WoW - graphics issues after 2.4 patch

[Bimmi]

Odd behavior since applying the Sunwell patch... using my pet's Dash ability tends to trigger a widespread graphical corruption across the user interface, with buttons breaking up or disappearing, color inversions, and various other lovely effects. The problem tends to go away after five or so attacks, but this is not always so: as it is, the only sure fix I've found for the problem is to disable Dash, which is not exactly a great solution in my opinion.

I've noticed a slight hit to my framerates under 2.4 as well. Anyone else having issues with this patch?

(also, is it just me, or is the Omen add-on getting worse with every release?)

edit: actually, it appears to happen every time ANYTHING in the game uses a Dash-type spell. This is gonna be fun...

[siorai]

Are you using any addons? There might be incompatibility issues there if you are. Try disabling them all. If the problem is gone, enable them one by one until you find the culprit.

Personally I lucked out. The only issue I have is with CowTip. Any NPC is shown as being in my guild in the tooltip info. :p

[gothiquegirrl]

edit: actually, it appears to happen every time ANYTHING in the game uses a Dash-type spell. This is gonna be fun...

Luckily, I haven't had any issues other than Quest Helper won't run. :-)

I have to go with the other poster - Check your add-ons.

BTW - * sorry in advance for hi-jacking** I'm not a Video game person. I just started playing WoW to win back my husband, LOL, but i have found i really like playing... Anyway, what add-ons do you all have?

Scary that I've made it to lvl 60 and am still so clueless about the game! LOL

Ang

[Bimmi]

Add-on conflict was my first suspicion too (running Auctioneer and Omen). However, the glitch occurs even when everything's disabled. I have not tried uninstalling them, nor do I particularly want to, but as far as I can tell they're not the culprits here.

[PlaceofDis]

couple of things.

move your WTF and Interfaces folder out of your wow folder and then try and see if this helps the problem.

you can also try setting your spell detail to the lowest setting.

there are numerous graphical issues being posted on the wow mac tech support forums

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11111

[Bimmi]

No surprises there I guess. I found the 2.3 patch to be bug-ridden as well, though not as intrusively so as this one.

These glitches actually caused the game to crash out on me a couple of times, and completely hung it once which forced a hard restart. Not happy, since all was working perfectly just a few days ago. I've sent the crash reports to Blizzard; hopefully this will be a short-lived issue.

edit: WTF folder should not be an issue, since this is happening on top of a brand spankin' new install of the game.

[PlaceofDis]

No surprises there I guess. I found the 2.3 patch to be bug-ridden as well, though not as intrusively so as this one.

These glitches actually caused the game to crash out one me a couple of times, and completely hung it once which forced a hard restart. Not happy, since all was working perfectly just a few days ago. I've sent the crash reports to Nlizzard; hopefully this will be a short-lived issue.

edit: WTF folder should not be an issue, since this is happening on top of a brand spankin' new install of the game.

RE: WTF folder,

the tech support has recommended this to several people, worth a try in any event, imo.

[AmbitiousLemon]

Luckily, I haven't had any issues other than Quest Helper won't run. :-)

Questhelper (and nearly every other major addon, have been updated for the patch already - so run out and update.

[AmbitiousLemon]

Sorry, just a silly joke. no offense intended.

Unfortunately this is the nature of updates. There are so many different configurations that some bugs sneak through. I don't see any mention of a bug like yours on Blizzard's forum so it is probably not wide spread. Unfortunately this means it might take them awhile to correct the issue (unless it is related to another set of bugs). Other than the suggestion that PlaceofDis made (and that Blizzard has already told you repeatedly to try) there isn't much you can do but report your bug and wait.

When 2.3 came out there was a graphical bug that made the game similarly unplayable and that could actually damage your graphics card. It killed my 12" powerbook, and was only recently fixed (it went un-fixed for months).

[edit]You should also note that long before a patch is released, Blizzard provides everyone access to a test server to try out the patch. If these sort of things really get under your skin, you could try testing the patch ahead of time so that Blizzard knows about bugs for your particular computer configuration long before the patch is released on the real servers. Maybe then they will correct your bugs before everyone elses.

[Bimmi]

I've seen at least three reports on the Blizzard forums of problems identical or very similar to mine, though it doesn't appear to be limited to Dash-type spells. One thing that seems consistent is that the corrupted-graphics issue does lead to freezes and hangs as described earlier.

