Another game question

Why is this game more graphic intensive than say Elder Scrolls on Line or Guild Wars 2 ? These two game i can play with no problems what so ever on my current machine . Just a question please don't roast me .

 

It’s because the game is dynamic object heavy of a game. Most other games are just static. Something that’s about as similar as a dynamic object heavy game is No Mans Sky.

This game has thousands of objects that can be interacted with and moved around.

 

Not sure it's just that.

Take control points for example, they run like ****, but when you press F9, voila, the game runs just fine.

If bad performance was caused just by interactable / movable objects, the problem would be limited to towns, which would be bearable for me. But we get very bad performance in adventuring scenes as well, which isn't acceptable given the comparison with other MMOs.

 

Related to what @Anpu said -- this game is more CPU intensive because of this, than stressing your GPU, as well as to how Unity does things.

There are also a few options in Video settings, such as GPU Occlusion and Load Time Baking, which should improve your experience.

 

I have all settings as low as possible and yet at times the lag is so bad I just quit and load Elder Scrolls up and play . Just my observation as a player who has spent some money on the game . I would rather play a game that is playable than be able to move a wall or rock or what ever .

 

Don’t get me wrong I love this game , just can’t justify buy a new computer just to play one game , when the computer itself plays all the other games just fine . I will have to deal with being a fisher man or play the scenes by myself without others around due to the performance issues . Sad really . But I just can’t justify the cost .

 

Thankfully the potato gaming PC I built a couple of years ago for $350 runs this like a dream at max settings. I think the reason why is I got a decent video card (just a base GeForce 1650) and 16G of ram and I run it off an SSD HD.

My advice to any of you not wanting to build/buy a new PC for this or anything else and you have a decent internet is to look into "renting" one via Shadow PC for $29 a month.
I live in Florida and rented a Shadow PC using the address of the Mobile Al post office (Shadow is "not available in Fl") I rented it to use as a VR machine for my sons Oculus Quest 2 but his grandparents decided to buy him a gaming laptop... not complaining there. I decided since I was already paid up for the month to use it to play SotA. My latency runs yellow according to their ping tests and hovers around 40-50 I guess due to the distance to the Texas servers. It plays like a dream and I even forgot several times I wasn't running it on my own PC.

The one caveat is that you are "streaming" data constantly which could use up a small data plan in a months time. However, the extra money for a larger data plan (I have 2000G a month with Mediacom) and the Shadow PC cost are easily comparable to a low end monthly payment on a decent computer.. and unlike financing a new PC, the Shadow will upgrade over time and you aren't left with a useless potato afterwards.

 

Sorry to hear you're having so many performance problems @Umire Moon.

 

I was looking at A Nvidia 1030 . A complete system for about 300.00 . Well not complete , minus the Monitor and keyboard and mouse . With 16 gigs ram and A SSD and a Sata drive for storage .
Still have to convince myself it is worth the cost . When I can play other MMO with no issues . Still thinking about it .

 

Very weak card tbh - I wouldn't expect much from that, although I know getting hold of cards is far from easy atm

To give you and idea vs the 1650 mentioned above UserBenchmark: Nvidia GT 1030 vs GTX 1650

 

Ya I saw that , I am using a Intel on board at the moment so much better than that . With the cost of Video cards , well I can’t afford much . And in this system the card is about 169.00 almost over half the cost of the system .

 

Have you explored any of the AMD options?

 

Sadly our systems eventually get outdated. I remember being so excited for the game Tera when it first came out. I hurriedly and excitedly bought the game only to find out that my system as it was could not play it.

As a gamer finding I couldn't play what I wanted was a sad day for me. So what did I do but run out to get a system that would play that game. In the long run I only played Tera for a very short time and moved on to another game. Not too long after that I started having graphics issues again.
I came to realize a little later that my hastetaly purchased I3 system that was cheaper to buy at the time was not good enough to keep me going for long as games are requiring more and more higher end computer resources. For some they will just play what they can but for me not being limited was important and possible to work out at the moment so I did it.

So after that about 4 or maybe 5 years ago I had a system built. My graphics card is an nvidia 1060. It is an I7 processor with an SSD and 32 gb of ram. The SSD is only 500 but my Hard Drive is 3 TB. Of course I play SOTA on my SSD. This game and all games play very well for me which was my goal.

As a gamer with not a lot of finances to use I didn't want to make a mistake. I also wanted the system to have longevity and be able to upgrade a part of it instead of the whole system when needed. So far it's hanging in there.

For me I took the plunge but I do understand not everyone can do that due to RL responsibilities and financial constraints that can and do get in the way.

I just wanted to share some of my experiences with upgrading. A poor upgrade is not always the way to go as was the case with my I3 purchase . I do wish you the best going forward with choices you have to make. Asking here is really helpful imo to get a good opinion from those who have experienced similar circumstances and some even have computer tech savvy to advise.

 

Yeah understand - whilst the supply of GFX cards is starting to flow again its far from normal and prices are sky high. Agreed even a 1030 will significantly outperform an onboard GFX.

Having said that the 1030 is a 4 year old bottom of the range card and the prices of them are just insane. Needs must I guess and realistically its going to be at least another 6 months+ before you'd be able to pick up something like a 1650 or the new 3050 for a reasonable price... Once that's stabilised though that would be a very good upgrade at some point in the future - as the supply of the higher end cards starts to flow again people will be flooding the market with second hand 1050's, 1060's, 1660's etc all of which would be a good upgrade.

 

I bet that demand will go down slightly, supply will catch up and prices will come down significantly after the start of the new year.

 

Sadly I do not see the prices dropping any time soon as most Graphic Cards are being used as Mining for Bit coin . This is actually what is driving that mastery at the moment .
But that said . As I said before with an I7 32 gigs of ram SSD , with on board Intel graphics I can play Elder scrolls and Guild Wars 2 with no problems at the normal settings . But not this game .

 

Yeah, onboard graphics just won't work for SOTA. I remember back during R11 or R12 when I started that it didn't work then either. As soon as I dropped a Nvidia 650 GT in I was able to play. I now use a 1050 TI.
Try just any video card you have laying around and see what happens. Even if it is old, it might be worth a try..

 

@Umire Moon Also -- please make sure you have 'peripheral lighting' turned OFF in Video Options -- there's a known issue with that causing severe performance issues on systems without the proper Razer keyboard/mice. Toggling that option ON produces a warning dialog as well.

PS -- another reason for performance related to what @Anpu said about dynamic objects .. all those dynamic objects need dynamic lighting, so a lot of the lighting can't be 'baked' in like other games where users can't just place deco anywhere in a POT or lot/house. Chris has mentioned this before a few times.

PPS - related to the UI that @FBohler mentioned - that was a reported bug that @Chris worked on and is/was aware of - maybe we need to remind him if it's still problematic? I believe part of mitigating it was removing all the buff icons from party members (unless you toggle them back on).

 

I have everything in my controls for video turned off .
Last couple of days I have been doing rather well don’t know what changed . Before the patch I had a lot turned on and was able to function pretty well fighting and in mines but when patch dropped I became stuck in mud . So I turned everything off and did ok , this last patch unsure what it was about other than housing but my performance with everything turned off has been much better . I don’t care about the graphics and pretty lights and such as much as being able to complete a quest without walking through mud to do it . Really . If the story line is great and keeps my attention well stick figures are just great .

 

Try turning things back on (except Peripheral Lighting) and see how it goes .. also doesn't hurt to mention i I didn't already, give your PC a legit reboot occasionally (don't just hibernate/standby all the time), make sure your graphics drivers are up-to-date, etc.