Optimizing Performance in Vindictus

[sakraycore]

In order to get 4 or 5 bars in Vindictus, you need a good connection and a good computer.

In this guide, I will cover what you need in order to have a smooth playing experience in the game.

Part A) Latency Optimization:

1) Open your ports for Vindictus:


Requirements: A router, a brain.

*If you already know how to port forward, skip to Step 5*

Step 1: Go to Start > Search/Run and type CMD.

Step 2: Type in ipconfig. Copy down your Default Gateway and your IPv4

Step 3: Open your web browser and put your Default Gateway in the address bar (it may ask for a password, if you don't know it then Google "Default Password [insert router type here]" If the default password doesn't work, then ask your family if they know it. As a last resort, hold down the small reset button on the router with a pen for a minute. Reconnect then try the default password again.)

Step 4: Go to the Application(or similar) tab and find Port Forward(or Port Range Forward).

Step 5: You are going to forward 2 ports. Name them both Vindictus as a reminder of what they're for.

1) Start: 27000
End: 27025
Protocol: TCP & UDP
IP Address: Type in your IPv4

2) Start: 47611
End: 47611
Protocol: TCP & UDP
IP Address: Do the same as above
Enable them and save.

Source = http://forum.nexon.net/Vindictus/forums/thread/6377726.aspx

Tool to check whether your ports are opened properly: http://portforward.com/help/portcheck.htm

2) Make sure your connection is fast enough and the latency is low. If you don't host your own games, latency is more important. Your latency should be under 30ms to a close server. For hosting, you'll want at least 1Mbit upload for hosting 8 player rooms, and at least 512Kbit upload for hosting 4 player rooms. Although if you want to be a good host, then aim for 1Mbit+ for 4 players and 2Mbit+ for 8 players. This will ensure good connection for everyone.
http://www.speedtest.net/
http://www.pingtest.net/

3) Play in the correct server:

If you're in East then play in the east server, likewise if you're in West. If you play in the wrong server, then your latency may be worse. Furthermore, usage of any kind of proxy will make your latency much worse for not only yourself, but possibly your party members as well.

For those who are not in Continental United States or Canada (minus Nunavut), then you can not play this game. There is a version of Vindictus EU currently in the works for those who are in Europe.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd268/deetz15/281854-KDPHJJW.png

Part B) Frame rate optimization:

1) System requirements:


Minimum Requirements:
OS: Windows XP
CPU: Single Core 2.4 GHZ
RAM: 512 MB
HDD: 5 GB
Graphics Card: GeForce 5600

Recommended Specification:
OS: Windows XP / Vista / 7
CPU: 2.5 GHz Dual Core or better
RAM: 1024 MB (1GB)
HDD: 6 GB
Graphics Card: GeForce 7600+

Source = http://mmohut.com/review/vindictus

We can see that you will need something slightly better than integrated graphics card to play this game. But if by chance you are using integrated, you should play at low settings and in a low resolution to optimize your frame rate.

If you don't meet the minimum requirements for the RAM, you should close as many background programs as you can.

As for CPU, even though they recommend a dual core for recommended, this game doesn't really use more than a single core in my experience. So if you have a phenom i quad core @ 2.0GHz, you may be in trouble.

For those with high end computers, know that the game is CPU bottlenecked, so bringing settings such as debris down to medium will improve your performance by a lot. So if you have an i7 and are still having frame rate problems, try this.



CPU Intensive Tasks:
Physics
Sound
Animation & Animation Interpolation
Particles
Decals
Polygons
Dynamic Lighting/Shadows
Water reflection

GPU intensive Tasks:
Textures & Bumpmaps
AA & AF
HDR & Bloom
Resolution

source: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1405896.html

If you have a strong CPU but weak GPU then try to turn down some of the GPU intensive effects and vice versa.

