Age of Conan: Technical Support and Tweaking

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This thread is for general Q&A on getting your copy of Age of Conan running its best.

Thanks to Strekos for solving my problem.

1. Update video drivers if you havent already
2. delete the shader.cache files in your main Conan directory. That helped a lot for me, but I didnt have the same trouble you are
3. If you can't get at least into gameplay with those changes, try reinstalling if you're desperate. If you're not desperate then on to #4
4. Delete everything Conan related and get yourself a 10 day trial at launch to see if the real client runs any better on your system.

Does the game require a card with pixel shader 3.0? I ran into something similar with Bioshock on the PC and that was the culprit.

polypusher wrote:

1. Update video drivers if you havent already

RichyRambo wrote:

Does the game require a card with pixel shader 3.0? I ran into something similar with Bioshock on the PC and that was the culprit.

YES!

Also before the character selection screen hit the settings button on the bottom right and make sure you're set to low settings. and after that make sure you're on shader 2.0 in the graphics/advanced tab.

This is everything I mentioned in the other thread. It should get your game up and running well.

Make sure you have the latest Nvidia drivers, if that is your GPU. Also, windowed mode will address the black screen issue.

Hit f10 and turn the settings to medium. Turn off bloom. Turn shader effects to 2.0 (not 3.0 or 2.x)

Lastly, if you need to eek out more performance, turn ground detail to low or off if possible and change texture detail to low.

Mostly dittoing what everyone else here said except to add that inside your Closed (?) Beta directory for Conan, you should probably have something called SimpleConfig.EXE. At least, we had that with Open Beta. In there, you can set your graphics resolution and, maybe more importantly, set it to windowed by unchecking the full-screen box. When I was having trouble initially, that allowed me to get inside the game smoother to start tweaking all the settings until I had it working well for my machine. I'd considered running it off full-screen and pushing the resolution way down for now to see if that at least gets your foot in the door. Then you can drop Shader down, go to low or medium settings, and turn off bloom to see if that further's your performance. Once you get it working at some level, you can see what you can push up.

Poly is 100% right about uninstalling/deleting everything, though, in the coming week and seeing who might have Buddy Keys to offer. I wish I had them, myself, to pass about, but I got on the CE bandwagon too late and am stuck with just the normal pre-order.

ShadeRaven wrote:

At least, we had that with Open Beta. In there, you can set your graphics resolution and, maybe more importantly, set it to windowed by unchecking the full-screen box.

Me wrote:

Searching the net I found a few suggestions, such as putting the game in a windowed mode, or changing the resolution, or simply waiting a while. None of these angles have helped at all; in fact the only thing they seem to do is completely crash the game sometimes.

Skimmer. Put more effort into helping me, dammit!

ranalin wrote:

Also before the character selection screen hit the settings button on the bottom right and make sure you're set to low settings. and after that make sure you're on shader 2.0 in the graphics/advanced tab.

Can you point out the settings button to me in the above screenshots, because that's all I get to see. :/

Now if the game requires Shader 3.0 that's definitely going to cause problems (dunno if it'd be problems of this magnitude...) since my card is not compatible with it. Seems baffling to me they'd have the game compatible with Shader 2.0 yet not have that as the default. Seems a lot like having a game use DirectX 10 by default whether you have it or not.

The only reason I'm so gung-ho to try it now (and not, say, in a year when all the bugs are ironed out) is that if I absolutely LOEV it, I'm going to want to pre-order. Because hey, free elephant.

While it can run at 2.0 i think it requires the card to be 3.0 compatible. I think there's a settings button at the time you log in as well. If not then you're SOL.

fangblackbone wrote:

This is everything I mentioned in the other thread. It should get your game up and running well.

Make sure you have the latest Nvidia drivers, if that is your GPU. Also, windowed mode will address the black screen issue.

Hit f10 and turn the settings to medium. Turn off bloom. Turn shader effects to 2.0 (not 3.0 or 2.x)

Lastly, if you need to eek out more performance, turn ground detail to low or off if possible and change texture detail to low.

I don't have an nVidia card and I can't get to a position to tweak my settings. And as I noted in the original post, I already tried the windowed mode. Just tried it again after removing shader.cache. No good.

Once it is running can you hit control `
if you can see that menu you can tweak the graphics.

They took out the manual shader selection with this last patch out side of that menu.

I had a bit of trouble with the last patch -- I fixed it using a variation of number 4. Here's the link from Funcom's offical forum:

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthr...

So I have shader choices of 2.0, 2.x, and 3.0... not using 3.0... but between 2.x and 2.0 should I just see which runs better.?

I was just on Vent and Ranalin said 2.0 is probably the best one to try.

I had the best results hands down with 2.0, the game ran like butter. This is a GREAT thread to have though once we all log into the live client - all advice is good!

Add another vote for shader 2.0...

It dramatically increased performance for me and made my only issue the load times. The last couple of patches fixed the load times dramatically so all is good.

If you can't ever get past the opening sequence to see the settings/login screen, try this:

Find your Conan prefs folder, should be under \Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Funcom\Conan\Prefs.

You should have a prefs file there. In it, you can manually set shader model 2.0. From looking at my own settings, you want:

<Value name="RenderSetting_ShaderModel" value="-1" />

to get SM2. SM3 is value="1".

