SWTOR Crashes, Errors, Freezes, FPS, Lag, Performance and Fixes

Star Wars: The Old Republic early access have been given to the selected few and those selected few ironically will pavé for the smooth experience on the official launch.

If you were among those who pre-ordered the game, you may want to keep a check on your mail account and should expect a welcoming email by Bioware. If you get in, prepare yourself for the few issues here and there but don’t worry.

Our troubleshooting guide will get you started with the biggest MMO game of the year. Scroll down and find out the specific issue you are facing, follow the workaround instructions, and resolve it and get in the game.

May the Yoda guide you!

1# How to check the server status ?
If you can’t connect to your server in Star Wars: The Old Republic, make sure it isn’t down for maintenance by visiting this link.

2# How To Adjust Mouse Sensitivity ?
First adjust your system mouse sensitivity then adjust ‘Camera Rotation Speed’ option to adjust your overwhelming mouse rotation.

3# Won’t Accept My Subscription ?
If you are trying to redeem your game card now, you may get an error because you can’t redeem your game cards or add subscriptions before 15th December.

4# SWTOR Black Screen and Sound ?
You launch the game and are presented with a black screen but you can hear the sound in the background. The issue is that the default resolution and refresh rate is out of range for your monitor.

You can change the graphics setting by opening ‘Client_defaults ini’ file in the installation directory and setting ‘Windowed Mode = false’.

When the game launches, go to options and change the default refresh rate and resolution. If that doesn’t resolve, update your graphics card drivers. ATI users should get rid of the 11.8 driver version.

5# An error occurred while updating ?
Installation of the Main Assets 17 results in this error.

6# Account says you have to enter a code
While you already have pre-ordered the game and are eligible for early access. If that’s the case, you should wait for the Bioware email for instructions on how to update your account and start playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.

7# Launcher not opening
If you somehow have broken the launcher or corrupted it, you can fix it by executing FixLauncher file in your installation directory. Or you can re-download the client and choose to re-install the game to fix the issue.

8# Can’t change the graphics settings
Repair the launcher and re-enter the game options.

9# Unable to retrieve patch data – How to fix it ?
You can fix this issue by restarting your PC and then launching the running the game launcher as admin. It may take a bit extra time but it will update the client alright.

If that doesn’t help, make sure internet explorer is not set to use proxy server. To change the settings, go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings.

Make sure automatically detect settings is checked, and that you have no checked the option to use a proxy server for your LAN.

10# Ports needed for Star Wars: The Old Republic ?
The port numbers that are required are 8995, 12000-12999 and 20000-30000 (TCP).

11# Unable to connect to realms and shards – Error 1003
Make sure you have forwarded all the ports specified in the FAQ (See above).

12# Error Code 7
If you are facing this issue then make sure that all your drivers and windows is up to date and you have PlatformInfo.dll file in positions:

C:\Program Files (x86)\EA\BioWare\Star Wars – The Old Republic\swtor\retailclient

If the file is still there then you should contact customer support.

13# SWTOR crashes right after the intro – Crash to desktop
When you launch the game, it crashes to desktop right after the intro video. There are several factors that can lead to this crash.

First, make sure you have deleted all the files of the beta from your computer and have removed it from windows registry.

Re-try, if that doesn’t work, launch the game as admin, and make sure you have all the pre-requisites installed and updated.

You can try to run the game in 16bit resolution scheme to fix this – To do that, right-click desktop and open up screen resolution, go to advance settings, hit monitor tab and change it to 16 bit. Log in to SWTOR and change it back to 32bit.

Alternatively, you can try the following workaround to fix this issue:

• Go to installation directory and look clientdefaults file in retailclient folder. Open clientdefaults file and look for “FullScreen=true”. Change it to say “FullScreen=false”.

Or you can re-install to resolve the issue.

For Nvidia users, removing Nvidia Forceware Network Access Manager in my add/remove programs may also do the trick.  For ATI users, try checking GPU Scaling in your Video card settings (Catalyst Control Center).

14# Installer doesn’t work
You run SWTOR_setup.exe and it completes the progress very fast and then you don’t seem to have the game installed anywhere.

If you experience this issue, make sure you aren’t running any program that may conflict with the SWTOR like your firewall or anti-virus that may be blocking ‘SWTOR_setup.exe’.

15# SWTOR launcher won’t run
There are two ways you can fix this issue, first is to run FixLauncher.exe that you can find in your SWTOR installation directory.

If that doesn’t work, you can download the SWTOR_setup.exe installer again and re-run it atop your existing installation. This will replace the launcher and in turn fix this issue.

