Terrible lag whenever I interact with stuff in wolf form

[marinerfan]

Hi,
I just bought and rolled up a drunk I am planning to play mostly as a wolf, but I have one huge annoying problem...

Whenever I have to turn a valve/open a door/open treasure/climb a ladder/ ANYTHING that requires the wolf to turn back into a person for a second, the glittery effects of changing into a human temporarily lags my computer out hardcore (sometimes the door will close after the valve is turned and before I unfreeze to give you a time estimate).

Are there any special graphic effects I can turn down/disable to avoid this wolf -> human and human -> wolf shapeshifter lag? Admittedly my computer is not good, but should be able to handle ddo reasonably well.

Thanks

[Shishizaru]

I don't believe there's any way to disable the graphic. My computer is also not the greatest, but it's mostly how flashy the effect is that bothers me. It's annoying to be blinded every time I try to open something.

A temporary workaround is to use your pet to get those levers for you. It'll take a bit more time (and sometimes the AI won't correctly follow your instructions), but it could help out a bit. Depending on how much effort you put into your pup though, you might want to have him hold ground at the entrance and just call him when you need his lever pulling.

[bigolbear]

honestly this animation is very intensive. I have a prety respectable rig - although it is 2 years old now.

DDO's minimum specs needs a re visist I think - or better certain animations need to be tweaked.

The green haze when a druid transforms is laggy and GPU intensive - even with lower graphics settings.
The same is true for the spell acid rain.
And looking up into the leaves of the kings foerest.


Maybe its the colour green? maybe our pcs just hate the color green?

Op i will suggest to you what i suggest to every one facing graphics issues with ddo. - turn off post processing effects.

[marinerfan]

Maybe its the colour green? maybe our pcs just hate the color green?

Op i will suggest to you what i suggest to every one facing graphics issues with ddo. - turn off post processing effects.

I'll give that a shot (if it isn't already turned off, lol). I find the druid graphic and running near fountains in the marketplace to be the most lagtastic events on my rig.

For now my current workaround, since I'm low level and everything is super easy still, is to just stay human and whack stuff down that way..but i sure wish I could get more used to wolf form for when I actually will need to use it to succeed.

[Naramsin]

I was trying to find out if it was "just me" and lo and behold, this issue was raised several times since druids made their debut (here (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=384411), here (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=384858), possibly here? (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=393965)). Any hope for us who use animal forms?

Though not as pronounced as what the OP reported, it's enough to hinder my reactions. Because of it I've failed to dodge traps that are tied to interactables and died in other humorous ways from hitching on ladders or ledges. I think I've already become conditioned to look away from my monitor when I anticipate one of these. (That, and magically always being second to arrive at a door or lever...)

Generally, though, why do we shapeshift every time we interact with something?

Is it because we're performing actions an animal could not, presumably for want of opposable thumbs? My pet wolf does not see this as an obstacle to using levers or shrines. Also, if this is the reasoning we should also (not so) seamlessly shapeshift every time we attempt to use wands or scrolls, no? (Hey, at least I can still drink pots without lagging...)

Was it a substitute for animations that were simply never designed? Fair enough, but see my pet wolf and the amazing feats he accomplishes without even lifting a paw (his occasional ladder climbing is my favorite). I already tell party members "I know it doesn't look like it but I'm actually [resting/summoning/rezzing you]" and would gladly add levers, ladders, etc. to that list.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my druid and the ability to change forms. I also appreciate that my computer, though pretty nifty 3 years ago, is probably in need of an upgrade. I would even learn to accept the shape shifting animation "as is" if it was limited to manually toggled shapeshifting.
If the animation itself can't be made less computationally intensive (and visually intrusive), could this little bit of illogical flavor at least be removed from run of the mill interactions with objects and terrain features?

[Failedlegend]

Why make it change I find it annoying...just let us stay in form when we interact with stuff.

[Missing_Minds]

Why make it change I find it annoying...just let us stay in form when we interact with stuff.

Agreed, but it is a bit of a pain to climb a ladder as a dog. ;)

The whole bright FLARE when converting between forms is honestly really dumb, but it used to hide the fact of human to _______ so you won't see yourself as human one moment and dog the next.

Frankly, do a similar Feather Explosion of Feather fall only let it be leaves, as the semi transparentcy with leaves when climbing a ladder isn't bad.

That flare job can cause issues for any PC. Just think what it does to groups due to the special effect.