Game Performance Boosting Tips

crimsonblade02191973 · August 2014

This discussion is a open forum for folks to share ideas and tips on boosting game performance of ESO. I am creating this forum because I am on a low end computer and I have some helpful tips of my own as well as looking for what other folks do to boost the performance of their game.

I found a new tip this week that worked for me and that was to switch from using Windows 7 back to Windows XP. Windows XP allows the game to perform better in higher settings than Windows 7 because Windows 7 is a much more resource demanding OS than XP. I know that Microsoft is no longer supporting XP and I've read the Windows 7 is on its way out as well. Sometime around January 2015 I believe is when Windows 7 will be out. Folks these Operating Systems are not actually out they just are not going to be supported any more by Microsoft and right now all that means is no more updates. The only update I get for XP is a monthly malicious software remover update but as far as XP functioning it works like a charm and ESO performs better in higher settings than it was when I had Windows 7 on my PC.

I am not suggesting for anyone to switch because it may not be ideal. You would have to wipe your hard drive and have a copy of XP. It was ideal for me because I have 2 internal hard drives. One is an 80GB original that has the OS and a few programs on it and the other is a brand new 500GB that has all my games on it. My computer is a 7 year old Dell Optiplex 320 built for Windows XP. I put Windows 7 on there because of the so called scare that XP wouldn't be secure. This simply isn't true. If you have a good antivirus and stay off bad websites you should be fine. If I were using this PC as an office computer Windows 7 would do just fine but for games it hogs up resources and slows the games way down.

Another tip is to run the game from the ESO.EXE file that you can find in you game's file structure. Running the game directly from the EXE gets the Launcher out of the equation which in turn produces a better performing game. Make a shortcut to the EXE file on your desktop and keep your Launcher as you will need it to do updates. All those settings like Screen Resolution, Texture Quality etc. have to be set based on trial and error meaning you have to find the right settings for your particular PC but turning some of them completely off like grass and shadows will increase performance on any computer. Rendered grass is probably the biggest killer of FPS than any of the other settings unless you have a top of the line machine.

Anyways these are just some of my findings and I wanted to share them here on the forums so that they might help someone else. Again this is an open forum to share anything you might know of the will help folks who may be struggling with performance issues and not know what they can try to help fix the problem.

ThePonzzz · August 2014

Another thing to consider is cleaning out your computer. As in, removing dust. When I first got ESO, I was running pretty hot at around 60 to 80 C. I went through and cleaned all my connections, fans, heat sink, and dropped down to a balmy 40 to 60 C.

crimsonblade02191973 · August 2014

@ThePonzzz - Excellent suggestion and information. I probably need to do this myself. Would it be best to have it professionally cleaned or is it something you can do yourself? If I can do it myself what do I need in order to be able to do a good cleaning?

ThePonzzz · August 2014

If you feel comfortable opening your computer up, it's very easy to do. Just buy a can of compressed air (for cleaning electronics). And just start by hitting the fans inside your computer. You can also wipe them down with a static-free electronic wipe if they are caked on pretty bad.

If you don't feel comfortable opening it up, you can clean off the surface dust from where your computer exhausts the air from, but you probably won't have big results. Places like Best Buy will offer it in a computer tune up, but those run about $120.

If you're playing on a laptop, I would recommend taking it somewhere to be cleaned if that's a concern for you.

NorthernFury · August 2014

Also recommend running MSConfig from the 'run' command line.....and unchecking all the unnecessary programs that launch on startup and hog processor bandwidth and memory.

Suggestion 2 - get an SSD to run the game from, separate from your OS. They're becoming cheaper and it make s a huge difference.

crimsonblade02191973 · August 2014

@NorthernFury - Excellent information. I have my msconfig set but what is an SSD? I have two internal hard drives and my OS is on one and all my games are on the other. I had to buy a secondary hard drive just for ESO to be able to run because my OS hard drive is only 80GB. My new secondary hard drive is 500GB and I was going to get a TB but the salesman at the store talked me down to a 500GB because TB hard drives are not good for running games. They are for mass storage. If you use a TB hard drive for games and other software you could run into problems such as Data loss and corruption.

ThePonzzz · August 2014

An SSD is a solid state drive. It basically operates like a flash drive, where it reads the data instantly, and not like an HDD, which uses a disc.

They're still pretty pricey, but you can usually find one on sale somewhere.

sagitter · August 2014

Are you using win xp 64 bit? because the 32 bit version cannot support more than 4 gig of ram.

Armianlee · August 2014

sagitter wrote: »

Are you using win xp 64 bit? because the 32 bit version cannot support more than 4 gig of ram.

