Guildwars (gw.exe) Switches / Command line options - Guild Wars Guru archive powered by Guild Wars Legacy

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

28 Nov 2006 at 22:46 - 121

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndeadsRUs

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.

Very nice, I will give it a try and add that to the guide as well.

Laughing_Man

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jun 2005

Doomlore Shrine

Steel Moon [SM]

R/

18 Dec 2006 at 22:30 - 122

anybody get the -map switch to work, or know what it's 'supposed' to do?

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

22 Dec 2006 at 17:27 - 123

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laughing_Man

anybody get the -map switch to work, or know what it's 'supposed' to do?

My guess (shot in the dark) it's used so your character maps to a specific location. It may be disabled or an admin function that normal players can't access. Some of the switches were found when they started scanning / hacking the exe and found all the switches as part of the exe.

Njaiguni Blaze

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2006

The Netherlands

The Biggyverse [PLEB]

Me/

22 Dec 2006 at 18:23 - 124

-heapsize doesn't work anymore:
http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Talk:Co...apsize_removed

Percipience

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2005

28 Dec 2006 at 18:07 - 125

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndeadsRUs

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.

This is false. The mechanism Vsync uses to prevent tearing cannot be duplicated with FPS capping. Tearing does not magically stop because you are at some arbitrary FPS, anyone who experiences tearing can verify this easily. Vsync prevents tearing by not displaying an image until the full screen is rendered and thus prevents tearing. Capping the FPS has NO mechanism to prevent tearing, the game will display partial screens with a cap just like it did without a cap.

hippynz

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Jan 2007

R/Mo

04 Jan 2007 at 06:24 - 126

I have a Duron 1gb (over clocked to 1.12gb)
Geforce 4 64mb video card
640mb ram

and I know it is time i upgraded my system http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/i...es/redface.gif

The game sort of runs but is jittery and crashes after a while.

any ideas?

Njaiguni Blaze

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2006

The Netherlands

The Biggyverse [PLEB]

Me/

04 Jan 2007 at 14:46 - 127

Quote:

Originally Posted by hippynz

I have a Duron 1gb (over clocked to 1.12gb)
Geforce 4 64mb video card
640mb ram

and I know it is time i upgraded my system http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/i...es/redface.gif

The game sort of runs but is jittery and crashes after a while.

any ideas?

I have a computer with an online video and soundcard. Intel Celeron 3.06GHz and 479 MB RAM and Guild Wars runs fine. I don't know what a Duron is, but am surprised that you would have problems with GW.

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

14 Jan 2007 at 07:48 - 128

Major Update - Found out how to use an hex editor

Need to thank everyone again for posts, feedback, and new discoveries.

I cleaned up of switches, better order of listing

Any idea what some of the new switches are?
-authsrv or -newsound

authsrv (guess) may be a switch to deal with authentication server?

newsound sounds like there experimenting with a new sound engine / sound code?

Laughing_Man

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jun 2005

Doomlore Shrine

Steel Moon [SM]

R/

14 Jan 2007 at 23:25 - 129

Quote:

Originally Posted by EternalTempest

Major Update - Found out how to use an hex editor

Need to thank everyone again for posts, feedback, and new discoveries.

I cleaned up of switches, better order of listing

Any idea what some of the new switches are?
-authsrv or -newsound

authsrv (guess) may be a switch to deal with authentication server?

newsound sounds like there experimenting with a new sound engine / sound code?

Could you point me in the direction of this hex editor and a link to where/how you figured it out? I'd like to try my and at it with GW and some of my other games to see what I might find ^_^

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

15 Jan 2007 at 05:17 - 130

After reading the post with the link to this wiki (ty to Njaiguni Blaze for pointing it out) - http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Talk:Co...apsize_removed

I looked / found this freeware hex editor - http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delph...vi32/xvi32.htm

When you do a "Find" in the exe dialog box, make sure you:
Checkmark "as Unicode Latin (UTF-16LE)
Uncheck case senstive
Do a search for any of the known strings (dx8, nosound, etc)

See screen shots

onerabbit

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Thanks to all the guru [mods]

16 Jan 2007 at 01:31 - 131

Hi, erm cant seem to get this right

any tips?

cellardweller

Likes naked dance offs

Join Date: Aug 2005

The Older Gamers [TOG]

16 Jan 2007 at 03:11 - 132

add a space between the " and the -

onerabbit

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Thanks to all the guru [mods]

16 Jan 2007 at 12:23 - 133

lol..thnx

Fay Vert

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

R/

20 Jan 2007 at 03:00 - 134

There is now a -bmp switch to save screenshots in the old bitmap format since the new jpg update.

