World of Warcraft FPS boost needed

Ah... this was supposed to go to the gaming area... help?   :)

Masqueraid ~

I'll give a bit more info.  I play hunter mainly, lock second, and MT for 20 mans, and OT for 40 mans.  I have 2gigs of RAM, and currently have 350mb  of RAM allocated to mods.  My mods run around 30mb - mostly Ace2 based mods.  No auctioneer, or database driven mods except SW Stats, which i clean out every morning.

I like the game to look incredible, as long as I can play... so the higher the settings, the better for me.  I hate to drop them when i don't absolutely need to.  I guess i figured that having a 7800gtx would be more than enough to run the game full blown without issues... i'm finding out I was incorrect.  

Guess so :(
On a Dual Core 7900GTX and AQ40 will slow to about 8-10FPS for that one room, sadly sometimes for a big raid in a complex dungeon it's worth compromising on resolution at the outset.

I'll do some tests tonight - and let you know what i find.

I will wait a couple days for other responses as well before accepting an answer.

Thanks for input.

apparently the game has a 60fps script in it that was changed in this patch to 100fps http://wow.curse-gaming.com/en/files/details/2786/natur-enemycastbar/http://wow.curse-gaming.com/en/files/details/2786/natur-enemycastbar/

http://wow.curse-gaming.com/en/files/details/2786/natur-enemycastbar/ sorry double link

CSS has a similiar frame rate limiter. Also you could search for the exact script as I am not famaliar with the game

What is the link for specifically?  I'll check out the 60fps vs 100fps cap tonight as well.  Thank you.

it was supposed to contain a fix for the 60 to 100 fps. Might be better off finding a script then just add it to the console.

As i knew already that full screen was faster than windowed, i was hoping to find out something to change with my hardware so that playing in windowed mode (maximized) would be faster.  

Thanks for the input guys.

It was my understanding that Movies run at 30 FPS and the human eye cannot really distiguish
anything over 30-40 FPS.. I'm wondering if you are knocking you head against the wall to go from
50 to 100 FPS and then say.. I don't notice ANY difference!?

Well i want to make sure that I am getting the most out of what i have.  I'm not sure about your statement being true or not, but i want to make sure that my hardware is performing at it's max capabilities.  

Higher FPS usually has a effect on the latency on any game also. If you play a FPS game online and notice a ping of let's say 80 on high settings. You go and switch to the lowest settings with a higher FPS, I bet your latency will be a heck lot better. I also notice the average gamer puts no effort into the optimization of there services, I suggest closing out anything that isn't needed to run and maybe find a modded INF for your video card that is optimized.

"It was my understanding that Movies run at 30 FPS and the human eye cannot really distiguish
anything over 30-40 FPS."

Not so. Television uses motion blur technology so 30FPS seems smooth.  I've been playing FPS games for years and you can definatley tell the difference.

The issue is WoW FPS is tied to your desktop refresh rate, similar to Call of Duty and Medal of Honor's "com_maxfps" setting defaulting to the same as desktop refresh rate.  In Call of duty and medal of honor, you could always adjust the variable, "com_maxfps 500" for example.  If you can't get above 60fps, your desktop refresh rate is probably set to 60.  Try adjusting that to a higher refresh and see if your WoW FPS doesn't jump to match it.

mess around with your graphic card settings, that usually helps me :)

mess around with your graphic card settings, that usually helps me :)

Have you tried disabling V_Sync in the Graphics options?

As mentioned above - disabling V_Sync removed the 60fps cap for me.  You may experience graphical tearing however.

You could also try a different video card. I just got the Geforce 9600GT SSC version. It can run FULL anything. Maxed everything. Including with programs such as nvtweaker and nvtray maxed out. Even have it set for 16s anti-alias. I am running a 1.80ghz core duo from intel. Running through the primetime at Ironforge doesn't even pose a problem, not even a shutter, and one of the most graphically drawn out items is things like smoke effects. I noticed on my old card that mounts required alot of processor/graphics power to display without lag. Now with the new card but same computer, same setup... I get anywhere from 60-80fps and when it's solid... it maters most. Bouning to 100fps isn't anything special if it isn't consistant.

