Who's going to play Vanguard?
I downloaded all 20GB of files and will see how it runs on my machine. If it doesn't run well, I will not buy it - that simple. My laptop has at least another 3 years of useful life and I refuse to subscribe to laying out another 2-3k just to play Vanguard. EQ, WoW, and other games run just fine.Teniny wrote:I also got an invite. My machine doesn't meet all the specs so I'm thinking of using my son's computer to check it out. Unfortunately that means going over to his place to play but at least I can see if it's worth an upgrade or a new computer.
One neuron short of a loon...
a big one: volumetric clouds OFF
for lag known as "hitching" you might also try (and probably will have to redo after a patch):
Go to your bin directory (Should be c:\program files\Sony\Vanguard\bin) and edit your VGClient.ini file. Within you should see the following line...
[General]
Below that line, but ABOVE the
[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
line, you should place the following:
bUseShaderCaching=1
So, to recap, it should look like this:
[General]
bUseShaderCaching=1
Note: You should also search for the bUseShaderCaching line, and if it already exists, change it's value.
Note #2: 1 is the same as True, and 0 is the same as False for settings such as this. Don't panic if your 1 changes to True.
Now, after doing that, you should notice hitching start to get less and less. This cache will be emptied whenever you change video settings, or update your video drivers, or update DirectX. If it causes any sort of crashing or wierd video anomalies, please delete the line, and let us know. If that line is NOT in your INI file, caching will not be used.
for lag known as "hitching" you might also try (and probably will have to redo after a patch):
Go to your bin directory (Should be c:\program files\Sony\Vanguard\bin) and edit your VGClient.ini file. Within you should see the following line...
[General]
Below that line, but ABOVE the
[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
line, you should place the following:
bUseShaderCaching=1
So, to recap, it should look like this:
[General]
bUseShaderCaching=1
Note: You should also search for the bUseShaderCaching line, and if it already exists, change it's value.
Note #2: 1 is the same as True, and 0 is the same as False for settings such as this. Don't panic if your 1 changes to True.
Now, after doing that, you should notice hitching start to get less and less. This cache will be emptied whenever you change video settings, or update your video drivers, or update DirectX. If it causes any sort of crashing or wierd video anomalies, please delete the line, and let us know. If that line is NOT in your INI file, caching will not be used.
How would you describe "hitching"? That is not obvious and I don't yet have access to the beta forums.
SamL, I know how you feel. My main reason for checking out beta is to see if my computer will even run the bloody thing. I don't want to spend $50 on a game I cannot play. I also do not want to play much beta so that I preserve a "newness" at release.
This beta is also making me think I should soon delete Vanguard and wait until launch + 3 weeks to buy to minimize my subjugation to all those who want spoon feeding. I feel like I need to hotkey "%t - read the f**king quest log!" or "%t - try logging off and uninstalling Vanguard. You are clearly too stupid to play MMOGs." I really do understand needing help in MMOGs, but most of the quest help people request is ridiculous.
SamL, I know how you feel. My main reason for checking out beta is to see if my computer will even run the bloody thing. I don't want to spend $50 on a game I cannot play. I also do not want to play much beta so that I preserve a "newness" at release.
This beta is also making me think I should soon delete Vanguard and wait until launch + 3 weeks to buy to minimize my subjugation to all those who want spoon feeding. I feel like I need to hotkey "%t - read the f**king quest log!" or "%t - try logging off and uninstalling Vanguard. You are clearly too stupid to play MMOGs." I really do understand needing help in MMOGs, but most of the quest help people request is ridiculous.
One neuron short of a loon...
This beta is also making me think I should soon delete Vanguard and wait until launch + 3 weeks to buy to minimize my subjugation to all those who want spoon feeding. I feel like I need to hotkey "%t - read the f**king quest log!" or "%t - try logging off and uninstalling Vanguard. You are clearly too stupid to play MMOGs." I really do understand needing help in MMOGs, but most of the quest help people request is ridiculous.
I am having the same reaction in the beta for WoW expansion. It's gotten to the point where I turn general chat off. 
Thanks for the settings info.
The first thing I do is turn off the OOC chat. Not only is it annoying to see those who want to be spoon fed but I don't want to risk seeing any spoilers. The fun part of quests is figuring out how to do them.