The official page has some explanation on which options do what. http://vindictus.nexon.net/News/Cont...ontentNo=009VN

Let's take a look at the CPU bound settings:

1) Water detail
2) Shadow Detail - on medium it only renders shadows for your own character. On high it renders shadows for everyone.
3) Debris
4) Cloth Physics detail
5) Particle detail
6) Other player details
7) Sound quality (should be minimal impact though)
8) Decals
9) High dynamic range
10) Model detail

These settings should be all the CPU bound ones in vindictus. Setting these settings to low should improve performance substantially when you host boats. (especially 8 player raids)

2) Upgrades

If you're looking to build or buy a new computer here are my recommendations:

CPU: i5-2500K
GPU: GTX 460 1GB
Ram: 8GB DDR3

Otherwise, if you have a decent dual core such as Core 2 Duo, most of the time, upgrading just the video card is enough. But you must also make sure that you have a good enough power supply to power it as well.

Here are two great resources for knowing what parts to purchase:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpu-overclocking-phenom-ii-x4,2826.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-recommendation-upgrade,2803.html

I hope this guide helps and I'll add more if I think of anything else.

Changelog:

1/1/2011: Removed de-nagle algorithm from list of fixes. Thanks hengsheng.
1/10/2011: Minor fixes (excluded Nunavut, changed i5-760 to i5-2500k)
9/4/2011: Added CPU/GPU bound analysis

[Papa]

All core talk is thrown out the window until they fix multi core support. Just fyi.

Also, Nexon recently upgraded their servers, and the output has been reported to be favorable to nearly every player now. Seeing 4-5 bars for everyone is rather common nowadays.

[sakraycore]

All core talk is thrown out the window until they fix multi core support. Just fyi.

Also, Nexon recently upgraded their servers, and the output has been reported to be favorable to nearly every player now. Seeing 4-5 bars for everyone is rather common nowadays.

Yes, I will be revising the thing about multi core support if they get around to fixing it. But currently it doesn't really work.

Yes, I know 4-5 bars is getting very common place now. Whereas before, if you didn't get 4-5 bars you can blame on Nexon servers, nowadays the problem tends to be on the client side. I still see numerous people with 1-2 bars but they should be able to get 4-5 bars as well with some fixes.

[Lie]

Vindictus doesn't automatically disable Nagle Algorithm upon client startup? (Haven't noticed)

Is devCAT still unable to let go of this? It's basically a requirement for most online games today.

Also, what about MTU?

[sakraycore]

Vindictus doesn't automatically disable Nagle Algorithm upon client startup? (Haven't noticed)

Honestly, I'm not so sure about this. I included it just in case since I know that mabinogi requires this. If anyone could verify for sure that would help.



Also, what about MTU?
I'm not quite so sure about MTU. But I think an MTU of 1500 for Vindictus is ideal. The latency lag in Vindictus is different from Mabinogi. In vindictus you experience a sort of jerkiness and teleportation as opposed to the skill delay in mabinogi. Because it is Peer to peer, in consideration to your host, you should probably not make your MTU so small so as to increase the burden on your host.

Further clarification on MTU would help as well, but it likely does not play a large part for this game and may actually make it worse especially for hosting.

[Lie]

I'm not quite so sure about MTU. But I think an MTU of 1500 for Vindictus is ideal. The latency lag in Vindictus is different from Mabinogi. In vindictus you experience a sort of jerkiness and teleportation as opposed to the skill delay in mabinogi. Because it is Peer to peer, in consideration to your host, you should probably not make your MTU so small so as to increase the burden on your host.

Further clarification on MTU would help as well, but it likely does not play a large part for this game and may actually make it worse especially for hosting.

Got it, thanks.

[hengsheng120]

mtu and nagle doesn't help in vindictus, bandwidth matters much more
i know this because i'm in new york connecting to west server and I mostly get either 1-2 bars to west hosts or 3-4 bars to central and east hosts, so i still lag half the time; the same frequency as before no matter what i do

[heretic304]

For those who are not in Continental United States or Canada, then you can not play this game. There is a version of Vindictus EU currently in the works for those who are in Europe.


I'd just like to point out that Continental United States is used to refer to the 48 Contiguous States, so the use of that term is a bit incorrect, since players from Alaska and Hawaii are allowed to play.

[sakraycore]

since players from Alaska and Hawaii are allowed to play.

You sure about this? Last I heard territories can't play.

[TA]

If I'm not mistaken, "territories" refers to US owned territories (not State in the Federation), like Puerto Rico. The others are, ahem... let's see...

