[Tutorial] Increase your framerate in World of Warcraft (UPDATED!)

Essea · Last edited by Essea on 01-04-2013, 00:30:35; edited 4 times in total

Windows 7 Tweaks (Scroll down for Windows XP Tweaks)

This tutorial will show you how to get 15% fps increase (or more) on your PC or Laptop. This optimization is only for Windows 7 PCs as it requires DirectX 10 or 11 to work. Also this trick may not work on all cards.

1. Check your hardware.
Check if you have the required hardware that supports either DirectX 10 or 11 (If you already know what graphics card you're using, skip this step).
- Download GPU-Z and run it.
- This is how it should look:

For the next steps, choose either Step 2a. or 2b. I recommend you to do it with Step 2b. as it will stay there for as long as you want it to, and with Step 2a. it will be gone if you move your wow installation folder.

2a. Adding "-d3d11" to wow shortcut
Create a wow shortcut. Right click on it and click on properties and then click on shortcut tab. Add the -d3d11 in the directory text field. It should look like this:

2b. Modifying Config.wtf file - Recommended
Go to your wow installation directory and open your WTF folder. Once there, open your Config.wtf file with notepad or any other text editing software and add the following line to it:

Code:

SET gxApi "D3D11"

If you did it correctly, it should look like this (Blurred out things are my settings which are set to Ultra and would not help you increase performance...):

3. Start World of Warcraft and Log in.
After your'e in the game, create a DirectX 11 checker macro with this code in it:

Code:

/run message(GetCVar("gxApi") == "D3D11" and "You are using DirectX 11." or "You are NOT using DirectX 11. Please add -d3d11 to your World of Warcraft shortcut.")

Should look like this if typed/copied correctly:

4. Click on the "D3D11 Checker" icon and wait for the message to pop up.

If you did it correctly, This message should pop up:

If you haven't, then it will show you this:

FPS while in DirectX 11 mode: 82,2
FPS while in DirectX 9 mode: 66,8

Note: If you run Windows 7 and have got a DirectX 9 graphics card, please post your results!

P.S. I will post a tutorial on how to increase your framerate under windows xp soon. Come back and check this topic out regularly.

Essea · Last edited by Essea on 01-04-2013, 00:38:13; edited 3 times in total

Windows XP Tweaks

Here you will see all the necessary things that need to be done in order to increase your overall wow fps. Please read ALL the steps CAREFULLY and THOROUGHLY.

The laptop this was tested on:

Choose either Step 1a or 1b! Whatever you find easier to do or if you dont trust upload sites...
Step 1a: Download the modified config file and put it in your WTF folder, replacing your old Config.wtf:

Step 1b: Go to your World of Warcraft installation directory and open WTF folder. After that, open your Config.wtf file and erase all the existing text in it. Once you're done, copy over the below text back into it and save (NOTE: if you have US client, change "SET locale "enGB" to SET locale "enUS").

Code:

SET locale "enGB"
SET realmlist "wow.freakz.ro"
SET patchlist "127.0.0.1/patch"
SET enterWorld "1"
SET maxFPS "0"
SET maxFPSBk "0"
SET hwDetect "0"
SET videoOptionsVersion "4"
SET playIntroMovie "4"
SET mouseSpeed "1"
SET Gamma "1.000000"
SET readTOS "1"
SET readEULA "1"
SET readTerminationWithoutNotice "1"
SET showToolsUI "1"
SET accounttype "CT"
SET Sound_EnableAllSound "0"
SET Sound_MusicVolume "0.40000000596046"
SET Sound_AmbienceVolume "0.60000002384186"
SET farclip "10"
SET reflectionMode "0"
SET environmentDetail "0"
SET textureFilteringMode "0"
SET weatherDensity "0"
SET realmName "Exodus - International"
SET gameTip "22"
SET uiScale "1.1499999761581"
SET gxVSync "0"
SET baseMip "1"
SET projectedTextures "1"
SET textureCacheSize "32"
SET ffxGlow "0"
SET horizonfarclip "10"
SET lod "1"
SET mapObjLightLOD "1"
SET gxColorBits "16"
SET gxDepthBits "16"

P.S. You may change the gxColorBits and gxDepthBits from 16 to 32 if you want your game to look slightly better at the cost of 7 fps.