The hitching is more of an intermittent thing as opposed to constant client side lag seen when the hardware can't keep up. I think it is control-P that turns on a FPS counter to constantly display your frame rate. Your mileage will vary depending on your video card/settings and the area you are in. If the FPS drops off dramatically from what it was when you started a play session or if you experience other strange anomalies, try the /flush command.
Especially in town areas your screen may freeze momentarily while graphics data is sent to your computer. The mod to the .ini file mentioned above enables a cache so that the data does not need to be reloaded when you reenter the same area. Most people seem to think it works well. (I have not tried it myself.)HITCHING. Hitching is defined as something that happens on the client which 'pauses' the real-time rendering of the game. It is usually caused by some resource needing to be loaded.
The hitching is more of an intermittent thing as opposed to constant client side lag seen when the hardware can't keep up. I think it is control-P that turns on a FPS counter to constantly display your frame rate. Your mileage will vary depending on your video card/settings and the area you are in. If the FPS drops off dramatically from what it was when you started a play session or if you experience other strange anomalies, try the /flush command.
DETERMINING YOUR CAUSE OF LAG
1. Particles are choppy, animations are choppy, your movement is choppy - FRAME RATE
2. Movement ceases for half a second or more. Everything 'freezes' for a long period of time - HITCHING
3. Particles seem to be rendering at a good speed. YOUR movement is fluid, but NPCs and other PCs skip around. Doors take a long time to open once you click on them.
If only a few people in your chunk are experiencing this - INTERNET LAG
If everyone in your chunk is experiencing this - SERVER LAG
Heh. I seem to be hit by the triple threat - I get all sources of lag. Average frame rate for me is around 12-14FPS with occasional surges into the high 20s. I have all video options turned off. Although my CPU is on the slow side, the VGA card meets their specs. Thus, I am uncertain why my FPS is inherently so low. Guess it is safe to blame the game engine at this time 
One neuron short of a loon...
I assume that you are correct but don't see an announcement on the forums about the NDA and I still am being asked to agree to the NDA when I try to launch the game.
EDIT: Okay I found an official announcement that the NDA is lifted (posted after I made this post btw)
It is not clear to me when open beta starts but it looks like those who preorder will be able to play the beta for a while. I will probably order the game and see how it goes. There is a lot of potential but I agree with what seems like the majority of beta testers that the game is nowhere ready for release. It is laggy and buggy and many of the features they are rushing to put in at the last minute have not been tested at all yet.
Menset and anyone else who plans to play this month: Nan and I have characters on Beta Server 1 ranging I think from around level 7 to around level 17. I would be happy to get together and play sometime. They just opened Beta Server 2 and I'm not eager to start new characters there if they will be wiped in less than a month.
I would not worry much about spoiling the game by playing in the beta. It is a huge world and most of it will remain unexplored when the game is released. An orientation before opening day might be a good thing.
EDIT: Okay I found an official announcement that the NDA is lifted (posted after I made this post btw)
It is not clear to me when open beta starts but it looks like those who preorder will be able to play the beta for a while. I will probably order the game and see how it goes. There is a lot of potential but I agree with what seems like the majority of beta testers that the game is nowhere ready for release. It is laggy and buggy and many of the features they are rushing to put in at the last minute have not been tested at all yet.
Menset and anyone else who plans to play this month: Nan and I have characters on Beta Server 1 ranging I think from around level 7 to around level 17. I would be happy to get together and play sometime. They just opened Beta Server 2 and I'm not eager to start new characters there if they will be wiped in less than a month.
I would not worry much about spoiling the game by playing in the beta. It is a huge world and most of it will remain unexplored when the game is released. An orientation before opening day might be a good thing.
That's about as good as it gets. I get similar rates with dual 3.2GHz CPUs, 2GB RAM and ATI X1650 PRO video card with 512 MB video RAM, which seemed like the best AGP card I could find a couple of months ago. I trust that server side performance will improve somewhat. Lag in crowded areas is a pain but doesn't seem any worse than I remember in PoK.Menset wrote:Heh. I seem to be hit by the triple threat - I get all sources of lag. Average frame rate for me is around 12-14FPS with occasional surges into the high 20s. I have all video options turned off. Although my CPU is on the slow side, the VGA card meets their specs. Thus, I am uncertain why my FPS is inherently so low. Guess it is safe to blame the game engine at this time