Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Diablo 3 fixes for animation lag and hitching

The worst feature about the beta so far? The fact they won't fix this issue and are laughably thinking about launching the game.

Anyway here are some so called "fixes" why not see if they work if you are in the beta. These hitches make me want to not even play to be honest.


Many people are reporting hitching, lag, timeouts, and choppiness in the D3 Beta. There's a number of probable causes for this, most of which you can fix / work around.

Here's the list so far:

Cause: Hold-to-cast spells! Disintegrate, Rapid Fire, Firebats, etc.
Cause: V-Sync will MESS YOU UP -- Known Issue!
Details -- Any/all channeled spells (spells you hold down button to continue casting) used while V-sync (this is a Video setting) is enabled will cause horrible lag, usually a disconnect, and probably a game-freeze. This is a known bug.

Workarounds --
-- Go under Options > Video: uncheck/turn off V-sync. Be sure to click "Accept" after making these changes.
-- Try running the game in Windowed mode or Windowed Fullscreen mode. Some users (myself included) have reported this allows them to keep V-Sync on without issues.

Cause: Playing Beta before its completely downloaded.Details -- If you launch the game before its reached 100% / completed download and install (possible via content-streaming feature), the game will hitch / stall periodically to download and install missing assets.

Workaround -- Let the Diablo 3 Launcher completely finish downloading and installing files before playing.

Cause: Sound Channels default setting may be bad.Details -- Although the game probably attempts to detect valid default settings, many testers are finding that a high number of Sound Channels is causing hitching / lag.

Workaround -- Reduce the number of active sound channels under "Options > Sound" (e.g. 128 down 64, 64 down to 32, etc.) Be sure to click "Accept" after making these changes.

Cause: Your video settings are too high.Details -- See text immediately above.

Workaround -- Go under Options > Video: Turn off V-sync, turn off Anti-Aliasing, lower Texture Quality, lower Shadow Quality, etc. etc. etc. Be sure to click "Accept" after making these changes.

Cause: Diablo 3 is having conflicts with Anti-Virus programs, security settings, or Firewall settings.Details -- "Agent.exe" and "Diablo III.exe" both basically want full rights, no interference, and access to any ports.

Workarounds --
-- Set file properties on "Diablo III Launcher.exe" and "Diablo III.exe" to "Run as administrator" under the File Properties dialog's Compatibility tab. (marking the Launcher as admin should enable it to launch Agent.exe with admin rights.)
-- Try adding the executables/processes to your AV program's ignore/safe list, specifically for any kind of real-time monitoring.
-- Try adding exceptions for the executables to your Firewall to use any ports. You should NOT have to mess with any port forwarding on a typical home network. (A pre-existing, custom port-forward setting may be sending D3 traffic to some other machine, but its unlikely you've configured your router to do this on your home network.)

Cause: Windows Aero/Visual Themes can affect with video game performance.Details -- Regardless of your system's beefiness, it turns out that Windows can inadvertently impact performance due to shmancy Aero / Visual Theme crap even if you're running the game in full-screen mode.

Workaround -- Set file properties on "Diablo III Launcher.exe" and "Diablo III.exe" to "Disable Visual Themes" under the File Properties dialog's Compatibility tab.

Cause: Background tasks are interfering with Diablo 3 [OSX + Windows]Details -- Automated backups, Virus checkers, etc. all can heavily impact the games performance if they happen to be running a task at the same time.

Workarounds --
-- OSX: Make sure Time Machine isn't performing a backup while playing!
-- Any OS: Make sure a anti-virus program isn't performing a system scan while playing.

Cause: Diablo 3 Beta is a Beta -- Known Issue!Details -- Stuff may just not perform correctly on your specific machine right now. Blizzard may be trying to overload their servers for stress-testing purposes. Normal asset loading may cause a your machine to hitch / seemingly lag. Etc.

Workaround -- Report your issues and wait for Diablo 3 to be released... Soon-ish? :D 
                              

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