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

20 Jan 2007 at 03:55 - 135

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

There is now a -bmp switch to save screenshots in the old bitmap format since the new jpg update.

Thank you for that update

I re-looked and also spotted an -mce switch as well that ... launched my media center on Windows Xp Media Center Edition. Also an -exit switch that makes guildwars.. not launch.

sevendash

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

Flaming Turtles [FT]

E/R

20 Jan 2007 at 04:42 - 136

Quote:

Originally Posted by EternalTempest

Thank you for that update

I re-looked and also spotted an -mce switch as well that ... launched my media center on Windows Xp Media Center Edition. Also an -exit switch that makes guildwars.. not launch.

Can you explain better what -mce does?

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

24 Jan 2007 at 02:06 - 137

Will try.

There is a version of Windows XP called XP Media Center Edition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows...Center_Edition

It's an application built in to windows to make your pc more TV boxtop.
It has an easy to use interface for watching tv, record tv like a DVR (if you have tv tuner card), watching dvd's, listening to music.

It also allows you to stream video / audio to a device hooked to your tv as well called MCE Extender (xbox 360 is one, xbox has a kit to turn it in to one).

If media center is your primary application... aka pc is close and hooked to your tv and use the remote control it, even though it runs on top of windows, you don't really want to get out of the MCE interface to plain regular xp pc interface all the time.

With the mce switch on guildwars on, when I exit guild wars it auto launches the media center software automatically. That way you can lauch guildwars from within MCE (and it close media center), play GW, then it bring back you easy to use media center interface without being dumped back to xp and have to manually re-launch media center.

Again, this would be more for people who pc is acting as there tv tuner / cable box / dvr that interact with the remote. Not a traditional computer user.

LAMS3K

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2005

Fifteen Over Fifty[Rare]

R/Mo

03 Feb 2007 at 16:39 - 138

"-Authsrv" is used to specify what authorization server you want to connect to. The format is: -authsrv [IP]
Such as:

-authsrv 127.0.0.1

Would make Guild Wars try and authenticate(login or any account modifications) itself with the local computer. Which fails considering no one but ANet is running a server. It does not appear to accept a port number. This command does not accept a domain name instead of an IP address. I suppose this command is here for alpha testers. It would enable them to connect to a different server network than the rest of us.

fikusan

Academy Page

Join Date: Aug 2006

Xen Of Onslaught[XoO]

Mo/

24 Feb 2007 at 04:58 - 139

i think the -authsrv switch can also get you on faster servers maybe?
if the servers of your region are overloaded, you can get a buddy on a non-laggy server to tell you the ip of the server they are on(it shows up during map travel). see if that works

Feuer

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Feb 2007

USA SoCal

Chain of Chaos [CC]

E/Me

26 Feb 2007 at 23:01 - 140

Quote:

Originally Posted by EternalTempest

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.

#1
Nah, there is still a big difference when you get 2 gig upgrade from 1.

My rig is athlon(tm) 64 3800+ 2.4GHz. video card is: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 gs. And I've recently stopped playing/paying wow, and let my dad barrow 1 gig stick.
Then i decided to start playing gw again, and when i put the other stick back in, my fps went up from usual 60 fps to 75, a lot more smoother, and maps download a lot faster, loads up great!

#2 I just want to say, i started reading this thread from the middle and didn't know how you do the shortcut thing(i do now), but i just put it in the run box from the start menu and it does all the things for me from there. (os windows xp)

#3

(sorry but i got to number the points that i make)
does anyone know if there is a way to get all your default settings for GW (such as graphics, sound) to default without deleting the DAT file?
i know there is the "reset all" or "auto detect" but some of the things weren't changing for me, like the shader would stay on high even when i slid the bar around and pressed "auto detect"

Speedz

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Mar 2007

E/Mo

10 Mar 2007 at 09:21 - 141

Is there a switch or some other way of running multiple instances of guildwars on a single system?

CoolWolf

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Jan 2007

Phoenix Supernova

W/R

10 Mar 2007 at 20:17 - 142

Accidental Double Post - Delete Please

CoolWolf

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Jan 2007

Phoenix Supernova

W/R

10 Mar 2007 at 20:21 - 143

DirectSong is additional downloadable music, so unless you install that you will be using games basic music, so either -mute / -nosound or standard game music is all you'll get.
(DirectSound is the basic in-game music/sound effects etc!)

