For all you Windows 7 users out there, some things can be done to improve your PC without downloading a single 3'rd party program. For instance:
1. Switch your visual style something more appropriate. Although that transperancy looks somewhat cool on your window bars, it's not worth lagging and dieing to a creep wave that you should've been farming. The best performance style is Windows Classic. Now if you're one of those people who have old-phobia, then switch to Windows Basic instead. To get there, right click desktop - select personalize - scroll all the way down till you find the windows themes.
2. Adjust Peripherals If you don't mind loseing some shadow on your mouse cursor, or looking at a translucent rectangle box instead of the window you're trying to move, then follow these directions. Look up "Windows Performance" in your Start Menu's Search Bar. Click on the adjust the appearance and performance of windows. Change it too 'run with best performance', or enable the things which you think you might need while having all the unnecessary doo-dads disabled. (I personally only keep the icon thumbnail option, the rest are unchecked).
3. Make sure Windows is fully updated. That means going to Windows Update and running a check (if it gives you the option too, of course. If it isn't listed and it's green, you're fine). If there are things that need to be downloaded, do it. If there are optional things to be downloaded, I'd reccomend doing that too.
4.Now it's time for Drivers. This is actually a bigger problem than you'd expect. Drivers are what tell your hardware what and how to run. Now updates are constantly coming out, trying to get every last drop of potential in that (in this case) Graphics Card. Without resorting to 3'rd party programs, you can run checks to make sure everything is updated. In you handy search bar, look up 'Device Manager'. Go down the list and right click everything and select 'Update Driver Software' - then have it search automatically online. Now do everything if you don't mind waiting an extra minute or two, or you can just stick to Monitor, Network, Display Adapters, and 'Sound, Video, and Game Controllers'.
5. Restart your computer. If it's been on for a couple days, or you've done a ton of things on it, Restart It. It cleans out the RAM. RAM is the memory it uses to execute programs, but everytime it does that, a small portion of RAM is dedicated to that single program, subtracting from all the other programs to be used in the future. Restarting refreshes this.
6. Defrag your computer. You see, your hard drive is like a game of tetris. When it stores or moves a file, some space is wasted. Defragging your computer realigns everything in perfect order. You can use Windows Defragger, or use a safer Defragger known as Defraggler. You can find it here. Do NOTHING with you computer while it's doing this, so it's best to start it, go to bed, and see it done in the morning. NEVER do quick defrag, it makes the problem worse in most cases. Normal Defrag should take an hour or two on average, although it mainly depends on how cluttered your hard drive is.
7. You can find more tips and tricks on this website. https://www.techradar...-secrets-643861
There are plenty more things you can do, but I have to be brief (those XP users are giving me the glare).
Now for some 3'rd Party Programs that you might be interested in, but there are quite a few, so many in fact that it might be overwhelming. So I'll be your guide here as well, and remember, they're all free.
1.
CCleaner. It cleans out junky temporary files that never want to go away, helps you uninstall, and SAFELY cleans out old registry values that slow your computer down. You can find it here. Registry values are created when installing software, so when you uninstall software some values left behind. Just a few won't hurt, but if you have a TON, you can really see a decrease in performance if you don't have them cleaned. That being said, NEVER EVER EVER!!! mess with the registry yourself. Unless you're a professional master computer officer, don't even think about going there. CCleaner is actually one of the few safe registry cleaners, so just let it do things for you. (Don't forget to make registry backups! - I keep them in a seperate folder so My Documents doesn't get filled up.)2.
For all those AMD dual core users out there, you can try out AMD's Dual - Core Optimizer. You can find it here, although it's possible it will not install for whatever reason. If you're not sure if you have an AMD Dual Core, go to My Computer, make sure nothing is selected, and right click the white space. Select Properties, and there you go!3.
Now the real gaming program. It's called Game Booster v3 - a very powerful optimizing program meant just for gamers. You can find it here. It stops unneccessary proccess that Microsoft put in Windows, and if you don't feel comfortable with them off (no idea why - nothing bad will happen, the company ensures that) you can always turn them back on once you're done with your game. Game Booster can tweak your settings as well, freeing up space that Microsoft filled with junk. Game Booster also has a built in Driver Detection side to it, where it sees if any drivers are out of date, then sends you to the website to download them if you so wish. It's a great program, and I've used it ever since Version 1. 4.
SPYWARE!?!?! *GASP* You might also have some malware running amuck in your computer, stealing your information and internet speed. Run a scan with Malwarebytes and see if it picks up anything (do this after running CCleaner). You can find this nifty application here. If you don't have any antivirus on you now, I can provide a one-year license to one of the most widely recognized security programs out there, but you'll have to Private Message me about it).5.
Defraggler. I already mentioned this a whiles ago, but if you want the link to it, You can find it here.Now time for some In-Game tweaks. Rise of Immortals is VERY User Friendly, but it will take some tweaking to find just what you like. Or you can just leave it because you thought it was fine before. Doesn't really matter, but if you do want to at least take a peak at some other options, keep on reading
Video Settings
Normally if you have a graphics card, you can just mess with these however you like. But, if you're like me and my graphics card, ultra high just won't do. I prefer to use Medium settings. Now hold on - don't get close minded. Look at Ultra High, then look at Medium. The differences are (in my opinion) 1) Ultra High looks Murky 2) Ultra High is much darker 3) Things are harder to distinguish. Now in Medium, not only is it brighter, you can actually see what you're doing, and you don't have any lag issues (aside of internet issues), it present so many more customization options. If you want things to look amazing, but you don't want some features that Ultra High provides, go with Medium! Medium is the choice select for those who want control over their life.
Now you see that little VSync box? That's Vertical Sync. It makes it so that everything is perfectly timed so there're no feet walking off without a body which in turn is just floating in mid space. Disable it if you don't mind the VERY rare chance of it happening and want some better performance.
ALSO! It's been my experience NEVER to window a full-screen application. Not only is the performance slightly less and it's a real mood-ruiner, your control will be decreased SIGNIFICANTLY. If you only do it to quickly switch through other programs, use Alt+Tab (Hold ALT, Press TAB). It's a great feature already implemented into Windows, so just switch away to your heart's content.
Advanced Video Settings
You get here from the normal Video Settings. Depending on whether or not you can interpret what they mean, go ahead and fiddle with these and find what suits your playstyle best.
I personally don't see a reason to use Advanced Render, Heat Distortion, and Bloom effects, but once again, the choice is yours.
Particle = Effects
Geometry = Models = Nouns
Environment = What you walk on/Trees
Texture = Clarity of ... Textures
Shader = Gradients = How colors blend
Draw Distance = I think this means how far until things pop up on your screen, but I might be mistaken.
Audio Settings
Now these are once again to your personal preference. If you don't mind slightly tinny sounds, go ahead with minimum performance audio. If you don't like or use the music of the game, go ahead and drop that all the way down.
FINAL NOTE BY GOBYON: Now these all tips and tricks can really make a positive difference on your gaming experience, even though Rise of Immortals is comparitevly easy on your system. However, if you don't have a graphics card, you will almost assuradly run into problems. If you have a desktop computer, get a bigger case, then buy a graphics card to fit in your motherboard. A website that has GREAT deals is https://www.newegg.com/. They have just about everything that you'd need. There are also plenty of guides online how to build a computer if you're not sure what to do.
This is Gobyon, Signing Off.
Love,
Gobyon
This post has been edited by Gobyon: 14 December 2011 - 06:19 AM
Promote to Article
This is so precise! Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much x a million, for posting this!
keep up the hard work
