Do you have problems getting your computer to run properly while running EverQuest? Do you find yourself crashing out of game while others seem to have no problems staying logged in? Here are some tips on maximizing your computer's performance for playing EverQuest.


Graphic Display Settings

When playing video games, a better graphics card will usually result in seeing better graphics quality. That doesn't mean you can't play without one that is top-of-the-line. There are several adjustments you can make in-game and out-of-game to help improve your graphics while balancing performance.

For tips on adjusting your in-game graphic settings, view the Graphic Display Settings article.


Zoning Performance

To help speed up your zoning time, it helps to have more memory in your system. However, increasing overall computer performance will help as well.

If you often experience crashing while zoning, before making any hardware or setting changes you should check to see if you only experiencing the problem with one of your characters and not other ones, it's most likely a corrupt UI file. This can sometimes happen even if you do not use customized UI files.

  1. Log out of game if you are logged in or switch to another character.

  2. Go to your EverQuest directly (C:\Program Files\Sony\EverQuest). Look for UI_charactername_servername.ini Example: UI_Zatozia_rathe.ini

  3. Copy that file to your desktop or somewhere you know you can find it again.

  4. Delete the UI_charactername_servername.ini file from the EverQuest directory.

  5. Log into EQ again and a new version will be set up for your character.

This file holds the main UI settings for your character and you will need to set them back up but generally it resolves the problem of crashing while zoning.

If it does not fix your problem, there may be other issues that you need to resolve.


Clean Boot of your System

Please try performing a clean boot first by following the steps below (you cannot do this in Windows 2000):

  1. Select the START button.

  2. Select RUN.

  3. Type in "msconfig" (For Vista users, simply type in "msconfig" in the start menu bar at the bottom and hit Enter)

  4. Press OK.

  5. Select the STARTUP tab.

  6. If you use Windows XP/Vista, click Disable All at the bottom otherwise in the list, uncheck all boxes EXCEPT for SCANREGISTRY and SYSTEM TRAY. Hit apply and then OK or Close. Restart the computer then try the game again.



Update your Drivers

If you are still encountering problems, you may want to reinstall DirectX and then your video card drivers to make sure you have the current recommended version. Please refer to our Knowledge Base article on DirectX to update your system to the latest version:

http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1795

To see a list of supported video cards and latest drivers for them, please refer to our knowledge base article from the following link:

http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1809

If your video card is not listed on the supported cards and drivers page, you may need to upgrade to a supported card for the game to run properly.


Check your Connection

As funny as this may seem, loose wires are often the cause of connection issues. Check the connection between your computer and the cable box and/or network hub. Make sure they are snapped into place.

If you use a wireless keyboard or mouse, check to make sure the connection does not have any interference. If you keep your computer below the desk you may often find that you'll need to have the receiver closer to the device. To help with this connection, you may need to get a USB hub that can sit on your desk, making it closer to the devices.

If you use a wireless adapter for the internet, check the range of your wireless network hub. Even if your wireless adapter has a longer range, it can only extend the distance to the limits of your wireless network hub. You may need to move the hub to a new location for maximum range.


Disabling Sound

If after updating DirectX and the video drivers you are still having poor performance, try disabling the sound card for troubleshooting purposes:

  1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel or Settings (Classic View).

  2. Double-click System.

  3. Click the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager. For Windows Millennium Edition (Me), click the Device Manager tab.

  4. Double-click Sound, Video and Game Controllers.

  5. Double-click your sound card.

  6. Under Device Usage, click Do Not Use This Device (Disable).

  7. Note For Windows Millennium Edition (Me), follow these steps: a. On the General tab, under Device Usage, click to clear the Original Configuration (Current) check box. b. If you do not see this check box, click to select the Disable In This Hardware Profile check box.

  8. Restart Windows, and then test the game.



Cleaning up your Hard Drive

Next you may try to defrag the computer's hard drive(s) by following these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Programs (or All Programs), point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter (For Vista users, simply type "defrag" in the start menu search bar, then hit enter).

  2. Select the drive where the game is installed, and then click Defragment. Note On Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition (Me), click OK.

If after defragmenting you still encounter poor performance, you may consider rebuilding the Page File.


Changing Page File

Windows XP/Vista users: Please note you must be recognized as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group on your computer and on the computer that you are managing to perform this task.

For Windows Vista:
  1. Click Start, then Control Panel.

  2. Click System.

  3. Click Advanced System Settings.

  4. Click on the Settings button under Performance.

  5. Click on the Advanced tab in the Performance Options window.

  6. Click on the Change... button.

  7. Make sure that the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" is checked. If not, check box and hit ok.

For Windows XP:
  1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel or Settings.

  2. Click Performance and Maintenance.

  3. Click Administrative Tools.

  4. Double-click Computer Management.

  5. In the console tree, right-click Computer Management (Local), and then click Properties.

  6. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Performance.

  7. In the Virtual memory section, click Change.

  8. In the Drive list, click the drive that contains the paging file that you want to change.

  9. Under Paging file size for selected drive, type 0 (zero) for both Initial size (MB) and Maximum size (MB), and then click Set.

  10. Restart the computer, and then repeat steps 1 through 8.

  11. Select the System managed size option, and then click Set.

Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition (Me):
  1. Click Start, and then click Shut Down.

  2. Click Restart in MS-DOS mode, and then click OK.

  3. At the command prompt, type the following lines, and press ENTER after you type each line:

  4. cd\windows

  5. del win386.swp

  6. exit

  7. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

  8. Double-click System.

  9. On the Performance tab, click Virtual Memory.

  10. Click Let me specify my own virtual memory settings.

  11. In the Hard Disk box, make sure that at least 50 megabytes (MB) of space is available on the hard disk. If multiple hard disks are installed in your computer, make sure that at least 50 MB of space is available on the hard disk where Windows is installed. Note: If at least 50 MB of space is not available on the hard disk, you must free space by removing old files or programs that you do not need.

  12. Click Cancel, and then click OK.




To offer more tips, join the Maximizing Computer Performance discussion thread over on the official EverQuest forums.