The Results!

Standard config.wtf file! 1024x768, Lowest Settings, 32 bit color depth

Tweaked config.wtf file! 1024x768, Lowest Settings, 32 bit color depth

Tweaked config.wtf file! 1024x768, Lowest Settings, 16 bit color depth

Standard config file fps: 44,4
Tweaked config file fps: 71,1

Have fun!

Incarnate · Posted: 24-03-2013, 20:36:46 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

And what's the difference if u just go to Options, Advanced and select DiretX 11 from the Graphics API?

roggi · Posted: 24-03-2013, 21:20:38 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

Didnt really affect my fps.
Only thing thats different is that stuff like fountains and wells disapear in stormwind when you are further away, that did not happend before.
I have ati 5650m (should be working with dx11).
the macro says its working.

Essea · Posted: 24-03-2013, 21:34:58 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

Incarnate wrote:

And what's the difference if u just go to Options, Advanced and select DiretX 11 from the Graphics API?

You can't enable it on some DirectX 10 cards via options menu, and with this way, you force it enabled. In some cases it helps increase fps, in some it doesn't.

shhnedo · Posted: 24-03-2013, 23:17:25 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

Lucky bastard got an HD6950 1GB! xD
I'll try this out and post my results.
===========================================

Just as I expected. Ok, here's what I got:
1. The GPU:

Don't ask about it. It's a piece of crap, just like the ASUS motherboard it's in.

2. The message from the checker:

P.S. I tried both the .cfg and the shortcut.

===========================================

So obviously there's no way to force d3d11 when the hardware doesn't support it. I've got a feeling it's gonna be the same on XP since it supports DX9.0c only. It might not work but you can give it a try. I don't have an XP machine around me...

Essea · Posted: 25-03-2013, 00:04:04 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

shhnedo wrote:

Lucky bastard got an HD6950 1GB! xD
I'll try this out and post my results.
===========================================

Just as I expected. Ok, here's what I got:
1. The GPU:

Don't ask about it. It's a piece of crap, just like the ASUS motherboard it's in.

2. The message from the checker:

P.S. I tried both the .cfg and the shortcut.

===========================================

So obviously there's no way to force d3d11 when the hardware doesn't support it. I've got a feeling it's gonna be the same on XP since it supports DX9.0c only. It might not work but you can give it a try. I don't have an XP machine around me...

What OS are you using? I've got a laptop with Dx10 card and this trick works on it. I've got a 7 fps increase in every scenario on it.

Of course you can't get Dx11 on XP. There is another way that I found to increase fps on XP. I am in a process of transfering cata to a Laptop with Pentium M 1,86 Ghz (single core), mobility radeon x300 with 64 megabytes of ddr vram and 1 gig of ddr2 ram. That laptop runs Windows XP. My other laptop has dual core AMD Athlon X2 at 2,20 ghz, Radeon HD 3200 and 3 gigs of Ram and runs windows 7 ultimate 32 bit. The modifications are active there and I will post them here once i transfer wow.

P.S. If it makes you feel better, my 2005 PC had a GeForce FX 5200....

Everytime · Posted: 25-03-2013, 14:45:17 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

Annything for intel HD 3000? from i5-2410m? i can play on recomanded settings that are all on good with 4 aa and vsync at around 20-30 fps in elwyin but i saw that "video card" on full ultra on blizzard

pal0bre · Posted: 25-03-2013, 15:25:07 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

Everytime wrote:

Annything for intel HD 3000? from i5-2410m? i can play on recomanded settings that are all on good with 4 aa and vsync at around 20-30 fps in elwyin but i saw that "video card" on full ultra on blizzard

Unless you have framebuffer issues vertical sync and triple buffering is not needed. Turning off those two will give you a major fps increase.

shhnedo · Posted: 25-03-2013, 15:34:49 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

Essea wrote:

What OS are you using?