As for the -fps switch, I have since discovered that it was originally used internally when testing the game on fast gfx servers and designers systems to slow the game to the standard gfx card speed that we mere users (mortals) have.

It will also be useful to slow the gfx cards, like the next gen d3d10 aka DirectX9EX/L and DirectX10 cards (nVidia 8800 GTX/GTS as an example) if you find things like damage indication and chat going to fast to read,

King Kong

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

W/R

12 Mar 2007 at 10:50 - 144

Does the -email switch work at all, or has it been removed?

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

05 Apr 2007 at 23:35 - 145

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAMS3K

"-Authsrv" is used to specify what authorization server you want to connect to. The format is: -authsrv [IP]
Such as:

-authsrv 127.0.0.1

Would make Guild Wars try and authenticate(login or any account modifications) itself with the local computer. Which fails considering no one but ANet is running a server. It does not appear to accept a port number. This command does not accept a domain name instead of an IP address. I suppose this command is here for alpha testers. It would enable them to connect to a different server network than the rest of us.

Cool, I will add the information to the guide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speedz

Is there a switch or some other way of running multiple instances of guildwars on a single system?

Not by switch to my knowledge, but there is a way - Check this forum - http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=70999

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolWolf

As for the -fps switch, I have since discovered that it was originally used internally when testing the game on fast gfx servers and designers systems to slow the game to the standard gfx card speed that we mere users (mortals) have.

It will also be useful to slow the gfx cards, like the next gen d3d10 aka DirectX9EX/L and DirectX10 cards (nVidia 8800 GTX/GTS as an example) if you find things like damage indication and chat going to fast to read,

Very good, thanks for the info, will update the guide with this info

Quote:

Originally Posted by King Kong

Does the -email switch work at all, or has it been removed?

Not sure how to use / not been able to figure it out / not seen other be able to use it

*** New Switched ***
Best *guess* will do testing as well
-dsound Enabled the dsound engine (software) that were use to
-sndasio Enable audio using ASIO Audio Format
-sndwinmm No idea other then part of the new? sound engined

Removed Switches
-newsound switch was removed - I guessing it allowed you to "test" the new audio engind (fmod) but removed since it's the default software music engine now.

Nilator

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

Mo/

05 Apr 2007 at 23:46 - 146

My -password still works. So, yeah.

NeHoMaR

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

09 Apr 2007 at 00:28 - 147

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nilator

My -password still works. So, yeah.

It's not dangerous put a password in a shortcut file? I mean, some spyware or something could look for the file and get password. Sometimes some minor spywares are not detected by anti-virus because looking at shortcuts is not dangerous.

MMSDome

Raged Out

Join Date: Sep 2005

13 Apr 2007 at 00:07 - 148

i saw in the post your funny chat section a guy changed the color of his text, how do you do that and select what color?

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

13 Apr 2007 at 14:43 - 149

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMSDome

i saw in the post your funny chat section a guy changed the color of his text, how do you do that and select what color?

I don't think this is controlled by any switches off the gw.exe

Pretty sure it's an account based function. Such as Gaile Grey's GW account is flagged as "GM" so she can do GM emote (GM hovers over head) and her text is a different color and has more options then normal players such.

Eroth

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2006

ummm no

Modified Soul Society [SOUL]

A/R

20 May 2007 at 01:53 - 150

Quote:

Originally Posted by King Kong

Does the -email switch work at all, or has it been removed?

I've figured out how to use it. It's like the -password one. It auto-plugs in your e-mail, say if you can't save your account name like the button says you can

it's [email protected]

(for thou challenged, the [email protected] = your email)

The -email was probably incase you wanted to log on very quickly for the first time. (I timed that it took 10-15 seconds with starting and typing account [had -password on] and only 1-3 seconds with -email and -password) and yes I know I'm a loser for timing it, but I have nothing else to do while I'm sick. but it's just kinda wierd/useless and if you get spyware then they have your password and e-mail of which equals a bad combo.

Aphrael

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: May 2007

New Zealand

OCAU

Mo/

07 Jun 2007 at 01:35 - 151

-email switch
fills in the account tab...

tried on my gf pc which we both use.. i have -email and -password set up on two different icons so that we can play at different times and not have to worry about typing in account names each time...