American Samoa
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
U.S. Virgin Islands
Minor Outlying Islands
Bajo Nuevo Bank
Baker Island
Howland Island
Jarvis Island
Johnston Atoll
Kingman Reef
Midway Islands
Navassa Island
Palmyra Atoll


There's a full list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territories_of_the_United_States

[heretic304]

You sure about this? Last I heard territories can't play.

Well your little image thing there highlights both Alaska and Hawaii, so I'm pretty sure that means they can play. They are also the 49th and 50th states, so it would be kinda dumb to exclude them from something that the rest of the United States is able to participate in.

[sakraycore]

A quick google yielded me this:


Ticket Details Back
Ticket Summary
Ticket #: 19000-333025
Email Notification (Contact Info): Yes
Status: Closed by GM
Date Created: 9/19/2010 2:55 PM PDT
Last Updated: 9/20/2010 10:10 AM PDT

Ticket Description
Game Selection: Vindictus
Category: Tech Support
Sub-Category: Connectivity
Summary: Puerto Rico Ip blocked?
Details: Is Puerto Rico IP blocked from Vindictus, i have a friend who is from Puerto Rico that can play all other Nexon games but Vindictus does not run, he has uninstalled and reinstalled and redownloaded the client and patched but nothing seems to work It just times out an does not connect.
Occurence: While in game
Attachment:

Solution
Solved:
(9/20/2010 10:10 AM PDT)
Unfortunately, Vindictus will only be only be available in the continental US (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada. No other locations will be able to play.
I apologize for the inconvenience.
Sincerely,
GM Causk
Nexon America Inc.
Security Tip: Please do not give your password to anyone for any reason. Nexon representatives will NEVER ask you for your password.
Source = http://mmohut.com/forums/general/3458-puerto-rico-vindictus.html

So it seems that Alaska and Hawaii can not play. It has also come to my attention that Nunavut can not play either.

[Seena]

You sure about this? Last I heard territories can't play.


Territories? I really really really hope you aren't American.

[Andy-Buddy]

Territories? I really really really hope you aren't American.

Why not? America has territories and areas that aren't called states.

[Seena]

Why not? America has territories and areas that aren't called states.

Because the "territories" in discussion were actually STATES. (ie Alaska and Hawaii.) God HELP the American who travels to Hawaii OR Alaska, and refers, in a bar full of locals, to either as a "territory" - that person will be spitting out fragments of their teeth into their drink.

[Andy-Buddy]

Because the "territories" in discussion were actually STATES.


If I'm not mistaken, "territories" refers to US owned territories (not State in the Federation), like Puerto Rico. The others are, ahem... let's see...

American Samoa
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
U.S. Virgin Islands
Minor Outlying Islands
Bajo Nuevo Bank
Baker Island
Howland Island
Jarvis Island
Johnston Atoll
Kingman Reef
Midway Islands
Navassa Island
Palmyra Atoll


There's a full list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territories_of_the_United_States

Those were the territories in discussion, and the two states that were also a part of the discussion, as shown in the ticket above, are grouped with the rest of the territories.

[Seena]

Those were the territories in discussion, and the two states that were also a part of the discussion, as shown in the ticket above, are grouped with the rest of the territories.



Um... I refer you to reply number 9 - which SPECIFICALLY references ALASKA and HAWAII as being "territories".

Wow. Some people.

Let me repost for you, in case you missed it:

<<since players from Alaska and Hawaii are allowed to play. >>




You sure about this? Last I heard territories can't play. (emphasis added)

[sakraycore]

I'm not American, and don't know too much about US actually.

Although what I heard happens to be correct, to clarify I had no idea whether Alaska or Hawaii are states or territories.

[rdk1]

does it really matter?
will people really punch their teeth out if they call it territories instead of states?

no and no. please let's try to stay on topic.

[Seena]

does it really matter?
will people really punch their teeth out if they call it territories instead of states?

no and no. please let's try to stay on topic.

Actually, yes and yes. They will. :)

[Baku]

Stay on topic people...
I think the "who is allowed to play" subject has been resolved.

[sakraycore]

I personally use TCP-Z to increase the number of simultaneous connections I can do at one time, but I'm not sure whether to include it in the guide since the primary purpose of it is to increase P2P speed.

But...since vindictus uses a weird hybrid p2p system, I figured it might help.

