Guidelines for using /reloadgfx and maxing video

Many of you may not know this, but using /reloadgfx properly is tricky. Following these guidelines may improve your results:

1. Do not use /reloadgfx just before zoning, as it may *cause* a crash.

2. After zoning into a laggy spot like Pocket D or a base, wait up to a minute for the textures to load and stabilize. Move slowly at first and give it a little time before using /reloadgfx. Using the command too early may actually prolong lag or increase the chance of a crash.

3. Turn on Advanced graphics settings and make sure your World Detail slider is set no higher than 100%. This seems to increase stability and reduce lag dramatically.

4. Try to upgrade your RAM to 4 GB or higher.

5. If you're using a new dual-graphics Mac with both the 9400 and 9600, set your graphics (in Energy Saver) to Performance.

6. Try to limit the number of applications you're running in the background when you're doing effects intensive missions.

A permanent fix should be on the way for Mac lag and crashes, but in the meantime these instructions should help you maximize play.

P.S. Yes, I've been following each of the guidelines above. If I hover by my SG's base for a few seconds and then run to the next room (rather than fly) I can usually then use the huge base lag-free. I've also reduced my crashing to maybe once a night, which seems to be on par with Vista.

Ironically, following your guidelines (1) and (2) about a more conservative use of /reloadgfx made my play experience much less stable.

Obsessively hitting my reloadgfx macro, before and after every zone, and after any heavy gfx experiences (like going to any place that's got a lot of toons) has resulted in fairly solid stability -- I was able to play for several hours straight without crashes, as was my husband.

Waiting to do so, or not doing so immediately after zoning: Crashes during zoning, or crashes shortly after zoning (usually within two minutes, often by the time I take a few steps).

YMMV, of course.

"Your mileage may vary"?

Which Mac are you using and how much RAM?

Current-generation iMac, 4 GB, up-to-date OS X install, no changes. The system isn't running anything other than CoH, Firefox (for the forums), and a terminal window.

I'm not absolutely sure about the internals, but depending on exactly what variant of problem you are having, /unloadgfx may be more useful than /reloadgfx.

Theoretically, /reloadgfx should tell your graphics system to reload all texture information it's currently storing in graphics memory, from main memory or the hard disk. If you have plenty of graphical memory yet are experiencing graphical corruption for some reason this should reload good versions. In general this will be slower, as it's loading things whether it needs them or not.

Theoretically, /unloadgfx should tell your graphics system to unload all cached texture information it's currently storing in graphics memory, and then only reload what is currently in use (current zone/area/characters). This should help those with low or shared graphical memory, by clearing out cached info that's no longer needed. It will also clear out corrupted textures, since it clears out everything.

I can't actually be sure about the internals; at any given point, these may point to different functions or actually be mapped to the same underlying routine. It may in fact be handled differently on the PC and the Mac. However, even if right now they're mapped the same, it's best to use the one that's supposed to do what you want, in case they change/fix things.

In general, you'd not want to issue either command immediately before zoning, as if the textures are still loading when it tries to load them from zoning, it may cause problems. Since /reloadgfx causes a lot more loading, it's more problematic. Similarly, if the zone (area, character, etc.) textures haven't finished loading yet after zoning, you could confuse things further by forcing a reload while it's already loading.

One way to use /unloadgfx to minimize certain problems while zone loading is to walk up to the zone door (etc.), zoom in so that there's very little visible, and issue /unloadgfx. Wait a few moments for the screen to reload, which should be fairly quickly on most systems as it doesn't need to load much. Then zone; the zone load will have a largely clean slate to work with.

Another option is to use /unloadgfx after zoning. Wait until the zone has finished loading, and you can move about a bit without rubberbanding. Then issue /unloadgfx to clean out all the old zone / character models, and wait again for it to load the current zone.

If you're having serious problems or are running on a very underspec computer, you may want or need to do both, before and after zoning. Just make sure you're waiting long enough for things to stabilize.

