Low end computer performance guide

[Fafurion]

• Before reading anything here i am going to tell you first hand that you will need at least 2g ram to enjoy this game. Warhammer and your operating system are memory hogs. After you run out of memory your game will stutter and freeze up making it unplayable. Ram is easily affordable (about 30 dollars on newegg for a 1g stick), even a hobo could afford ram so there is no excuses!

• September 5th we received an update via patcher for the preview weekend +. There are no new video options unfortunately... All you can basically do is view the options more in detail so don't expect any lower settings available. A huge let down!

I have had a lot of people request a guide for playing warhammer on a lower end system (minimum requirements). I run a 2.2 ghz amd rated at 3200+, 1.5g ram and a radeon x1650 pro 512 mb video card. I am able to run the game fairly smooth, however RvR with minimum is not going to happen, so please don't expect miracles.
When you get into a lot of action warhammer is going to take about 1.2g of ram memory and you have to also take into account your OS and other programs that need memory also. I am by no means a computer expert, but i found some thing threw research and trial and error that help. If you have any tips feel free to reply and i will add them, or just feel free to comment on anything i have listed.

How to:

1) This is not obvious to everyone, but the first thing you should do is defrag your hard drive. I will not go into step by steps, you can research how to do these simple tasks on google. After a defrag you will see better performance with everything you do, whether it is in-game or out.

2) Get rid of unnecessary programs in your task manager, you can research threw google to find out which ones you need and which ones you don't. This will free up memory thus making warhammer a little more tolerable!

3) I discovered this basically the last few hours of the preview weekend. You might think running full screen is best for performance, but for some reason it really isn't. Set your game for windowed mode, and set the resolution to match your desktop. It looks exactly the same but for some reason it runs so much more smooth and i wish i knew about this to begin with.

4) Settings for ati tools (and yes i recommend using this program). In case you have no idea you are using direct3d.

• Set both texture preference and mip map detail to performance (no brainer)

• Some say vertical sync is better for performance, some say it is not. I suggest trying always off and always on to see if you notice a difference in performance. For me it increased performance by having it always on.

• Enable both anisotropic filtering optimization and trilinear filtering optimization (this will increase your performance by about 15% when both are enabled and it even makes the graphics look better while maintaining good performance).

• Disable catalyst AI (this is mainly a tool for better computers and will slow down older systems even more).

• Geometry instancing is optional, but many recommend leaving it enabled. It will not really do much, but it will give your hardware better support.

• Under standard tweaks you will see force mip-map filter. This will boost your performance by making distance objects easier to render, however the graphics will look different. If you can get use to the change in graphics i recommend this setting.

5) The driver you choose for your video card is very important. For me the best choice is omega drivers, for some it is the official up to date drivers from ati / nvidia. I recommend trying both to see which you like more.

6) Set the 2 whole video options we actually get to high fps and self only. Please god lets hope there is more options for video by open beta.

7) You can choose to set your resolution to the lowest available, but for me it looks too blurry. I rather lose a few fps and have a clear looking game. All personal preference.

Thank you for reading, this is mainly information on ati systems but perhaps some of this info can help out the nvidia folks too. My gameplay was extremely choppy but after doing these steps i was able to play the game excluding features like RvR. If you want to do RvR you will have to buy a new computer or upgrade, no question about it. The coding is pretty rough in warhammer, people around you really eat up resources. Perhaps they will improve on this in the future, and you can always hope we will actually have video options by open beta.

Remember, trial and error! If i can do it you can also .

If you liked my guide please feel free to visit my blog! I post tips like the stuff found in this guide for all sorts of games.

http://cylongaming.blogspot.com/

[State Of Mind]

Thanks, actually much appreciated.

Specs:
2.6ghz P4
1GB RAM
ATI Radeon X1050 256MB
Running at 1024x768, Fastest Framerate, no spell effects.

It's not whether or not I lag, it's how bad it is; there's always some chop when I'm playing, I found some Public Quests and RvR in general to be unplayable. I can handle most PQs and Scenarios, but by no means smoothly.

Will have to try some of this out. I'm semi-inept with computer tech things, so meh.

[Suplol]

Vertical sync should always be off for best performance. Other than that, youre on the right track.

Defrag, disk cleanup, uninstall unused programs... these are things you need to do if you want to run this game at the minimum specs.

Also, go into your startup programs via msconfig (look this up if you arent familiar with it, I think its different for vista) and disable extra crap that you may be set to auto run.

Dont run things in the background, no music downloaders, no IM programs, no Internet windows... the idea is to give as much system resources to the game as possible.

And if you are looking to upgrade but are low on money, RAM is always the biggest bang for your buck.

