuff you have when your computer starts up and, always making sure your being safe, disable every unessential thing listed there
6. Go to your Start>Startup and delete any unessential icons there
7. Increase the amount of Virtual Memory your computer uses

What I would do is reinstall Directx9 and then take a look INSIDE of your computer and take a careful look at the fans for thick heavy dust and take your time to clean it out completely. I've seen too many video problems especially caused by Heat Damage.

You can also install SpeedFan, a system tray temperature monitor for your hardware that you can see if a problem ever arises with either a fan that is slowing down (warning you that its going to die) which can cause excessive heat issues.