UO Performance during battle

[Harlequin]

I only tried to make the change when the client was closed out completely.

The UO.cfg file you are opening, are you locating the uo.cfg file via a search? What's the path?
What's the text editor being used to open it?



A quick checklist:

1) Disable "Hide extensions for known file types" - Very helpful where you have multiple files with the same name but different file extensions. (the 3 letters

2) Close UO. Backup your profiles under "C:\Documents and Settings\<your windows login name>\My Documents\EA Games\Ultima Online Legacy\" to somewhere, say a thumbdrive or c:\temp.

3) Edit your main character's UO.cfg file under "C:\Documents and Settings\<your windows login name>\My Documents\EA Games\Ultima Online Legacy\User Data\<your UO login name>\<shard name>\<main character name>

4) Save this, if an error pops up that says you can't save, google the exact words to see what the cause can be. You can also do a screenie and post it.

5) Test to see if it works by logging on your main

6) If it works, close UO and backup the uo.cfg in you UO installation folder (default uo installation folder is somewhere under "c:\program files" unless you changed it). Then copy the edited uo.cfg here.

7) Now the UO client will use this as a master copy if any profile is missing the uo.cfg file

8) Ensure you have made a backup of your profiles in step 2

9) Search under "C:\Documents and Settings\<your windows login name>\My Documents\EA Games\Ultima Online Legacy\User Data" for all uo.cfg files. Delete them. The UO client will recreate them for the edited uo.cfg in step 6


If you get stuck with a certain step, let us know, I'll expand on that step. Yeah, I'm lazy to expand every step hehe

 

[Harlequin]

I should have mentioned; this is the very first thing I do to increase FPS in anything. I also have the cache set to 512. ALL of my high-end systems cannot run UO well. By well, I mean it skips and freezes when mobiles or houses are loaded. Only my low-end systems can run it without this issue. Considering I can run Crysis on max, UO should not be an issue, period.

I'm also not a dummy, I've tried with dozens of different combinations of drivers (including fresh installs of windows). The only logical explanation I heard from anyone was that newer video cards are not optimized for 2d performance (and vice versa).

What I can tell you is that all my high-end systems runs UO better than my previous systems. The various high-end systems used by people on the boards also seems to give improved performance for UO. However, there are some users that are experiencing terrible performance esp with older PCs. Some, like the OP's issue, was fixed by reducing the desktop resolution after reading the advice here. So telling people to simply ignore advice might be a bit harsh.

From a troubleshooting point of view, the UO client software is the same for everyone, there's even no different versions, since it needs to be patched to the latest levels to run. Since everyone is using the same exact software, and most are running fine, it's logical to trust that the software is fine. Which leaves us the possibility that any perfomance issues faced by people lie with their PCs. Perhaps hardware, o/s, settings and even other software.

If you suspect it's an issue with new graphics card's optimization of 2d performance, a quick and dirty way is to swap the cards between your PCs and see if the performance changes on both.

If you want to have a go at it again to see if there's a way to fix it, you can post the system specs of both your pc, specifically graphics card model, cpu, ram, mobo if you know, o/s (both pcs running same o/s and patch level?), whether you are running dual screens (or more) etc

 

[mr.blackmage]

What I experience is not uncommon. There is a reason that people edit the art files for trees and fields in PvP. The old 3d (although it sucked for pvp) ran flawlessly in situations that bogged me down in 2d. The difference in performance isn't as noticeable when everyone isn't speedhacking.

 

[Harlequin]

Ahh, if you are talking about slowdowns when certain people come on screen, that's likely caused by a different phenomena if my suspicions are correct. It's not due simply to a large number of sprites on screen.

In this case, no amount of hardware on your end can fix this. But this should happen to your old PC too when you see the same people. If it doesn't I am actually very intrigued on how your old system is overcoming the issue.

From your observations, it's happening to only your new PC, not the old one. If you can find the difference between the 2 PCs that's causing this, then you can duplicate it on the new PC and run UO flawlessly.

 

[Connor_Graham]

The UO.cfg file you are opening, are you locating the uo.cfg file via a search? What's the path?
What's the text editor being used to open it?



A quick checklist:

1) Disable "Hide extensions for known file types" - Very helpful where you have multiple files with the same name but different file extensions. (the 3 letters

2) Close UO. Backup your profiles under "C:\Documents and Settings\<your windows login name>\My Documents\EA Games\Ultima Online Legacy\" to somewhere, say a thumbdrive or c:\temp.

3) Edit your main character's UO.cfg file under "C:\Documents and Settings\<your windows login name>\My Documents\EA Games\Ultima Online Legacy\User Data\<your UO login name>\<shard name>\<main character name>

4) Save this, if an error pops up that says you can't save, google the exact words to see what the cause can be. You can also do a screenie and post it.

5) Test to see if it works by logging on your main

6) If it works, close UO and backup the uo.cfg in you UO installation folder (default uo installation folder is somewhere under "c:\program files" unless you changed it). Then copy the edited uo.cfg here.