 

keep all your settings up

disable smooth mouse

disable v-synch

if that doesnt do it, look at some different drivers like omega drivers (depending on your chipset)

Holy lord!!  I need to use spell check.

You can also try changing the priority of the process thread from normal to high in your task manager for the WoW application. For me this has helped alot for FPS.

The human eye see's images at about 24 fps. Your brain cannot process the information any faster. If you were to limit the game's fps which I do (i have several running at the same time.... don't ask) you would not be able to tell the difference. I have a command line argument passed that limits my wow.exe executable to 30 fps and I swear I cannot tell a difference. The game isn't choppy at all. So what your really doing by trying to squeeze extra fps is making your rig hotter/work harder all for nothing but bragging rights. I cannot tell a difference between my 120 fps and my 30 fps game. The only thing that this effects is when you enter large towns such as Orgrimmar, it takes a bit longer to render everyone because it's rendering them at a slower pace, but non-the less its negligible.

CptGiggles you correct with fact that the human eye can only see 24fps and trained human eyes maybe a little faster. But it another thing where you know that your hardware has the ability to produce high FPS but results from the in game FPS meter is saying its much lower than expected.

For me that is really annoying and it saying that I have a problem somewhere in my system... or... if the FPS is really low then I may need to upgrade.

I see your point, but what I should have said is... the fps meters for these games are rarely accurate... (Knowing blizzard, ill give it a 99% chance that their number is no where near what it actually is). The fact that people are worried because WOW reports a small number when they should be getting a large number is extra stress on the user that need not be there. If it looks smooth to you... your fine. The only reason to worry over the extra fps is to say... "my system can get ____fps in WOW" To me its like saying 'My computer can list 500 places after the decimal when i type in excel....' (god only knows if it truly can) Theres really no point to worry. I would be worried if his video card(s) were spinning heavily with only 40 or so fps... cause that would lead me to belive theres a driver/hardware issue.

After rereading the author's post, he says hes gets 15fps and 5fps in populated areas. I've had this happen to me, since its in a populated area and you have a good graphics card, the reason (from my experiences) is from latency. WOW is loading all the art and placing it on the video card's ram, so rendering takes a back seat. the more people there are, the more memory it has to fill (and in many cases, swap)

I've seen a top notch gaming system run 60FPS+ in heavly dense areas.

But my wife would kill me if I went and spend that kina money for that performance.

CptGiggles,

First of all, there is a giant difference between 30fps and 60fps on a computer monitor. Movies and Cinema use motion blur so 24/25fps fools your eyes to looks smoother than a computer game which does not use any blur.

Any gamer can easily tell the difference between 40fps and 60fps, and 30fps is just plain choppy. On an LCD you want vsync locked and your game running at a solid 60fps, end of story. If vsync is off, you will just get horizontal tearing (some people don't care - they just want to show off their FPS) and your LCD cannot display over 60fps anyway (60hz) so the extra frames are discarded and the textures "tear" due to the video card and the monitor being out of sync. When testing your video card's maximum frame rate you would turn vsync off, but again your monitor is still only displaying 60 frames.

I remember having a CRT that had 160hz refresh and I would put vsync on and games were buttery smooth, compared to even 100hz.

I think the correct statement would be that you don't "care" of the difference between 30+fps but a lot of us gamers care a great deal.

Cheers.

I don't necessarily agree with what Ice_Engine said. I have my wow copy locked at 24fps. I can't tell a difference when it's just me grinding. It could be that my monitor/video card employ something that make it better for me, but I've had problems with WOW overtaxing my computer just for the extra 100 or so fps (which is not worth the extra heat my video card gives off, if you ask me). You know the 'we'll use whatever we can' mentality.