Again, I don't know what good moving the WTF file is going to do, since this is literally an hours-old, brand-new install and I already tried it when I first started having the issue yesterday. It didn't help.

[WinterMute]

Doesn;t seem to affect Warriors charge or intercept.

The whole damn game is very lumpy, reports 45fps, feels like the terrain is re-drawing at about 10...!

There were hotfixes launched today, realms down on rolling restarts.

[PlaceofDis]

I've seen at least three reports on the Blizzard forums of problems identical or very similar to mine, though it doesn't appear to be limited to Dash-type spells. One thing that seems consistent is that the corrupted-graphics issue does lead to freezes and hangs as described earlier.

Again, I don't know what good moving the WTF file is going to do, since this is literally an hours-old, brand-new install and I already tried it when I first started having the issue yesterday. It didn't help.

because you patch after you install?

and did you try turning the spell detail to low? that seems to be another source of the problems, and albeit its not a proper fix, it might help.

[Bimmi]

Turning the spell detail all the way down seemed to alleviate the problem, and turning it most of the way back up afterwards did not seem to reintroduce the issue. So, that's a relief. I'm waiting to see how things go over several hours of play as opposed to a quick jaunt into the woods, though.

[BrianKonarsMac]

I've been playing wow since launch day and have seen all sorts of bugs/glitches/ui issues. I use my fair share of mods (approximately 50, i hate the default ui) and in general I can say the issues were NEVER caused by a mod that was up to date. If a mod is out of date and has issues, you will get warning messages (assuming you didn't turn them off) which will be your first clue to update that mod (or find a new one if that mod is no longer being kept up to date).

I suggest Ace mods for everyone, they are well maintained and easy to use. There is an automatic updater for OS X for these Ace mods too (I forget the name but do a google search). Using this mod you can instantly see what mods you have which are out of date and update them all instantly (a massive time/brain saver when you're using dozens/hundreds of mods).

I've never seen positive results from deleting my WTF folder, so do so at your own risk. It's really just annoying having to reconfigure stuff, so I suggest you make a back up of the folder.

1. Make sure your mods are up to date.
2. Make sure you have your error messages enabled.
3. Use Ace mods when possible (I use all Ace but some people have their preferences).

Also, turning your spell detail off can be dangerous if you raid/run instances as it makes alot of AOE spells invisible, which can be bad :P.

[siorai]

Luckily, I haven't had any issues other than Quest Helper won't run. :-)

I have to go with the other poster - Check your add-ons.

BTW - * sorry in advance for hi-jacking** I'm not a Video game person. I just started playing WoW to win back my husband, LOL, but i have found i really like playing... Anyway, what add-ons do you all have?

Scary that I've made it to lvl 60 and am still so clueless about the game! LOL

Ang

Here's the addons I use. This is a screenshot from the wowace updater which I would highly recommend using as it will make your life so much easier.

http://siorai.com/stuff/addons.jpg

[Bimmi]

On a semi-related note, can anyone recommend a good resource for reviews and descriptions of WoW add-ons? The sites I've seen so far have been less than informative.

[merc669]

I suggest this for Updating and Adding Addon;

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/utilities/wowmatrixwowaddoninstallerandupdater.html

I have used it a few times this week since 2.4 came out and there have been updates all the time. Questhelper works fine along with others mentioned. I also use the ACE2 addon. If you need a review site for Add-Ons then I rely on;

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/addons/

And a couple of others that you can Google (Great Tool!) to find......

Bill.....

[FullCollapse]

I suggest this for Updating and Adding Addon;

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/utilities/wowmatrixwowaddoninstallerandupdater.html

I have used it a few times this week since 2.4 came out and there have been updates all the time. Questhelper works fine along with others mentioned. I also use the ACE2 addon. If you need a review site for Add-Ons then I rely on;

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/addons/

And a couple of others that you can Google (Great Tool!) to find......

Bill.....


just wanted to say thank you for that link to wowmatrix, that made my life much less frustrating!

[Demon Hunter]

Here's the addons I use. This is a screenshot from the wowace updater which I would highly recommend using as it will make your life so much easier.

http://siorai.com/stuff/addons.jpg

Just curious, but why so many mods? I can understand changing the default UI, or adding information that's useful, but some people seem to get really carried away. :eek:

[rbarris]

On some systems with WoW 2.4.0, icon corruption, crashes and even kernel panics can occur when certain effects are played.

