Guild Wars 2 Hates nVIDIA GTX Cards - NOT!

[Buffalo158]

I've been playing GW2 since it was first released, and I really enjoy playing the game (when I can play it; see below). The graphics are absolutely stunning and the game-play is first-rate. This is a game-changing MMO, folks.

 

However, there is a huge fly in the ointment.

 

What I don't like about the game is the fact that, currently, it seems to be incompatible with nVIDIA GX video cards. The game crashes on me all the time. Frustrated, I immediately went to the GW2 Website's Technical Support Forum and discovered that this is a known problem! The game designers are "working on it and will get back to us when they have a fix." Yikes! I want to play my game NOW, not one of these days.

 

So..., word to the wise, GW2 fans. If you are using a GTX card then you won't like playing the game, because you will have to play it in fits and starts. I hate having to play it that way!

 

Therefore, if you want to enjoy playing this really cool MMO then I recommend that you replace your GTX card with another manufacturer's video card. I know I want to. Badly!

 

If you routinely experience crashes then I recommend that you do the following:

 

1. Enter the game

 

2. Go to OPTIONS

 

3. Find the Advanced Settings section

 

4. From the Setting Preset pulldown --> Best Performance

 

This will "tune" your settigns to accommodate your video card's capabiliy. Worked for me!

Edited September 8, 2012 by Buffalo158

[WhenKittensATK]

1. Guild Wars 2 doesn't have Dx 11, at least not yet.

2. GTX 680 since first BWE, not a single crash. Have nearly 100 hours logged into final release. Haven't heard any complaints with 2x30 member guilds so far either.

3. Performance isn't so great in my experience. 70-100 FPS facing forward. Drops to 30-40 FPS when turning camera. 12 FPS in WvW when you have 30+ at a Keep Gate, but that's understandable.

 

What are your rig specs? OS? Update drivers? Reinstall GW2? Try moving game install to another HDD?

Edited September 8, 2012 by AZNguyen

[FUZi0N]

Well, I have a crash about every session I play with my GTX670. I'll be playing smooth no hiccups then bam, the screen turns black like its reloading and then I'm constantly running 5-10fps. Frustrating when I'm fighting and the game blacks out resulting in death. Tried multiple drivers and still no solution.

Edited September 8, 2012 by FUZi0N

[WhenKittensATK]

Did you try changing the Anti-Aliasing the GW2 team postet on the forum? :

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/support/tech/Black-Screen-Issue-AMD-ATI/first#post3963

If you did that, try disabling “Character Animation” and “High res textures” ingame.

[Buffalo158]

1. Guild Wars 2 doesn't have Dx 11, at least not yet.

2. GTX 680 since first BWE, not a single crash. Have nearly 100 hours logged into final release. Haven't heard any complaints with 2x30 member guilds so far either.

3. Performance isn't so great in my experience. 70-100 FPS facing forward. Drops to 30-40 FPS when turning camera. 12 FPS in WvW when you have 30+ at a Keep Gate, but that's understandable.

 

What are your rig specs? OS? Update drivers? Reinstall GW2?

 

 

nVIDIA Website indicates that GW2 is running DX-11; that's my source

 

Rig specs:

Mobo: ASUS P7P55d-e

CPU: i5-750 2.67 GHZ w/ Artic cooler tower (not overclocked)

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 470 (latest driver)

HDD: WD Caviar (2 x 1TB)

PSU: Cooler Master 750-Watt

Case: Cooler Master 430 w/ two fans

OS: Win 7 (32-bit) SP 1

 

Checked nVIDIA's Website for updated driver, found none for my card; therefore, I am using the latest diver

 

Reinstalled GW2 Ran -repair utility Ran -update utility None of these utilities fixed the problem

 

Ran nVIDIA's "Are You Ready For GW2?" utility and passed the check-up

 

 

Thank you for your help!

[Buffalo158]

No, I haven't tried changing the Anti-Aliasing, disabling Character Animation, or disabling Hi-res Textures. I will try it, even though no other MMO I play needs to be crippled to avoid crashing. <heavy sigh>

 

More later....

[WhenKittensATK]

Posted on GW2 Facebook.

For those of you who have been asking about DX11 support for Guild Wars 2, our goal with GW2 has always been to provide a gorgeous fantasy world while at the same time running on a wide range of gaming PCs.

 

Focusing on DX9 allows us to do this, as it’s a much wider supported graphics API than DX11 is and we wanted our game to reach as many of our fans as possible.

 

We will be evaluating supporting DX11 post launch. ~RB2

 

nVidia released beta drivers on the Aug 27th, version 306.02 (64-bit version). See if you have those vs the older official release back in May, version 301.42.

Edited September 8, 2012 by AZNguyen

[Buffalo158]

No, I haven't tried changing the Anti-Aliasing, disabling Character Animation, or disabling Hi-res Textures. I will try it, even though no other MMO I play needs to be crippled to avoid crashing. <heavy sigh>

 

More later....

 

I just checked on the Anti-aliasing settings and found that the nVIDIA Control Panel (didn't have the Catalyst Control Center on my pick list when I right-clicked on the Desktop) shows "Use Application Settings" as the chosen option.

 

 

Now I'm going to start the game and try the Disable Character Animation option. More later...

[Buffalo158]

Posted on GW2 Facebook.

 

 

nVidia released beta drivers on the Aug 27th, version 306.02 (64-bit version). See if you have those vs the older official release back in May, version 301.42.

 

The 306.02 driver is not compatible with my GTX 470 card. I went looking for that driver as soon as I read that message, but I had no joy. Also, I am using Win-7 32-bit.

[Stonerboy779]

The 306.02 driver is not compatible with my GTX 470 card. I went looking for that driver as soon as I read that message, but I had no joy. Also, I am using Win-7 32-bit.

You have 8GB of RAM and use a 32bit OS? I think it is definitely time for you to do a fresh windows install as a 64bit operating system

[Nephilumos]

I get crashes quite frequently as well with my 2 460's in SLI. Running the 306.02 drivers. It's mildly annoying, but I'm only level 19, and it has only happened while using the warp points or changing areas, so it hasn't bothered me too much.

[Buffalo158]

I just checked on the Anti-aliasing settings and found that the nVIDIA Control Panel (didn't have the Catalyst Control Center on my pick list when I right-clicked on the Desktop) shows "Use Application Settings" as the chosen option.

 

 

Now I'm going to start the game and try the Disable Character Animation option. More later...

 

I went to the in-game OPTIONS page and couldn't find a Disable Character Animation tick-box. But I did find the Settings Preset pull-down menu and decided to try "Best Performance." That seems to have fixed my problem! I played for two solid hours without a crash, and I used a number of portals and waypoints. Quite often the game crashed when I used a portal, although it also crashed "just because." I am crossing my fingers and hoping that I've finally found the silver bullet!