Clearly you are mistaken when you talk about the fact that 30fps is 'plain choppy'. I have my copy throttled down below this and no one has ever seen any problems while playing on my box. You are correct in saying that I do not care about the extra 30 fps because its system resources I could be using elsewhere. But my comment was in response to the author's question about his system underpreforming, in which I clearly say "Theres really no point to worry." Not that you shouldnt care anything about frame rates, but I was pointing out that frame rate drops like he describes happen to everyone but the most gluttonist gamers. (The people who feel like shelling out WAY TOO MUCH for the latest and greatest for things like a game such as WOW)

I would like to know what Ice_Engine means by "Movies and Cinema use motion blur so 24/25fps fools your eyes to looks smoother than a computer game which does not use any blur."  The film reels are a series of still frames displayed 24 in one second, and it is the brain that is fooled into thinking it is motion when it is not.  Computer displays operate on the same principle, and scientists have determined that the threshold for the brain being fooled requires at least 24 fps.  Bad synchronization between what the game is outputting and what the screen is displaying can lead to artifacts.

Movies and Film uses motion blur. With a typical 180 degree shutter, the exposed image movement, and subsequent motion blur, is therefore recorded for 1/48th of a second. Because blurring simulates fluidity (film), sharpness simulates stuttering (games on an LCD).

Locking 24fps in WoW is just plain silly. No offense. Do this experiment ... play WoW at 60fps with vsync on and then lock it at 24fps like you've had, and ask a friend to tell you what they think. I am guessing some people have a higher/lower tolerance of these things. Some people's glasses are full of crud and you wonder how they can see through them, but they don't even notice. Same phenomenon perhaps.

I don't agree with this motion blur theory.  I know how motion picture cameras work - they don't operate at a fixed shutter speed of 1/48th of a sec; they are variable and depend on ambient light and how much the lens is stopped down, much like a still camera.  Any blur you see is an intended film effect by the director, but it is too much to claim that this is present in every film; it is a result of the director's creativity.  The director may even choose very fast shutter settings and high speed film advance to slow down the motion, so what you see is the exact opposite of blur.

It may be the case that people have different tolerances for different frame rates, but that is not related to the technical details of how movies are made.

Motion picture cameras that photograph at 24fps usually are set at a shutter angle of 180 degrees, which translates into 1/48th second shutter speed per frame.

Think of how fast you can move your hand over the course of 2 seconds. If you expose a piece of film for two seconds while you move your hand, the silver is trying to draw your hand at every moment of those two seconds onto one piece of film.

So if you want to see really sharp detail, you try to expose the film for as short a time as possible by closing the gap in the shutter. But we need light to make those silver bits arrange themselves, so the less amount of time you expose your film, the less light gets in, so the more light you'll need on your subject.

We've established that a film camera shooting 24 frames of film a second will spin the shutter 24 times in one second. That means each full spin takes 1/24th of a second. If the shutter is at 180 degrees, for half of the time it's blocking light. It's only allowing light through half of the time, or for 1/48th of a second each spin. So there's your 1/48th.

I lock WOW at 30 fps because:

1. I have a moderately powered computer with a directx10 video card so some of my available ram gets used by the video card.

2. I have a dual core processor in my laptop and a streamlined version of vista (disabling several bells and wistles

3. When wow runs by itself (which it oftentimes does) (I'm ignoring system processes and internet browsers) it tries to use all of my cpu and gpu.

this results in WOW running at anywhere from 80 - 140 fps depending... i dont like how hot my computer gets when its like this, so i throttle it down. I tried at least 10 different variances of fps and my computer benefited the most while still providing me with a perfect picture at 30 fps.

When i went much lower the system seemed to be more susceptible to fps spikes



EITHER WAY: we have hijacked this man's question in order to have a conversation that fits more on a general forum than a question/answer forum. DONE.

There's more on this subject in this thread http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?topic_id=23&msg_id=0007ii, for those who have an interest in it.  I see how 1/48th is arrived at, but while 180 degrees is standard, the angle in one of the cameras mentioned can vary from 11 to 180.  It is not always clear what the setting was when watching a movie.

Well your problem seems to have been answered by now but just at Verulam and others have said, if your capping at 60fps its because you have vsync on and what that does is makes your game refresh at the same time as your monitor so disabling that will allow more frames but your probably gonna get tearing but at 60fps the game should be ruining like melted butter on Sunday afternoon and you should notice no lag what so ever, i have a 8800gt 512 mb gddr3 and its oc'd. and even though i could be getting like 140 frames in wow i choose to keep vsync on because of tearing.

