Harald387

So I recently replaced my 21" CRT (running at 1280x1024) with a pair of 21.5" LCD screens (running at 1920x1080). I'm using a GeForce GTX460 video card, and left the video settings unchanged after the upgrade. (if necessary, I can add a full listing of what's set where, but for the issue I'm having it doesn't seem to matter). I run the game in a window (and solutions that involve 'don't run in a window' won't work for me, for a variety of reasons).

Since this upgrade, whenever I look at a group of players (Wentworth's, Pocket D, Trials, etc) I suddenly begin suffering massive framerate lag; I drop from '40-45 FPS' to '1-5 FPS'. I thought that this had something to do with the character textures, so I lowered the Character Texture Detail from High to Medium and applied the changes. This solved the problem immediately... until I hit a load screen.

Once I was in the new zone, the problem reoccurred immediately. Once again I opened the graphics settings, and changed the Character Texture Detail - this time from Medium to High - and applied the changes. Again, this immediately solved the problem. I've discovered that applying ANY graphics change - no matter what, so long as it causes a load screen - solves the problem until I move to a new zone.

I'm baffled. The problem is not 'my settings are too high'; it doesn't matter where the settings are, I get lag when viewing groups of people until I change the settings, and apply the changes. I've also discovered that it definitely has something to do with the resolution I'm playing the game at; hooking up the old CRT monitor and using it at 1600x1200 resolution caused the same problem as playing with the new LCD at 1920x1080. This issue does not happen with the CRT set at 1280x1024.

In addition to the above troubleshooting, I have tried updating the graphics driver; when that had no effect, I tried tearing out the graphics driver by the roots and reinstalling it with the newest one, and that didn't help.

Has anyone seen this behavior before, or can anyone suggest a solution that I haven't already tried? The workaround described above makes the game playable, but it certainly isn't fun to keep doing it.

[EDIT]

On a friend's advice, I tried /unload_gfx instead of changing graphics settings. This ALSO fixed the problem, but it remains temporary. Creating a macro button to do this is not too inconvenient, but still isn't something I should need to do. Ideas on a permanent solution are welcome.

I'm putting this thread together to put down my own thoughts on improving player experience through UI changes. Feel free to pitch in with your own ideas.

Force Fields and other Single-Target Team Buffs

Anyone who's ever played a character with Force Fields, Cold Domination, Thermal Radiation, or any of the other powersets with a single-target medium-duration buff knows the intense joy that comes from clicking your way down the team list and buffing each one individually. Even building a macro to go through the team list is a fairly clunky solution.

Clearly these buffs are meant to be applied to a character's entire team. While it might have seemed like there were good reasons at the time (seven years ago) to force these to be individually targeted, it would be much simpler if, when cast, these buffs simply hit all teammates in range (or even 'all members of the targeted character's team', to make it easier to handle for leagues).

This could readily be applied to the aforementioned powersets, as well as other buffs like Speed Boost, Clear Mind, or Increase Density.

Removing Buffs

On a somewhat related note, the ability to right click on a temporary buff and turn it off would be nice. While this is primarily a good way to avoid RP-griefers covering people in shields (and letting RPers get rid of things like the arm glow from Hasten if they want to do it in a hurry), it's also useful for the rare person who didn't want that Speed Boost or Inertial Reduction.

Global Email

Two issues with the Global Email system: the first is the 15-second delay between sending mail messages. This made sense once as an anti-spammer measure; however, there are a number of better ones that have been implemented since then, and I question whether this one's still necessary. It's most frustrating when sending items to myself, but sometimes I'm helping to kit out a friend in IOs, and being able to send the six things I just crafted while my friend is offline without having to wait for each message would be nice.

Second, it would also be really helpful to be able to send stacks of items (salvage or recipes) via global email. Sending enhancements on a 15-second timer is frustrating. Sending salvage on a 15-second timer is just pointless.

I may add further posts to this thread as I come up with other ideas.

I can confirm that the launcher has a memory leak; leaving it running in the background overnight, it went from using ~3MB of RAM to using nine times that, at ~27 MB. My system can handle this - 8 GB of RAM is a sweet thing - but it shouldn't have to, and I imagine the leak will impact less-modern systems far more.

This is trivially easy to reproduce; it should also be relatively easy to fix.

Option 1, thoroughly and wholeheartedly.

Arc Name: A Caged Bird Never Sings
Arc ID: 370515
Faction: Tsoo/Custom
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Harald387
Difficulty Level: 15-40, Challenging
Synopsis: The past has come back to haunt a former villain turned hero, and she needs your help to put it back in its place.
Estimated Time to Play: I was able to solo it (with a number of deaths) in about 90 minutes. I wouldn't recommend soloing this arc unless you're a melee AT with plenty of mez resistance and a masochistic streak. It would be great for a medium-sized team.

This is my first AE arc, and I welcome constructive criticism (and compliments), or advice from more experienced authors. Feel free to PM or mail me.