TCP-Z: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/12/31/tcp-z-free-download-half-open-tcpip-memory-patcher-for-x86-and-x64-windows-7-vista-and-xp/

Oh and for hosting, I figured that I should mention that if you have a limited upload speed like 1Mbit, you should close all the background applications that may be tapping into that upload speed. Applications such as steam, pando media booster, ppstream, Xunlei, should be closed imo.

[Mama]

if anyone uses an i7 or i5 processor, use the Intel Turbo Boost Monitor (http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-031038.htm). It boosts GHz when you need it most.

[xxxquandomxxx]

Does anyone know exactly what settings are CPU dependent vs. GPU dependent? I have a slow quad core q6600 with a beefy video card 5870, and it seems like my CPU can't keep up, even with multi core selected.

[phresh]

Does anyone know exactly what settings are CPU dependent vs. GPU dependent? I have a slow quad core q6600 with a beefy video card 5870, and it seems like my CPU can't keep up, even with multi core selected.

Not sure about your question but I have the same CPU and I run it over-clocked to 3.2Ghz with decent air cooling. Pretty simple over-clock if you have a decent board, memory and cooling (multiplier @ 8, FSB @ 400MHz).

[xxxquandomxxx]

Not sure about your question but I have the same CPU and I run it over-clocked to 3.2Ghz with decent air cooling. Pretty simple over-clock if you have a decent board, memory and cooling (multiplier @ 8, FSB @ 400MHz).

Sadly, I cannot overclock with the motherboard I currently have. What I tried to say was what are Vindictus settings that depend more on CPU than GPU. For example, in the original post, it mentioned that we should bring our debris settings down to lower the stress on our CPU. Are there any other settings I should bring down?

[sakraycore]

So far I can confirm 'debris' is completely CPU bound and has a big impact on my performance.

[Desroks]

Okay, so I play on the West Server, and I live in Hawaii, just saying this... ya know... It does work... All of you can shut up now. =\

[Succ]

If your CPU is notably older than the graphics card, everything will be bottlenecked at your CPU. Why? Because your CPU isn't going to be able to process data fast enough to give to the graphics card to process. The only way to fix this is to overclock, or get a newer CPU.

[Mello]

Crap.. I joined the wrong server. At the time I didn't think it mattered well, that sucks. Hopefully there will be a server change thing.

[Succ]

If you're gaming from the middle zone, I wouldn't sweat it. If you're from west going to east or vice versa, Ehh. It means you ping might be a bit higher but if you haven't noticed it in your runs, I wouldn't give it much thought.

[Mello]

Okay first of all I LOVE YOU FOR MAKING THIS GUIDE. I can now play with the graphic setting on normal and not lag any more that I did.

If you're gaming from the middle zone, I wouldn't sweat it. If you're from west going to east or vice versa, Ehh. It means you ping might be a bit higher but if you haven't noticed it in your runs, I wouldn't give it much thought.

And, I live in Kansas, Its not that bad of lag though. Even though I joined EAST.

[sakraycore]

Kansas is somewhere in the middle IIRC, so you should be fine.

Oh and thanks.

[Gearhead322]

Im using a motorola router and im not sure where im suppose to put in the ports. Any help?

Wait my Home page says my device is a Netopia my bad.

[foreignreign]

Anyone have any hardware specific tips for getting better performance? I feel like I should be getting more out of the setup I have:

AMD Phenom 9650 Quad-core 2.30 GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5670
Windows 7 64-bit

I also have my GPU overclocked using AMD's CCC, since I like playing it safe so that it never runs above even 50 C.

[sakraycore]

Anyone have any hardware specific tips for getting better performance? I feel like I should be getting more out of the setup I have:

AMD Phenom 9650 Quad-core 2.30 GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5670
Windows 7 64-bit

I also have my GPU overclocked using AMD's CCC, since I like playing it safe so that it never runs above even 50 C.

have you tried lowering debris?

[foreignreign]

I have Debris set to low (the game recommends Medium) but I still get drops in FPS occasionally, particularly when I'm hosting a game (doesn't even have to be people in it) and I crit a bunch of enemies at once, or if I'm in Hoarfrost Depths and a lot of stuff is breaking. And that's with textures on low, although if I'm not hosting I can set it to medium or high and my FPS will hover around 30 aside from any dips.