16# Launcher won’t start
Remove the temporary data or run the launcher as admin. You can remove the temp data by following the step by step instructions below:

1. When your game has crashed or when the servers have gone offline while you were logged on, it may help to delete the temporary files. Please go to the following folder: C:/users//AppDate/local
2. You will see a folder called SWTOR – please delete it and start your game again. This also may delese your gamesettings so you have to setup your screen resolution or UI again.
3. The folder AppData is a hidden folder – so you may have to activate hidden files and folders.
4. We strongly recommend you deactivate hidden files and folders after you have deleted the SWTOR folder to avoid any problems you may cause in deleting the wrong hidden files in your systemfolder.

17# Launcher won’t patch
When SWTOR launcher gives you ‘Patch Data Not Found’ error, wait for 5-10 minutes and let the launcher work on whatever it is trying to and it will be fixed automatically.

If it still doesn’t resolve the issue and results in freezes the screen or results in not responding error, you can run the launcher as admin to resolve the issue.

18# Stuck at downloading assets – Patch restarts same files
You may have to delete few files and restart the download to resolve this issue. Be prepare to download a large number of files if this happens. You can restart the download of the specific file/asset by deleting that file from the download directory:

• Deleting patcher.version will force the patcher to redownload.
• Deleting retailclient_swtor.version will force the actual client program to redownload.
• Deleting assets_swtor_main.version will force the Main Assets to redownload.
• Deleting assets_swtor_.version will force the localized assets to redownload. (Language will be an ISO language code, like ‘en_us’ for American English.)
• Deleting movies_.version will force the localized version of cutscene movies to redownload. (Language will be an ISO language code, like ‘en_us’ for American English.)

19# Empty Server List
Forward your ports and make sure firewall and anti-virus aren’t blocking Star Wars: The Old Republic.

20# General Troubleshooting Tips

1. Try running FixLauncher or re-installing the launcher from a copy of SWTOR_setup downloaded from swtor.com again.
2. Make sure you are running the launcher as administrator.
3. Make sure your computer’s time and date are set correctly. If they aren’t, the encryption necessary for authentication may fail.
4. Try creating a second administrator account on your machine, and running the installer or launcher (whichever is malfunctioning) from there.
5. Make sure your installed copy of .NET Frameworks is completely up-to-date, and that you have everything from Windows Update that looks important.
6. Make sure your installed copy of Java is up-to-date.
7. Try doing a Safe Boot with Networking (or a complete Clean Boot) of your computer, to see whether something that’s loading at startup is causing conflicts.
8. Double-check all antivirus and firewall settings. Even if you had an exemption before, sometimes certain firewalls ‘forget’ that exemption when the launcher updates itself.

21# SWTOR Low FPS and Performance
If you are experiencing this issue now but the beta ran fine for you. Disable AA and you will see same smooth experience of the beta but at the cost of eye-candy.

22# Internal Error ABORT: Pointer is null (.\socket.c/385) ?
Add SWTOR.exe and launcher.exe to your firewall exceptions list to resolve this issue.

23# No Sound In-game, Only in cinematics
You need to leave the game and turn GX mode off in the xonar audio panel.

24# SWTOR has stopped responding
Look into #20 and #16 to fix this error.

25# The environment is currently unavailable for play please try again later
Make sure you have forwarding ports required to run Star Wars: The Old Republic. Make sure your anti-virus/firewall or another application is not blocking your internet connection.

26# Black screen after clicking ‘Play’ in the launcher
This issue arises due to the old ATI drivers 11.8 so make sure you have up-to-date drivers for your video card and have installed all pre-requisites for the Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Run the game as administrator and make sure that you have added swtor.exe and launcher.exe as firewall exceptions.

Some people can get in to the game by modifying the default Fullscreen option. To do so, locate the client_defaults.ini file located in the installation directory of the game. By default it is located at:

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\BioWare\Star Wars – The Old Republic\swtor\retailclient
C:\Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\BioWare\Star Wars – The Old Republic\swtor\retailclient

Open the file in a text editor and modify the value FullScreen=true to FullScreen=false. Save the file and try restarting the game.

Star Wars The Old Republic Error Codes

Error code 6
Make sure you have atleast 3GB of space free on your drive where you have SWTOR installed.

Error code 1
You may get a black screen followed by an ‘Error Code 1′ dialog box, the reason for this error code is still unknown so if you find anything, let us know.

Server error 1005
Make sure firewall or any anti-virus is not blocking Star Wars: The Old Republic. Forward all the ports so that their are no connection issues.