GPU-Z Screenshot wrote:

nvlddmkm 9.18.13.783 (ForceWare 307.83) / Win7

The rest of this retarded pc is a Pentium 4 531 90nm 1M cache clocked at 3.3GHz, 2x1GB DDR2 800 RAM which isn't even running at full speed under load, and a very old WD Blue 160GB SATAII 7200RPM 8M hard drive. All of this is wired to an ASUS P5GZ-MX mobo. The most dumbass part in the whole computer. Particularly because of it's 800 FSB restriction and PCI-E x16 slot speed of x4 MAX! You even have to move a couple of jumpers to make it work at x4 thus disabling the PCI-E x1 slot, otherwise they both work at x1 speed.

Everytime · Posted: 25-03-2013, 15:58:07 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

pal0bre wrote:

Everytime wrote:

Annything for intel HD 3000? from i5-2410m? i can play on recomanded settings that are all on good with 4 aa and vsync at around 20-30 fps in elwyin but i saw that "video card" on full ultra on blizzard

Unless you have framebuffer issues vertical sync and triple buffering is not needed. Turning off those two will give you a major fps increase.

Already did that fps got increased around 30 after apply this http://forum.wow-freakz.com/FPS-MS-Settings-t67149.html it's always over 30 fps:)

Muldor · Posted: 26-03-2013, 05:32:29 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

I don't have a screenshot, but I set up the changes in the original post and got a noticeable difference. Interestingly though, when I go to the graphics options the recommended settings were HIGHER than previously. So I made the changes (one step higher on most key items, ground clutter/view distance/shadows/particle effects) and played for a bit and it ended up being about the exact same FPS as on the previous settings. Maybe a few ticks less actually, but that's with a near across the board setting bump.

My system is a good example for this as well. Here's what I have:

Operating System: Windows 7, 64 bit
CPU: AMD Athlon x2 6000+ (3.0GHz)
GPU: GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB (DirectX 10.0)
Ram: 3 GB @ 800 MHz

I was surprised by the difference, but I guess the DirectX 10 cards can force through Direct X 11.x of Win 7 without any problem. I read about the optimizations of Direct X when Windows 7 was first released but I'm not ready to upgrade my card just yet. I didn't know I could take advantage of the coding upgrades with a previous generation card.

The takeaway here is that if you have a weaker system with a Direct X 10 card you can improve framerates with identical settings. If you have a beast of a CPU/GPU already, you can further push settings while maintaining smooth play.

Thanks Essea!

Essea · Posted: 01-04-2013, 00:31:56 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

Muldor wrote:

I don't have a screenshot, but I set up the changes in the original post and got a noticeable difference. Interestingly though, when I go to the graphics options the recommended settings were HIGHER than previously. So I made the changes (one step higher on most key items, ground clutter/view distance/shadows/particle effects) and played for a bit and it ended up being about the exact same FPS as on the previous settings. Maybe a few ticks less actually, but that's with a near across the board setting bump.

My system is a good example for this as well. Here's what I have:

Operating System: Windows 7, 64 bit
CPU: AMD Athlon x2 6000+ (3.0GHz)
GPU: GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB (DirectX 10.0)
Ram: 3 GB @ 800 MHz

I was surprised by the difference, but I guess the DirectX 10 cards can force through Direct X 11.x of Win 7 without any problem. I read about the optimizations of Direct X when Windows 7 was first released but I'm not ready to upgrade my card just yet. I didn't know I could take advantage of the coding upgrades with a previous generation card.

The takeaway here is that if you have a weaker system with a Direct X 10 card you can improve framerates with identical settings. If you have a beast of a CPU/GPU already, you can further push settings while maintaining smooth play.

Thanks Essea!

You are most welcome!

miggi · Posted: 02-04-2013, 01:31:43 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

imagination Thanks for sharing, will try out tomorrow.

kabutozero · Posted: 03-04-2013, 14:05:27 | Translate post to: ... (Click for more languages)

I found I can change to direct 11 from the options menu ( weird , have an old-*** graphic card D

, if I set it like that it's the same as doing the tutorial right?

ED : lol , already saw a difference , more than 60 fps even when nothing big happening is a lot for me