Hi,
So let me start off by saying I know I need to upgrade. This isn’t possible for me right now because of COVID, and likely won’t be possible until the new year.
TL;DR: I need an upgrade, but can’t get one. The dust/particles/smoke in indoor areas had it’s floor raised, and so I cannot reduce it’s quality enough to play the game the way I’d like to since ~20 frames is too low, and I don’t need to see this floating dust light effect to enjoy the game. Can I do anything about it?
That being said, I went from getting ~60 fps on lower settings in BFA dungeon content 2 weeks ago, to now getting barely over 25 in the same content, on the lowest possible settings while still having projected textures enabled and particle density set to “Good” so I can see the fire on the floor (unless the minimum requirements changed for SL, this was always what was previously required for me to see the bad).
The culprit, I believe, is the smoke/fog/dust floating in dungeons/some outdoor areas. Previously turning off SSAO would reduce/remove this entirely, but even with SSAO off now, it is still present. I don’t need this dust to enjoy the game, and it would be a shame if I couldn’t do dungeons/raids in SL just because this dust is bringing my frames below 20. Any ideas?
To reiterate, my settings are all at the lowest possible, excluding the following: Testure res is Fair, Projected textures are enabled, Particle Density is good. View distance, Environment detail and Ground clutter are all set to 2. Texture filtering is Trilinear.
Hope this helps.
I know everyone wants to see my specs, but I’ve left them out here intentionally because as previously stated I know i need an upgrade, this is not the advice I’m currently looking for.
Thanks 
Hi Saltharion
You won’t see much Troll shaming on the Tech forum here. I want to take a closer look at things. Can you run a DXDiag System report:
The second section of page has DXDiag report instructions - we don’t require the MSinfo report.
That will be a wall of text. If you have issues pasting on the Forum here go ahead and put it up on pastebin.com. Provide the link code portion of the URL - example below.
(The green bold portion at the end of this example link: https://pastebin.com/Qk28Ed1P <=== this code)
Alternately you can place the link in a Preformatted Text box. Paste the link in the chatbox - then highlight it. Click the preformatted text button along the top of the chatbox - looks like this </>
Will look like this example afterwards:
https://pastebin.com/xxxxxxxx
https://pastebin.com/Qg0cBdAj
You know Saltharion - the processor is just below minimum Shadowland specs. If you could swing it something like this for $120 would fix you up:
https://www.newegg.com/asus-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-ph-gtx1050ti-4g/p/N82E16814126170?Item=N82E16814126170&Description=gtx%201050&cm_re=gtx_1050--14-126-170--Product&quicklink=true
Likely make you think you bought a new machine. You have plenty of ram - adequate processor.
I’m not even sure you have the DX12 option with the GT 740. Is the Graphics API set on DirectX 11 or DirectX 11 Legacy?
I’m seeing some graphics related errors in Window’s error reporting. Let’s reinstall the graphics driver using the DDU tool to uninstall everything.
I want to get off that most recent Nvidia driver. Reports that it causes game issues on the forum here. Let’s roll back to this driver from August. What I’m currently using.
https://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/162980/en-us
Download that then download the DDU tool here:
https://www.wagnardsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3300
Basically you extract the uninstaller from the download. (it will extract to a folder called DDU - the tool is inside that folder)
*Important: Unplug the Ethernet or disable the Wifi to avoid Windows automatic driver installation.
I like to boot the computer into safe mode then run the DDU tool.
(This isn’t essential you can ignore the warning. You would need to confirm you have the windows password before you run safe mode. If you are using a PIN it may ask for the actual password after running safe mode.)
On the tool you select Graphics type then Nvidia. Run the recommended “Clean then restart”.
Now for the install. Start the driver download. Select Graphics only (no GeForce Experience). Select Custom install carry on to the next pane. There is a box to check for Clean Install select (check) that box. (Resets the Nvidia control panel and profiles to defaults)
You will see a Windows Smart Screen warning when you start the Driver install as you are offline - ignore that.
Setting a lower resolution scale (like 67% or 50%) may help out a card like a GT 740 quite a bit, assuming you’re GPU bound. If that doesn’t help then you’re CPU bound and there may not be much more you could do to improve performance beyond not using DX11 legacy and checking to make sure addons causing issues.
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