Njaiguni Blaze

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2006

The Netherlands

The Biggyverse [PLEB]

Me/

07 Jun 2007 at 06:22 - 152

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aphrael

-email switch
fills in the account tab...

tried on my gf pc which we both use.. i have -email and -password set up on two different icons so that we can play at different times and not have to worry about typing in account names each time...

Yes, the parameter got added last update again.

Forgotten One

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Aug 2006

Winnipeg, Canada

Ancient Dragoons [AGED]

N/Mo

08 Jun 2007 at 00:29 - 153

Ok I have tested out some of the switches and I like the auto-logon ones.

FOR THE RECORD the -email switch got returned so here is EXACTLY how you auto-logon:

(path)/gw.exe" -email [email protected] -password yourpasswordhere

No equals sign, no colon, no dashes, just a space. The commanline differentiates between the switch fields by the "-" before the abbreviation.
Switches are different than flags "-email=(address)" is considered a flag (like Visual Basic coding). -email doesn't equal the address, it IS the address, so -email=(email) doesn't make sense if you think about it that way.

Using that switch line EXACTLY (after the .exe") auto-logs you in completely.
Imputting just the -email switch only fills in the account logon (which is auto-filled by the last logged on account anyways), so if you only are using 1 shortcut to login with multiple users/accounts, don't bother (or if you're the primary player, just put in the -email one and not the -password one as well).
If you're using a custom shortcut for each user, then the only thing holding you back from using both to auto-logon to your character select screen, is malware (or human) paranoia.

My sound card is a Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty attached to 240w 5.1 surround Logitech speakers so I have full support for all audio mixing/formats.

I am currently using the -sndasio switch

Now one thing I noticed about the 2 new sound switches (-sndasio & -sndwinmm), is when you have either of those 2 enabled, the checkbox beside "Use 3d hardware acceleration" gets un-checked and greyed out in the sound tab in the F11 menu.

I also notice that in-game, the sound effects (spell casting, weapons clashing, shields blocking, etc) on my centre speaker are non-existant directly infront of me (although the sound from my other 4 speakers sound better quality) but the music plays back fine.

If you don't use any sound switch, the sound seems a tad "muddy" to my ears, but the "use 3d..." checkbox is checked and I get the sound effects on the centre speaker.

Is anyone else noticing this?

EDIT: Oh yeah also 1 more thing. I ran the "-diag" switch and it reported that it did not detect any "HW memory" or onboard memory on my sound card, which is false. My sound card has 64MB of RAM on the soundcard, so it seems like the game is ignoring it, not using it, or is showing a false negative (opposite of false positive).

I hope someone at Anet sees this and investigates these strange things.......

EternalTempest

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2005

United States

Dark Side Ofthe Moon [DSM]

E/

09 Jun 2007 at 14:46 - 154

Thank you for the update, and the testing of the sound switches.
I've updated the guide, I do apologize for the lateness of this update.

I'm only using 2 speaker headphones and unable to test out the sound stuff atm.

Cataclysm

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2006

The Lost Dynasty [SEEK]

W/Mo

26 Jun 2007 at 02:03 - 155

-fps 30 doesnt work for me...

Lycrius

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Jul 2007

A/R

19 Jul 2007 at 04:20 - 156

noshader seems to have slight improvement to my fps also with noshader the flowers stay on screen (without nshd they kept fading out and coming back randomly. (old post but still ok. thanks for this)

boberic

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Aug 2007

Ranger of the wind

R/Mo

24 Aug 2007 at 09:05 - 157

how do i make gw render in dx9?

Njaiguni Blaze

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2006

The Netherlands

The Biggyverse [PLEB]

Me/

25 Aug 2007 at 20:05 - 158

Quote:

Originally Posted by boberic

how do i make gw render in dx9?

It should automatically. If the "Graphics" tab under F11 shows you DirectX 8, it's your videocard that doesn't support dX9.

boberic

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Aug 2007

Ranger of the wind

R/Mo

29 Aug 2007 at 23:19 - 159

my card supports dx9 because my gw use to run with dx9 but now it runs with dx8....? why?

Njaiguni Blaze

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2006

The Netherlands

The Biggyverse [PLEB]

Me/

30 Aug 2007 at 05:04 - 160

I don't know how good you are with software, but if you do have dx9 installed (which you can check by clicking "Run..." in the Start Menu and typing "dxdiag") you need to uninstall dx8 and then reinstall dx9. That might help. Can't be bothered to explain atm, it's early and I have to go soon, sorry.