My brand new pretty shiny computer arrived on Friday, December 17th. Coincidentally, my 9 year old niece was staying with us that weekend so I didn't get a chance to even unpack it Friday when I got home from work. (But I did admire the box with a big, goofy smile on my face.) Saturday, the hubby and I pulled it out of the box and started the process of loading Windows and transferring programs. Sunday, I was able to play for a couple hours and marveled at how amazing and wondrous the world looks on ultra settings and solid 60fps. It didn't take long to finish up Mt. Hyjal and if I hadn't been so psyched at the beauty and ease of it I probably would've cried at the amount of time and frustration I'd spent previously.
Being so close to the holidays I didn't get much of a chance to even log for the rest of the week. (Both my brothers and their girlfriends were "home" for Christmas and every spare moment was spent getting together to just hang out and enjoy visiting face-to-face.) As much fun as I had hanging out with my siblings, I was dying to really test my new shiny so I decided to take Boxing Day (the day after Xmas) and give it a good marathon run.
After some vacillating on what to do first, I settled on rolling a Worgen. I was thoroughly enjoying myself and role playing my way through the starting phases, taking time to walk around and explore and try to interact with other players who were far more interested in rushing through the whole experience. (Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with an RP server.) Still, I was having a grand old time, gratified that my frustration and waiting had finally paid off.
Two to three hours in, disaster struck. My pretty shiny new machine froze for no apparent reason. Thinking it a WoW glitch, I dutifully restarted only to have the computer freeze again. And again. And again. I finally gave up and just left it off until the hubby could take a look at it and figure out how I'd managed to break something brand new. (I tend to have that effect on technology. Especially computers. It's why he gets annoyed when I borrow his.)
After a week's worth of cursing and crying, having the hubby and my brother (who's an IT guru) toy with it, we finally isolated the issue to a bad graphics card. The hubby talked to CyberPower (I was too upset to talk to them myself) and on Jan 3rd they shipped me a new graphics card. It arrived this past Thursday and the hubby had my pretty shiny back in working order by the time I got home from the office that evening. Since then, all seems to be going well (on the technical front) once more and I spent Sunday giving it a proper test run of 10-12 hours.
I took Caela (the main) into Deepholm, which I like far less than Mt. Hyjal. It isn't aesthetically pleasing to my eye -- well, except for the pretty gem pillars and floaty bits that break up all the monotone earthiness -- and the quests aren't anything to write home about. At least so far. (At least Hyjal was pretty, and some of the quests made me laugh even as they made me curse while I chased frightened bunnies and chucked squirming bear cubs.) I managed to hit 83 and get Cae's first aid up to Embersilk. Not that I ever use first aid, being a Pally and all, but you never know when it might come in handy. I still haven't rolled a Cata random. It's been so long since I've tanked an instance... I'm out of practice and... I think I've got cold feet. >.>
I took Kamyla (the Rogue) out to Netherstorm for some questing and ran her through at least half a dozen randoms. Her spot on the dps chart seems to vary quite a bit from group to group. In a group of melee dpsers, she's typically racing the tank for the top spot. (Which is where a combat rogue belongs IMO.) In a group of mainly casters, she's dead last. It's highly depressing and I'm glad I did so many runs or I'd be seriously doubting myself and her specs. (Of course, remembering to reapply poisons when they fall off helps immensely too.) As it is, I'm simply torn between continuing to quest and grind rep in Outland while it's still level appropriate content or to abandon Draenor for Northrend and push for the level cap. I'm leaning towards the former, but the latter also has it's appeal. I blew through Outland on Caela, and I have to admit I'm rather enjoying doing quests that are new on not just one, but two of my toons.
As far as I'm concerned, the Sunday test run was a resounding success. The only fps dip I noticed was in Mana Tombs where it dropped down to the 30s several times. But my settings are on ultra, I'm still running Windows XP and there were a lot of casters in that group.
Showing posts with label tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tech. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
Marshmellow Test
Think that an odd title for a first official blog post? Think an introduction would be more appropriate? You're probably right. But perhaps if I explain circumstances a bit then my choice will make some sense.
Y'see, even tho my computer meets the Blizzard recommended specs for Cataclysm, ever since Deathwing broke the world, my framerate has randomly, yet consistently, dropped to single digits. I could understand that my tired graphics card, old Pentium processor & single gig of memory just couldn't handle spell effects or graphics intensive/overcrowded areas. (Dalaran - lol - 4fps, though that was pre-4.0, it's quite a bit better now that Dal is pretty much deserted.) But to be sitting in the same deserted spot & one second have 28fps & the next 8 fps... that I do not understand. I tried all the Blizz recommendations I could find on the tech forums. I turned all my settings to low, except view distance to fair because you really can't see much beyond a handspan in front of you on low. I turned off all my addons. I disabled my firewall before I logged into the game. Nothing made a difference. Even the hubby was clueless and helpless to fix my problem. (Being a geeky-gamer-guy, he hates it when he can't fix things for me.) I don't know how anyone can play the game and enjoy it at the recommended specs. I certainly can't.
To make a long story short (and cut the bellyaching about the frustrations and motion sickness of single-digit framerates so I can get to the point sometime today), let's just suffice it to say that after hitting a wall with my system as is, and ruling out the possibility of upgrading individual components, it was obvious I simply needed a new computer. The one I have is a little over four years old. It's time for an upgrade anyway.
My system performance pre-4.0 wasn't exactly stellar and I was afraid the Cata changes would make my system obsolete so I wasn't completely unprepared for this event. I've been saving for most of the year. Unfortunately, life happens when we're making other plans & my savings took an unanticipated hit a time or two along the way, leaving me with a lot less to spend on my "gaming" system than I had hoped. But Black Friday was too good an opportunity to pass up. I ordered my new system from CyberPower & only went $100 over my budget. Woot!
