NWN2 :: HELP US Reduce Server Lag and Crashes

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

This reference may provide an answer to your questions:
http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html

Basically, when gaming, turning most that stuff off (and insuring its off via task manager) while gaming is this author's approach (don't take my word for it its been a while since I last read through it). Though he also strongly advises regular scannings using recommended (free downloadable) tools.

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

The latest patch has screwed me up pretty good, so I'm scanning through all the latest info I can find. There are a couple of things that might benefit some of you:

Rob McGinnis recommends "renaming your Neverwinter Nights 2 folder" (the one in MyDocuments location)... just rename it to anything else, then the next time you run the game, a fresh one will be created.
Locate your MyDocs/Neverwinter Nights 2 folder:

Rename it to old_Neverwinter Nights 2 (or anything other than Neverwinter Nights 2)
Don't delete it...

Now start up NWN2 again, it will create a new MyDocs/Neverwinter Nights 2 folder

From Old_Neverwinter Nights 2/PWC ,
Copy the DEX#1015.pwc
and paste it into Neverwinter Nights 2/PWC

From Old_Neverwinter Nights 2/hak ,
Copy DEX.hak
and paste it into Neverwinter Nights 2/PWC

You may have several other old UI haks or other stuff, but don't copy paste those over yet, just try out the game and see if the problem still occurrs.

A lot of people are reporting back saying its worked wonderfully for them, imporving frame rate and performance mainly.

Also, for any MotB owners out ther, they have already released their first "hot-fix" in several different languages; I'll try to remember to post the link here later.

EDIT: Couldn't re-find those hotfix patches, but it sounds like they're intended for people who update to 1.10.1115 before they install MotB, and then have troubles installing MotB.

Somethings that I found were causing problems for me were various files I'd gotten from UI enhancements. There are a lot of packages out there on the Vault, so its easy to lose track of which files you may have installed where. Some in particular that went bad were:

horizontal party frames (there is already a 1.10.1115 UI hak for smaller party member icons that can replace this)
some character sheet xml files

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

I have updated the top thread, just adding in the info from the post immediately above this one. Many players have reported that this helped improve their individual system performance immensely, and keep in mind that in NWN2, individual client system performance can affect server performance, so please do this, it only takes a minute of your time.

Thanks

And thanks again to the players who have been shouting reminders of this thread to all other players in game.

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

I am currently looking for information related to dual core, as a player informed me he had seen (or even posted) some pertinent information in Bioware forums. Once I have found, verified, and refined that information, I will update the top post of this thread to include it.

Perhaps in the mean time, some players could help me attempt to verify some of the stuff I am researching.

Anyone have any idea roughly what percentage of players have "dual core chip"?
Anyone running dual core please try this (I think this can be done by any dual core owner, not necessarily requiring the AMD optimizer): Limit your computer to a single core:

"...I get much better performance in nwn2 on my AMD Athlon 64X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ if I force it to run on one processor. You do this by starting nwn2 then by hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del and right clicking the nwn2 process and setting the affinity to 0 for one of your cpu's. If I fail to do this I get major graphic slowdowns, tearing, and other problems that just make NWN2 miserable if not impossible to play....."

If you are running an AMD dual core chip, you could also try this, though some of the feedback I have seen doesn't necessarily support that it helps:

"...download the Dual Core Optimizer from AMD's website. It improves performance in games that do not utilize dual core technology (which is pretty much all of them)..."

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

As always, I will update the top post of this thread with methods proven to help reduce lag and crashes, and the stuff I add here is highly suspected, not proven, yet would be appreciated if players tried them out and gave us some feedback. Here are some more things you can try:

Updating video card drivers... of course this is commonly known, though I have been reading a LOT of positive feedback in particular about the newest ATI Catalysts (7.10 released on Oct 11)
"... eliminated all of the in-game crashes"

Also, regarding video cards,
Disable AGP fastwrite. You can turn it off in your BIOS. If that option is not in your BIOS, Nvidia video card owners can download an application that does it for you here
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=4432

For players who use summons/familiars/companions/creations, select/control only your player character before transitioning. Also, the new feature, "party AI button", try turning off party AI before transitioning (honestly I am not even sure if this applies to multi-player world, maybe someone could verify).

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

Just a reminder

I CAN NOT EMPHASIZE STRONGLY ENOUGH HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS TO MAINTAINING OPTIMUM SERVER PERFORMANCE... EVERYONE, PLEASE READ AND APPLY MOST OR ALL OF THE COUNTERMEASURES WITHIN THIS TOP THREAD. I say "everyone", because it is well documented that individual player PC performance can affect server performance in NWN2. If you do read and apply the countermeasures listed here, but still do not see better server performance, that doesn't mean that this stuff doesn't work. It does mean that you have done your part and eliminated some potential contributors to cumulative lag. So please donate some of your time to try these things, as I have donated a lot of my time to research these issues and summarize the most highly recognized fixes.
THANKS Smile

I put this in the top post for emphasis.

