New iMac problems with World of Warcraft

[archer75]

This is exactly why I gave up on pc gaming about 8 years ago. I got tired of mucking about with settings and worrying about whether I am getting 60 fps or 70 fps and whether I should get the new graphics card. You end up spending more time playing with settings and testing them than just enjoying the game.

I don't care if I have 60 or 70fps, only that it's smooth. I didn't need to spend time mucking with settings. I moved the slider over and played the game and it was smooth. Done.

 

[theSeb]

I don't care if I have 60 or 70fps, only that it's smooth. I didn't need to spend time mucking with settings. I moved the slider over and played the game and it was smooth. Done.

I realise that being OCD does not help.

 

[Georgio]

Yup agreed though literally the first program I installed on Win7 was Wow as I was after a direct comparison between Win7 & OSX and I'm not stupid enough to randomly agree to install malware.

No, there was something definately going on with Win7 as a friend at work had exactly the same thing happen to him, i.e. install Win7, play wow then the next day found he'd been hacked.

I don't login from public computers, or even at work and I had just changed my password which was unique to wow purely for security. I'm connected through ethernet to my router and that is pretty much fire-proof.

In my guild most of the guys have been hacked since switching to Win7 and it was a standing joke that out of 30 of us I was the only one not hacked and that was because I was running a Mac.

Anyways, it's no big deal as I got all my g's/gear back but I definately won't be running Wow on Win7 anymore even though I must admit with DirectX it looks much better than OpenGL.

You don't just install windows and get hacked. Like OSX, in windows 7 you have to authorize the installs. So if it was a keylogger on your system you had to give it permission to be there. You had to install it. And if you are going to authorize installs then OSX won't protect you.

That said, there are many ways to get your account hacked that has nothing to do with your computer.

You could log in from other locations such as internet cafe's, maybe work computers, maybe a friends computer that has a keylogger. If I was going to steal passwords I would intentionally install keyloggers at public locations. Maybe you logged in wirelessly and someone at that location pulled down your password, it's easy to do.

Most people tend to use the same usernames and passwords for other sites and games. Then a hacker has only to hack that site to get your info and then use that to log into other sites and games.
I give wow it's own username and password that I haven't used anywhere else and i've never been hacked. Even if I spend all day on porn sites and pirating software i've still never had a virus or other malware.

 

[archer75]

Yup agreed though literally the first program I installed on Win7 was Wow as I was after a direct comparison between Win7 & OSX and I'm not stupid enough to randomly agree to install malware.

No, there was something definately going on with Win7 as a friend at work had exactly the same thing happen to him, i.e. install Win7, play wow then the next day found he'd been hacked.

I don't login from public computers, or even at work and I had just changed my password which was unique to wow purely for security. I'm connected through ethernet to my router and that is pretty much fire-proof.

In my guild most of the guys have been hacked since switching to Win7 and it was a standing joke that out of 30 of us I was the only one not hacked and that was because I was running a Mac.

Anyways, it's no big deal as I got all my g's/gear back but I definately won't be running Wow on Win7 anymore even though I must admit with DirectX it looks much better than OpenGL.

Then people are installing a pirated copy of Windows 7 that came with a keylogger or people who are getting hacked are using the same addon that contains a keylogger. A person isn't going to get hacked from a legit install of win7 and a legit clean install of WoW with no other software installed.

I know a guy at work that quit playing wow 2 years ago and just got hacked. We know because we saw his characters getting logged in. Even though he wasn't playing he then changed his password as a result but several months later got hacked again. Sometimes when hackers steal a password list from a site it takes them awhile to get around to using the password they stole.

Been playing WoW in windows since it was in beta. Hell, i've been playing MMO's since the mid 90's, never been hacked.

But yes, it does indeed look and run better in windows.

 

[Georgio]

Sorry on both counts

All I had in my legit Win7 install (£125.00 from PC World) was wow with zero add-ons; I was comparing so didn't want any add-ons getting in the way of a totally clean install.

To make sure it was a totally clean install I installed from my Cataclysm DVD then used launcher to d/l the other 9GB's of game data.
Took all night but you can't get much cleaner than that.

