I log onto Guild Wars and everything runs fine and smoothly but after about 15-20 mins my game begins to lag like hell. It stutters and chops no matter where I am, but when it runs smoothly at the start, it evens run smooth in towns filled with players. I'm not sure if it's my graphics card, I know my card isn't great but because it runs fine for 15 mins or so im not sure whether this is the cause or not or if it's the connection. Please would someone be able to enlighten me so I can enjoy my game. Here are some of my specs:
Intel Pentium 4 2.8ghz
512mb ram
GeForce 4 MX 440 128mb
ADSL connection
What's causing this??
Maine
Zerg
I would bump the Ram up and look into a better card.
Josh
Graphics Card.
Your RAM is fine.
Your RAM is fine.
Zaxan Razor
The Geforce 4xx MX range (is it the whole range?) Is not supported by GuildWars.
Your card is a stripped down version of a GeForce 2, and so is well well out of date.
Your card is a stripped down version of a GeForce 2, and so is well well out of date.
lightblade
Graphic card is the problem, you're right on the minimum requirement to play GW
Linda Heartilly
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Zaxan Razor
The Geforce 4xx MX range (is it the whole range?) Is not supported by GuildWars.
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Even if it was supported it would perform rubbish.
Xaniera
ah, the GeForce 4 MX 440. Reminds me of my old card. I could play fine for about 15-20 minutes and then my whole computer would crash. Upgraded the card to a GeForce 6600 and had the same problems. It stopped after I adjusted a few things in my BIOS, but I'm pretty sure the source of the trouble was my ram. I have 1 GB total, but it's a little old and might be unstable. I'd try replacing the ram, maybe get a single 1 GB stick of gaming memory and see how that works.
Blade Rez
Your Video Card does not just stop working after 15-20 minutes, and lag. It either lags in the beginning, or it crashes. Most likely, your CPU is throttling. Clean up the dust around your CPU, and your GPU.
Gmr Leon
I have that exact same graphics card and GW runs fine,nada lag or anything. I doubt it's the card...
Riplox
Dual Channel kits are pretty darn cheap now, at least for the DDR400 PC3200. Look at this from Newegg --> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145440
And Video card prices aren't that bad either. I picked a few decent cards that should have a good amount of power to run most stuff nowadays.
AGP --> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814140070
PCIE --> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150118
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125010
And Video card prices aren't that bad either. I picked a few decent cards that should have a good amount of power to run most stuff nowadays.
AGP --> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814140070
PCIE --> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150118
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125010
floplag
i expereince the same issues with an ATI 9800 on a 3.2 P4 with 2GB Ram
im a bit stumped as well
im a bit stumped as well
Riplox
Oh, also, have you tried increasing the heapsize of the game. Go to the shortcut you use to access GW and type in, after the path, -heapsize *** where the *** is 1/2 you memory size. So if you have 512MB, you'd type -heapsize 256000, 1GB would get -heapsize 512000, and so on.
nova-exarch
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blade Rez
Your Video Card does not just stop working after 15-20 minutes, and lag. It either lags in the beginning, or it crashes. Most likely, your CPU is throttling. Clean up the dust around your CPU, and your GPU.
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If it was a hardware issue it shouldn't take long to appear. It should show up as soon as you log in.
Has the game always done this? If it just started, have you changed anything recently?
Also, do you have other things running in the background?
--
That heapsize thing seems like it may help. I'm not sure what size GW defaults to though. That sounds more like a tool to limit the resources GW will use as opposed to increasing them.
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My first reaction was that it could be some sort of memory leak as that can also have the same affect of make a program go slower and slower. I sort of doubt that GW would have something like that going on though.
It could be the connection causing lag. There are a few ways to test that out but in general your connection would be crappy at the start also.
One last question... have you tried turning off all other programs you may have running? It could be some other program trying to take resources (or trying to take them back after yielding them to GW during the games initial spike during start-up).
Good luck!
Serafita Kayin
AVG could do that to me if it was updating or scanning. Check things like that.
Also check for dust, etc in the case. It does sound like an overheating problem.
Also check for dust, etc in the case. It does sound like an overheating problem.
Maine
I tried turning off all other programs and background tasks running that I didn't need but that didn't change anything, same result. I also tried that heapsize method but that made no difference either.
nova-exarch
Here's a list of troubleshooting questions I think may help:
Has the game always done this?
Do other games or programs behave the same way?
