Frame rate

The frame rate is the measurement of how quickly a computer produces the images of a computer game on the screen. It is usually expressed in frames per second (FPS). The higher the frame rate is, the more fluent, or "smooth", movement on the screen will appear. With a low frame rate, movements will appear "choppy", up to a point where the single rendered images will become recognizable, like in a slide show.

With action-oriented computer games (like Guild Wars), it is important that the frame rate does not drop too low. This does not only keep the game visually appealing, but also helps a lot with reacting to what is happening on the screen, like targeting opponents (choppy movement makes it hard to aim with the mouse). In general anything below about 20 FPS is considered to be unacceptable.

The frame rate is dependent on the performance of the computer, above all the graphics card, but also CPU, RAM and other components. High class components will achieve higher frame rates than low-budget or outdated equipment.

Also, the complexity of the displayed images have a huge impact on the frame rate. The more complex the screen content is, the lower the frame rate will be. Some examples for things that are known to put stress on the frame rate are huge crowds (i.e. in a town during a special event), massive skill usage (i.e. multiple traps going off in the same instant) or weather effects (i.e. snow and fog together).

Players can influence the frame rate (other than by buying more expensive hardware) by adjusting the graphics options of the game. Higher settings, larger resolutions and anti-aliasing are very performance-hungry so that a higher frame rate may be achieved by reducing and/or disabling those settings.

It is possible to display the current frame rate during game play. To do this go to your Windows Desktop or Start Menu, right-click on the Guild Wars icon and chose "Properties". In the properties interface look for the text box labelled "Target", with the path to where Guild Wars is installed on your hard drive (i.e. "C:\GUILD WARS\gw.exe"). Add the parameter -perf after the target path. (If the path contains spaces, it may be enclosed in quotation marks. If this is the case, add the parameter after the closing quote.) When you start Guild Wars using this shortcut you will find the frame rate displayed on the upper corner of your screen, once you log in with a character.

For a more in-depth explanation see frame rate.