Doesn't matter much anyways, ESO is only a 32bit executable and will only use 2GB (4GB with Large Address Aware). Granted, with a 64bit OS you get the ability to use more programs utilising different areas of the RAM so you can get 4 32bit EXEs using their limit. Also for note a 32bit exe in a 32bit enviroment can only access 3GB with LAA. *

To the OP, the increase you experienced with the smaller footprint of XP can go work with 8 too. http://www.iobit.com/iobitstartmenu8.php put that on and you get it running exactly like 7, but with all around improved performance... that's right.. no Metro.

On topic, SSDs are a great option like Fury said, I run off one and rarely even see a load screen. Kingston makes great SSDs at a great price, I run their V300 and HyperX models in my rig. Other tips would be to make sure you are running the latest drivers, firmwares and all updates for Windows are installed. Run a program like Tune Up Utilities to make sure your registry is clean and clutter removed from your system, also make sure you're malware free. Even one bit of malware can eat up precious cycles from the CPU and devour RAM.

Edit: CPU overclocking will help too, if you're comfortable with that sort of thing. ESO isn't multicore friendly, so the more juice you can squeeze out of a single core the better.

I turned off Hyperthreading and killed two cores, overclocked to 5.2Ghz and ESO is feeding my graphics cards happily now. So, now I have three profiles in my BIOS, one for light OC at 4.2Ghz, one for heavier at 4.6Ghz and now my ESO profile. ZOS Hurry the hell up and get some multithreaded support ASAP!!!

*sauce: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778.aspx

crimsonblade02191973 · August 2014

@sagitter - I have to use a 32 bit OS. My old Dell won't support 4GB of System RAM with a PCI-Express video card installed and I have to have that in order to be able to play at all. This problem has been well documented and I called Dell and they confirmed it. I have a Dual Core Processor and 2GB of System RAM along with an ATI Radeon 5450 1GB VRAM Card. Very low end Yes but I am getting good results because I am taking the time to research information like this forum is providing. This is good discussion folks. I have learned some new things that will definitely help me and other people.

Elad13 · August 2014

I've been able to eliminate 100% of lag, crashes, freezes and also all pvp and pve problems.....I uninstalled the game and now my graphics card works perfectly....and much less frustration....
For those more tech savy
Directory> eso> uninstall......

Lol

Armianlee · August 2014

crimsonblade02191973 wrote: »

@sagitter - I have to use a 32 bit OS. My old Dell won't support 4GB of System RAM with a PCI-Express video card installed and I have to have that in order to be able to play at all. This problem has been well documented and I called Dell and they confirmed it. I have a Dual Core Processor and 2GB of System RAM along with an ATI Radeon 5450 1GB VRAM Card. Very low end Yes but I am getting good results because I am taking the time to research information like this forum is providing. This is good discussion folks. I have learned some new things that will definitely help me and other people.

What processor are you running?

Rhoric · August 2014

To the OP. I think you should get your facts straight first about windows 7. First off, you won't find any more PCs with win 7 on it after Oct 31st. Win 7 will still get updates until 2020. Win 8 did not do that great in sales and is at times, does not work well with some games. Also it has been leaked that Win 9 will probably come out in the spring of 2015.

It wouldn't matter if you use a windows version of 32 bit or 64 bit as the game is 32 bit anyways. That is why when the memory leak was around people would crash when the memory usage hit 4 gigs even if they had more Ram.

Zarman · August 2014

I have WIN 7, game runs at 90- 100 fps except in PVP when it runs at around 60 - 70.

Armianlee · August 2014

Rhoric wrote: »

To the OP. I think you should get your facts straight first about windows 7. First off, you won't find any more PCs with win 7 on it after Oct 31st. Win 7 will still get updates until 2020. Win 8 did not do that great in sales and is at times, does not work well with some games. Also it has been leaked that Win 9 will probably come out in the spring of 2015.

It wouldn't matter if you use a windows version of 32 bit or 64 bit as the game is 32 bit anyways. That is why when the memory leak was around people would crash when the memory usage hit 4 gigs even if they had more Ram.

Windows 7 primary support will actually be dropped next year. You won't see add ons, service packs, feature requests or the like anymore. You will get security updates up until 2020 though. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/lifecycle

8 can be tricky with some older games, but with a little work even the least tech savvy can get it going.

As for 9. Preview comes out in a little over a month. Pretty stoked myself. If all goes well we should see it first quarter next year. *** better dual boot, unlike the preview of Win8!!

Armianlee · August 2014

Zarman wrote: »

I have WIN 7, game runs at 90- 100 fps except in PVP when it runs at aROUND 60 - 70

Specs?