Now, I knew my shiny new system wouldn't arrive before Cataclysm. Hell, the estimated ship date when I placed my order was 12/10. I told myself, "I can wait a week or so. I can pass the Marshmellow Test." So when the hubby, and the vast majority of the WoW community, upgraded & hit the new content Monday night, I just smiled & told myself it was worth the wait. "I mean, look at how crowded Vashj & Mt. Hyjal & the new starting areas are! I'll enjoy the new content more when things thin out a bit. I'll just do cooking and fishing dailies while I wait...."
Tuesday I came to the realization that without Cata I couldn't learn Archeology (which is exceedingly boring, but something I can do with crappy framerates) or get my Flight Master's License to cruise around Azeroth and marvel at all the amazing changes to the world, or train my maxed out Herbalism so that Crusader dailies are more productive. /cry. I caved on Thursday & upgraded my account. Now, as you can imagine, my framerate did not miraculously improve. My new machine did not miraculously appear on my doorstep. My temptation to delve into the new content ratcheted exponentially. I wanted to cry. I logged in on the hubby's computer whenever he wasn't using it (which wasn't very often since he's been on vacation) just so I could do something.
Saturday night, he asked if I could tank an instance for him. I laughed despairingly. Sunday afternoon (after kicking me off his computer) he spent an hour or two cannibalizing his old computer to make what boosts he could to mine. It helped. Now my framerate only dips to 10-11fps randomly & when it's good, it's in the 40s-50s. I was actually able to quest in Mt. Hyjal without getting motion sick or dying unnecessarily. (I have only my stupidity to blame for getting caught in Baron Geddon's AoE, not that I could see much of it with my settings on low but the NPC tank yelling his head off really should've been a clue to get the hell out of the way). I still haven't rolled one of the new races, I'm not even going to attempt to tank an instance and I'm taking the leveling slowly.
I can do this. I can wait for my new machine. I can pass the Marshmallow Test. I just need a little nibble around the edges while I wait....
Y'see, even tho my computer meets the Blizzard recommended specs for Cataclysm, ever since Deathwing broke the world, my framerate has randomly, yet consistently, dropped to single digits. I could understand that my tired graphics card, old Pentium processor & single gig of memory just couldn't handle spell effects or graphics intensive/overcrowded areas. (Dalaran - lol - 4fps, though that was pre-4.0, it's quite a bit better now that Dal is pretty much deserted.) But to be sitting in the same deserted spot & one second have 28fps & the next 8 fps... that I do not understand. I tried all the Blizz recommendations I could find on the tech forums. I turned all my settings to low, except view distance to fair because you really can't see much beyond a handspan in front of you on low. I turned off all my addons. I disabled my firewall before I logged into the game. Nothing made a difference. Even the hubby was clueless and helpless to fix my problem. (Being a geeky-gamer-guy, he hates it when he can't fix things for me.) I don't know how anyone can play the game and enjoy it at the recommended specs. I certainly can't.
To make a long story short (and cut the bellyaching about the frustrations and motion sickness of single-digit framerates so I can get to the point sometime today), let's just suffice it to say that after hitting a wall with my system as is, and ruling out the possibility of upgrading individual components, it was obvious I simply needed a new computer. The one I have is a little over four years old. It's time for an upgrade anyway.
My system performance pre-4.0 wasn't exactly stellar and I was afraid the Cata changes would make my system obsolete so I wasn't completely unprepared for this event. I've been saving for most of the year. Unfortunately, life happens when we're making other plans & my savings took an unanticipated hit a time or two along the way, leaving me with a lot less to spend on my "gaming" system than I had hoped. But Black Friday was too good an opportunity to pass up. I ordered my new system from CyberPower & only went $100 over my budget. Woot!
Now, I knew my shiny new system wouldn't arrive before Cataclysm. Hell, the estimated ship date when I placed my order was 12/10. I told myself, "I can wait a week or so. I can pass the Marshmellow Test." So when the hubby, and the vast majority of the WoW community, upgraded & hit the new content Monday night, I just smiled & told myself it was worth the wait. "I mean, look at how crowded Vashj & Mt. Hyjal & the new starting areas are! I'll enjoy the new content more when things thin out a bit. I'll just do cooking and fishing dailies while I wait...."
Tuesday I came to the realization that without Cata I couldn't learn Archeology (which is exceedingly boring, but something I can do with crappy framerates) or get my Flight Master's License to cruise around Azeroth and marvel at all the amazing changes to the world, or train my maxed out Herbalism so that Crusader dailies are more productive. /cry. I caved on Thursday & upgraded my account. Now, as you can imagine, my framerate did not miraculously improve. My new machine did not miraculously appear on my doorstep. My temptation to delve into the new content ratcheted exponentially. I wanted to cry. I logged in on the hubby's computer whenever he wasn't using it (which wasn't very often since he's been on vacation) just so I could do something.
Saturday night, he asked if I could tank an instance for him. I laughed despairingly. Sunday afternoon (after kicking me off his computer) he spent an hour or two cannibalizing his old computer to make what boosts he could to mine. It helped. Now my framerate only dips to 10-11fps randomly & when it's good, it's in the 40s-50s. I was actually able to quest in Mt. Hyjal without getting motion sick or dying unnecessarily. (I have only my stupidity to blame for getting caught in Baron Geddon's AoE, not that I could see much of it with my settings on low but the NPC tank yelling his head off really should've been a clue to get the hell out of the way). I still haven't rolled one of the new races, I'm not even going to attempt to tank an instance and I'm taking the leveling slowly.
I can do this. I can wait for my new machine. I can pass the Marshmallow Test. I just need a little nibble around the edges while I wait....
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