Config File Edits for Improved Performance

#1 - Oct. 6, 2012, 3:54 p.m.

I hope this doesn’t upset the mac Devs, but I was playing around with the Cider config file trying to improve performance. The one setting on my system that made the most dramatic improvement (8-16pfs increase) was setting “MTD3D=1”. This is the config file in your <home>/Library/Application Support/Guild Wars 2/ directory.

Disclaimer, I do have a i7 hackintosh, so your mileage on a real mac might vary.

For a frame of reference, running around in the courtyard under the large glass dome in Divinities Reach, I’m getting a solid 45 – 55fps with MTD3D-1. With it set to “0” which is the default, I see around 30 – 38fps under the same conditions.

My box is a i2700 @ 4.5 Ghz and a GTX 680 using the latest Nvidia drivers for 10.8.2.

I’m driving a 2560×1440 display with all graphics settings set to High/Ultra.

BradHallisey

#17 - Oct. 9, 2012, 8:51 a.m.

Hi folks,

I see you have discovered the Cider config file. It is good to hear some of you are seeing improvements with the MTD3D setting. Please be aware that tweaking settings in this file can have side affects other than performance, namely stability. The MTD3D is intentionally disabled currently because of driver conflicts on the Radeon cards. We do intend on turning this back on once the stability issues have been resolved.

I am not telling you to stop making tweaks to the config file and you probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway. Please be smart and make a backup of the file and if you experience unusual crashes, revert your changes.

Both ArenaNet and Transgaming are continuing efforts to improve performance on the Mac client. We appreciate the feedback many of you have provided via this forum.

Happy Gaming,
—Brad

BradHallisey

#23 - Oct. 23, 2012, 8:47 a.m.

Just a heads up that the MTD3D flag is on by default now. Mid to higher end machines should see a decent performance boost from it, lower end machines probably won’t see much of a change at all.