Most of my settings are set to the lowest option, aside from Color Correction (on), Normal Map Specular (on) and Cloth Physics (local player only).

Gonna try tweaking some more stuff to see if I can get any better.

[sakraycore]

you have a cpu bottleneck, textures etc are gpu bound and won't help your performance any.

[xJac]

hmmm, I played around my setting for a bit, model, texture, color correction etc don't have noticeable effect on my fps; however, normal map specular, particle setting, and the blooming effect will decrease my fps even just in town. bi-linear filtering and other setting I am not sure. multi-core was set on max speed.

Is it safe to assume that my max performance can be reached even by having color correction on,, model and texture on high?

[sakraycore]

it really depends on what kind of bottleneck you're having. some settings are gpu bound, some settings are cpu bound. if you're gpu bound for example, then lowering thing like debris will make little to no difference, and vice versa.

1 setting which is always gpu bound for example is resolution or antialiasing/anisotropic filtering.

[xJac]

thanks.

How do I tell the difference between cpu bottleneck, and gpu bottleneck? I know many times when a lot of things are breaking, or just a lot particles are happening, my fps will drop. Other times it would stay around 30~45 in dungeon, 50~60 in town. When a lot things happens, sometimes I will even skip frames, got it many times while recording (I know recording will slow down the performance).

I know for sure, normal map specular slows down my fps, the blooming effect setting will also reducing my fps.
Other setting I haven't seen any significant drops, so I think they don't affect (I have run hidden numerous of time with recording on and in different setting, the only drop from fps is from recording itself and pillar breaking).

[sakraycore]

sounds like cpu bottleneck to me. what's your cpu and video card?

[Succ]

There's no specific settings for games imo. You need to list your CPU and video card and we'd be able to tell which you'd be bound by. It doesn't really matter which specific game you play but it'll be something that limits you in all games. It will also be the one you'd need to upgrade if you want better performance.

If you are dropping frame with lots of stuff going on, you're probably CPU bound.
Depending on what kind of video card you have, I'd turn down the physics related settings.

[xJac]

Asus F3SV series.
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7300 @2GHz each
nVidia Geforce 8600M GS 256 MB
Ram: 2GB

I guess it is indeed my cpu.

Currently I have model on high, texture on medium (can i turn to high?), color correction enabled, and multi core setting maxed speed, using custom full screen, native resolution. Every thing else is either off or set at low.

Using Rivatuner, clock at 649/519.

Any suggestion how I can make it less laggy? or improve graphic without affecting performance?

[sakraycore]

well personally this is how i optimize my own graphical performance. i have fraps running in the background and test my performance with some options on or off on the boat and trash barrels and see the frame rate fluctuation. however i have not tested nearly enough options, otherwise i would've included it in my guide. if you can offer insight on this, i will probably put it into the guide.

[Succ]

Since you're playing on a laptop, make sure it's in the 'performance mode' and not a balance or battery savings. It sometimes helps it, and tell the system to go at full power.
I would guess your issue is models on high. try flipping to medium, and see if you can trade that off with high textures.
I am not sure if this is true but I think I heard somewhere that the dual/multi core options don't really work and with your processor coming in at 2ghz, it might be it. Then again you do have a 8600M, so I don't know if that is the issue either.

Another thing you can try is just closing down all the other programs you are running before gaming. IM, browsers, chat clients, etc. They take up resources that can goto the game.

[xJac]

Thanks.
Yes, I have done all you mentioned.

To me, changing texture or model from low to high, and high to low again, in recording, I do not notice any fps delay or fps drop. Nor does color correction plays any difference.
I closed all programs before even starting the game, and I also monitored my RAM/CPU usage to see if any un-needed programs is using. Desktop composition is disabled. Recording file is saved in a different hard drive.

I also know that 8600M GS is a DDR 2 instead of DDR 3. Not sure about the multi-core, but when I was monitoring my cpu usage while in game the performance goes around 6-%~90% Whether or not that's one core or two, I have no idea. I do noticed cpu being capped at 50% when I am in power saver, so I always play on best performance.

