Tons of lag/skippiness... please help! :)

I could definetly use some advice here. The game runs extreme choppy at any graphic setting for me (especially in battles and crowded areas). I could play WoW, shadowbane, anarchy online, daoc, asherons call 1 and 2 and various FPS shooters with this laptop at default settings... I'd like to play this game the best my computer will do it, but it doesn't seem to be playable, let alone seamless, regardless of how low the settings are.

2.8ghz Dell Inspiron 5100 notebook
19" CRT monitor
64MB M7 ATI Radeon 7500C Mobility
512 MB Ram


Thanks,
Bic Lighter

A.) Change all your Graphics Options to Low/Off. On your login Screen, select "Options" in the bottom right and change all the bars to lowest, or ingame, press F11 or choose "Options" from the "Menu" and put all bars to lowest.

B.) Run some Spyware Checks/Virus Checks.

Spyware can cause your PC to lag a bit.

that didnt really help

Thats odd. I have an Inspiron 9100, and I have the exact same problem. No spyware, no viruses, 800x600 and all settings at minimum and I still lag, especially during big battles. I've tryed almost everything too, so, good luck with the problem, I hope someone can help us...

~Grant

Well, I can't say this "helped" me, but I've had DirectX 9.0c installed on my machine since it came out and I haven't had any issues, except relating to my cable modem.

You might as well try it.

Oh, and seriously, try de-fragging your hard drive if you haven't. Because of the amount of graphics data stored on the hard drive of MMO's, often times a small delay in accessing a file could be a major issue.

(This is my first post in the Tech forum. If these solutions have been debunked before as helping, I apologize. My experience has been with SWG for the last two years.)

I have the exact same computer, and i have the exact same problem. Try running FRAPS or try -perf at the end of the target shortcut in Gw.exe. Tell us what is the FPS in a big battle, in cities, and just alone cruising to a mission in PvE. It is most likely due to the laptop overheating, as that laptop gets around 167F in GW. Trust me, i have the exact same one.

Yes, the laptop has heating/ventilation problems but I use my Guild Wars CD jewel case and prop it up when I play to have a little more airflow. I also use canned air just about weekly. Dell really made a winner with the engineering of this laptop... HOWEVER

With i8fangui I'm running 120-140 degrees, the laptop isn't overheating when I play guildwars. It skips even from a fresh start. I've got no spywhere according to the latest spybot and ad-aware. I've got no viruses according to AVG. I've defragged my hard drive very recently. I wish someone could help with this problem. Although I dislike WoW, it runs flawlessly on my system with full graphics... so something is wrong here in guild wars.

Thanks again if anyone can help