If you're having difficulties in a complex setting (costume contest, invasion, etc.) it'll usually be more useful and faster to use /unloadgfx. On the other hand, if you're in a mission and are finding that wall textures have gone bizarre or something, pausing for a moment and issuing /reloadgfx may be more applicable.

tl;dr: use /unloadgfx rather than /reloadgfx in most situations, unless you've got a clear understanding of why you wouldn't.

There seems to be a developing issue with the most recent iMac and CoH Mac Edition. I will be running a test as soon as I have access to an Apple Store.

Meanwhile, send a support request so they can track the issue as well.

So I do get an occasional d/c. I use unloadgfx or reloadgfx after I zone, although I forget about 50% of the time. I usually only d/c on freedom in atlas in the MA building, but I am not convinced that is a Mac only issue there.

I run COH mac edition on the most recent 24inch Imac 3.0 GhZ processor with 4 mg RAM and the NVIDIA GEOFORCE GT 1300 graphics card. I run no other programs at the same time, although sometimes I forget and leave utorrent on. I run the graphics full screen at the 1920 resolution as well. 2nd to best graphics settings. My last computer ran VISTA, and it was no better or worse for d/c's.

Because I do expect one d/c per ~ 4-5 hours of game play with some regular consistancy, I have shyed away from rolling a MM. I think I would get pissed if I had to reload all the pets again. I also try to avoid Atlas 1 and the MA building is possible.

It may be that I use unloadgfx more frequently, especially after zoning into mishes. It is annoying, so perhaps I should program a hot key or something to avoid the typing even.

Oh, and if I get laggy and sense impending d/c, I quickly type in unloadgfx and this tends to resolve the problem 50% of the time.

I am glad to here a fix is coming as it is somewhat irritating, but overall, I find the game play vastly superior over my old Vista version. Looks sharper, of couse the 24 inch IMac monitor is dead sexy, so that may be part of it too.

I find most games require the higher end versions of the PC or Mac to play better. I have heard of people playing successfully on the laptops and the mini-mac's, so sometimes I wonder if people are just leaving on background programs and such.

For what this is worth, and it makes no sense as to why, I d/c ed much less frequently when I downloaded Mozilla Firefox on my system. That is likely chance, but it was quite noticeable. I do not run Firefox with COH on. Infact to be clear, the only thing in the Dock on when I run COH is Finder and COH. Anyway, weird, but maybe worth mentioning.

Night Sable

Disconnects are not a known issue specifically with the Mac client - you should contact Customer Support about your internet connection.

The /reloadgfx command does not affect disconnects, it affects crashes by clearing out the video RAM and the problems it has associated with the Mac client.

Just to toss my experience in. On my Mac Pro I tend to use /reloadgfx after every third or so zone (I just made it a keybind >.&gt. I have been able to play fine with no crashes as long as I do that. My MacBook Pro (I always want to call it a powerbook still...) tends to need it a bit more often. I may try the unloadgfx command on it.

I've built a keybind that rather than using /reloadgfx instead uses /unloadgfx. The same keybind also resets my camera and then moves my camera position 30 ft back behind my character (so I can see stuff around me for PBAoEs and selecttargetnearest$$follow commands) all in one go.

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

/reloadgfx and /unloadgfx are currently doing next to nothing. They are not purging the memory cache like they used to.

In fact, zoning clears the cache, although, not completely, there still is a memory leak that will keep building until your system can't handle it.

Forget /unloadgfx. If your rig is crashing every hour, then exit the game completely every 45 minutes and log back in. That should stop the crashes for now as a workaround. At least, it will be a controlled crash.

This is a side note: I've discovered disabling the "Geometric" option really helps for ppl having big issues. I turned it off on mine and holy cow what a difference that did in helping.

I don't see any option labeled "Geometric".

You need to set "Advanced Graphics Settings" to "Enabled"; it'll open a bunch of new options, one of which (about halfway down, give or take) is "Use Geometry Buffers".