Guildwars (gw.exe) Switches / Command line options

I didn't think that they would add a dx7 option.

Since Today the -Repair & -update Switch don´t work. Anet has fixed it. Look at this Thread http://forum.onlinewelten.com/showth...26#post1048226

How do i go about running two of the switches at once?

Anyone try using a resolution switch to change it to 16bit or 32 bit?

I was thinking maybe -resolution1024x768x32 or -r1024x768x32 or something of the sort... haven't tried though

Well i tried the -image switch and it worked, but as soon as it reaches about 30 files remaining it freezes, i have to do ctrl+alt+del to stop the game, take the -image off and play normaly.

I think that it screwed my game, because i get HUGE fps drops and graphic glitches every half an hour.

Can any1 help me out? I'm clean of spyware, virus, and my rig is: P4 2.4, 1gb ram and 6600gt.

Like this:
"H:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -password=****** -perf -heapsize 512000

I have to use the -image command and it's been working. There is a bug between Sysgate Personal Firewall and Guildwars Decompression. If it tries to decompress files from the gw.dat file while changing zones.. it goes slows to a complete stop any may load me.

The gw.dat file may be corrupted and you may have to reintall. Try this. Rename gw.dat file then run the -image switch before you go to bed and leave it running over night, it should re-download the entire game by morning. If that works, deleted the renamed gw.dat file.

About the -repair / -update switch not working. Can anyone start testing it out. I've never been able to get them to work before the update but others had been.

To use the -image switch do you leave it on there always or remove it after you download everything?

I ask because one of my guildies tried it last night. Downloaded the files, removed the switch and restarted guild wars and it would lock up at the login screen and wouldn't let him connect to gw.

You are the man! (At least for now)

It's working at the moment, got into the game, and stayed there for like half an hour or so and didn't noticed the fps drops nor the glitches. Thanks for the tip.

How it normally works it connects, then download / decompress everything. Then just exists. I have to remove the switch to get gw to load correctly.

In this case I would.. rename the gw.dat file, then launch the game as normal (no image swich), let it download enough files to get to the log in and see if it can connect. If it does, you know the gw.dat file (the one you renamed is corupt). If it does the same error.. may be hardware drivers or other system issues.

Does the heapsize help in preformance, or just loading?

All I've seen is impact on loading zones, but not actually performance in game.

Good day !

Do you know if there is anyway to disable the ugly cursor ? I just would like to use default windows cursor instead of this 32-bits-ugly-cursor.

Thanks everyone.

Any progress with the two accounts problem?? I really love the autologin option, but having two accounts really make things harder. :/

I guess you can find out all working options by searching already known commands from gw.exe or gw.dat files with a hex editor. They all are probably in same location.

If I get more Ram memory, then loading of a new areas will be faster, right?

Yes, in fact if you get to 1gb of ram for Windows XP, a lot of things will run better (not just guildwars). Now anything past 1gb you may not visible see a boost as you would coming from 512 -> 1gb.

i recenntly switched from 512 to 1, 270 ram (little over a gig....just to clarify)
the difference was insane! much smoother turning, faster loads into maps and towns, and switching vbetween GW and something else, like windows media, was MUCH faster. when i minimized GW, it went down right away, with almost no pause.

This question was asked before, but I didn't see an answer. For the -image switch about making all areas updated and loaded. Do you have to leave the -image thing in the command line every time you play? Or do you do it once then remove it so you already up to date on all the areas?

when you use the -image switch, you need to use it by itself, then remove it when your done. You'll notice all it does it open up the downloade screen, then exit you out when it's done downloading. You wont be able to play the game with this switch in the command line.

in fact, if you wanna make it a little easier, do what I did and make 2 seperate shortcuts to the game, call one image, and use it for the image switch, and call the other one your normal GW, and use it for playing the game with all the other switches you like.

2 shortcuts, each with -password and -<email? or whatever> switches.

Last time I checked, e-mail flag didnt work. I suspect it was disabled in Gw.
The shourtcut would be gw.exe -email<switch> -password=******

The information regarding the -noui switch is wrong. You can login if you have it set to remember your password and you have the -password switch in. This will log you in. From there (you must have the character selected that you want to play) you can hit 'p' to enter the game. I have not checked if you can fight without a ui, though I would imagine you could using the numbers. Shortcuts to things still work, which is why you can login. You can do actions and things without a ui, too. You can even talk in chats, although you won't be able to see what you say nor will you be able to see what others say. You will also not see zone loading screens.

erm..need some help..ive tried the -pref switch and nothing...nada..zilch ever comes up and shows me fps or anything...what am i doinbg wrong?

Yeah, it seems like that switch stopped working maybe a month ago. But it hardly matters, the password switch still works, and you can tll GW to remember your email.

its -perf not -pref

Becareful with the image command, I just did it, it download all the extra 350+MB of new data for Nightfall preview event, it then quit with out decompressing and for some reason wiped my GW.Dat file Started like around 2.5GB (I had both GW and Factions installed, fully updated except for Nightfall pre-event stuff), now its 5.6MB!

Fecking sucks going to have to reinstall everything again, and redownload all the extra updates

If gonna use image command it might be worth ur while to make a copy of current GW.dat file, to a different part of your drive just incase (wish I had). So if it fecks up all you have to do is copy it back.