Zarman · August 2014

Armianlee wrote: »

Zarman wrote: »

I have WIN 7, game runs at 90- 100 fps except in PVP when it runs at aROUND 60 - 70

Specs?

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
Gaming graphics 4096 MB Total available graphics memory
Primary hard disk 25GB Free (112GB Total)
System type 64-bit operating system

NorthernFury · August 2014

crimsonblade02191973 wrote: »

@NorthernFury - Excellent information. I have my msconfig set but what is an SSD? I have two internal hard drives and my OS is on one and all my games are on the other. I had to buy a secondary hard drive just for ESO to be able to run because my OS hard drive is only 80GB. My new secondary hard drive is 500GB and I was going to get a TB but the salesman at the store talked me down to a 500GB because TB hard drives are not good for running games. They are for mass storage. If you use a TB hard drive for games and other software you could run into problems such as Data loss and corruption.

It really doesn't matter if you use a 1TB or a 500GB. The only concern with a larger drive is fragmenting of files, which can be solved by running defrag on occasion (every few months unless you are adding/deleting a lot of stuff). A

Your speed is limited by the SATA drive's transfer speed and access time. The SSD has a much faster data throughput on the drive as well as seek time.

I got an SSD to run my games on about 2 years ago after speding tons of money on better motherboards, RAM, video cards, etc and the SSD was one of the best bang-for-the-buck investments I made in a long time.

Armianlee · August 2014

Zarman wrote: »

Armianlee wrote: »

Zarman wrote: »

I have WIN 7, game runs at 90- 100 fps except in PVP when it runs at aROUND 60 - 70

Specs?

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
Gaming graphics 4096 MB Total available graphics memory
Primary hard disk 25GB Free (112GB Total)
System type 64-bit operating system

Lucky. People with the similar specs have been plummeting in PVP. What graphic settings are you running?

Zarman · August 2014

Armianlee wrote: »

Zarman wrote: »

Armianlee wrote: »

Zarman wrote: »

I have WIN 7, game runs at 90- 100 fps except in PVP when it runs at aROUND 60 - 70

Specs?

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
Gaming graphics 4096 MB Total available graphics memory
Primary hard disk 25GB Free (112GB Total)
System type 64-bit operating system

Lucky. People with the similar specs have been plummeting in PVP. What graphic settings are you running?

Max settings

Maybe i don't get the big battles as i live in australia, but my main point is WIN 7 doesn't cause problems. Win 8 does, and so does AMD, as most of the complaints i see on the forums have win 8 or/and AMD

Armianlee · August 2014

Zarman wrote: »

Armianlee wrote: »

Zarman wrote: »

Armianlee wrote: »

Zarman wrote: »

I have WIN 7, game runs at 90- 100 fps except in PVP when it runs at aROUND 60 - 70

Specs?

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
Gaming graphics 4096 MB Total available graphics memory
Primary hard disk 25GB Free (112GB Total)
System type 64-bit operating system

Lucky. People with the similar specs have been plummeting in PVP. What graphic settings are you running?

Max settings

Maybe i don't get the big battles as i live in australia, but my main point is WIN 7 doesn't cause problems. Win 8 does, and so does AMD, as most of the complaints i see on the forums have win 8 or/and AMD

I run a 4770k and my secondary system is an FX8350, the difference in FPS between them is a whopping 4-8fps at the high end. On Windows 8, I get 5fps more than on Win7. In fact, Windows 8 has higher FPS on most games over 7. Ones like BF I get 15fps more.

I've seen just as many people posting issues with their Intel and Windows 7 as those with AMD and Windows 8. For that matter I've seen similar amounts with Nvidia and AMD.

It is a problem with the game, not peoples hardware. Capuchin, with a 4770k and dual 780ti's, running Windows 7 is having huge drops and posted just yesterday about it. Running my 4770k at 4.5Ghz I get massive drops even with my dual 290Xs in PVP. I would like to see what you get in massive PVP battles, in PVE areas it isn't hard to maintain a decent framerate.

Edit: In fact, now that I think of it... I've had more issue since getting my Intel than I did on my AMD.

crimsonblade02191973 · August 2014

Ok folks information overload. I didn't mean to start a computer specs war with this discussion. I've read all the comments and can barely make heads or tails out of about half of it all. Makes me wonder if getting a new computer would really be worth it since my current very low end PC seems to have less problems than all the high tech equipment mentioned in all these comments. Being that this discussion has gotten out of hand I am officially butting out. If I could close the forum I would but since I can't the best thing to do is NO COMMENT! See ya in Tamriel.

Skafsgaard · August 2014

Im looking to get a new PC for ESO. What would you suggest?

