Stuttering/Hitching Problems? (suggestions of how to fix them?)

[Innuendo]

I've been playing EQ2 on a trial basis and reached a point in the starter zone where it told me to purchase the game to go further, so I subscribed. I'm having a problem that seems common from my web searches, yet, I can't find any suggestions on how to fix it. As I proceed through the game I get stutters. I'm currently playing a Fae. It seems most noticeable 1) the closer I got to the combine spires and any path/tunnel that leads to the areas beyond greater faydark; 2) Kelethin; 3) whenever any other player is near; and 4) instanced zones (which I've been in two, one that was in the base of the tree below Kelethin and the other my inn-room both which glitch(ed) pretty bad). It happens on all display settings except for 'Very High Performance' or 'Extreme Performance'.Though I could play it on Very High or Extreme Performance settings, I really don't want to. Frankly this game isn't very neat or visually stimulating on these settings and is pretty terrible. I also think my computer should support a higher setting of the game.I play on a lap-top that is using XP Pro Service Pack 3. The computer is a Dell Precision M6300. The CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo T7800 @ 2.59 GHz. I have 3.5 GB of ram. My video card is a NVIDIA Quadro FX1600M with 512 MB memory. My internet is broadband and whatever the maximum speed my cable company offers to a residence without going T1. I generally plug my laptop in, disable the wireless network, and game with a wired connection. The connection type though doesn't seem to be making a difference.I understand that EQ2 is very CPU heavy. That said, I've played WoW and LOTRO on this machine and both played flawlessly. This computer was actually purchased to play WoW on the highest settings, which I had no issue with. Tired of WoW after several years, my boyfriend and I moved from that game to LOTRO where again I set the graphical detail rather high and had no troubles (some details in that game I preferred lower as I found their rendering annoying), and he gave up MMOG's altogether and I'd *like to* land with EQ2 for the next few years or so as I really like the game.So, this being said what can I do to make it so this hitching/stuttering (I think that's what it is anyway, I can move through the game fine it's just that it feels like it's choking as I move my character, it's almost undetectable, and yet, it's still visually disturbing, especially in the environment detail) without completely destroying the visual appeal of EQ2 and making it from a beautiful to a poor quality game graphic wise?

[Seffrid]

<p>I have no experience of laptops or of this problem, but it may be that your laptop isn't really geared up to the game. I'm afraid comparisons with other games' performance doesn't really mean much, especially where WoW is concerned as it is a very different level of game graphically.</p><p>What I would suggest, however, is avoiding the usual trap people fall into of taking a higher setting than the game will manage and then tweaking settings down from there. Far better in my experience to take a lower setting and tweak the settings up from that.  Adjust them one at a time in an area where you're having problems so that you can see whether they are impacting on performance or not. It would help to have the fps counter display on so that you can see what the effect on that is.</p><p>Best of luck, perhaps others can offer additional advice more specific to your system.</p>

[Innuendo]

<cite></cite>Well by all rights, I'm pretty confident that the computer should be able to handle EQ2. The video card is currently a high mid-range/low high-range video card and 3.5 GB of ram is decent. When I purchased the computer around 6 1/2 months ago the processor was fast. It was the top of the line processor for lap tops a year ago. It's still very good. <p>I'm wondering though if the issue is that the processor is Core 2 Duo. I've heard there are problems with dual core processors and EQ2. In trying to break the problem down in very basic terms and wrap my mind around it, from what I gather the game will only utilize one half of the processors speed of a dual core processor (i.e. something like the game will only recognize 1.3 ghz of my 2.6 ghz processor).</p><p>Is there a fix for the game if your computer runs on a dual core processor? Would this be a problem that would cause the stuttering I am experiencing except for on very low graphic/very high performance settings?</p>

[JohnD212]

As its been stated a lot on these boards...EQ2 doesn't really use the extra core...the game was written to only use one core. It relies heavily on your CPU and less on your Videocard....so it doesn't matter how good your card is...or how good your CPU is....What I find eliminates most the stuttering and hitching..turn Specular down to -1....it turns off shadows and stuff liek that...the game still looks nice...but it runs like butter. Trust me...I have a Quad Core Extreme with a nivida 280 card and I even have to turn things down. I prefer a smooth play experience...my roommate perfers beauty even at the expense of getting stuttering and hitching....so its your choice.

[Araxes]

I'm going to take a guess that the Quadro card, although quite powerful for things like digital photo manipulations, auto cad design, and that types of 3D or math intesive work -- the Quadro is great.  But it isn't a gaming card.  The architecture is different.  I'd imagine that might be your bottleneck.Ara

[TSR-TrevorG]

I was going to say what Araxes said, but he said it first.