Why the optimizations are important...

Edfishy · 2013-10-30, 01:03 AM

I'd been testing the test server this past Sunday when we were doing the group battle at Allatum and Crossroads Watchtower, and for the first time since I've been playing Planetside 2 I've actually been able to participate and contribute in a large battle.

My PC is fairly low spec (Intel Core 2 2.66ghz 4CPU / GeForce 9600GT), and on Live does OK (doesn't crash) in small skirmishes and the outskirts of larger fights. The trouble has been simple things like covering a buddy, where when I try to aim down sight then the framerate drops and my aim is thrown off, the buddy dies and I die shortly after. Or in a tank (I've just about given up on tanks), I'll try and snipe a distant tank, once again zoom in and get my shots thrown off due to lag.

In a game where being a part of the greater whole and trying to support your team is so important, it is quite discouraging to see teammates die due to a framerate drop and your inability to cover them, or your having to leave your squad behind because they're engaging the zerg and you know you'll be useless when you're hitting chop city.

Yeah, yeah, continental lattice, Hossin, ANTs, Searhus -these are all important, but the OMFG Phase 1 update has already given me the chance to really feel like I can support the team in every situation, making this a totally different game to play for a lower-spec user like me. This is important if Planetside 2 expects to retain players once it's out of it its player funded Beta.

Can't wait for Phase 2!

Meatball Mobeus · 2013-10-30, 01:08 AM

I like what I read, nice post!

But honestly as long as it fixes the crashing I'll be happy.

OCNSethy · 2013-10-30, 01:10 AM

Some positive news at last. Thanks for sharing this and Im glad your getting some satisfactory results.

Belhade · 2013-10-31, 04:14 PM

Good deal. I've also got a lower-spec PC and, while on Live I occasionally get stutters that cause me to shoot a nearby teammate, larger battles on PTS (a full-scale assault on The Crown) it's running very smooth, with much higher graphics settings.

Calisai · 2013-10-31, 05:20 PM

That's wonderful to hear. I'm glad they are giving some of the lower-end systems some hope. I knew early on in tech test that CPU was going to be king in PS2 and so I poured some heavy money into my rig.

Here it is a year later, and I never once regretted doing that. It makes the game a totally different experience.

Qwan · 2013-11-01, 07:08 AM

Originally Posted by Calisai

That's wonderful to hear. I'm glad they are giving some of the lower-end systems some hope. I knew early on in tech test that CPU was going to be king in PS2 and so I poured some heavy money into my rig.

Here it is a year later, and I never once regretted doing that. It makes the game a totally different experience.

I feel ya on this one, I to have dropped some major cash into my PC. I up graded my Mo Bo, got a 8 core fx chip and a 7850 ATI card. I run the game on ultra and my frame rate is smooth as a bell. I know a lot of people probably dont have high end systems but, to really enjoy this game or any game, you should consider a couple of upgrades. Now if we can just get the game to stop crashing. This is my only issue, if I click my PS2 button and start playing the game I crash withing minutes. But if I right click "Run as Administrator" it runs just fine till Im all PS2 out and log off, then I get a crash message after I log out. Its really weird. But to most PS2 fans and gamers I would recommend getting some upgrades to really enjoy this game.

Belhade · 2013-11-01, 02:35 PM

My current setup is a PhenomII 4-core @ 3.4Ghz, 4gb DDR2 and 460GTX 756mb. I figure upgrading my mobo and getting 8gb DDR3 RAM would be a good option for me (I generally upgrade my PC by individual components at a time; next would have to be a better GPU).

Bocheezu · 2013-11-01, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by Belhade

My current setup is a PhenomII 4-core @ 3.4Ghz, 4gb DDR2 and 460GTX 756mb. I figure upgrading my mobo and getting 8gb DDR3 RAM would be a good option for me (I generally upgrade my PC by individual components at a time; next would have to be a better GPU).

Depends a lot on how well they optimize for AMD CPUs. At release, I had an Athlon II X3 440; that thing barely got 20 frames and was always CPU bound. Not a world-beater, certainly, but I bought the thing in May 2010 so it wasn't like it was ancient hardware. This game has been a CPU hog since the beginning.