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12/07/06, 4:24 PM
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#1
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Don Flamenco
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Im trying to track this down, and have been running some utilities, like filemon, to see whats happening. In doing so, I noticed a wierd issue.
In the past, we had a wdb file, that contained a cache of items/mobs/etc. In 2.0 they moved it. It is supposed to be in the new Cache folder, but mine wasnt. I manually added a WDB, then an enUS folder into the cache folder (Cache\WDB\enUS) and my framerate went up, my network traffic went down, and I got a bunch of cache files put into that folder by the wow client.
Can anyone else try this and report back on lag/issues it resolves, or doesnt resolve.?
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12/07/06, 5:25 PM
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#2
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Don Flamenco
Blood Elf Death Knight
Hyjal
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... That would explain so much.
I'll check when I get home. Any particular hoops once you create the folder? (I'm assuming mine's missing, given how unpleasant things were last night.)
Edit: Yup, it was gone, and yup, this worked great.
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12/07/06, 5:38 PM
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#3
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Glass Joe
Night Elf Rogue
Windrunner
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I've been running 500-2000ms ever since the patch was released, but I've talked to other people and most of them seem to be fine. My internet outside of WoW is running just fine, so I'll give this a go once I get home and hopefully it'll resolve this issue. I'm seeing the same things though, naked people/slowly loading gear.
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12/07/06, 5:41 PM
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#4
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Glass Joe
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Three datapoints for you :
1. My Windows box at home has the Cache directory, but only a Survey.mpq file in it - no directory hierarchy at all.
2. A TBC Beta install on the same machine has Cache/WDB/enUS, populated with several cache-looking files in it : creaturecache.wdb, itemcache.wdb, itemtextcache.wdb, pagetextcache.wdb, wowcache.wdb, gameobjectcache.wdb, itemnamecache.wdb, npccache.wdb, questcache.wdb.
3. My MacBook has the Cache/WDB/enUS directory, populated with the same files as the TBC Beta above.
I only have physical access to the MacBook currently, so I can't test creating the directory on the Windows box and see if it suddenly gets populated while playing. But given that it exists on the Mac and on TBC Beta, it seems likely that it would start seeing use, if it existed.
Good catch.
[edit: updated with TBC Beta directory info]
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12/07/06, 5:58 PM
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#5
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Piston Honda
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Hrm, yes I did notice that directory in my Beta client. I really do hope it is as simple as this.
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12/07/06, 6:16 PM
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#6
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What would you have me do?
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Wodahs, major props. I went in game testing some other things, and someone mentioned their Alchemy tab never caching and it reminded me of this so we both tried it out. Sure enough, my FPS are up and his alchemy tab is caching.
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What are you waiting for, a certain shade of green?
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12/07/06, 6:18 PM
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#7
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Mike Tyson
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Ha. Yes, I had noticed that my directory structure had a totally empty "Cache" folder now, but no WDB anymore (I noticed this since deleting my WDB is something I always do when DLing a major patch update, because I often get issues like naked players and invisible items if I don't). Good catch.
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12/07/06, 6:19 PM
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#8
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Don Flamenco
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I only have minimal raid testing with this, but everything else is faster, so I am hoping raid performance is better.
Last night, having vid lag issues, I removed all mods, set graphics to low settings, and had 9 fps on patch, 1-2 at times during the fight. I am pretty desperately trying to find a fix here.
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12/07/06, 6:30 PM
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#9
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a penny saved is a penny earned
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Yeah, I have been wondering about the empty cache folder every since they said that the WDB folder was removed and everything should exist in the Cache folder but mine was empty.
Excellent find.
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12/07/06, 6:32 PM
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#10
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Bald Bull
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Another confirmation, as soon as I made the directory it got populated with the usual cache files that used to sit in our WDB folders. I was wondering what happened to the stuff too , since many people were complaining of the "all white character model" /??? items etc.
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<Gwaihir> mage time is like booterang
<Gwaihir> AUGH BOOTERANG
<Gwaihir> AUGH MAGE TIME
<Ama> AUGH MAGE TIME
<XI|> AUGH MAGE TIME
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12/07/06, 6:46 PM
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#11
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Kamelåså med syggelekokle
Drauk
Human Mage
No WoW Account
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Thanks a lot, fixed my FPS issues. Spreading a word now :)
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Fun is for casuals
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12/07/06, 6:56 PM
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#12
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Glass Joe
Human Warrior
Laughing Skull
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Thanks a bunch! Helped me with my FPS issues a lot.
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12/07/06, 7:12 PM
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#13
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Firemaw is a dragon, not a restaurant
Undead Priest
Sporeggar (EU)
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Someone posted this on our guild forum, don't know from where but it might elaborate on some things.

Dear Blizzard and Readers,
This post points out that after patch 2.0, without corrective action on the user's part, the client doesn't cache WDB files anymore. It explains how to solve the problem and why it's important to solve it.
Symptom
When logging in, every time, a lot of the items placed on the action bars are red question marks for a few seconds. Also, when opening a crafting profession's window for the first time, delay is observed in loading the icon for items and list of ingredients. Other symptoms that indicate that the client is not performing caching and has to query the server for data with each login session.
