Potential 3.0.8 Frames Per Second (FPS) Fix

[Shadowwolf]

I am trying a potential fix for low FPS as since WotLK and for the most part even worse with 3.0.8, theres areas of the game my FPS drops to just horrid numbers. With the video card im using in my machine and the power of my machine, its obvious that the issue is something with WoW and not me. I believe its the graphics engine as a lot of people have been complaining about character "jumpiness" and overall poor FPS performance, mostly in Naxx for a while now.

Unbeknown to many, WoW can run in 2 different graphical modes of operation. DirectX which is its default mode, and OpenGL which is an optional mode. DirectX uses Windows and Microsoft DirectX, however on Mac's, DirectX doesnt exist, so thats where the OpenGL mode comes in.

Personally, most games *should* run in OpenGL mode as its been around a lot longer, a more stable technology, and also more performance oriented for 3d gaming platforms (Quake and other such FPS intense games run in OpenGL).

Im currently trying this out, and already I am seeing a HUGE FPS increase in places like Ironforge and whatnot over running WoW in the regular DirectX mode. With all my settings maxed, my FPS is between 65-88 FPS.

Ill be putting it through its paces in a raid tonight and will post my results here, but if anyone wants to try this method out and see if it helps your overall performance in video, its really easy to do.

Again, this is Windows users only, Mac's already run OpenGL mode.

First, find the WoW Shortcut on your desktop and right-click on it and select "Properties" to modify it.

[attach=1]

Second, in the area that says "Target", add the following to what is listed in the box.

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-opengl

You want a space between the quotation mark and the -opengl in that box as shown below. When you finish adding that, open WoW via the shortcut and run the game normally.

[attach=2]

This will start WoW in OpenGL mode and you may or may not see a performance increase. Results will definitely vary, but as I said, just standing in IF, I saw a boost from normal.

For more info on what OpenGL is, have a look at the following informational sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opengl
http://www.opengl.org/documentation/current_version/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenGL_and_Direct3D



Performance Driver Changes

Some sites I've read about this issue have also suggested the use of "performance" drivers for your video card. I tend to not like doing this personally as you never know what kind of off the wall things people do for performance sake versus stability when you use 3rd party drivers not from your video card company.

The following site has been raved about having really fantastic video drivers tuned for game performance and quality which is here:

http://www.omegadrivers.net

Again, THIS IS AT YOUR OWN RISK and personally, I dont advise the driver change unless you are really at the end of your rope and the above OpenGL change doesnt fix your problems.

[Shadowwolf]

As an example of the kind of performance increase im seeing in OpenGL mode:

[attachimg=1]

This is in an area where there arent too many people, just a few NPC's but still.

[elsabet]

Thanks so much for taking the time to research this and post this.  I've actually tried the open gl setting, running it now... it does give me some increase outside Dal, but inside Dal seems about the same.

After trying every possible tweak and fix I could find without any real result, I've come to the conclusion that my current videocard (NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430) probably is crap for what I want to do, so ordered a new one (GeForce 9400 GT 1 GB DDR2 PCI-E 2.0 Graphics Card ), hopefully get it in about a week.  I'm definitely not a heavily tech savvy person so hope this was the right move, hopefully it's at least an upgrade.

I may try the drivers from the site you posted in the meantime, but prolly will just wait for my new videocard so that I don't risk messing things up to the point where I can't do anything at all lol

On a postive computer note, I did manage to fix my daughter's computer yesterday... hard drive had bad sectors in some uTorrent file, causing it to totally freeze up.

Elsa

[Shadowwolf]

Dalaran is always going to be bad I think. The main area that you want working well is groups and raids in instances. Dalaran is bad because there is SOOO much detail in a ton of things in such a small space that all video cards lag there. It was badly designed as its even smaller than Shattrath is. Be thankful they dont allow flight in Dalaran or you'd be lagging even more.

Upgrading your video card will definitely help and the 9 series is a huge step up from the 6 series. I think a lot of your issues might go away once the new one is installed.

As an example, a comparison list is here:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/132

You can see where your old card is on the list compared to your new card.

[Shadowwolf]

This seems to be a fantastic fix, at least for me, so I would encourage people to try it out and see how it works for you.

Heres a shot of my FPS in Naxx tonight. Previously my average FPS in Naxx was in the 20-30 range if not lower.

[attach=1]

[Nasanna]

Mine has gone up also trying this (from about 30 to 40-50 now), though I also tried the "vista lag fix" at the same time so I can't say which is helping more. Thanks Shadow.

[kajunlady]

theres a vista lag fix?  nvm i think i found what yoiu were talking about

Mine has gone up also trying this (from about 30 to 40-50 now), though I also tried the "vista lag fix" at the same time so I can't say which is helping more. Thanks Shadow.

[JohnnieRat]

should i not try Shadow's hardware fixces when im drunk?

[Fleecy]

probably not the best idea JR lol

On another note however, I just wanna say that it seems to have helped my FPS so far as well.  I can walk through dalaran at 14 fps instead of 1... and flying over Crystalsong Forest for the first time after doing this fix, I had 25 fps instead of 2 or 3... so I'm a happy camper!!!   

If it continues to stay like this, it will greatly improve my game play which also makes me happy, cause sometimes it's SO frustrating, I'm sure some can sympathize with me, when it takes like 5 minutes to walk through Dalaran from like the inn to the vendors beside the bank to repair before heading out to a raid...  lol

[Shadowwolf]

The key thing to point out here is that OpenGL puts most of the rendering and graphic load on the video card, while DirectX (Direct3D) is all software based. Thats why on slower machines, OpenGL is a better option because most modern video cards within 3 yrs old can easily handle the load of WoW's graphics engine. Thats why you'll see faster load times and whatnot as the better your video card, the better results youll get.

[Oilslick]

well, i decided to try it and see if there was any improvement...raw fps wise indeedy, hundreds now, but other players movements are still herky jerky


as for the vista lag fix...my overall lag doesn't seem to be any different, but i have noticed some small things that have changed alot - like looting, and opening my mail, are much more immediate now

[Shadowwolf]

The jerky player movement is a known issue with Blizz. Thats something else that we cant fix with a bypass of any type.

[Kothnok]

> The jerky player movement is a known issue with Blizz.

It's actually part of the design into making an MMO of almost any type.  What you're experiencing with others seemingly herky jerky movements has absolutely nothing to do with your system.  It's that player's lag that is affecting what you see.  What is happening is the WoW server is anticipating where that player is going and makes them move along a smooth path.  That player's system has so much lag, though, that after a bit, the server and client are out of sync with where each one thinks the player is located.  To compensate for this, the server then sync's up with that player and they "jerk back" to wherever the client said they should be.  The end result is that the laggy player actually seems as if their movement is smooth, but slow, yet everyone else on the server sees them as herky jerky.

Incidentally, this ability for the client to tell the server where the player "should be" is what was exploited by those gold farmers that used bot software to zip from chest location to chest location in places like Azshara.  There wasn't any limit to where the client could re-sync you long ago (although I believe they've plugged that hole... at least, I hope so).

[Jandris]

I don't know if anyone else has this problem but I tried to install this fix and got "this is not valid. Make sure the path and file name are correct". Also my program and start files are in "D:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\" and the target being "D:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Launcher.exe" Noob pc user ftw 

[Kothnok]

Your target should look like this

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"D:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Launcher.exe" -opengl