Game Performance Boosting Tips

AoEnwyr · August 2014

There are a couple of things you can look at. One is "Game Boosting" software such as ATTK and Razer Game Booster. These create an optimal game environment by suspending all non essential background processes. You can customize this to your liking. That said I have not used this with an MMO only single player games so not sure if it is a breach of TOS or the like.

Also check the software for your graphics card. Sometimes you can turn all of your in game graphics settings down but your own software may be set to over ride it (e.g. you may turn post processing off in game but your software may still be applying it).

There are less tweaks I can suggest for an MMO than a single player game as I'm guessing they wouldn't like you editing INI files the way many Skyrim players did

I did upgrade to a new PC for this game because I knew my old system would struggle.

renton1x1x1 · August 2014

i was having control issues and once they were fixed i created this thread
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/121917/loss-of-character-control#latest

there are suggested step which may improve performance

i also stated using a program called memory booster free

great to see a discussion about this everybody deserves the best possible performance to play this awesome game

SkillzMFG · August 2014

How the hell do you people get 100 FPS? I can't get 100 FPS in a small dungeon and my PC is not that bad actually. I have 4GB RAM, AMD Radeon R7 200 series graphic card, AMD Athlon II X3 450 Processor 3.2ghz and I'm on Win7 64bit

raglau · August 2014

SkillzMFG wrote: »

How the hell do you people get 100 FPS? I can't get 100 FPS in a small dungeon and my PC is not that bad actually. I have 4GB RAM, AMD Radeon R7 200 series graphic card, AMD Athlon II X3 450 Processor 3.2ghz and I'm on Win7 64bit

Once I removed the FPS cap I got 120FPS on an Asus 3D (120Hz) monitor, with everything on in both the game and NVidia control panel.

But, I have a Core i7 @ 4.6GHz and a GTX780 and whilst you are correct that your machine is not deficient in any way, each generational change brings vast increases in compute power. So I think it's to be expected.

My FPS will drop in PvP areas and very busy outdoor areas such as the main cities.

Csub · August 2014

Also, don't forget to defragment your hard drive every once a while unless you are using SSD.

Also, I found that this launcher made my game run a bit better and also for some of my guildmates who tried it. Not that much, just a few FPS and not sure why but it did run a bit better, you might want to try this, you can customize it and according to this creater it does not go against TOS.

I also launch the game in Administrator mode, people are very split from what I read if it actually helps or not, though.

theyancey · August 2014

crimsonblade02191973 wrote: »

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.

THIS. I think that you have just maxed out your old rig. Get the SSD for the OS and a good disk drive for the rest. I use a Velociraptor for programs and a Samsung Pro as my SSD. I run Win 8..1 Pro 64 bit and have no problems. Methinks this game is more processor dependent than GPU. Any i7 from second gen on will work. My older GeForce 660 TI runs the game with all settings at ultra.

raglau · August 2014

theyancey wrote: »

Methinks this game is more processor dependent than GPU. Any i7 from second gen on will work. My older GeForce 660 TI runs the game with all settings at ultra.

I agree. My GTX780 only ever reaches about 60% but a single core on my CPU (Core i7 @ 4.6GHz) will bottleneck the game at that point due to the lack of paralellisation in the game.

Probably this means I can turn down some effects that load up the CPU with the need to generate geometric data and try to draw the two performance vectors together.

Csub · August 2014

Someone is having serious issues for having fun giving a "LOL" to every single post in this thread btw. :P

theschmids_ESO · August 2014

I'm running a I7-4770K with a Z87+ board, and a GeForce 680, all running a standard configuration. The overall quality of the graphics have improved dramatically since the games introduction. If you have a NVIDIA card download the GeForce Experience and that app will find the optimal game settings for you. Don't get me wrong it is always fun to tweak the game, but if your pressed for time then try the aforementioned item, giving you more time to have in-game.

Venereous44 · August 2014

I found something that really surprised me last week...

I thought I was going to have to rebuild my system as it kept hanging at the same point when booting windows... none of the windows boot options helped and it also refused to do a repair or boot off the windows disk. I was ready to reimage with a new SSD when I got it to work again in the course of the break down.

it turned out my secondary HDD was unrecoverable (wasn't even the boot drive) but it was keeping things from booting up right. ONce removed the change in system performance was incredible. Even things you would think would have nothing to do having a second drive... like loading ESO up.. basically everything would about twice as fast.. this was HUGE! Both drives were normal spinners... ended up not using the SSD since I figured this out.