Explanation and Solution
The old WDB folder is now gone with patch 2.0. The client is supposed to cache data in the "World of Warcraft\Cache\WDB\<locale>" folder, where <locale> depends on your client language. It's enGB for EU English players. However, during a standard installation and patching scenario, only "World of Warcraft\Cache" folder gets created, and the client doesn't automatically create its subfolders. This means that the client never saves cache files.
To force WoW to start saving cache files, manually create a WDB subfolder in Cache, i.e. make sure that a folder named "World of Warcraft\Cache\WDB" exists. The client will take care of the rest, create the locale specific subfolder and start saving files.
Why this is important
For starters, this improves the game experience of the end-user. However, more importantly, with so many players, all the clients querying the server for information that was supposed to be cached could lead to additional load on the servers. Only Blizzard knows the significance or fraction of this additional load, but it's important that we as users do everything we can to reduce load on the servers.
Edit: It appears that this may be an issue only on the Windows client and not Mac
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12/07/06, 7:18 PM
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#14
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Don Flamenco
Blood Elf Paladin
The Venture Co (EU)
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I assume that it would be Cache/WDB/enGB for euro english clients, frFR for french clients, deDE for german, etc?
edit: confirmed with a guildie in beta on enGB at least.
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12/07/06, 7:31 PM
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#15
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Maniq is awesome.
Troll Rogue
Nazjatar (EU)
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i can confirm that creating /cache/wdb/enGB gets the folder populated with
creaturecache.wdb
gameobjectcache.wdb
itemcache.wdb
itemnamecache.wdb
itemtextcache.wdb
npccache.wdb
pagetextcache.wdb
questcache.wdb
wowcache.wdb
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for the EU-enGB client.
Will have to see if it fixes the fps issues i had in Naxxramas tonight
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12/07/06, 10:34 PM
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#16
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Glass Joe
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Thank you so much! Glad we have smart people around here to fix the mistakes blizzard makes :)
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12/07/06, 10:36 PM
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#17
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Glass Joe
Murloc Rogue
Eldre'Thalas
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I created the missing directories and they are being populated with appropriate looking files. Things do seem smoother.
How the hell does something like this get past internal testers?
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12/07/06, 10:47 PM
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#18
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Disharmonious
Dwarf Paladin
Lightbringer
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Originally Posted by PanthroEldre
How the hell does something like this get past internal testers?
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OT and all, but having a fair understanding of the processes involved, the only way to 100% guarentee that this never happens ever is to run the installer for every stable breed of the patch on clean installs, repeatedly. Even using extremely fast computers with great imaging software you're talking aobut a nontrivial amount of time for -every- build including ones with dealbreaking problems entirely unrelated. I'd say that odds are pretty good that there was a feature to do this very thing, fully functional in at least one push.
Not to mention the issues on patch day doubtless invovled slightly altering the installer in an extreme time crunch so some stuff gets overlooked.
I'm all for slagging blizz as much as the next guy, but this looks like a pretty easy one to miss as QA.
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Originally Posted by bartolimu
It makes me want to hit Marge Thatcher on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.
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12/07/06, 10:52 PM
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#19
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Mostly Harmless
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As another datapoint I haven't messed around with any files and I see the folder is already there on the OS X client, so this may be a bug related only to the Windows one.
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12/07/06, 11:28 PM
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#20
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Bald Bull
Blood Elf Warlock
Turalyon
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I and a number of people in my guild have done this. It does indeed populate with the cache files, but none of us have noticed any increase in performance as a result. We did a little raiding in Naxx tonight and the FPS was as painful as it was last night.
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12/07/06, 11:44 PM
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#21
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King Hippo
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Awesome thanks, hopefully this does the trick. Trying it now.
Update: 10-20fps improvements for most of my guild mates. Nice spotting and as always EJ forums has the info.
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The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements. Energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest.
www.retpaladin.com
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12/08/06, 2:07 PM
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#22
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Piston Honda
Tauren Druid
Stormscale (EU)
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You only need to make the WDB folder actually, it will make the enGB/enFR/enWhatever by itself.
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Can you jam with the console cowboys in cyberspace?
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12/09/06, 1:11 PM
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#23
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Glass Joe
Murloc Warrior
Laughing Skull
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Hey guys after reading this thread i went to my WoW folder to see if the WDB fodler was there and the whole cache folder structure was there and also the .wdb cache files that were named above, BUT all of the fodlers were read-only, so I turned that off and logged back into to WoW and the 1-2 sec lag issue with trade skills was gone. So make sure your cache folders are not write-proteced, thats another f.ck up by Blizzard (pardon my language).
I hope this info helps you. Cheers!
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12/09/06, 1:20 PM
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#24
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Von Kaiser
Tauren Druid
Draenor (EU)
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When i made these folders the other day i got all the files mentioned above in them. But checking the folder today the files are gone again. Other people in my guild are also missing the files again, and are notcing that the lag is back. I had to download somthing when i loged in today, so it might have somthing to do with that. Anyone know anything about this?
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12/09/06, 1:45 PM
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#25
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Diamond Joe
Troll Shaman
Emerald Dream (EU)
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It seems the WoW client sets the read-only attribute on the folders when starting up. I unset the attribute as I already had the folders in question, and found that after the cache files appeared as the should, the folders were again read-only. Exiting WoW does not reset the attributes, thus the folders stay read-only.
For the record, the cache files themselves are not read-only, meaning read-only folders dont really matter, as the WoW client just updates the already existing cache files. So if you have cache files already, there is no point in changing folder attributes
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