I also uses fraps to check my fps. Usually around 9 if a lot things are happening (such as clearing through the mob in hidden), or usually 15~30 when I am just running through or only against a few monsters, sometimes even all the way to 40~50s. If I turn on recording, the frames would be capped at around 15~30, and 9 if a lot things are happening (yes, no significant drop in fps, but that's only the numbers, I do feel either there's a little bit delay or drop in fps). Pillar breaking in Hidden, will always give huge fps drops, sometimes even skipping frames, with recording on or off.

I know that, as I have mentioned before, normal map spectacular, blooming effect will definitely give me fps drop. Vertical sync I have tested a lot with it on and off, do not notice any difference, I still get huge drop in fps from time to time, and I don't notice any delay, nor do I feel there's any. (Dashing through RT body slams is always the best way to check for delay.)

[Andy-Buddy]

Thanks.
Yes, I have done all you mentioned.

To me, changing texture or model from low to high, and high to low again, in recording, I do not notice any fps delay or fps drop. Nor does color correction plays any difference.
I closed all programs before even starting the game, and I also monitored my RAM/CPU usage to see if any un-needed programs is using. Desktop composition is disabled. Recording file is saved in a different hard drive.

I also know that 8600M GS is a DDR 2 instead of DDR 3. Not sure about the multi-core, but when I was monitoring my cpu usage while in game the performance goes around 6-%~90% Whether or not that's one core or two, I have no idea. I do noticed cpu being capped at 50% when I am in power saver, so I always play on best performance.

I also uses fraps to check my fps. Usually around 9 if a lot things are happening (such as clearing through the mob in hidden), or usually 15~30 when I am just running through or only against a few monsters, sometimes even all the way to 40~50s. If I turn on recording, the frames would be capped at around 15~30, and 9 if a lot things are happening (yes, no significant drop in fps, but that's only the numbers, I do feel either there's a little bit delay or drop in fps). Pillar breaking in Hidden, will always give huge fps drops, sometimes even skipping frames, with recording on or off.

I know that, as I have mentioned before, normal map spectacular, blooming effect will definitely give me fps drop. Vertical sync I have tested a lot with it on and off, do not notice any difference, I still get huge drop in fps from time to time, and I don't notice any delay, nor do I feel there's any. (Dashing through RT body slams is always the best way to check for delay.)

A decent test standard for 'high action' situations is just throwing a bomb (fine or normal) at the breakables on the boat. Great benchmark.

[xJac]

A decent test standard for 'high action' situations is just throwing a bomb (fine or normal) at the breakables on the boat. Great benchmark.

Yea. But that only tells you about the fps drop, nothing about whether your screen is delayed or not.

For example, I used to play with high setting, and I couldn't dodge Dim Gray's slide at all, unless I am sprinting right before the telegraph shows up. Once I turned off most options, I was able to dodge his slide, without the need to be sprinting. Having lower fps simply won't justify why me suddenly can react faster and dash fast enough.

I define delay as, what you see on screen is actually a few frames to milliseconds behind the actual event. Like when you dashed (pressing space) after seeing an attack telegraph, the attack has already hit you and your attempt to dodge failed.

That's why I use Red Tyrant hero macha for test, if the timing I use for higher graphic doesn't work in lower graphic (always dashing too early), then there is indeed an delay.

Another way to tell if there's a delay is from the moment you die, if there's a short pause before the dying animation shows up, whether knocking away or flying up, then most likely you have a delay.

[sakraycore]

Updated it with an analysis of which effects are CPU or GPU bound.

[Skye]

Does port forwarding affect the router, or just my computer?
Because we have 4 computers that all share our wireless, so I don't want to screw something up...

I dunno. I've been wanting to try this out, but I've been too afraid to try. ._.
/nub

[xJac]

I have a HP 630 right now, runs smother on lowest setting (direct 8x) than my old Asus F3sv-x1 on normal setting (which has a good gpu). I think cpu bottleneck often occurs as in spikes occasionally from time to time, while gpu bottleneck often occurs as in delay/graphical lag throughout whole gaming experience.

For port-forwarding, it's the setting on your router, so yes, it will affect your router. But what it does is open a port, so traffic can go through there; it's not likely to screw up unless you dl a virus program for port-forwarding, or if you opened up a port commonly known for trojan/virus attack.

[Baku]

Does port forwarding affect the router, or just my computer?
Because we have 4 computers that all share our wireless, so I don't want to screw something up...