[Fafurion]

If you are going to actually upgrade the computer i would go with 2g of ram, from what i have read even with an old cpu and mediocre video card you can play smooth in most cases. I will probably be upgrading to 2g before open beta comes out. Hopefully an extra .5 mb of ram will be a lot in terms of performance. As of right now i am basically full in terms of ram, warhammer maxes everything out. I work with what i have .

As for the vertical sync i ran better with it on, but i will change my guide to reflect your opinion. I guess its different for some people.

[Abedeus]

What Fafurion said. 2 GB will give you the best results, 4 GB is an overkill. A multi-cored processor (I've got Intel Dual Core E2160 @ 1,8GHz) will help, too.

Oh, and 512 RAM on graphic card.

[Weyzer]

I also recommend using "EndItAll", a program that ends all unneccesary programs/processes, that I use before running games.
It automatically protects importent processes, so your pc won't crash. The only thing you have to do is protect programs that you still need.

You can get it from many websites, like http://www.docsdownloads.com/enditall-1.htm


Another VERY useful program is TuneUp Utilities. It has lots of options that can help you make your PC faster, like defrag.
You can get a 30-day trial with all features from http://www.tune-up.com/download/
(you dont have to enter an email)

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FOR OP
OP, I have a very similar rig at the moment (1.8ghz 3000+, 2GB RAM, 512MB AGP card) Im getting a new asap.
What fps did you get in fights etc after optimizing your pc?

[VenomCoil]

Anyone play WAR using a dual processor machince (not dual-core: two single-core cpus, each in its own socket)? I've Gigabyte dual proc machine I could drop two 2800 MP+ into if it means WAR at release vs WAR in December.

[Ge15t]

I run a Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83 ghz, 2gb ram, 8600m gs 256 and If the preview weekend was set to lowest graphics, then im scared to raise it any higher than that...

[dwright15]

Specs:

CPU: P4 2.6GHz
RAM: 1534MB
VC: PNY GEforce 6800GS
RES: 1680x1050

All the settings were on max for what beta client would allow, ran good in senerios. In heavily populated PQ's sometimes would CTD. Altdorf was a lag fest, almost unplayable.

[toolanddieguy]

for my first night in PW I was running

3.0 Ghz p4 proc
1 gig of ram
128 mb ati 300x vid card

The next morning I went and bought an additional 2 gig or ram $50 bucks at best buy
and a 512 mb geforce 8600oc for $100 also at best buy.

Night and day difference. It was playable in pve before but just barely. Open world Rvr forget about it. Now I can run it with all graphic options on with hardly a hiccup.

[Plexico]

Not having enough RAM is something that will make any game choppy. My idea about fafurion's specs is that while his videocard is sufficient, he lacks RAM. Once you are out of RAM ... its lag-city. The client alone uses about 1.3GB in RvR. So 1.5GB is simply not enough. Your processor is a little slow aswell, as it seems that WAR is very CPU intensive. I wouldnt recommend anything less than a decent duo core for this game.

Its sad , but thats the way it is in beta at least.

[Ulauma]

Specs:

2 GB Of RAM
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual
Core Processor 3800+
Dual Nvidia GForce 8600 GT 640MB
10 mb/s Internet

_________________________________

I can rip through any game on the market currently and never or have little lag. I can always support graphics to high and it runs like a beauty. Im soon getting a Quad Core - 4 GB Of Ram and Dual 8800's

[Reddevil]

specs|:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Duel
Core Processor 6000+
DDR2 6400 2GB RAM
Nvidia 8800 GT 512mb
8 mb/s Net

hopfully with this setup ill be able to run the game quite nicely.

[kir]

I have a AMD 5600+ dual core, 2 gb ram, and a Geforce 6150 on vista ulti(sp1).
Since i'm waiting on my code to arrive to get into beta, can anyone tell me if the above is enough?

[Fafurion]

Originally Posted by Plexico

Not having enough RAM is something that will make any game choppy. My idea about fafurion's specs is that while his videocard is sufficient, he lacks RAM. Once you are out of RAM ... its lag-city. The client alone uses about 1.3GB in RvR. So 1.5GB is simply not enough. Your processor is a little slow aswell, as it seems that WAR is very CPU intensive. I wouldnt recommend anything less than a decent duo core for this game.

Its sad , but thats the way it is in beta at least.

Ah well buying a new processor or computer is out of the question for me. Reason being i actually have the best processor that my motherboard supports (ya its old!). I also don't have the money to buy a new computer. 1g ram on newegg is like 30 bucks though so i will be upgrading to 2g by the 15th. I am just hoping i can play better after the upgrade.