Have you changed anything (either hardware or major software installs) lately?
Remember to check for heat issues...
(in order from easy to time consuming)
Does the case feel hot?
Check to make sure no vents are blocked?
(Dust can block the vents, the case being too close to stuff can cut off airflow, etc...)
Check for dust inside your case?
(in/on/around the CPU and heatsink, in/on/around the video card, etc...)
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We'll figure it out eventually... it's just a process of elimination.
Frustrating I know but most of us gamers have been there plenty of times.
Take care,
Nova-
Has the game always done this?
Do other games or programs behave the same way?
Have you changed anything (either hardware or major software installs) lately?
Remember to check for heat issues...
(in order from easy to time consuming)
Does the case feel hot?
Check to make sure no vents are blocked?
(Dust can block the vents, the case being too close to stuff can cut off airflow, etc...)
Check for dust inside your case?
(in/on/around the CPU and heatsink, in/on/around the video card, etc...)
---
We'll figure it out eventually... it's just a process of elimination.
Frustrating I know but most of us gamers have been there plenty of times.
Take care,
Nova-
chessyang
my super fast over clocked mo-fo computer w/ all it windows tweeks does this to. After i zone in a few towns or places....
my fix... turn off AA (4x) then back or Resize to 800x600 then back to the orignal.
CS:S if perfect. don't know why GW does this?
my fix... turn off AA (4x) then back or Resize to 800x600 then back to the orignal.
CS:S if perfect. don't know why GW does this?
Hoyt
/nods
Yeah, what they said(see above). My bet is on it being a heat issue.
Definitely do as suggested above and crack the case and "Dust Off" everything.
Be sure to get the fan areas really thoroughly.
(Make sure you unplug the computer first.)
Other simple things to try before you do anything major:
~Hoyt
Yeah, what they said(see above). My bet is on it being a heat issue.
Definitely do as suggested above and crack the case and "Dust Off" everything.
Be sure to get the fan areas really thoroughly.
(Make sure you unplug the computer first.)
Other simple things to try before you do anything major:
- Change the video options in game to the lowest settings.
- Don’t play in “windowed” mode – play in full screen
- Don’t run Mozilla/Firefox while you are running the game. (I do not know why but it can do squirrelly things to in-game graphics on some systems.)
- See what, if any, programs are running auto updates and disable them. Major culprits can be Antivirus software, all Adobe products, iTunes/iPod, Real Player, Windows OS, & Data mining & Statistics applications.
~Hoyt
nova-exarch
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Hoyt
/nods [*]Change the video options in game to the lowest settings. [*]Don’t play in “windowed” mode – play in full screen [*]Don’t run Mozilla/Firefox while you are running the game. (I do not know why but it can do squirrelly things to in-game graphics on some systems.)[*]See what, if any, programs are running auto updates and disable them. Major culprits can be Antivirus software, all Adobe products, iTunes/iPod, Real Player, Windows OS, & Data mining & Statistics applications.
~Hoyt |
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I keep all the options turned down just to help with lag.
I can turn everything on and it only lags a little in towns or when there are too many spell effects going off. I only turn everything up for screenshots. This thing has a Radeon x300 and it probably could do better in full screen...
I just like having my start bar in sight because I drop out of the game often to do other stuff.
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What in the world is up with Mozilla?!? I love the tabbed browsing but holy cow even with only three tabs open it is using more memory than GW is right now (65mb vs 60mb). Earlier it was using 200+ but I think it just did that because I had about 10 tabs open and then closed them. It seems like Mozilla doesn't like to give up the resources once it has them.
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Crazy stuff...
Looking forward to hearing if any of our musings help ya out Maine.
Maine
Alright thanks alot with all your help. I'll try em out and let you know how I get on.
Maine
Quote:
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Originally Posted by chessyang
my super fast over clocked mo-fo computer w/ all it windows tweeks does this to. After i zone in a few towns or places....
my fix... turn off AA (4x) then back or Resize to 800x600 then back to the orignal. CS:S if perfect. don't know why GW does this? |
Riplox
I'm still waiting for a screenshot. It's really bugging me cause I want to see exactly what it looks like and to verify or disprove my theory.
Maine
The heapsize made no difference as well.
Nascent
I find I get the same issues on my machine:
P4 @ 2.8 GHRZ
2.25 Gigs RAM
GeForce 6800 GS.