I always had a second drive because as someone who continually upgraded the same system why not use the previous but still good drive for extra space, right? I'm never going to do that again after seeing how much it bogs the system to have that extra drive.

I have a 6 drive array of blu-ray drives but they don't have this affect as the extra HDD.. They all had power saving options set on all of them but the primary to fully shut down when not in use. This might be specific to my current rig... can't be sure.

I7 4/ MSI BigBang mobd

raglau · August 2014

Venereous44 wrote: »

I found something that really surprised me last week...

I always had a second drive because as someone who continually upgraded the same system why not use the previous but still good drive for extra space, right? I'm never going to do that again after seeing how much it bogs the system to have that extra drive.

I7 4/ MSI BigBang mobd

Odd. I use two drives (four now, 2 x RAID0 sets) and do not suffer from any performance degradation. The only way I can imagine this would cause a performance impact is via the extra heat generated, causing throttling.

Unless there was some impact due to sleep on the second drive. Perhaps some libs needed by ESO existing on D but D commonly sleeping due to it being secondary?

JoffyToffy69 · August 2014

Elad13 wrote: »

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

So you deleted the game, but troll the forums?
What a sad existence your life must be....
:'(

Venereous44 · August 2014

squicker wrote: »

Venereous44 wrote: »

I found something that really surprised me last week...

I always had a second drive because as someone who continually upgraded the same system why not use the previous but still good drive for extra space, right? I'm never going to do that again after seeing how much it bogs the system to have that extra drive.

I7 4/ MSI BigBang mobd

Odd. I use two drives (four now, 2 x RAID0 sets) and do not suffer from any performance degradation. The only way I can imagine this would cause a performance impact is via the extra heat generated, causing throttling.

Unless there was some impact due to sleep on the second drive. Perhaps some libs needed by ESO existing on D but D commonly sleeping due to it being secondary?

Well, my issue was since I always had 2 drives, I never knew how much it was bogging things down either. Like my boot up alone to a controllable desktop.. was about 25 seconds before and now its around 10-15...

daneyulebub17_ESO · August 2014

Even with its smaller OS footprint, it's hard for me to believe that XP would run the game better on most systems by a long shot--too much directx optimization and updated driver support for starters in win 7 and 8.1. For XP to show superiority, the system must be truly borderline, with not even enough Ram to support the OS without going to virtual, that, or in the changeover you lost some system bloat, corrupt drivers, malware, anti-virus, etc. that you had in Win 7 that isn't there now in the XP box. But otherwise Win 7 or 8.1, barring some driver conflict or something, should be considerably better on anything but a real threshold level computer running at minimal settings. And if you plan to run with actual decent settings, and DirectX 11, XP shouldn't even be considered.

raglau · August 2014

Venereous44 wrote: »

squicker wrote: »

Venereous44 wrote: »

I found something that really surprised me last week...

I always had a second drive because as someone who continually upgraded the same system why not use the previous but still good drive for extra space, right? I'm never going to do that again after seeing how much it bogs the system to have that extra drive.

I7 4/ MSI BigBang mobd

Odd. I use two drives (four now, 2 x RAID0 sets) and do not suffer from any performance degradation. The only way I can imagine this would cause a performance impact is via the extra heat generated, causing throttling.

Unless there was some impact due to sleep on the second drive. Perhaps some libs needed by ESO existing on D but D commonly sleeping due to it being secondary?

Well, my issue was since I always had 2 drives, I never knew how much it was bogging things down either. Like my boot up alone to a controllable desktop.. was about 25 seconds before and now its around 10-15...

Well, that is an odd one. It ought not to happen and personally I've not experienced it. So don't let it put you off in future, as I think it's some peculiarity related to your current system.

It used to happen with the older ATA drives as they would drop speed to the slowest device on the channel. So if you had HD2 on a channel with an ATA\IDE optical drive, the hard disc would drop right down to ATA/33 or whatever. But this is not an issue with SATA or SAS.

Venereous44 · August 2014

squicker wrote: »

Venereous44 wrote: »

squicker wrote: »

Venereous44 wrote: »

I found something that really surprised me last week...

I always had a second drive because as someone who continually upgraded the same system why not use the previous but still good drive for extra space, right? I'm never going to do that again after seeing how much it bogs the system to have that extra drive.

