Issues, Workarounds & Localization

CCP, I would like to bring an issue to your attention that has been ongoing ever since I personally started playing the game. Now, I'm sure some people have some higher-end hardware that can handle this just fine, but the best gear I can personally afford at this time is struggling under the most basic graphics you have to offer because of one small issue - an inability to turn off those really pretty clouds you put up at some sites that, when there is combat, can cause me quite a problem. Take a look at the following two screen shots:

Looking at clouds

Not looking at clouds

On the left of each image (my left monitor which I use to see all the gorgeous art you have) is the frame rate monitor (I made the box blue so you could see it easier in a screenshot). Please not how terribly the performance drops when looking at clouds like these (the same thing happens with many other types, not just the plasmic ones) as opposed to the second image, looking into deep space with no clouds.

This doesn't seem to happen when there are lots of objects on screen, only the clouds. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the art work and I really wish I could get better gear, but finding no option to turn them off, I have to ask firstly, is there an option to turn them off and I'm just missing it? Or, alternatively, if there isn't one... would you please provide one?

If anyone else is having this issue, feel free to speak up, but this is not an "F U CCP U SUCK" thread, so leave your rage rockets at the door please.

As an addendum, I would like to point out that I don't intend to quit the game if this problem is not resolved. I hate the idea of turning off features of CCP's artwork, but function > form in this case - what's the point in seeing the artwork if it's glitching out anyway because of a poor frame rate?

Thank you sir, I will remember this area for next time.

There was a thread on this recently, and a clouds fix was done in Retribution. I also have a low-end PC and the clouds are better for me.

Unfortunately, their cloud "fix" made the issue worse for a lot of people, myself included. I am not using particularly old hardware. I am running a GTX 580 with most recent drivers, and post-patch, any time I look at a cloud (doesn't seem to matter what type) in a mission or plex, my GPU usage spikes to perma-99% and framerate suffers. This is running a single client. Prepatch, I could run 2-3 clients with no issue. Trying to run more than 1 client now turns into a slideshow.

Hi all, thanks for your feedback. I would encourage you to write a bug report preferably with the in game bug reporting tool when you are experiencing these issues as it will attach logs that may help us.

I was part of the team that refactored the particle clouds and I can tell you from the performance tests we ran there was a significant improvement on most hardware. The clouds were converted into a new format which helps render them in a more efficient manner, however because this was a conversion and not creating new clouds from scratch there is always going to be inconsistency depending on which cloud you are seeing.

When you look at a cloud the frame rate will drop, this is absolute and was also the case before Retribution. What we must do is try to find which situations/clouds/setting combinations create the worst performance for you and try to improve that.




I have an identical workstation to this and for the 30+ clouds I analyzed none of them dropped me below 35 fps with all settings maxed so I'd really like to get information from you. I would really appreciate it if you guys could ensure your driver is completely up to date and if you still experience issues then create a bug report with the following info:

Bug Report Title: Cloud Performance - for CCP Vertex

• Screenshot of your client graphic settings AND of your FPS monitor (Cntrl + F)
• DXDiag attached
• Which dungeon/mission were you in and which dungeon room i.e. 2nd or 3rd room
• Reproduction steps: Mention specifically when you look at xxx object/cloud in room 2 of dungeon xxx

Hi there,

For the love of God please CCP give us option to turn off those clouds in mission pockets. After this latest patch it is impossible to play more then one account at same time. And before patch i was able to play this game with 3 accounts running 3 missions at same time. Its not up to my PC its up to your bad programming. If u re not able to fix it, just give us option to turn it off!


Just try some missions and see yourself. Missions without those nasty clouds simply fly, 60 fps, no frame drops, nothing just smooth game play.

I realize that this Retribution expansion should be called Nerf expansion, but honestly i can not belive that u want to restrict us to play this game with single account, simply i can not belive that.

I wrote petitions i wrote bug reports, all i got is 'we are aware of this' but nothing else...

It would help if we know what setting to change to make it a bit less laggy for a less than stellar GPU (I'm stuck with a Radeon HD 6570 with just 1MB vram ).

Improved yes, but they remain an issue for us with old/bad/cheap GPU's.

Clouds still kill my FPS, any fixes in Odyssey?