HOW ABOUT SOME REWARDS

If a DM becomes aware of individual player's efforts to spread the word about this thread to newer players (and they often are on and monitoring in disguise and so sometimes review the shout logs), he may very well receive rewards ... significant rewards... in XP and / or GP !!!

Depending upon the amount of effort given, the approach (not getting upset with newer players for not knowing, but rather kindly and politely enlightening them and explaining in some detail), etc, these rewards could get as high as 10,000 xp or 50,000 gp. Would that motivate more people to spread the word?

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:36 pm

This is what i did, which does not seem to make it not crash, but its stopped it from happening when I am transitioning. Seems to be completely random now, which i assume is because other folks are making me crash.

I got MOTB. Yes this is a MOTB game, not optional, and without it textures and creatures are called that do not exist. This can cause havoc-- i really don't know why you can join without MOTB installed but the folks without it can crash a lot. Please wait to join the server until you get it.

I renamed my "Neverwinter Nights 2" folder in my documents folder. ( to old_neverwinter nights 2") and then ran NWN2, quit, and ran the world gate update. To play with modules, other persistant worlds, or just to use other things i rename folders soas to have one for each. So i have "Dex-Neverwinter Nights 2", "Bare-Neverwinter Nights 2", "OC-Neverwinter Nights 2" which i rename to "Neverwinter Nights 2" each time i start a game. This prevents installers like worldgate and the like changing things around on me, and allows me to keep some different configurations.

Run Worldgate daily. Just run it to double check before i start to play, and if things get wonky run it again. Seems races.2da gets updated a lot for example.

Less obtrusive spell buffs -- add a lot to the game, the mirror image actually feels like mirror image and the fancy buffs for low level spells

Added this to my nwn2.ini ( have to put it in right section ) wife hates sound anyway so i just turn it off, major improvement in performance compared to just hitting mute. I've heard this is related to the BSOD on quit too, seems some sound drivers are buggy on some systems, without sound i should not have an issue with this.

[Sound Options]
DisableSound=1

Users who have a dual core system need to only use 1 core. There is a fix for amd systems you can download, but a core2 duo requires you to CTRL-ALT-DEL, find nwn2main.exe in the process list. Right click it and select "Set Affinity..." and change this to "Core 0". No idea how much it helps but this is posted by rob on the nwn2 forums in the crash report thread, all the reported crashes are from dual core systems.

This is in the tweak guide.

I also changed the following per the tweak guide, just have to uncomment out the lines and set on of them to 1024
HiRezShadowMapSize=1024
LowRezShadowMapSize=1024
CharacterAndPointLightShadowMapSize=1024

Also adding this line to this section
[Display Options]
Disable Intro Movies=1

makes reboot much faster, no more fancy movies that way--which matters when you crash so often.

Not perfect yet, obsidian really needs to FIX the game, but i think i got it to the best possible state, capable of playing for a few hours with no crashes online at times. I don't think ill try raising settings until things are a lot more smooth.

If you notice that things freeze up, quit out right away. I usually hit !save ( which saves your character ) and if it takes longer than 5 seconds i jump to the main menu.

Above Average Joined: 17 Feb 2007

This is Hilarious!

Everyone know I make occassional shout on removing files from override folders and consult the forum for reducing lag issues. I want to tell you a hilarious remarks from 2 unnamed players.

1st) A Person threaten to kill me online by removing the files from override folders will force him to reinstall NWN2 and MOTB. I just ignoring his idle threats.
2nd) Another person told me it not true, I have no problems on other PWC Servers. I am just making stuff up. I just ingore his ignorance.

I really don't care on reply or idle sarcastic PM. I will just ignore it. Just remember, for the two people and any other people thinking ignoring the helpful thread on ways to reduce lag issues, please be considerate to all the other 70+ players playing on Dex 2.

Also, if you have problem understanding some of the terminology or process listed in reducing lag, etc. Feel free to post in the forum or Private Messsage any DM, Seed, or any player. Everyone will try to help you. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Do not be afraid say you do not understand something. Everyone is here to help!

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

Quote:

Everyone know I make occassional shout on removing files from override folders and consult the forum for reducing lag issues. I want to tell you a hilarious remarks from 2 unnamed players.

1st) A Person threaten to kill me online by removing the files from override folders will force him to reinstall NWN2 and MOTB. I just ignoring his idle threats.
2nd) Another person told me it not true, I have no problems on other PWC Servers. I am just making stuff up. I just ingore his ignorance.

Vodreaux, I have noticed you shout/advertising this thread in game on several occasions and am very pleased with your diligence. Thanks for your positive approach and non-reaction to players like that. Hopefully their attention will at least have been directed to this thread and they will read it for enlightenment. But in case they don't, please PM me the names of these two players as I feel obligated to the rest of our player-base to ensure they are better informed and more respectful of others who are making an earnest and polite effort to help us.

