Issues with PSO2 after 7/24's patch

[Syanas]

I wasn't expecting much of a difference from a 19 megabyte patch, but apparently it's managed to screw up the way this game runs for me.

The problem specifically is that PSO2 now takes up 70-100% of my CPU usage constantly, regardless of what I'm doing on it. And whereas before this patch, I had to reboot my computer occasionally because PSO2 didn't close properly, I now have to do it every single time I close PSO2.

I'm decently certain it's not Gameguard that's causing this problem, given the CPU doesn't spike until I enter a block after character selection. I think the patch was meant to smooth out gameplay by utilizing more of the CPU, but this is just too drastic for my specs. My computer used 20-60% tops for this game before, which was perfectly fine.

Anyone else having this problem/know of a workaround to this?


Edit: So I played on some more and learned a few things.

The CPU spike happens during the loading screen with the blue portal thing. It actually doesn't happen all the time, but there is always a chance (a rather large one at that) of the CPU spiking when it hits this loading screen and continues until another loading screen where it may or may not stop. But each time I hit a loading screen, there's a chance of it happening again. It is only when this CPU spike dies off that I can close PSO2 without having to reboot the computer. It's still bad enough though that I'm afraid to go to My Room and back out just to give my support partner some quests.

Even when the spike does down though, there's some sort of in-between spike where it's not quite as high but still higher than it usually is. I haven't tried closing PSO2 in this state but I think it's bearable enough.

I'm on the lowest settings, running Windows XP SP3 with a 2.66GHz duocore and a geforce 8800 GTS. I hadn't changed any of the settings between when it was normal and when this happened, and it started for me after the patch.

Edit2: It looks like this spike occurs when I go into the lobby/shop area and will not go away until I've completed a mission. It's not enough to just switch maps a couple of times to get rid of the CPU spikes, I have to complete an entire mission and then enter the portal before the spikes die down. And then there's a good chance they'll come back when I go into the lobby and last until I complete another mission.

Any of this sounding remotely familiar to anyone?

[Ririko]

I noticed this happen to me, too. No clue what's causing it, but I never had the issue of the process remaining active after closing the game before, much less it being unkillable through the task manager.

As for the performance hit, it also seems to happen to me. Running an i3 with a GTX 650, I used to be able to play the game pretty perfectly, just a slight slowdown on lobbies from time to time. Today, though, I got hit pretty damn hard sometimes when entering the lobby.

[AlaskanKactus]

I've had two blue screens since this update. First BS occurred when I had the official launcher open. The second BS happened during the most recent Falz run on Ship 07.

I've changed no hardware nor have I installed any new programs. So I'm assuming it has to be related to PSO2. I've also never had this issue before the patch.

EDIT: I've updated my GPU's drivers and have done a full system scan with my AV. Lets see if it happens again. I've never heard had a BS until today.

[renrinken]

Any one get any graphical bugs after they updated form this patch ? A teammate of mine was saying that she had weird graphical lines and flickering after the patch. Was wondering if anyone else had any issues like this.

[gigawuts]

Do a file check. If that doesn't work, try again. Also, defragging is good. I've had to do three file checks before the game stopped doing that for me.

[Syanas]

So I kept on playing and it seems to have smoothed out. The CPU usage remains high, but not maxed out, and I can close it without rebooting now.

The positive thing about this update is that it's less choppy now. I used to have to deal with a bunch of skipped frames here and there, probably due to my crappy specs, but this has helped reduce that.

[gigawuts]

In the future, if you ever have the game continuing to run after having closed it, just do something gameguard won't like. Open an installer, launch steam, anything that would make gameguard kill the game. It took me way too long to realize that would work.

[AlaskanKactus]

Just had my third blue screen! Again while PSO2 was open. All signs are pointing to the game.