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Slow FFXIV Performance?
- Thread starter NiGoosHii
- Start date
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On the i5 MBP, try to use the following settings - I got FFXIV from "barely playable" to "enjoyable", the FPS from 15-20 to 25-40 in most of the areas and cities with only 5°C more on the GPU.
However, this is just some hint/tip - I cannot be held responsible for any damage you do to your system and/or operating system by following this. So much for the disclaimer.
In the FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Config, before you launch the game:
In the Config Menu, ingame:
Use the graphics driver I am using if you want, it has itself proven very stable and doesn't act strange even when overclocking pretty high, also it is much, much better than the default Bootcamp driver performance wise.
Driver ver. 259.47 for 32bit Windows 7
Driver ver. 259.47 for 64bit Windows 7
The link for the download is on top of the page and says Download Driver
Save it to your desktop and double-click on the icon to unzip it, it's a self-extracting 7zip archive.
Next, download the modified INF file, the link is also on the top of the page and says INF Modified (click here if you use 32bit drivers and here if you use 64bit drivers)
Save it to your desktop and move it to the unzipped driver folder. If you get asked if you want to replace the existing INF, please do so.
Next, open the driver folder and run the setup as admin. There is no need to uninstall the old driver, it's a common myth that your system might get ****ed up if you don't, but I've been juggling with graphic card drivers for 10+ years now and never had a problem. After the setup finished, reboot, even if not asked.
Next, we overclock the Apple-factory-underclocked 330M with EVGA Precision, which you can download directly from their website (signup required). Once you installed and opened it, set the following values:
Press "Apply"
I cannot guarantee that those will work for your 330M, as every card/die is slightly different and can be more or less overclocked, but it worked so far on 4 different 2010 MBPs without any hassles. If your graphic driver "stopped working" while playing, try to lower the Core Clock by 10 MHz, reboot and try again until you find a value where it won't crash. But as I said, those values have been proven stable.
Remember to either set the "Apply at Windows Startup" option or create a profile with those values, otherwise you would have to set them again every time you reboot. Also, those values do not carry over to OS X.
That should make FFXIV play-/enjoyable until the texture/polygon patch comes out later this year which will dramatically lower the minimum system requirements.
However, this is just some hint/tip - I cannot be held responsible for any damage you do to your system and/or operating system by following this. So much for the disclaimer.
In the FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Config, before you launch the game:
- Set "Display Mode" to Full Screen
- Set "Window Size" to 1280x800
- Set "Multisampling" to No AA
- Set "Buffer Size" to Resolution
- Set "Shadow Detail" to Lowest
- Untick "Ambient Occlusion"
- Untick "Depth of Field"
- Tick "Disable Cutscene Effects"
- Set "Texture Quality" to Standard
- Set "Texture Filtering" to Lowest
In the Config Menu, ingame:
- Set "Character Shadows" to OFF
- Set "Dust Effects" to OFF
- Set "Extended Drawing" to OFF
- Set "Physics" to OFF
Use the graphics driver I am using if you want, it has itself proven very stable and doesn't act strange even when overclocking pretty high, also it is much, much better than the default Bootcamp driver performance wise.
Driver ver. 259.47 for 32bit Windows 7
Driver ver. 259.47 for 64bit Windows 7
The link for the download is on top of the page and says Download Driver
Save it to your desktop and double-click on the icon to unzip it, it's a self-extracting 7zip archive.
Next, download the modified INF file, the link is also on the top of the page and says INF Modified (click here if you use 32bit drivers and here if you use 64bit drivers)
Save it to your desktop and move it to the unzipped driver folder. If you get asked if you want to replace the existing INF, please do so.
Next, open the driver folder and run the setup as admin. There is no need to uninstall the old driver, it's a common myth that your system might get ****ed up if you don't, but I've been juggling with graphic card drivers for 10+ years now and never had a problem. After the setup finished, reboot, even if not asked.
Next, we overclock the Apple-factory-underclocked 330M with EVGA Precision, which you can download directly from their website (signup required). Once you installed and opened it, set the following values:
- "Core Clock" at 682 MHz (Apple: 500 MHz, +36.4%)
- "Shader Clock" at 1500 MHz (Apple: 1100 MHz, +36.4%) (which should be there anyway if you have Core and Shader linked)
- "Memory Clock" 948 MHz (Apple: 790 MHz, +20%)
Press "Apply"
I cannot guarantee that those will work for your 330M, as every card/die is slightly different and can be more or less overclocked, but it worked so far on 4 different 2010 MBPs without any hassles. If your graphic driver "stopped working" while playing, try to lower the Core Clock by 10 MHz, reboot and try again until you find a value where it won't crash. But as I said, those values have been proven stable.
Remember to either set the "Apply at Windows Startup" option or create a profile with those values, otherwise you would have to set them again every time you reboot. Also, those values do not carry over to OS X.
That should make FFXIV play-/enjoyable until the texture/polygon patch comes out later this year which will dramatically lower the minimum system requirements.
Did it vary on where you were? When I was near those big levequest crystals the game was very jerky but when fishing down by the fishing guild it was pretty smooth (along with some other less croweded areas, including battles).
I've a quad-core and 4870, details all lowered and gpu on max settings. Playing at 720 resolution.
I've a quad-core and 4870, details all lowered and gpu on max settings. Playing at 720 resolution.
Of course it varies where you are, like in every game, especially MMOs.