Armianlee · August 2014

Skafsgaard wrote: »

Im looking to get a new PC for ESO. What would you suggest?

That would depend on price range, any brand loyalties and ultimately what you want to do with it aside from ESO. PM me.

Selodaoc · August 2014

I can get 100fps in cyro running around alone or with 2-3 people around om mx. But as soon as theres 50+ players fighting at keep, FPS plummets to 20ish

sagitter · August 2014

Zarman wrote: »

I run a 4770k and my secondary system is an FX8350, the difference in FPS between them is a whopping 4-8fps at the high end. On Windows 8, I get 5fps more than on Win7. In fact, Windows 8 has higher FPS on most games over 7. Ones like BF I get 15fps more.

I've seen just as many people posting issues with their Intel and Windows 7 as those with AMD and Windows 8. For that matter I've seen similar amounts with Nvidia and AMD.

It is a problem with the game, not peoples hardware. Capuchin, with a 4770k and dual 780ti's, running Windows 7 is having huge drops and posted just yesterday about it. Running my 4770k at 4.5Ghz I get massive drops even with my dual 290Xs in PVP. I would like to see what you get in massive PVP battles, in PVE areas it isn't hard to maintain a decent framerate.

Edit: In fact, now that I think of it... I've had more issue since getting my Intel than I did on my AMD.

Anyone knows if win 8.1 now is better than 8? Because i had worse performance overall running it, not only in games fps , so i went back to 8 but never tried with teso.

Armianlee · August 2014

sagitter wrote: »

Anyone knows if win 8.1 now is better than 8? Because i had worse performance overall running it, not only in games fps , so i went back to 8 but never tried with teso.

That may have been a driver issue. When 8.1 was released I had issues until Catalyst 12.13

raglau · August 2014

crimsonblade02191973 wrote: »

My new secondary hard drive is 500GB and I was going to get a TB but the salesman at the store talked me down to a 500GB because TB hard drives are not good for running games. They are for mass storage. If you use a TB hard drive for games and other software you could run into problems such as Data loss and corruption.

That's cobblers. I ran nearly all my games off an internal 2TB HD for ages until I bought two SSDs and set them up as RAID 0 for my OS and my important apps and games.

I now have enough SSD storage that I mainly use the 2TB (actually RAID 0 again now, so 4TB in 2 drives) as data storage, but I think there might still be some Steam games on there.

I don't know why he passed the opportunity to sell you a larger internal hard drive, but that sales guy was talking rubbish.

raglau · August 2014

Zarman wrote: »

I

Anyone knows if win 8.1 now is better than 8? Because i had worse performance overall running it, not only in games fps , so i went back to 8 but never tried with teso.

There was an issue when 8.1 was first released relating to mouse interpretation, that manifested itself as crap performance. This is well fixed now. I run 8.1 on all my machines and it's fine.

Armianlee · August 2014

squicker wrote: »

crimsonblade02191973 wrote: »

My new secondary hard drive is 500GB and I was going to get a TB but the salesman at the store talked me down to a 500GB because TB hard drives are not good for running games. They are for mass storage. If you use a TB hard drive for games and other software you could run into problems such as Data loss and corruption.

That's cobblers. I ran nearly all my games off an internal 2TB HD for ages until I bought two SSDs and set them up as RAID 0 for my OS and my important apps and games.

I now have enough SSD storage that I mainly use the 2TB (actually RAID 0 again now, so 4TB in 2 drives) as data storage, but I think there might still be some Steam games on there.

I don't know why he passed the opportunity to sell you a larger internal hard drive, but that sales guy was talking rubbish.

Probably trying to sell off old stock. Doubt we will even be seeing much in the sub terabyte realm when it comes to HDDs soon.

Neizir · August 2014

My Specs:
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
CPU: Intel Core i5-2320 Quad Core 3.0GHz
RAM: 8GB DDR3
GPU: AMD Radeon 7450 (Soon upgrading to R9 280X)
Hard Drive: 2TB HDD
Screen Resolution: 768p (Soon upgrading to 1080p)

I know the GPU is relatively weak but are there any tips for improving performance? I only get about 30fps in PvE areas like Craglorn even with low settings. My settings for optimal performance/best quality are:
Resolution: 768p
AA: Off
Textures: High
Subsampling: Medium (Low in PVP)
Shadows: Off
Water Reflection Quality: Off
Particles: High
View Distance: 60
Ambient Occlusion, Depth of Field, Grass: All off.
Bloom, Distortion, Sunlight Rays: On.

Even with these settings I get terrible performance in Cyrodiil and average at best performance in PvE areas.
Any tips?