Then people are installing a pirated copy of Windows 7 that came with a keylogger or people who are getting hacked are using the same addon that contains a keylogger. A person isn't going to get hacked from a legit install of win7 and a legit clean install of WoW with no other software installed.

I know a guy at work that quit playing wow 2 years ago and just got hacked. We know because we saw his characters getting logged in. Even though he wasn't playing he then changed his password as a result but several months later got hacked again. Sometimes when hackers steal a password list from a site it takes them awhile to get around to using the password they stole.

Been playing WoW in windows since it was in beta. Hell, i've been playing MMO's since the mid 90's, never been hacked.

But yes, it does indeed look and run better in windows.

 

[archer75]

Sorry on both counts

All I had in my legit Win7 install (£125.00 from PC World) was wow with zero add-ons; I was comparing so didn't want any add-ons getting in the way of a totally clean install.

To make sure it was a totally clean install I installed from my Cataclysm DVD then used launcher to d/l the other 9GB's of game data.
Took all night but you can't get much cleaner than that.

Well in that case there's no way it's windows. A clean install of windows 7 and a clean install of WoW would introduce no keyloggers. So you getting hacked is from other means.
You said you changed your password for wow, where did you change your password from?

Also, it could be the wow servers themselves have been hacked. People who swear they are careful online do report being hacked. Even in OSX.

That said, get an authenticator. Sure, accounts with those can be hacked as well but it's much more difficult. Anyone who plays wow should really have one.

 

[Macginger]

Georgio, get an authenticator, have the app on my iPhone and it really does give me peace of mind.

Oh, and I dont think the hacking of accounts really has anything to with windows 7, have myself a sneaky feeling that someone in battlenet is selling account details as once they took over the logging in process the quantity of hacked accounts rocketed.

 

[JustMe74]

.... someone in battlenet is selling account details as once they took over the logging in process the quantity of hacked accounts rocketed.

It's probably simpler than that. With Battle.net, you now log in with your email address rather than a unique user name, which means it's less secure without an Authenticator.

 

[Georgio]

Ok update.
Setup the new iMac with the 2GB 6970, re-installed an authenticator, logged into wow in OSX and wow - 60fps smooth as butter outside a very busy main AH in Ogrimmar. I mounted up and flew around and at the other AH I was getting 165fps.
All of this with everything on excellent/high except shadows with sunshafts off and water to fair @ 2550x1440.
Looks like my old graphic card was borked considering it was barely getting above 20fps and it stuttered like buggery.

So far a very happy camper...

 

[Dyne]

I did have the 1GB 6970 and for me at least wow was a laggy mess in raids.

Under bootcamp it was pretty decent but the day after I installed wow in windows I got hacked and ended up nahked as jaybird with no gold and my bank cleared out, so I don't want to go down that route again.

My new iMac should be delivered Wednesday with a 2GB card so I'll see if that makes any difference then.

Knock shadows down two notches. Shadows, even on Windows 7, is the slayer of FPS in the game.

I have the 6970m 1GB card, and I run the game on max everything, sans shadows two notches below the max, and 1x multisampling, and it's as smooth as silk. The only issue is when you turn your character, there's a lot of stutter, but Blizzard has acknowledged the issue.

I have raided 10 and 25 man Bastion of Twilight and Blackwing Descent, all without any issues or massive framerate drops.

 

[Dyne]

Ok update.
Setup the new iMac with the 2GB 6970, re-installed an authenticator, logged into wow in OSX and wow - 60fps smooth as butter outside a very busy main AH in Ogrimmar. I mounted up and flew around and at the other AH I was getting 165fps.
All of this with everything on excellent/high except shadows with sunshafts off and water to fair @ 2550x1440.
Looks like my old graphic card was borked considering it was barely getting above 20fps and it stuttered like buggery.

So far a very happy camper...

Keep vsync off, which it sounds like you are, since you're not capped at 60 FPS. Glad your issues have been resolved!

 

[WilliamG]

Keep vsync off, which it sounds like you are, since you're not capped at 60 FPS. Glad your issues have been resolved!