Matokin wrote:

I am looking to update my vid card but dont know what to get, I am wanting the game to play smoothly but I dont want to spend a ton of money either--say $230 max, I then also want ram, have 1gig right now and am thinking about getting 2/3 more. Any help will be appreciated

I'm assuming you have a PCI-E slot in your PC for the video card. If you're not sure, let me know what card you currently have in there.

XFX GeForce 8800GT 512MB (Newegg Link) ($149 after mail-in rebate)
2GB Corsair Dominator 2 RAM (Newegg Link) ($64 after mail-in rebate)

With the RAM, your best bet is to find out exactly what you have in your system right now (brand, type) and get the same kind. I mostly posted the RAM to give you a sense of where prices were at. The good news? Cheap!

Anybody who is looking for a graphics boost and can support the card, the GeForce 8800 GT line is still great price vs. performance.

XFX GeForce 8800GT 512MB (Newegg Link) ($149 after mail-in rebate)

Wow, remember last year this card was like 500 bucks!

Strekos wrote:

If you can't ever get past the opening sequence to see the settings/login screen, try this:

Find your Conan prefs folder, should be under Documents and Settings[username]Local SettingsApplication DataFuncomConanPrefs.

You should have a prefs file there. In it, you can manually set shader model 2.0. From looking at my own settings, you want:

<Value name="RenderSetting_ShaderModel" value="-1" />

to get SM2. SM3 is value="1".

Wow, that fixed it for me, thanks! I've managed to get in the game and am creating a character. Unfortunately, since I didn't think I'd be able to play until my new card from newegg arrived, I had promised my dad I'd help him sod his yard today, so I won't get to play beyond the character creation. I realize that's not ironic, but it's something that's sadly humorous.

Thanks a lot for helping with this!

Awesome early launch weekend. The only crash i've had was on exiting the game. Framerate at Medium settings is around 40 fps, i'm running a C2D at 3Ghz, with 2 gigs of RAM and an 8800 GTS with 320Mb. At the Low graphics setting, i'm getting around 100 fps.

c2d 3.0 4gb Ram 9600 gt 512mb I have all settings on high with bloom turned off, and ive been steady at around 40fps

I had 1 crash, but it was after like 10hrs of playing and i alt-tabbed a bunch of times in a row.

AMD 4200+ dual core, 4 gigs RAM, 8800GTX (768VRAM) and I'm running high settings in DX10 and get about 25-40 fps in populated/long view distance areas.

The performance is head and shoulders above the open beta, I can't believe they were able to optimize so well and the game still looks amazing.

I highly recommend increasing the contrast ratio in the video options and then adjusting the brightness to balance. I find by default the game is too washed out and the colors don't pop like they should. Makes a big difference.

Yup, I found it was pretty dark too and didn't pop. I turned up my "Digital Vibrance" from the Nvidia control panel to help that out a bit too, makes a big difference

The only two settings I can't seem to get where I want are the Antialiasing and the Anisotropic filtering. What are you all running at?

I picked up an ATI 3850HD for $149 at CompUSA. It's eating the game up. On high I am getting about 30 FPS.

I leave AA at 2x but I'm running 1920x1200 on a 17" screen so I can get away with it more. AF I've left at 3x.

I finally realized tonight why my cool spell effects and others weren't working. Shader 2.0 disables the really cool effects. But going to 3.0 takes a double hit on my performance. Speed versus beauty.

Swat wrote:

I leave AA at 2x but I'm running 1920x1200 on a 17" screen so I can get away with it more. AF I've left at 3x.

I finally realized tonight why my cool spell effects and others weren't working. Shader 2.0 disables the really cool effects. But going to 3.0 takes a double hit on my performance. Speed versus beauty.

Shader 2.0 didn't give me spell effects in Open Beta with my 7900gt. Shader 2.0 with my 8800gt and all the spell effects seem fine.

maxox wrote:
Swat wrote:

I leave AA at 2x but I'm running 1920x1200 on a 17" screen so I can get away with it more. AF I've left at 3x.

I finally realized tonight why my cool spell effects and others weren't working. Shader 2.0 disables the really cool effects. But going to 3.0 takes a double hit on my performance. Speed versus beauty.

Shader 2.0 didn't give me spell effects in Open Beta with my 7900gt. Shader 2.0 with my 8800gt and all the spell effects seem fine.

I wonder if thats a driver issue?

Bear wrote:
maxox wrote:
Swat wrote:

I leave AA at 2x but I'm running 1920x1200 on a 17" screen so I can get away with it more. AF I've left at 3x.

I finally realized tonight why my cool spell effects and others weren't working. Shader 2.0 disables the really cool effects. But going to 3.0 takes a double hit on my performance. Speed versus beauty.

Shader 2.0 didn't give me spell effects in Open Beta with my 7900gt. Shader 2.0 with my 8800gt and all the spell effects seem fine.

I wonder if thats a driver issue?

Could be. I have a 7950GTX with the latest Nvidia drivers, maybe i'll play around a bit more until I can get 2.0 working with the effects. It really doesn't make sense and sounds bug like not to be able to see them.

I didn't get spell effect on my 7900 other with 2.0 or 3.0 in the beta.

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