Response to the first person,

It is entirely safe to remove anything from your MyDocuments/NWN2 folder, even throw away the entire directory away, as a new one will be created the next time you run NWN2.

NWN2 installs nothing in the (Install directory)/NWN2 folder/override folder, so its completely safe to empty that folder as well.

Some other PW servers are depositing files in players override folders, including files that definitely will crash the entire server immediately.

Response to second person,

If you feel whats been written within this thread has no validity, then visit the Bioware forums and do your own research. Though in order to do a thorough job, you would spend many hours in those forums, scouring for any possible leads, sorting out of the unfounded claims from the methods that have been proven to work. I have put forth (and continue to put forth) that effort, and summarize only the things that are well known to help (supported by multiple player feedback) in the top post here.

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:27 am

Thing to try for those using less obtrusive spell buffs. Delete the mirror image one.

Looking at mirror image it makes an effect for each image created which spin around the caster with circles going away for each image destroyed, the less obtrusive sits static. This does not seem so good in my mind so i deleted this and i seem to be crashing less, a lot less. No idea if its why but i am slightly desparate to end this pain.

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

Yeah I think the less obtrusive spell buffs package is a good start.
I like the one for PFA especially, I don't know anyone who likes the default Obsidian PFA visual effect.
The replacement for mirror image can be a bit bothersome, seeing double, though still better than the default Obsidian one as well.

So when you say you deleted it, did the original one come back, or now you get no visual feedback?

Others could be added. I might spend some time in the visual effects plugin and expand upon it, test it out, get some player feedback, and eventually offer it to the player base.

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:30 pm

I say delete it. It calls it once for each image but the effect while cool is one large effect that distorts like a lens--no idea if this makes a difference but after looking at it in that depth it the less obtrusive version does not seem to be a good thing. Also each spinning circle shows you how many images you have left - 1 to 4, sometimes i get one, sometimes four which i can find out based on the graphic. Each circle is actually a separate effect. I think they fixed it so it's no longer conceal which when the less obtrusive was done this is all mirror image did--each one has an ac now which i don't think it had before.

After you delete it the original effect comes back. Very simple how the files work--it looks for the file with the defined name in override, and failing that it uses the one in the data.zip file.

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

ok,

I think its nice to have some sort of visual so that the player knows when its gone and when he needs to recast it.

And the replacement visual (distorted lens/ double vision), I don't prefer it for reason stated above.

The original visual effect (with all of the revolving light spheres) seems its probably one of the more resource consuming spell visual effects and may have the highest potential to contribute to lag/transition crashes.

So I am considering making a new one. If anyone has suggestions on what they'd like to see, can let me know and I'll try to incorporate their ideas into it. Or if a player has already developed a new visual affect for it they'd like to suggest using, we can take a look at that, too.

I think the criteria it should meet are:

1.) the simpler, the better

2.) static (non-dynamic), for example, if it were the original, the spheres would be still rather than reveo9lve around the PC

3.) obivous, so that PC knows when its worn off and needs to recast

4.) whether or not it needs to reflect the amount of images left, we'll probably have some differeing opinions. On/off would satisfy me, but what do others feel? Is it imperative to be able to count how many images are remaining?

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:14 am

Can you make it look like a shadow next to the caster, not animated but the shoulders and head showing and fading as you go down-- one for each image left. Im thinking a simple globe with a rounded rectangle that fades from top to bottom would give a good effect-perhaps with a slow rotation. What do you use to do things like this?

The one that comes with the game does not seem to be causing issues--they are just globes which should be cake for a graphics engine, dont see how they are consuming more than premonition and shadow shield. I would remove the ring/trail, and just have globes to simplify it. Basic geometric shapes should be all you have to do to change the current effect. I can't imagine a video card having trouble even with it spinning.

Dungeon Master (NWN 2) Gender: Age: 27 Joined: 10 Apr 2007

Unfortunately, I don't know what properties of any particular visual affect contribute toward lag and crashes. I only know that that particular hakpak is recommended within a Bioware thread dedicated toward reducing such problems, and then when I reviewed it at IGN vault, there had been multiple praises form PW players or admins who state that its helped their PW worlds significantly. So I am only making some assumptions (such as static is better than dynamic) based on some of the replacement effects they have within that package.

To make something lwith the head and shoulders (circle and rectangle) thing, I think that might start off as a simple image on a tga file, then associate that within an sef file via the visual effects editor plugin that comes standard with the NWN2Toolset. Though might get a bit tricky as the number of images is random, so not sure how to divide up the head and shoulders to make it scale down along with the drop-off in images. Might be easy or might be complicated. Will more likely start with something a little simpler like your other suggestion (removing the trails, but leaving the globes, and maybe additionally having the globes stationary).