We're working on a short term patch workaround as well as a longer term fix for this.

More info here:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5591242321&sid=1

[PlaceofDis]

On some systems with WoW 2.4.0, icon corruption, crashes and even kernel panics can occur when certain effects are played.

We're working on a short term patch workaround as well as a longer term fix for this.

More info here:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5591242321&sid=1

nice to know that you guys at blizzard still visit here. :)

[Bimmi]

This issue didn't return after several hours of play on a hunter and mage with the spell detail slightly detuned. The sparkle on herb nodes is back to its inconsistent behavior circa 2.3.0, however, and the gathering animation (female NE) is working sporadically at best. My frame rates in Ashenvale have also gone straight into the crapper, while suffering a smaller but still noticeable hit in other zones.

I've noticed a few other minor graphics issues with this patch, mainly terrain texture blending issues and minor noise on the world map. And alas, the Deeprun Tram sounds are still MIA (though I was thrilled to hear the proper sounds for Stonewrought Dam for the first time after the final 2.3 patch).

[PellePirat]

Right after i installed 2,4, everything worked out super. Some addons needed som caring ofc, but i got it sorted.

Last night everything started running between 6-45 fps. Its areas like Shattrath, Netherstorm, Quel,Danas no matter how many characters or NPCs that was on the screen. I could pan an inch, and everything runs perfect at 45+fps, if i move back, 6 fps again. Weird. Seems there is something in the image that kills the Mac? Couldnt find it though.

Well, i tried deleting the config file and it seems to have helped a big deal, but still not perfect.

I also noticed the very bad landscape graphic FPS, its very jerky, especially in Nagrand and Terokkar forrest.

I have tried all obvious solutions like NO addons, but it doesnt make a difference. One thing i have noticed is the crazy new combatlog, its just updating like crazy all the time when zoning in and out, especiallyu in raids, and makes the Mac work ridicolously much. Imo, thats WAY to system demanding, and a feature like that, shouldnt be THAT power consumpting.

Anyways, im glad Blizz cares about Mac owners, its a super way to experience the game in. I just hope bot Apple and Blizz would put a great effort in optimizing drivers and graphic for Mac, because all the new graphic "improvements" in 2,4 is hard to spot so far :-(

Im running the game on Imac 2,4, 3GB ram, Radeon 2600XT and so on... 1920x1200 (cant remember gfx setup fully, but the landscape and ground clutter is turned down, spectacular lighting is off)

[monster1221]

And I disabled all my add ons. It still is corrupting my interface.

[Plutonius]

2.4.1 patch came out today to address some bugs issues (some were PowerPC Mac related).

[siorai]

Just curious, but why so many mods? I can understand changing the default UI, or adding information that's useful, but some people seem to get really carried away. :eek:

Ooops... Didn't notice this until now. To tell you the truth, that's not really that many addons. Plus with those running, my UI is probably more minimal than the default Blizzard UI. Quite a few of those addons aren't even visible when playing as such. They add information to tooltips, the main map, the character pane etc.

[Twe Foju]

so far so good for my 2.4.1

i even have alot of add ons which even are still compatible with 2.4 only, but i guess it's fine, cartographer being one of them.. lol

anyway, maintenance is not over yet =(

all oceanic servers are still off line

[Bimmi]

Many realms (including mine) are still offline as of 3:15 PDT, and worldofwarcraft.com hasn't been available for almost an hour. I wonder if Blizzard's webservers have burst into flame yet?

I love that this game gets so much new, free content, but I'm also kinda glad it doesn't happen more often.

ETA: seriously, is it just me or have FPS taken another drastic hit with 2.4.1? I had noticed just days before the Sunwell patch how smoothly the game was running and how nice everything looked, but that all seems to have gone to crap over the last week.

[Mackilroy]

It's just you, my framerates remained stable under both Leopard and XP.

[Demon Hunter]

It's just you, my framerates remained stable under both Leopard and XP.

I also haven't noticed any problems.

