Command line

Command line arguments are used to change/set a program's behavior during start-up. Guild Wars game client (gw.exe) supports several arguments that you can use for troubleshooting, convenience or fun. You can specify these arguments from a Command Prompt or you can put them into the shortcut that launches the game, if you intend to use them all the time.

To set your shortcut to use an argument everytime you launch the game, you can right-click on the Guild Wars shortcut 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:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe"). Add the necessary parameters 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.

-diag
Launches ArenaNet's diagnostic utility that will inspect the computer and write a detailed report into a text file named GWDiag.txt in the directory where the executable file is installed. The report includes some useful information about the system which may be helpful for troubleshooting, especially when contacting ArenaNet support with a technical problem. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -diag

-dx8
Since the game update on March 23, 2006, the game engine uses DirectX 9 by default. This switch is provided for backward compatibility for users with older graphics cards that do not fully support DirectX 9. Using this switch will force the game to use the older DirectX 8 framework.

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -dx8
 * This parameter must be supplied before all the other arguments in the command line, otherwise it will not work.

-fps
Used to limit the maximum frame rate that the graphics will be rendered for testing or troubleshooting purposes. Note that setting the frame rate for a value higher than what your system is capable of will have no effect. The engine already renders the graphics at the highest frame rate that the computer can handle. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -fps xx (where xx is a numeric value such as 30 that specifies the frame rate limit.)

-heapsize
Instructs the game client to reserve a specified amount of heap space in the computer's memory. Specifying this value instead of letting the game determine it automatically may improve load times and performance, but being careless with this switch may drain the computer's memory and result in sluggish or unstable behavior. Coming up with an optimum heap size is mostly a trial-and-error work. However, a generally agreed-upon recommendation is specifying a heap size that equals half of your computer's RAM in kilobytes. If your computer has 512MBs of memory (512000 kilobytes, for the sake of simplicity), for instance, you would set the heapsize to 256000

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -heapsize xxxx (where xxxx is a numeric value such as 256000 that specifies heap size.
 * This parameter must be supplied after all the other arguments in the command line, otherwise it will not work.

-image
Guild Wars client is designed to download the streaming updates in the background or when needed, in a way that will not much interfere with the user. This, however means that when a large-scale update is released, users may be required to wait while necessary files are downloaded and decompressed upon entering a new zone. With this switch, you can force the client to download and decompress all the pending updates on startup so you will not have to wait while entering a new area or mission.

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -image
 * The client, when started with this switch, will exit immediately after it is finished with the download and decompression. Do not use this switch in your regular game shortcut. Either use this switch from a command prompt when necessary or make a new shortcut and name it something like "Update Game".
 * This switch must be used all by itself. If used in combination with any other switch, it will be ignored and the game will not run in a download-only mode.

-noshaders
Disables shader support for 3-D rendering. Can be used to improve performance with older graphical boards or for troubleshooting. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -noshaders

-nosound
Disables all sound effects and music. Mostly to be used for troubleshooting. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -nosound

-noui
Disables the graphical user interface. The effect is the same as pressing CTRL-SHIFT-H within the game, however, if you start the program this way, you will not be able to turn the interface back on until you close the game and start it again without this switch. Since the interface elements will not be shown, you may not be able to login or select a character. In short, this switch seems to have been implemented for ArenaNet's internal testing purposes and has almost no use for an end user. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -noui

-password
When the game is started with this option, you will not be required to type your password in the login screen -- the password you provide here will be used automatically. This password will also be used right after you log off (pressing F12 key, by default), which will make it easier to switch characters. Note that you will need to log in manually once and instruct the client to remember your e-mail address at the login screen for this switch to work. There has been an -email switch that was used to provide the e-mail address at startup too, but this has been disabled for security reasons.

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -password xxxx (where xxxx is your actual password)
 * Putting your password in a shortcut or a batch file makes it easily accessible to everybody with access to your computer. Never use this option if you are sharing your computer with other people whom you do not trust.

-perf
Using this switch will enable the game to display performance statistics during play. For more information see the Frame rate article. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -perf

-repair
This switch will repair the registry entries needed by the program to run properly. It should only be used when the game thinks it is not installed on the computer (due to corrupt registry settings or moving the installation directory) and brings up the installation dialog on start-up. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -repair

-uninstall
This switch will instruct the game to remove itself from the computer. Under normal circumstances, users are recommended to use the Add/Remove Programs from the Windows Control Panel to uninstall the game. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -uninstall

-windowed
Normally, game will remember the full-screen/windowed state from when it was last shut down, meaning, if the game was in full-screen mode when you last quited, it will start in full-screen mode the next time you launch it. This switch forces the game to start in windowed mode on start-up. Note that this will not prevent switching to full-screen mode afterward: you can simply hit the maximize button on the upper right corner of the window to switch to full-screen mode. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -windowed

Example
Using the following command line will start the game in windowed mode, reserve 256MBs of memory for the program's heap space and display performance statistics on screen during play. Note that the heapsize parameter is specified at the very end. "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -windowed -perf -heapsize 250000