I7 4/ MSI BigBang mobd

Odd. I use two drives (four now, 2 x RAID0 sets) and do not suffer from any performance degradation. The only way I can imagine this would cause a performance impact is via the extra heat generated, causing throttling.

Unless there was some impact due to sleep on the second drive. Perhaps some libs needed by ESO existing on D but D commonly sleeping due to it being secondary?

Well, my issue was since I always had 2 drives, I never knew how much it was bogging things down either. Like my boot up alone to a controllable desktop.. was about 25 seconds before and now its around 10-15...

Well, that is an odd one. It ought not to happen and personally I've not experienced it. So don't let it put you off in future, as I think it's some peculiarity related to your current system.

It used to happen with the older ATA drives as they would drop speed to the slowest device on the channel. So if you had HD2 on a channel with an ATA\IDE optical drive, the hard disc would drop right down to ATA/33 or whatever. But this is not an issue with SATA or SAS.

I agree, it doesn't seem like it should be related to the symptom at all. Every system rebuild always saw general improvements on things over all.. so it was never noticed until this drive being removed. All of the drives are SATA.. so I'm not sure what gives here. I didn't notice if they're on the same controller or not.. that's all I can think of that might be the cause.

NorthernFury · August 2014

Venereous44 wrote: »

squicker wrote: »

Venereous44 wrote: »

squicker wrote: »

Venereous44 wrote: »

I found something that really surprised me last week...

I always had a second drive because as someone who continually upgraded the same system why not use the previous but still good drive for extra space, right? I'm never going to do that again after seeing how much it bogs the system to have that extra drive.

I7 4/ MSI BigBang mobd

Odd. I use two drives (four now, 2 x RAID0 sets) and do not suffer from any performance degradation. The only way I can imagine this would cause a performance impact is via the extra heat generated, causing throttling.

Unless there was some impact due to sleep on the second drive. Perhaps some libs needed by ESO existing on D but D commonly sleeping due to it being secondary?

Well, my issue was since I always had 2 drives, I never knew how much it was bogging things down either. Like my boot up alone to a controllable desktop.. was about 25 seconds before and now its around 10-15...

Well, that is an odd one. It ought not to happen and personally I've not experienced it. So don't let it put you off in future, as I think it's some peculiarity related to your current system.

It used to happen with the older ATA drives as they would drop speed to the slowest device on the channel. So if you had HD2 on a channel with an ATA\IDE optical drive, the hard disc would drop right down to ATA/33 or whatever. But this is not an issue with SATA or SAS.

I agree, it doesn't seem like it should be related to the symptom at all. Every system rebuild always saw general improvements on things over all.. so it was never noticed until this drive being removed. All of the drives are SATA.. so I'm not sure what gives here. I didn't notice if they're on the same controller or not.. that's all I can think of that might be the cause.

Could be a same controller issue and they are maxing out the controller throughput....or it's also possible that the controller is running at 3Gbps instead of 6, because of a setting, or motherboard drivers?

I have my SSD on a 6Gbps controller, and my SATA storage on a separate controller.

raglau · August 2014

NorthernFury wrote: »

Venereous44 wrote: »

squicker wrote: »

Venereous44 wrote: »

squicker wrote: »

Venereous44 wrote: »

I found something that really surprised me last week...

I always had a second drive because as someone who continually upgraded the same system why not use the previous but still good drive for extra space, right? I'm never going to do that again after seeing how much it bogs the system to have that extra drive.

I7 4/ MSI BigBang mobd

Odd. I use two drives (four now, 2 x RAID0 sets) and do not suffer from any performance degradation. The only way I can imagine this would cause a performance impact is via the extra heat generated, causing throttling.

Unless there was some impact due to sleep on the second drive. Perhaps some libs needed by ESO existing on D but D commonly sleeping due to it being secondary?

Well, my issue was since I always had 2 drives, I never knew how much it was bogging things down either. Like my boot up alone to a controllable desktop.. was about 25 seconds before and now its around 10-15...

Well, that is an odd one. It ought not to happen and personally I've not experienced it. So don't let it put you off in future, as I think it's some peculiarity related to your current system.

It used to happen with the older ATA drives as they would drop speed to the slowest device on the channel. So if you had HD2 on a channel with an ATA\IDE optical drive, the hard disc would drop right down to ATA/33 or whatever. But this is not an issue with SATA or SAS.