10.5.2 / Mac Pro / 7300 GT

[rbarris]

Some more background on this (the patch notes needed another edit that did not make the deadline, as 2.4.1 was on a very tight schedule, alas)

We ran into a bug in WoW code that was triggering the panics and visual corruption when certain spells are played. The code path in question would get into trouble on machines in these categories:

10.3.x or 10.4.x (any version) PowerPC with ATI video
10.4.8 or lower Intel with ATI video

For 2.4.1 we were in quite a hurry to get the crashes and panics to stop, so we simply disabled the drawing of those types of effects on the configs listed above. This has the side effect of making some things in the game not show up. There is a workaround you can do until we ship the real fix in 2.4.2. Don''t bother with any of this if you are on Leopard, or on NV or Intel graphics.

in config.wtf:

SET M2UseShaders "0"
SET AvoidTigerPanic "0"

The latter setting is what disables the drawing of the affected items (mostly spell effects that are projected onto terrain), the game defaults it to "1" on affected configs listed above. The first setting disables the use of shaders for those types of effects (otherwise you would run into the crash again). Warning, the game may not run as quickly in this config, but no effects should go missing.

The "AvoidTigerPanic" setting will become a thing of the past in the next patch. We just nailed down the precise cause of the original bug today, so we can fix it decisively in 2.4.2.

[Plutonius]

Some more background on this (the patch notes needed another edit that did not make the deadline, as 2.4.1 was on a very tight schedule, alas)

We ran into a bug in WoW code that was triggering the panics and visual corruption when certain spells are played. The code path in question would get into trouble on machines in these categories:

10.3.x or 10.4.x (any version) PowerPC with ATI video
10.4.8 or lower Intel with ATI video

For 2.4.1 we were in quite a hurry to get the crashes and panics to stop, so we simply disabled the drawing of those types of effects on the configs listed above. This has the side effect of making some things in the game not show up. There is a workaround you can do until we ship the real fix in 2.4.2. Don''t bother with any of this if you are on Leopard, or on NV or Intel graphics.

in config.wtf:

SET M2UseShaders "0"
SET AvoidTigerPanic "0"

The latter setting is what disables the drawing of the affected items (mostly spell effects that are projected onto terrain), the game defaults it to "1" on affected configs listed above. The first setting disables the use of shaders for those types of effects (otherwise you would run into the crash again). Warning, the game may not run as quickly in this config, but no effects should go missing.

The "AvoidTigerPanic" setting will become a thing of the past in the next patch. We just nailed down the precise cause of the original bug today, so we can fix it decisively in 2.4.2.

After 2.4.1, I started getting the strange video / crashes with all mods disabled. When I log in a character, the screen would turn mostly white (gamma settings ?) before appearing normal, stuttering, then crashing (I sent in the crash reports).

I'm running 10.4 on a G4 with a Nvidia Geforce 4ti so I'm not sure the problem is just with the ati cards. I'm not running any game mods and I have all the video settings turned down to minimum to see if it would help. Wow runs fine on my laptop (10.4 with an ati card) which leads me to believe that WoW has coding issues with the Geforce 4ti.

[Kylen74]

Also look for WoWMatrix which is another great updater. It doesn't seem to be linked to just WowAce updates and searches your Interface folder when you check the versions of your software.

I did have problem but it was due to addons like recount and x-perl being out of date. Since they really messed with the logs and UI this time, I noticed that most of the popular addons were getting updated on a hourly basis. I would be playing and crash out, so I would run the updater and find that some had already had updates. I know since the 2.4.1 patch that things have gotten better, but I would really check your addons on a daily basis until they get their programs stable. I know just last night 10 of my addons had major updates. Hope this helps.

[rbarris]

After 2.4.1, I started getting the strange video / crashes with all mods disabled. When I log in a character, the screen would turn mostly white (gamma settings ?) before appearing normal, stuttering, then crashing (I sent in the crash reports).

I'm running 10.4 on a G4 with a Nvidia Geforce 4ti so I'm not sure the problem is just with the ati cards. I'm not running any game mods and I have all the video settings turned down to minimum to see if it would help. Wow runs fine on my laptop (10.4 with an ati card) which leads me to believe that WoW has coding issues with the Geforce 4ti.

Plutonius, if you could drop me an email and a ZIP of your Errors folder, I can look at this issue more directly. Address in the sig.

[Plutonius]

Thank you !!!

I sent you the error log.