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Lux Aetern · Nov 30, 2011, 07:51 PM // 19:51

ive been experiencing low graphics while running guild wars on my new laptop... its like it is running the game on the lowest settings possible when i have them all at max... i went to systemrequirementslab.com and tested EotN and it says everything should run perfectly, as far passed recommended as possible. ive never had this problem before on my older (and really crappy) computer

Heres the specs it gave me for my computer:
CPU - AMD A8-3500M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
CPU Speed - 1.5 GHz Performance Rated at: 3.75 GHz
RAM - 6.0 GB
OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit
Video Card - AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6620G

any ideas on what the problem would be?

ruk1a · Nov 30, 2011, 08:39 PM // 20:39

I'm not computer geek but I think it's just because it's a laptop... unless you have some awesome gaming laptop apparently that's how it is. My friend has the same problem with skyrim, he bought a brand new laptop that passed all the required specs and has a pretty decent video card in it yet my half ass computer can run it and it looks 10x better on my PC than his. Even when he puts it on ultra and I'm on medium.

Warbog The Slayer · Nov 30, 2011, 09:14 PM // 21:14

do u have 2 video cards ? r u sure that gw runs on radeon? i have 2 video cards and sometimes when i install new games they are running on my intel video card

Showtime · Nov 30, 2011, 09:14 PM // 21:14

Is your laptop plugged in? Sometimes the computer will throttle down when not plugged in to save juice. There's settings that you can change I believe. I don't know why that changes your settings on game though. Also your laptop could be overheating a bit which would cause performance issues.

Remove all bloatware that came with laptop. Change settings so it doesn't throttle down. Google is your friend for how to do this. Plenty of guides with step by step instructions on how to optimize your new laptops and desktops.

@rukia some of that would be the monitor too. if laptop came with low rez/crappy monitor, it won't look as good as a high rez monitor. with the right panel it will look as good or better than many desktop monitors if the hardware is up to spec.

Mireles · Nov 30, 2011, 10:11 PM // 22:11

Has this just happened or its been happening since you installed the game?

**Edit: if what Merciless Crusader said below is true... i would try that before anything else.**

The most common cause of this problem is a corrupted install.... delete gw.dat file in your install folder of guild wars (or just uninstall it threw control panel and reinstall). Then create a short cut to guild wars... right click and go to properties. and add -image to the back of the target to it ill look like this:

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -image

This may look slightly different if you are running a 64 bit version of windows. This will tell guild wars to download the game and store in full so you don't have to download areas as you go.... this is the safest way to install the entire game but it can take several hours... its best done over night.

This can be caused be an outdated or non-existent manufacture display driver as well. Go here and enter your info to get the latest drivers for your GPU

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

good luck

Merciless Crusader · Nov 30, 2011, 10:17 PM // 22:17

Hi Lux, if I am not mistaken your laptop has "switchable graphic controllers" as does mine, you should open Catalyst Control Center and under graphics options choose --> ATI PowerXpress, then click the "High Performance GPU" it should then pop up a screen asking if you wish to change to "High Performance GPU" click change, the screen will flicker and then come back, this rectified the problem for me when I had said issue.

You may also want to reboot after before you run GW again, and also configure the ATI PowerXpress settings as when on Battery if will most likely switch to "Power Saving GPU" again.

Hope this helps.