I agree, it doesn't seem like it should be related to the symptom at all. Every system rebuild always saw general improvements on things over all.. so it was never noticed until this drive being removed. All of the drives are SATA.. so I'm not sure what gives here. I didn't notice if they're on the same controller or not.. that's all I can think of that might be the cause.

Could be a same controller issue and they are maxing out the controller throughput....or it's also possible that the controller is running at 3Gbps instead of 6, because of a setting, or motherboard drivers?

I have my SSD on a 6Gbps controller, and my SATA storage on a separate controller.

Thing is, even if it were two SATA non-SSD drives (which Venereous said he is using I think) on the same controller, they can't saturate a 3Gbps SATA bus. A good standalone spinner will push maybe 100MB/s whereas even SATA 3Gbps allows roughly 300MB/s. Burst speed might saturate it if both drives 'bursted' at once, but that's not going to translate to a noticeable ongoing and repeatable performance bugbear such as Venereous was getting.

It will have to be one of those peculiar technology mysteries...Some bizarre non-compatibility between the drives and mobo or something. I had it once where adding 4 drives into a RAID 5 set from one vendor caused a refusal to boot the LSI controller but 3 drives in the same RAID5 set were OK. I swapped the manufacturer of the drives and it worked with all 4. No rhyme or reason to it, just plain technology weirdness!

crimsonblade02191973 · August 2014

I am coming back into the conversation that I started. I decided to stop when all the technological information started pouring in as I didn't understand hardly any of it. Well the only way I am going to learn about what you guys have been discussing is to do research and ask questions. Here are the bottom line spec of my computer.

Dell Optiplex 320 (7 years old)
Intel D Dual Core CPU 2.80GHz on both cores
2GB System RAM
ATI Radeon 5450 Graphics Card with 1GB VRAM
2 Internal SATA Hard Drives (80GB for OS) (500GB for Games)
Windows XP Professional 32bit OS

I can't upgrade my system RAM to 4GB with a PCI-Express Graphics Card in my model of computer. This is a well documented issue and I called Dell and they confirmed it but without my Graphics Card the games won't run at all.

I had Windows 7 on this computer but it was slowing my games way down. So I reinstalled Windows XP and my games sped up some.

I set a static page file or Virtual Memory for 8192GB on both of my Hard Drives for a total of a little over 16GB of Virtual Memory. With this amount of Virtual Memory ESO loads up in record time for me. In less than 2 minutes I was in the game and moving. Before it took over 5 minutes to load the game and once I got in I couldn't actually move about for another minute or so. This is not the best way to boost performance but it is something that works with my current system.

I need a new computer and the knowledge that is being shared and talked about on this forum will greatly help me when it comes time to begin looking for one. I am not going to just run out and plop down my hard earned savings on any computer. I want to get the best for my buck and all this good information that has been shared on this forum will help me to do that. Thanks and keep it up. All of this is excellent helpful discussion.

cf398ub17_ESO · August 2014

Neizir wrote: »

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?

put the particles on low for pvp

crimsonblade02191973 · August 2014

@Neizir - Also try one of the Windowed screen options. I use Full Screen Windowed. It looks just as good as 720p which is what my HDTV will do but If I am not mistaken it doesn't hog up as much power and resources as real 720p. The real windowed mode puts an actual window around the picture which I don't like but it also makes the game run better than any of the other screen options. I am hooked up to a 36 inch HDTV that will only do 720p max. Bought years ago when smaller screens wouldn't do full 1080p. It is still going strong so there is no need to get another one but my point is that I am not hooked to a normal computer monitor. I don't know if there would be any differences but I am not ruling it out either.

theschmids_ESO · August 2014

crimsonblade02191973 wrote: »

I am coming back into the conversation that I started. I decided to stop when all the technological information started pouring in as I didn't understand hardly any of it. Well the only way I am going to learn about what you guys have been discussing is to do research and ask questions. Here are the bottom line spec of my computer.

Dell Optiplex 320 (7 years old)
Intel D Dual Core CPU 2.80GHz on both cores
2GB System RAM
ATI Radeon 5450 Graphics Card with 1GB VRAM
2 Internal SATA Hard Drives (80GB for OS) (500GB for Games)
Windows XP Professional 32bit OS

I can't upgrade my system RAM to 4GB with a PCI-Express Graphics Card in my model of computer. This is a well documented issue and I called Dell and they confirmed it but without my Graphics Card the games won't run at all.

I had Windows 7 on this computer but it was slowing my games way down. So I reinstalled Windows XP and my games sped up some.