You shouldn't have much troubles running it at an acceptable framerate with low/med settings on a MacPro/PC with a 4870 though.
You shouldn't have much troubles running it at an acceptable framerate with low/med settings on a MacPro/PC with a 4870 though.
True. I'm still having a blast in the couple hours I got in yesterday. My only complaints are some gameplay things and maybe they're all on my end and ffxiv noobery.
You'll find your framerate to be the highest in Ul'dah's areas. At any rate, below is a video of my running around one of the higher level areas accessible right now. This is running on the highest end iMac available right now, running Windows 7 64-bit and using the latest ATI video drivers, no overclocking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L3vrEVPneg
Settings
Resolution: 1600x900 Full Screen
Multisampling: 2x MSAA (Performance)
Buffer: Resolution
Shadow Detail: Highest
Ambient Occlusion: Off (this one DESTROYS your framerate)
Depth of Field: Off (this also kills your framerate)
Cutscene Effects: Off
Texture Quality: High
Texture Filtering: Highest
In-game Settings
Character Shadows: On
Dust Effects: On
Extended Drawing: Off
Physics: Off (this setting doesn't affect my framerate, but it induces more graphical bugs with it on)
The Youtube recording is at 24 FPS, which is the lowest my framerate goes. I'm usually in the mid 30s with the above settings, and get up to 60 FPS in various spots. I have VSync enabled using D3DOverrider. The game uses more CPU power than it does GPU it seems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L3vrEVPneg
Settings
Resolution: 1600x900 Full Screen
Multisampling: 2x MSAA (Performance)
Buffer: Resolution
Shadow Detail: Highest
Ambient Occlusion: Off (this one DESTROYS your framerate)
Depth of Field: Off (this also kills your framerate)
Cutscene Effects: Off
Texture Quality: High
Texture Filtering: Highest
In-game Settings
Character Shadows: On
Dust Effects: On
Extended Drawing: Off
Physics: Off (this setting doesn't affect my framerate, but it induces more graphical bugs with it on)
The Youtube recording is at 24 FPS, which is the lowest my framerate goes. I'm usually in the mid 30s with the above settings, and get up to 60 FPS in various spots. I have VSync enabled using D3DOverrider. The game uses more CPU power than it does GPU it seems.
Cool video. Some really neat mobs! Thanks.
Does playing full screen improve framerate at all? I've been windowed.
i realized that when i installed bootcamp i didn't upgrade the driver
Installed Driver
194.94
Latest Driver
Version: 258.96
Release Date: July 19, 2010
I think i was way behind ?
I'll test when updated, if not stable i'll try your method
Installed Driver
194.94
Latest Driver
Version: 258.96
Release Date: July 19, 2010
I think i was way behind ?
I'll test when updated, if not stable i'll try your method
It's awesome how they're doing that. The downloader hung for me at 94.8% with 15+ connections (whatever that means). I gave up after 30 minutes and found how to do it manually and got in under 2 minutes.
Dude it keeps crashing at the character selection ^_^
I uninstalled ur driver and it still crashes .. damn i was happy with low settings ffs
I played it 10 mins before i installed your driver, now i uninstalled it and the game still dosen't work !! ayh wtf ?
Sorry that it's crashing for you - I've installed it on my own MBP and on 3 other MBPs in the office, they all work fine with this driver and clock speeds 
Tweaked my 4870 catalyst settings all down from quality to performance and the game plays a lot better! I'm enjoying it a lot! Gameplay gets laggy rarely and think it's more bugs now: invalid commands when I'm targeted, etc. Any bump in gfx slows framerate down. Makes me contemplate getting a gtx460 for upgrade to see some details, but I think I'll see how the real game performs.
Also the graphics change or the latest patches have stopped my crashing problems.
Also the graphics change or the latest patches have stopped my crashing problems.
Yeah, which is why i'm starting there with my older mac. I got the best results there.
Not sure if it was the patch yesterday or playing on full screen but the client crashed a few times. Changing gear or accepting levequests. Full screen did help some performance.
So i tried DragonForce's method, gameplay is still slow/laggy
Tried Low settings, still the same
Ayh -.0
[Display]
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit
DirectX version: 11.0
GPU processor: GeForce GT 330M
Driver version: 259.47
CUDA Cores: 48
Core clock: 682 MHz
Shader clock: 1500 MHz
Memory clock: 948 MHz (1896 MHz data rate)
Memory interface: 128-bit
Total available graphics memory: 1978 MB
Dedicated video memory: 256 MB GDDR3
System video memory: 0 MB
Shared system memory: 1722 MB
Video BIOS version: 70.16.58.0A.00
IRQ: 16
Bus: PCI Express x16
Tried Low settings, still the same
Ayh -.0
[Display]
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit
DirectX version: 11.0
GPU processor: GeForce GT 330M
Driver version: 259.47
CUDA Cores: 48
Core clock: 682 MHz
Shader clock: 1500 MHz
Memory clock: 948 MHz (1896 MHz data rate)
Memory interface: 128-bit
Total available graphics memory: 1978 MB
Dedicated video memory: 256 MB GDDR3
System video memory: 0 MB
Shared system memory: 1722 MB
Video BIOS version: 70.16.58.0A.00
IRQ: 16
Bus: PCI Express x16
Does your graphics card have a control panel to improve performance rather than quality? I noticed in mine (4870) I had AA cranked along with some other things on the graphics card but the game settings were off, made a huge difference for me.