WoW is capped at 60FPS, Blizzard coded this into the game, but cant recall if there are ways to get around it.


didnt read it all also, but you can not compare movie FPS to video games since they use diff blending methods (movies /tv use a blur effect) and many tests have shown that diff people can see well over 60FPS.

I have seen wow report higher FPS than 60, maybe it was lying, maybe it was mearly a setting you have enabled...

It matters little.

Anything above 60 is realistically unnecessary.

depends what games you play, game like WoW, no 60FPS is good, but play any FPS and more the better! (and yes the eye can see beyond 60FPS and much higher.)

In WOW you do not do 180 degree spins in 1/5 second to see who is behind you like you do in fast paced FPS shooter games such as Quake/CS/UT etc.  So you will not notice a problem with 60fps in WOW because the scene is not changing very quickly.

Ask any pro level player if they can tell the difference, they will all answer YES.  There's no sense asking lower level players who can't tell any difference, or players that don't play games where it matters.

Ice_Engine did a great job of explaining it.  Indeed a lot of pro gamers still use CRT monitors and not LCD flat screens because they are capped at 60-70 fps refresh, while a CRT can go to 100-160 depending on the screen resolution.  I still use my Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 22" CRT for FPS gaming, it beats an LCD hands down.

Also you may have recently seen ads for 120Hz HDTV's which boast smooth picture during high action scenes such as sports etc. This is exactly the same thing we are talking about here.  If it didn't make a difference they wouldn't bother making TV's that run at 120Hz vs the older 60Hz.

I agree with ICE to a degree also. Although I do not play WOW I do play on lcd's and currently a 62" LCD TV with motion blur and 120hz technology connected DVI to HDMI. I have been playing Team Fortress @ 100FPS I locked it there but through the config file for the game. Without the 100FPS lock it bounces somewhere between 120 and 300 FPS.  But locking it gave me great stability playing the game and a modified config file gave me solid hitbox results. Thus winning more games. locking the framerate did the most good. But as said earlier in this discussion that 24FPS was great, Not so for me anything below 60 is very noticable to me. Florescent bulbs in the USA and Electricity is 60hz  so even though you cannot see it they are blinking 60 times per second they eye cannot see this for most people but it does bother some with the ability to see it. Mostly younger people in my experience.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=554422225282547705 Here is a video showing where the real hitboxes are with the default config

One interesting fact just to throw in there:  A human eye can only process 4-7 unique images a second (different people different numbers.)  Note: I am not saying that you only need to run at 7fps, I'm saying that above 7fps things start to "blur" together and you start to see motion rather than a series of still images.

And on the 120Hz TVs... it actually has nothing to do with people being able to "see" a flicker in 60Hz, it has to do with scaling movies (24fps in the US) onto a 60Hz refresh rate.  It's not an even divisor so some frames stay on the screen longer than others creating what some see as a choppy image.  All a 120Hz TV does is take a 60Hz signal (all video going over HDMI is 60Hz, no matter what) and double it.  So now the frame rate is a multiple of the refresh rate.  It can be thought of as "turning on vsync" as discussed earlier in the thread.  Take note that you are still only seeing 24fps on a 120Hz tv, just each frame is flashed on the screen 5 times.

Disable Vertical Sync or Force off with Nvidia Control Panel.  Should be that simple.

Dynamic1  that video is wrong and right, the problem is people do not recall the new implementation of lag compensation in the source engine and all games after it, also the same video was made for Team fortress 2 and it is actually a server side setting that can be set to change the way the systems works.


it isnt rwinder, some games have FPS locks on them, also for some turning that off results in scree tearing since the display is being feed too much data from the vid card.


Also, please do not compare TV to computers, TV / Movies and such use bluring between frames to give the appeareance of a smooth transition between frames, computers who each an d every single frame with not bluring effect.

have anyone tried to record an action scene using 30fps camcorder?, it is true that human eye can see only 24 fps but for action, shaky scenes 30fps are not enough, maybe for static pictures it is, but when your screen moves constantly for example on action games, you WILL notice the difference between 30 and 100 fps. the most frames per second screen is refreshed, the more fluent it looks for your eye.