I dunno. I've been wanting to try this out, but I've been too afraid to try. ._.
/nub
You have to enter the internal IP when port forwarding, so it would only affect that IP, your PC.

[Skye]

Ok...the process seems easy enough, I got up to step 4, but then I freaked out and didn't want to mess anything up, because my mom would let me have it. ;_;

[Baku]

Ok...the process seems easy enough, I got up to step 4, but then I freaked out and didn't want to mess anything up, because my mom would let me have it. ;_;
-w- Silly Skye. Nothing will explode, nothing will suffer catastrophic malfunction. Just forward the ports, if you need more specific help than the one in this guide search for your router here http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm

As long as you don't touch Protocol, VPI/VCI settings and the like you risk nothing.

[whocares8128]

The only thing you could screw up is other machines (besides the one you forward to) on your network if they also try to host Vindictus boats.*

*You could also potentially mess up other hosting applications using the same protocol/port as Vindictus for other purposes (only for the other machines again), though this is highly unlikely to prove an issue.

[sakraycore]

The official page has some explanation on which options do what. http://vindictus.nexon.net/News/Content.aspx?boardNo=400&contentNo=009VN

Let's take a look at the CPU bound settings:

1) Water detail
2) Shadow Detail - on medium it only renders shadows for your own character. On high it renders shadows for everyone.
3) Debris
4) Cloth Physics detail
5) Particle detail
6) Other player details
7) Sound quality (should be minimal impact though)
8) Decals
9) High dynamic range
10) Model detail

These settings should be all the CPU bound ones in vindictus. Setting these settings to low should improve hosting substantially for 8 player raids.

The following are the settings I use:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3323/vindisettings.jpg

[Dukhan]

The official page has some explanation on which options do what. http://vindictus.nexon.net/News/Content.aspx?boardNo=400&contentNo=009VN
The following are the settings I use:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3323/vindisettings.jpg
I'm curious as to why you have Vertical Sync enabled. I've always thought that was bad. The Nexon link you give shows it disabled for all configurations.

http://nxcache.nexon.net/spotlight/200/009VN-9fa7d5ad-4047-4c0e-b798-dba100361a60.JPG

[sakraycore]

I'm curious as to why you have Vertical Sync enabled. I've always thought that was bad. The Nexon link you give shows it disabled for all configurations.

http://nxcache.nexon.net/spotlight/200/009VN-9fa7d5ad-4047-4c0e-b798-dba100361a60.JPG

Pros to vertical sync on:
-Subjectively smoother: less framerate fluctuation (none if you can maintain 60FPS locked), no screen tearing

Cons to vertical sync on:
-increased input lag (more pronounced the further away you're from 60FPS or 120FPS depending on panel type. will negatively impact your performance the lower your framerate is)
-objectively less smooth: lower average frame rate

It's not as black & white as that chart would have you believe.

[Dukhan]

Ok, thanks. I guess I'll just have to give it a try and see what happens.

[RebeccaBlack]

Generally speaking I don't turn on Vsync on unless I'm already hitting a smooth 60.

It stops screen tearing if you have that problem. If not... well hell, I don't even know what else it does other than cap framerate.

[0chocolachao0]

Gosh, I took that ping test thing.... I got an F ._.

Time to search for a new pc? 1800 ping XD

[sakraycore]

Gosh, I took that ping test thing.... I got an F ._.

Time to search for a new pc? 1800 ping XD

Ping has nothing to do with pc specs. It's got everything to do with your internet

[Knightmehre]

Gosh, I took that ping test thing.... I got an F ._.

Time to search for a new pc? 1800 ping XD

Are you sure you are testing a server around you, or towards the east/west cities? 1800 sounds wayyyy over what even a bad ping should be

[JinNJuice]

I know this guide was made a long time ago, but someone should not that they slightly changed the custom graphics options that you can change.

[RebeccaBlack]

Yep, there's a new lighting option and supposedly some old ones were dropped. Too lazy/busy right now to go check it out.

[Teddy]

I think rather than dropped I think maybe some were combined

[JinNJuice]

Looks like water reflection, color correction, and part of the blooming effect is affected by shader detail. Model detail is finally fixed. Not sure what Physics or Animation effects change. Lighting effects also changes part of blooming effect and such.