-image worked perfectly with me. Had to download 36k files and only took like 500megs of space. But heard that some used it and GW filled something like 5gigs. And some was forced to reinstall because of a corrupt .dat file. Just be sure not to exit the updater after you've started it.

Been using -image for well over 6 months. I use it for every update. Never had a problem.

ok heapsize slowed my GW with about 50% ... loading faster ... hell no !

hello all
im looking for a way to run the client downloader thingy ona firewall i cant change
when it trys to connect to arenanet, it gets blocked
any1 know an ftp, or some "safe" way to run it so the firewall doesnt go ape****

Is there a -sort option for sorting characters on the selection screen ?
Otherwise, the ability to sort characters is nearly useless as it's always on "unsorted".
I would like to add "-sort alphabetize" (for example)... Of course it would be better if the sort order selected was remebered by Guild wars itself.

Is there no option to stop the client from downloading data unless immediately needed? When my connection's working especially well, the client is prone to consuming my monthly bandwidth at an alarming rate. I had it so bad already that if I log out and log back in as quickly as possible, it consumes upwards of 5 MB in mere seconds. Can't I stop this?

Quizer

I am having a little trouble with the -heapsize command, well at least I think I am. When I use this, and say limit it to 256000, should this keep Guild Wars from using over that amount? If so I cant seem to get it working, the game still uses more than what I am telling it to.

The -heapsize command line switch tells Guild Wars to set aside an additional amount of physical RAM to allow for a dedicated memory cache and does not force a limit on the amount of RAM the game can use. Guild Wars generally will use less than 512 MB RAM unless you set the -heapsize switch.

What is it you are doing when playing GW that would make you want to limit the RAM GW can use?

There is no way to prevent GW from performing an update except to do the rapid login as you describe. I could recommend getting a different, unlimited, Internet connection as it sounds like that is the issue, not the feature of the game that allows updates to be streamed automatically during periods of low utilization...

Does anyone know a method to access the information within the .DAT file? As in accessing the .DAT file the way one might access a .ZIP file?

Thanks

It showed up in the tech forum as a performance tweak that appeared to work people so I carried it over.
With that explanation, I can see how for some it forces more memory to make gw work better or at the same time cause issues and kill perofmance.

I read on some page (obscure) about this topic. There result was all the files are in there yet there was not clear "start/end" ways to clearly ID what file is what (it's own index maybe?). They had a limited degree of success on some files but did not post how to actually they did it.

Is there a way to login in Offline mode ... so I appear not to be online to my friends?

I know you can login then choose offline, but you run the risk of being seen and also people in your guild will see that you were on.

I can think of a use for the -fps command.

Let R be the monitors refresh rate
Let F be the frame rate that the video card is rendering at
Then D, the frame rate displayed on screen would be given by

D={R, for ((F>R) || (F==R))
(R/2), for ((F<R) && (F>(R/2)))
(R/3), for ((F<(R/2)) && (F>(R/3)))
(R/N), for ((F<(R/N-1)) && (F>(R/N)))}

For example:
Given: R=60, F0>60, F1=60, F2=55, F3=35, F4=25, F5=13

D0=60, using D=R, for ((F>R) || (F==R))
D1=60, using D=R, for ((F>R) || (F==R))
D2=30, using D=(R/2), for ((F<R) && (F>(R/2)))
D3=30, using D=(R/2), for ((F<R) && (F>(R/2)))
D4=15, using D=(R/3), for ((F<(R/2)) && (F>(R/3)))
D5=12, using D=(R/N), for ((F<(R/N-1)) && (F>(R/N))) with N=5

Verbally,
In case 0, the video card is outputting more than 60 FPS(R). VSync will cap this at 60 FPS(R).

In case 1, the video card is outputting exactly 60 FPS(R). VSync will cap this at 60 FPS(R).

In case 2, the video card is outputting less than 60 FPS(R), but more than 30 FPS(R/2). Since the frame buffer will not output partial frames with VSync on, the video card will render once every 2 monitor refresh cycles. The frame rate would be 30 FPS(R/2).

In case 3, the video card is outputting less than 60 FPS(R), but more than 30 FPS(R/2). Since the frame buffer will not output partial frames with VSync on, the video card will render once every 2 monitor refresh cycles. The frame rate would be 30 FPS(R/2).

In case 4, the video card is outputting less than 30 FPS(R/2), but more than 20 FPS(R/3). Since the frame buffer will not output partial frames with VSync on, the video card will render once every 3 monitor refresh cycles. The frame rate would be 20 FPS(R/3).

In case 5, the video card is outputting less than 15 FPS(R/4), but more than 12 FPS(R/5). Since the frame buffer will not output partial frames with VSync on, the video card will render once every 5 monitor refresh cycles. The frame rate would be 12 FPS(R/5).

Conclusion: Because enabling VSync causes the displayed FPS to be (R/N), it causes FPS loss when F<R. However, disabling VSync can cause image tearing when F>R. Using the -fps command to limit the engine's rendering to your refresh rate can give the performance of disabling VSync, without the image problems normally associated with doing so.