DX 9.0c
Also my laptop seems to get the issues as well, but its exact specs escape me atm.
Im not sure what causes this, cause I've tried a fair amount, but I do know how irritating it is, and yes, it only happens for this game also for me. I'm HOPING its an issue they'll clear up with factions, since I've only started noticing these issues since they began implementing all the changes to the game engine for Factions.
P4 @ 2.8 GHRZ
2.25 Gigs RAM
GeForce 6800 GS.
DX 9.0c
Also my laptop seems to get the issues as well, but its exact specs escape me atm.
Im not sure what causes this, cause I've tried a fair amount, but I do know how irritating it is, and yes, it only happens for this game also for me. I'm HOPING its an issue they'll clear up with factions, since I've only started noticing these issues since they began implementing all the changes to the game engine for Factions.
Riplox
Oh! I think I know what you're talking about now! I seem to be having the same problem. My old, now ded, 9600XT had these problems (only far worse than what anyone else here is experiencing), and now my 6800GT is doing it too (but only in GW). What I've concluded from is is that its is either an overheating issue (which could be a very real problem for me even though i have 6 case fans) or the memory on the video card that is being used for GW is somehow going bad if not already bad. The only way to confirm the memory issue though is to do a diagnostics test on it, though I don't know of a video card memory diagnostic tool, only system memory testers.
Maine
You seem to know what you're talking about lol. Any ideas on how this memory issue could be solved?
Riplox
Well, here's the bad news. Video cards have hard wired (soldered) memory modules and therfore the memory can't be replaced. The only options I can think of at the moment are:
1 - Borrow another video card that's compatible with your computer and see if it fixes the problem. If it doesn't then it's a software problem or it's not your video card.
2 - If it's still under warranty, send it in and see if you can get it fixed/replaced.
3 - Get a new video card.
4 - It could be your system memory. Check out Memtest86. Follow the instructions he gives, and if you come up with anything tell us. Most likely this is not the problem though (from what I'm getting from your original post) because its only after a time of being under a load that the computer responds negatively, which leads me to it being the video card.
5 - If you have only 1 stick, borrow (or buy) another stick that is the same type as the original memory (there are tons of resources online about how to tell) and put the new one in place of the old one. If it fixes the problem, then you know you had faulty memory.
1 - Borrow another video card that's compatible with your computer and see if it fixes the problem. If it doesn't then it's a software problem or it's not your video card.
2 - If it's still under warranty, send it in and see if you can get it fixed/replaced.
3 - Get a new video card.
4 - It could be your system memory. Check out Memtest86. Follow the instructions he gives, and if you come up with anything tell us. Most likely this is not the problem though (from what I'm getting from your original post) because its only after a time of being under a load that the computer responds negatively, which leads me to it being the video card.
5 - If you have only 1 stick, borrow (or buy) another stick that is the same type as the original memory (there are tons of resources online about how to tell) and put the new one in place of the old one. If it fixes the problem, then you know you had faulty memory.
nova-exarch
If the memory was going bad then it should screw up on every game.
It seems more to me like an issue with GW.
Everyone that has posted on here saying they have the same problem is only experiencing the troubles in Guild Wars.
I guess I'm just pointing out the obvious stuff here.
More testing may reveal the source.
Mem testers and benchmark/stress tests would EASILY be able to induce the heating issues mentioned. If I were pursuing that angel I would be searching the net for some good hard core test programs. Sadly I don't know of such sites off the top of my head.
I sometimes go to www.tomshardware.com and they mention all kinds of benchmark tests. I've also hit a few overclocking sites that have links to all kinds of stability tests. I've seen a few referenced in other threads in this section so check around in here and via google/yahoo/etc...
Computers = <3 / #@+3
It seems more to me like an issue with GW.
Everyone that has posted on here saying they have the same problem is only experiencing the troubles in Guild Wars.
I guess I'm just pointing out the obvious stuff here.
More testing may reveal the source.
Mem testers and benchmark/stress tests would EASILY be able to induce the heating issues mentioned. If I were pursuing that angel I would be searching the net for some good hard core test programs. Sadly I don't know of such sites off the top of my head.
I sometimes go to www.tomshardware.com and they mention all kinds of benchmark tests. I've also hit a few overclocking sites that have links to all kinds of stability tests. I've seen a few referenced in other threads in this section so check around in here and via google/yahoo/etc...
Computers = <3 / #@+3