Increase memory utilization

[ICE]

Hello all

Newbie to LOTRO here.

I was wondering if there is a way to increase RAM utilization for the game to make it run smoother. I'm utilizing an i7-9900k and a 3080 but for some reason this game drops to below 70 FPS with multiple settings on High-Ultra. I've noticed the game doesn't use more then 4GB RAM and doesn't fully utilize the GPU either like more modern games and I was wondering if there was a way to resolve this. I did some searching on Google and Reddit but did not find anything helpful. The CPU Usage never goes over 17% and the GPU Usage never goes over 11% when In-Game. Extremely bizarre unless this is a hardcoded limitation within their frame work. But I'm hoping someone has figured a way to increase its utilization of GPU, CPU and RAM.

EDIT: I'm currently running on the 64-Bit Client.

Any information or ideas would be appreciated. I want to be able to enjoy the highest settings with at least 144 FPS like I can with most modern games on my rig and it just seems so odd that something so old drops to 70 in some areas when I can maintain 144 on much more demanding games, so I assume that LOTRO isnt utilizing all of the resources that should be at its disposal.

Thanks in advance!

[Whaitea]

I'm not an expert here, you'd have to ask someone who knows more about the game's engine, but from what I saw and read here and on Reddit, the LOTRO uses a very old game engine which has its roots back when the game launched for the first time. There was some code and graphical lifting in the meantime, but from your experience and the fact that there is only up to 4GB of RAM usage, I'd say that despite the client being 64bit, the in-game code does not utilise the main 64bit function - to allocate more than 4GB of RAM.
You said that the game does not use more than 17% of the CPU - let me guess, it uses only one core?

And I have bad news for you - you have a very low chances of running the game in 144FPS (you have a 144Hz monitor, don't you?), except in a few places. Main hubs where there is a lot of NPCs and players, especially those added in recent expansions have a really severe lag issues, so even if your machine can handle this, the game's server might give you some annoying surprises...

[Boboscus]

The game is running the way it is due to not properly using all CPU cores, there's nothing you can do for as long as the game is built on the engine it is and running as it is and this will most likely never change.

[Allwynd]

Originally posted by Boboscus:

The game is running the way it is due to not properly using all CPU cores, there's nothing you can do for as long as the game is built on the engine it is and running as it is and this will most likely never change.

It can change if they make some updates on their engine. I'm pretty sure SSG are the IP owners of the engine so they can make adjustments if they want to. And if they really want to modernize the game, making it run better is more important than making it look better and they should be aware of that.

[Kormach]

The game is based on the engine that ran Asheron's Call, from 2005 or so. The code right now is a mix of Turbine, then when Warner Borthers took over, and SSG. They have said they can't really do anything about the code mess without rewriting the entire code that's behind the game. It is also not designed to run on any kind of multi-core processor.

There has been talk of a graphical update, beyond the small things they have been doing over the last few updates. They've never stated exactly what that means, or any timeline for doing it. There has also been some talk of a console port, but that seems unlikely to me.

I don't know if they actually will do any kind of update to the graphics, or if that would also mean some kind of update to the engine behind it. All we can do is wait and see.

[Harvain]

Originally posted by Kormach:

The game is based on the engine that ran Asheron's Call, from 2005 or so. The code right now is a mix of Turbine, then when Warner Borthers took over, and SSG. They have said they can't really do anything about the code mess without rewriting the entire code that's behind the game. It is also not designed to run on any kind of multi-core processor.

There has been talk of a graphical update, beyond the small things they have been doing over the last few updates. They've never stated exactly what that means, or any timeline for doing it. There has also been some talk of a console port, but that seems unlikely to me.

I don't know if they actually will do any kind of update to the graphics, or if that would also mean some kind of update to the engine behind it. All we can do is wait and see.

There has never been talk of any "Singular Graphics Update" beyond EG7's "Investor Talk" for their Investor Reports. The SSG LOTRO Team have been "Updating the Graphics" for a while just never in a "large" way most keep expecting or convinced themselves is happening. In fact the SSG LOTRO Team have stated numerous times they have been "Updating the Graphics" but many folks are at the "expecting or convinced" point of how they view LOTRO's Graphics which will receive either an Singular Update or New Graphics Engine. Both have never been confirmed.

We've been receiving the "Graphics Updates" ever since the SSG LOTRO Team settled into their Current Graphics Style which can be seen from areas such as the Wildwood Quest Pack, Blood of Azog Quest Pack, Fate of Gundabad Expansion, the Angle Quest Pack and the upcoming Yondershire Quest Pack in Update 33.

For LOTRO to Consoles this is actually a very unknown area due to the information given which was only by EG7 that Piranha Games (that they own) will be shifting their Team to the Lord of the Rings Online after Q4 2021. So as best can be guessed since 2022 started said Piranha Games have "most or a majority" of their Team working Behind the Scenes on LOTRO. It's wait & see what will happen there as this has never been discussed by the SSG LOTRO Team beyond: "When we have something to Announce we will".

[Allwynd]

Originally posted by Harvain:

We've been receiving the "Graphics Updates" ever since the SSG LOTRO Team settled into their Current Graphics Style which can be seen from areas such as the Wildwood Quest Pack, Blood of Azog Quest Pack, Fate of Gundabad Expansion, the Angle Quest Pack and the upcoming Yondershire Quest Pack in Update 33.