27# Can’t see Party/Guild Chat (Not Visible)
If you are facing this issue and are unable to see the chat or other members can’t see what you type then try leaving the guild and then rejoin. It can solve your issue. “/gquit” is the command you can use to exit a guild.

28# Client Crashes After Pressing the Play Button
Like always, make sure that everything including your system drivers and the client is up to date. Your sound and graphics drivers are updated and you have the latest version of the directx installed on your system.

Check that you have the latest Service Pack and Windows Updates installed for your operating system including the optional updates such as .NET Framework and Visual C++ features.

Use the Fixlauncher file in your installation to resolve the issue. If you are facing the issue from the physical installation, try downloading the launcher from here and replace it with the installed one.

Star Wars: The Old Republic – Connection Issues

If you are facing any connection lag then you should check the following points:

• Make sure that servers aren’t down for service. You can check the status from here.
• Clearing your user interface can also solve the issue. To reset, holt ctrl and press “U”. Do it twice to reset. Logout and then log back in to see the difference.
• Make sure that your firewall is not blocking the client.
• Make sure that the ports used by the star wars client are opened. See # 10 for more assistance.
• Try restarting your router.
• It is not recommended at all that you play the game while downloading anything.
• Other programs utilizing the resources like the traffic management software can also cause some lag.

29# Screen Resolution Broken/Graphics Problem
If you having trouble with texture or in-game graphics then you should try the following steps:

• Set the game resolution to your displays native resolution. Do this via the graphics options in the game rather than via modification of client_defaults.ini
• Make sure you have installed the latest Service Pack for your Operating System.
• Make sure you have the latest updates for .Net Framework and C++ Redistributables.
• Make sure to have the latest drivers for your graphics card.

The problem is commonly associated with ATI users so switching the drivers can solve the issue.

30# Can’t Collect Pending Quest Rewards
Although Devs are looking into the issue, there a couple of things you try:

• Try logging in to another character and then back to the first character
• Make sure that you have sufficient space in your inventory to receive the rewards
• Reset the user interface by holding ctrl and pressing U key twice.
• Also try dismissing and re-summoning your companion character if you have one.

31# ATI Drivers and Objects flat graphics
It’s also mention in #29 that switching drivers can solve the issue. If you are seeing flat objects in the game then try to shift to 11.11a performance drivers. This can fix the problem. The problem is mostly faced by Mac users.

32# Got Stuck on Trias
This issue is claimed to be resolved from the devs side by now. If you are still facing the issue, you should try to contact the customer support.

33# Patch Data Unavailable Error
When your launcher seems to be stopped at first then it is recommended that you wait a bit before closing it forcibly. If it doesn’t help, you can try the following points:

• Try running the launcher as administrator
• Open your internet explorer and clear the cookies. Then open cmd.exe and type ‘ipconfig /flushdns’ to clear your DNS cache.

34# The login Service is unavailable
This issue can be due to multiple reasons. Step by step check can help your cause:

• First check that the date and time of your system is correct.
• Make sure that firewall is not blocking launcher.exe.
• Try to ping by using “ping launchpad.swtor.com” command in your command prompt. If it can ping then there can be something with the firewall. If you are using some other firewall than the windows’ default, then try turning it off to see whether it works or not.

35# The game doesn’t start/Blank Screen (MSVCP90.DLL Error)
The file is associated with Visual Studio 2008 runtime set. All you need to do is update it by following this link

36# Game Crashes – NodeSpecCache Error
You can try following points if you FixlLauncher.exe hasn’t worked for you:

• Try changing your windows feedback language to English (United States)
• If you have extended characters in your windows profile name then try creating another user and and see if the error goes away.

37# Game Crashes – 0xc0150002 Error
Re-install apple quick time to resolve this issue. It has worked for many users.

38# Game Stuck at Loading Screen
Patience is key here. The probability is that you are waiting in the queue (yes, sometimes the notification window doesn’t pop up).

It can also be due to the fact that you have some window (firewall related) in your background asking for the access. In that case, minimize the game and all the access.

39# Error Code 6
This is primarily due to insufficient hard disk space available. Make sure that you have atleast 3GB free space both in the windows drive and the drive in which you installed the game in case you choose a different directory than your Windows directory.

40# Error Code 1002
This error relates your queue stuck issue. If you are stuck, this error might pop-up. This is random and logging back in should fix the problem.

41# Server Error 1003
This error corresponds to server downtime. If the server is up and you are still getting the issue and you are using windows xp then try running it the compatibility mode. Make sure that you have service pack 3 for your OS.

If you face any other issue, let us know in comments, and we will try to help you out. If you any other workaround to resolve any of the issues specified above, you can share that with us.