Graphics and Lag: I17

I noticed this in Test, and I'm noticing it now on Live. I have a video card that technically "isn't recommended for Ultra Mode".

BUT, I start the game in normal mode, and EVEN in Ultra Mode... and it "feels" like the graphics are smoother and less "laggy" than the graphics used to be, using the Quality settings during the previous 16 issues.

I mean, it feels like the way the game's graphics WORKS has changed, in some sort of more efficient way. Almost like it's gotten a new game engine entirely that was written to be kinder on older video cards.

I just FEEL less "lag", slowness, in general in the way the graphics work. It just FEELS smoother and less jumpy since issues 17, even with higher settings than were previously possible.

Is this just in my head, or are there other people out there with "older" video cards that can verify this as well?


P.S. Also another thing that I noticed is that previously when you made major graphics settings changes from Minimum to Quality and vice versa, and then hit the Apply button, the computer would "freeze" for a few seconds on the main CoH screen while the graphics "reloaded" and then it would go back to the game world. I don't experience this now with I17... when I change from the lowest to the highest and vice versa, it happens INSTANTLY, and when I hit the Apply button, there is no difference than when I slid the slider.

It's not a new engine. They're just using better OpenGL code with the old engine. That's why all the ATI issues disappeared.

So, no, you're not crazy. Well, at least in relation to your perceptions on this.

I noticed this too.

Outdoor maps and areas in Redside were rage-inducingly laggy before I17 and now they are very smooth. The only difference with me is that I can run Ultra Mode but I run it at Quality settings.

I keep seeing the UI flicker on and off, especially if I open my /info window and scroll down my list of badges.

Granted, I have a *lot* of badges now.

Me too, and my graphics card isn't running as hot anymore either. Go figure.

Getting odd full screen flickering as well. Seems to be more prevalent after zoning.Not diggin it, but my short term memory bites anyway...Wacky.

Hmm, maybe I can afford to put the graphics back up to 'performance' from 'minimum' on my crappy old laptop then. The graphics chip on this thing is really going downhill fast, and I havn't been playing much lately because I have to choose between the world, power effects, and characters all being incredibly flat or having about 10 FPS. If I can bump it back up to performance without completely killing my FPS maybe it'll tide me over until I get a new PC next month....

Anyone out there with roughly similar performance tried this yet? Curious what the effects are.

The new shadowing was the only thing that slowed my computer down (I can use the middle setting for the shadows but not the high end setting). The new water effects and reflections worked perfectly at the highest settings for me, and they looked really good.

I honestly wouldn't know. I switched graphics cards and notched up the graphics when I17 launched, so I don't have practically any basis to guess at how the game ran prior to the Issue. I mean, it ran perfectly fine on my 9800 and it lags on my 285, but I'm using rather a lot higher settings now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

If you have an ATI card, the Devs actually recommend going back to the 10.1 Catalyst drivers.

No, you must be crazy! I17 is horribly broken and only will run on new $3000+ machines! It's completely unplayable!!!!eleven!! I know it's so because I readz teh Bugs forum!

Or, you know, not.

On the other hand, using the same settings I had pre-I17 is currently crippling my machine, for no clear reason.