What's so special about those zones? Their assets and aesthetics are the same as their counterparts.

The only graphic update I've seen was Per-Pixel Lighting.

[Kormach]

Which is why I said they've been doing minor graphics updates over the last few updates. There was talk on the official forums about a complete overhaul of the graphics, but SSG said that wasn't possible because of the code mess that currently exists.

[Harvain]

Originally posted by Weilan:

Originally posted by Harvain:

We've been receiving the "Graphics Updates" ever since the SSG LOTRO Team settled into their Current Graphics Style which can be seen from areas such as the Wildwood Quest Pack, Blood of Azog Quest Pack, Fate of Gundabad Expansion, the Angle Quest Pack and the upcoming Yondershire Quest Pack in Update 33.

What's so special about those zones? Their assets and aesthetics are the same as their counterparts.

The only graphic update I've seen was Per-Pixel Lighting.

What is "special" is the Style. It's what is being used going forward.

For example: Go check the Lone Lands on it's South-Eastern Side along the River Hoarwell (Mitheithel) south of the Last Bridge. While the Lone Lands as a whole didn't receive a full region Upgrade to the Current Graphics Style it did have the Landscape closest to the river getting changes. This can be seen quite well if one goes to the Harloeg where the Trolls are in that part of the Lone Lands.

This is how the Graphics are being "Updated". The SSG LOTRO Team have never spoken about doing any singular Graphics Update, New Graphics Engine or anything else but that pending anything every Major Update will see more of LOTRO using the Current Graphics Style.

[Boboscus]

Originally posted by Weilan:

Originally posted by Harvain:

We've been receiving the "Graphics Updates" ever since the SSG LOTRO Team settled into their Current Graphics Style which can be seen from areas such as the Wildwood Quest Pack, Blood of Azog Quest Pack, Fate of Gundabad Expansion, the Angle Quest Pack and the upcoming Yondershire Quest Pack in Update 33.

What's so special about those zones? Their assets and aesthetics are the same as their counterparts.

The only graphic update I've seen was Per-Pixel Lighting.

Have you played the game 10 years ago? The difference in aesthetic is insane. Some zones are still "old" I believe so it's not that hard to check.

[Allwynd]

Originally posted by Harvain:

Originally posted by Weilan:

What's so special about those zones? Their assets and aesthetics are the same as their counterparts.

The only graphic update I've seen was Per-Pixel Lighting.

What is "special" is the Style. It's what is being used going forward.

For example: Go check the Lone Lands on it's South-Eastern Side along the River Hoarwell (Mitheithel) south of the Last Bridge. While the Lone Lands as a whole didn't receive a full region Upgrade to the Current Graphics Style it did have the Landscape closest to the river getting changes. This can be seen quite well if one goes to the Harloeg where the Trolls are in that part of the Lone Lands.

This is how the Graphics are being "Updated". The SSG LOTRO Team have never spoken about doing any singular Graphics Update, New Graphics Engine or anything else but that pending anything every Major Update will see more of LOTRO using the Current Graphics Style.

They made these changes, because from Mitheitel it would've otherwise be seen as undeveloped landscape.

[TheArtilleryman]

If you compare the Ettenmoors to The Wildwood, the difference in graphical quality is extremely apparent. It is a change in the quality of the visuals within the very particular art style of the game, which is a massive part of its appeal. If the game were to be revamped in Unreal, for example, it just wouldn’t be the same and would lose much of its charm.

And agreed, with others here. The game uses one CPU core only, so the faster you can get that one core to run, the better your game will run. Try turning windows power settings to performance rather than balanced, to have the processor run at max more consistently. I believe the i9 has a lower base clock than some cheaper processors, but a higher max clock, so this could make a difference for you.

I have run the game with a ton of different processors, most recently with both an i3 10105 and an i9 10850k, and there isn’t a huge amount of difference tbh because the i3 already has a max clock of 4.2ghz ish and the extra cores don’t matter.

If you stand on the beach at Azanulbizar and look to the mountains, the FPS will go very high, then when you turn to the west and watch the battle, the FPS drops. This is how you know it is CPU usage, as your system tries to cope with the high number of things going on at once.

Running the game from an SSD rather than a conventional hard drive makes a huge difference to performance also, as the assets will load faster in all situations.

[Allwynd]

I've only been up to West Rohan so I don't know how things look after that, but in Ettenmoors I was only once for like 5 minutes and was not sure if there was some PvMP setting enforced that lowered the graphics or there was a complete lack of grass and everything.

But I completed Wildwood a few months after it was released and it looked exactly the same as Bree-Land. I've seen screenshots of the latest zones added to the game and they also don't look much different than the first ones. It looks the same.

LOTRO doesn't have the differences that WoW has between zones in Vanilla, TBC, WoTLK or even after.

[This_is_Citrus]

3080, 10900k. Max graphics. Standing in the Shire looking north -> 55 fps. Looking west -> 110 fps.

The engine is a joke and just doesn't perform well at all.
What I've found helps the most is turning Screen Space Reflections to low or off. My 55 fps went to 80 with this single setting.