I set a static page file or Virtual Memory for 8192GB on both of my Hard Drives for a total of a little over 16GB of Virtual Memory. With this amount of Virtual Memory ESO loads up in record time for me. In less than 2 minutes I was in the game and moving. Before it took over 5 minutes to load the game and once I got in I couldn't actually move about for another minute or so. This is not the best way to boost performance but it is something that works with my current system.

I need a new computer and the knowledge that is being shared and talked about on this forum will greatly help me when it comes time to begin looking for one. I am not going to just run out and plop down my hard earned savings on any computer. I want to get the best for my buck and all this good information that has been shared on this forum will help me to do that. Thanks and keep it up. All of this is excellent helpful discussion.

Begin a new build with choosing a processor, or cpu.

poodlemasterb16_ESO · August 2014

Indeed. Most systems that are up for general use have a crapload of junk running. Getting that out of the picture, task manager is your friend, helps quite a bit.

My ancient system, running an i5 750, is about 5 years old, but my new GTX 780 has made quite a difference. I am getting between 30 and 60 FPS depending on area. Yeah sure, but I am pushing 2560x1600 on a 30" screen.

S' wonderful, really.

Daethz · August 2014

ThePonzzz wrote: »

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.

...Unless your fans where full of dust to the point where they could barely spin, i think that might be a bit overblown.

With a 770gtx 4gb overclocked 200-250mhz I still drop to 30-40fps in cyrodil Frequently. Paired with a i5 3570k @ 4ghz and 8gb 1600mhz 7/7/7 ram Installed on a SSD.
(I only give times because 1600mhz @ 7latency has been proven to run better or as fast as 2133mhz ram, surprisingly.)

Anyways, Make sure your drivers are fully updated, I generally use Nvidias BETA Drivers. For advanced users I beleive you can shut off cores and speed up remaining cores somehow, Seeing as how ESO only uses two cores that would probably bump up ESO's performance.

Also one quick fix, if your a chrome user, go into settings, advanced settings, to the bottom, system, Uncheck "Continue Running background apps when Google Chrome is closed", Enjoy your increased system performance and massively improved privacy.

crimsonblade02191973 · August 2014

This post is going to be all about CPUs because it sounds like one of the biggest thing holding me back is my CPU. All this discussion has brought out a lot of numbers. I3, I5, I7 etc. which I believe are the cores and apparently these cores can run at different speeds which is the GHz numbers that I am seeing. Am I correct about that? Now in looking for a new system and wanting the best for my buck what should I choose? Money is not a factor because I can wait as long as it takes for me to save for the best CPU. I am not in any hurry. So fill me in with all the details so that I will have a better understanding of CPUs. The comments so far a very good but most only show what people are using. I need a comparison type comment from someone or two or more to be able to make a good judgement call when it comes to choosing a CPU. You probably guessed it that I am not computer tech savy and you would be right LOL! What I need is a comparison of the cores and the speeds. Right now my assumption is that the higher the numbers the better the CPU but I could be wrong.

crimsonblade02191973 · August 2014

Dude you are going to laugh at this. I just checked my FPS in the game using /FPS and I ran around the area my character is in and the highest it ever went was 10 and as low as 5 with an average of about 8. Whoooooo! LOL! I need a new system and seeing that for the first time has done it. I am going to go on an all out war in saving every penny I can to get one. Some may ask how does the game even run with that low of a FPS. My only guess is that I am running in Fullscreen Windowed mode.

Armitas · August 2014

Lowering "gpusmoothing=10" to = "0" has given me a few more frames to work with. That can be done from the "usersettings" file.

Venereous44 · August 2014

Another thing I did on mine and that is frequently overlooked is motherboard cooling... My MSI was running hot and I had to cut out a new fan hole on the back to get some circulation in that dead space behind the motherboard mounting plate.

c0rp · 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

There is no way this gets anywhere close to 60-70 FPS in a zerg infested keep battle at max.

firstdecan · August 2014

How does a discussion on performance get this far without mentioning the single best thing you can do for your system that always increases performance?

Use Monster Cables.

I hooked my wireless mouse up to my computer using Monster Cables, and my internet connected at 50mbps faster. It was amazing. My CPU also started operating 1GHz faster, and the memory in my memory card went from 2048MB to 4096MB. When I run ESO, I can set the graphics at max settings on my 4k monitor, and never dip below 90fps, even when PvPing on a full server on a Saturday night.

It's the best thing you can do for your system.