Keep vsync on, actually. No point above 60fps, since your display is 60hz. This will cut down on the fps jumping by locking it to 60fps max.

 

[Georgio]

Yea it seems smoother with VSync on though I might try comparing doing that and using the console command to cap the fps at 60.
The proof is in the pudding Thursday when I get to raid properly, we're 5/13 heroic atm and with my enforced absence recently I'm keen to get some gear upgrades.

QUOTE=WilliamG;12627690]Keep vsync on, actually. No point above 60fps, since your display is 60hz. This will cut down on the fps jumping by locking it to 60fps max.[/QUOTE]

 

[Statelymwhite]

I seemed to be capped at 60fps until I turned vsync off. I can now go as high as 135fps with most things on ultra/high. I need to keep sun and liquid kind of low, though.

 

[Georgio]

VSync will cap your fps at the refresh of your iMac screen which is 60fps.
That is more than enough fps and will stop the fps roller-coasting from 40-150fps and allow the CPU/GPU's to do other more important stuff like working out if you're standing in the fire....

I seemed to be capped at 60fps until I turned vsync off. I can now go as high as 135fps with most things on ultra/high. I need to keep sun and liquid kind of low, though.

 

[Statelymwhite]

VSync will cap your fps at the refresh of your iMac screen which is 60fps.
That is more than enough fps and will stop the fps roller-coasting from 40-150fps and allow the CPU/GPU's to do other more important stuff like working out if you're standing in the fire....

That's what I was thinking. I've noticed no visual difference above 60fps no matter what I was doing.

It's pretty cool to see the big number, though, especially since I was used to the low-20s on my old, old, old PC. As Martin Scorsese would say "You should see what a 2001 Dell PC will do to a World of Warcraft!"

 

[davidcmc]

Lol@OP blamming Windows 7 for his account being hacked.

Legit Windows 7 clean install + Clean WoW install with legit DVD and oficial updater + nothing else installed = Account hacker?!
Oh yea. Someone is easily hacking into everyone's Windows 7 installation and getting all of their login informations.

Something has really happened to your account, but definitely it has nothing with Windows 7 itself.
Maybe you were using a password that is too common, maybe you changed password in a infected computer, maybe WoW servers were hacked, but definitely Windows 7 is not letting someone hack it and log your login.

It's sad because a lot of noobs read those posts and go out everywhere yelling how Windows 7 sucks and is vulnerable even after a clean legit install, which is untrue.

 

[archer75]

I seemed to be capped at 60fps until I turned vsync off. I can now go as high as 135fps with most things on ultra/high. I need to keep sun and liquid kind of low, though.

You should be able to run sun and liquid at max. Just turn down AF from 16x to 8x. No visual difference but massive performance boost.

 

[Georgio]

That's just how it seemed looking at the variables buddy.
6 years on Mac OS and no problems, install Windows and get hacked despite just changing my password AND exactly the same thing happening to a mate at work.
Hard not to draw damning conclusions to be honest.

Lol@OP blamming Windows 7 for his account being hacked.

Legit Windows 7 clean install + Clean WoW install with legit DVD and oficial updater + nothing else installed = Account hacker?!
Oh yea. Someone is easily hacking into everyone's Windows 7 installation and getting all of their login informations.

Something has really happened to your account, but definitely it has nothing with Windows 7 itself.
Maybe you were using a password that is too common, maybe you changed password in a infected computer, maybe WoW servers were hacked, but definitely Windows 7 is not letting someone hack it and log your login.

It's sad because a lot of noobs read those posts and go out everywhere yelling how Windows 7 sucks and is vulnerable even after a clean legit install, which is untrue.

 

[nilka]

I had a fresh install of OS X, completely fresh wow install, and I still got hacked. I was online when it happend so I got in before they changed password and changed mine to another. 5 minutes later I got hacked again.
I hadn't even surfed the web as I had very little time before raid.

So win 7 ain't the problem. It seems to me blizz have the problem or maybe apple have one. Anyway after what happened to Sony I am very careful about what write on my battle.net account.