7) Now the UO client will use this as a master copy if any profile is missing the uo.cfg file

8) Ensure you have made a backup of your profiles in step 2

9) Search under "C:\Documents and Settings\<your windows login name>\My Documents\EA Games\Ultima Online Legacy\User Data" for all uo.cfg files. Delete them. The UO client will recreate them for the edited uo.cfg in step 6


If you get stuck with a certain step, let us know, I'll expand on that step. Yeah, I'm lazy to expand every step hehe

This did the trick. My primary characters all have their cache set to 512 now. Turns out there is another Uo.cfg file that isn't in the EA Games folder, which is what I was trying to modify.

Go figure....

Thanks all for the help. Hopefully this will fix part of my lag issue. Now if I could figure out what the 60 some-odd processes that are all running were I'd be doing good....

 

[Wenchkin]

I'm using Ubuntu 8.04 and Wine 1.0. How about you?

Currently using Mint 6 (Ubuntu based) and wine v1.01.

Ubuntu should certainly run UO on that system. I started using a beta of Kububtu 8.04 on my old PC and it certainly ran wine ok.

Wenchy

 

[shipwrek]

Currently using Mint 6 (Ubuntu based) and wine v1.01.

Ubuntu should certainly run UO on that system. I started using a beta of Kububtu 8.04 on my old PC and it certainly ran wine ok.

Wenchy

How did you install? I believe I tried to install from the AoS disk when it bombed. I have a UO Renaissance disk around here somewhere too. Would you describe the performance as being good and worth the trouble? I would love to run it under Linux, even if I can just check vendors and do mining. I'm betting pvp would be out of the question though.

Thanks Wenchy, great information!

 

[Wenchkin]

I've used the downloaded client on about 5 distros while I distro-hopped recently, so that's the version I'd suggest you use for installation. It saves on patching too, as you'll be there a while patching up from AoS

I certainly don't have any performance issues with the client and didn't with my old PC. It used to have a slightly jumpy cursor when I went to drag items, but that seems fixed now. I certainly don't feel that it's running any worse on Linux, quite the opposite

PvP would be an issue if you relied heavily on UOAssist and can't adapt to new macros etc. Otherwise you should be alright. I'd get used to any new macros before you head out, but I don't find I curtail any activities when I'm on Linux.

www.winehq.com is the main website for wine, and they have some troubleshooting advice in there if you do come unstuck. You can also try the Ubuntu forums as they seem to be one of the most active linux boards around. Just make sure you tell them you're using Ububtu 8.05 as there's at least one new Ubuntu version on the go nowadays

Wenchy

 

[Lynk]

PvP would be an issue if you relied heavily on UOAssist and can't adapt to new macros etc. Otherwise you should be alright.

This is the only reason I have Windows.

 

[Tina Small]

It's too bad we don't have a good place here on Stratics to save threads like this that contain information about how to optimize the client, tweak the config file, etc. The UO Players Corner forum seems like a logical place to put them but it already has a lot of stickied posts. And unfortunately, people often seem to skim right past the stickied posts without noticing if anything new is in that section of a forum.

Petra, are there any plans to add information like this to the uo.stratics.com site? There's also a lot of good "technical" stuff in the KR forum, as I'm sure there will be in the SA forum in the future.

 

[mr.blackmage]

Ahh, if you are talking about slowdowns when certain people come on screen, that's likely caused by a different phenomena if my suspicions are correct. It's not due simply to a large number of sprites on screen.

In this case, no amount of hardware on your end can fix this. But this should happen to your old PC too when you see the same people. If it doesn't I am actually very intrigued on how your old system is overcoming the issue.

From your observations, it's happening to only your new PC, not the old one. If you can find the difference between the 2 PCs that's causing this, then you can duplicate it on the new PC and run UO flawlessly.

No, what I experience is something that most (if not all) serious pvpers will run into at one point or another. My previous 5 PC's all have this issue, while my old one/s do/did (I admit it's been awhile now) not. It is one of the dominant reasons that speedhacks are used; the 2d client is clunky, and obviously should not NEED a top of the line system for an 11 year old game.


What you're talking about simply doesn't exist. If it did, it would have a heckuva lot more impact than it does now. I remember about 5 or 6 years ago when people spammed spaces with a . at the end, which would lag and crash people out, but they patched that.

 

[Harlequin]

No, what I experience is something that most (if not all) serious pvpers will run into at one point or another. My previous 5 PC's all have this issue, while my old one/s do/did (I admit it's been awhile now) not. It is one of the dominant reasons that speedhacks are used; the 2d client is clunky, and obviously should not NEED a top of the line system for an 11 year old game.


What you're talking about simply doesn't exist. If it did, it would have a heckuva lot more impact than it does now. I remember about 5 or 6 years ago when people spammed spaces with a . at the end, which would lag and crash people out, but they patched that.

Can you provide a little more detail on this issue that most PvP'rs will run into? You mentioned that it gets more obvious only when everyone around is speedhacking?

To be honest, it doesn't need a top of the line system. There was thread a couple of months back that folks posted their system specs. I was quite surprised at the number of people that are still using really old systems. UO is very lag-tolerant. So you can couple the old PC with a dial-up connection and it still won't disconnection you. I've been playing like that for the first couple of years until I got cable, and I still pinged 300 to my old shard! I didn't switch to a nearer shard until a couple of years back.

But for PvP, even though you don't need it a good system (you just die alot more), you want one, so that the client is more responsive and reliable. In this case, lag kills.

I mean even your 6th PC ago could run it fine. Btw, do you still have that PC that can run fine?