Running the game

Various requirements to run the game.

Hardware specifications

Component	Minimum System Requirements for & &
Operating System	Windows 7 or better (64 bit only)
Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz Core i3 AMD Athlon 64 X2
Video	NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT
Memory	4 GB RAM
Storage	70GB available HDD space
Internet	Broadband Internet connection
Input	Keyboard and mouse
DirectX	DirectX 11

Component	Minimum System Requirements for & &
Operating System	Windows 7 or better (64 bit only)
Processor	Intel i3 3.4 GHz AMD Athlon x4 3.8 GHz or better
Video	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 AMD Radeon HD 7970
Memory	8 GB RAM
Storage	70GB available HDD space
Internet	Broadband Internet connection
Input	Keyboard and mouse
DirectX	DirectX 11

Other supported features

• 3D playability
• Multi-monitor support

Display

While perfectly playable on smaller displays, the "Small" Interface size appears to be designed for about 1400 pixels wide, and the "Normal" interface size for about 1550 pixels wide. On smaller displays than this, the Chat panel pops up out of alignment from the row with the skillbar and minimap. Resize it smaller from the upper right corner. However, at 1280 pixels wide, even with the interface size on small, the minimum width of the chat box does not fit in one row.

Game files

The following files are stored in your Guild Wars 2 directory on Windows:

File name	Description	Notes
Gw2.exe or Gw2-64.exe	Self patching game launcher	This file is machine independent so can be copied to any computer to run the game. It will download game files to the directory it is currently in.
Gw2.dat	Compressed game data file	Size varies depending on how it is patched as the space it manages can fragment. The current ( 30 March 2019 ) fresh image size is 46.8 GB and it contains over 1 500 000 files. This file is machine independent and can be copied between machines.
Local.dat	Local game data file	Is usually found in %appdata%/Guild Wars 2/, but if stored in the Documents/Guild Wars 2 folder, it will take priority
ArenaNet.log	Crash information file	If the game crashes this file is generated.
Crash.dmp	Crash information file	If the game crashes this file is generated.
Gw2.tmp	A temporary file	Generated during patching.
THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME.txt	A text document containing 3rd party software notices.	Generated since April 18, 2014 update

Other files

• Screenshots are saved to %userprofile%\Documents\Guild Wars 2\Screens on Windows, or to your desktop on macOS X.
• Input binding configurations, if exported, can be found at %userprofile%\Documents\Guild Wars 2\InputBinds.
• The Trading Post uses the CoherentUI_Host.exe. This process starts up after game launch and its proper operation requires the game to be running with admin rights; contact support to troubleshoot issues.

Installing the game

From Official Site

• Download the launcher from the official site.
• Place the launcher in the directory from where you want to store the game and run it.
• Start the launcher. It will perform any necessary downloads and patching before taking you to a log in screen.
  • The client can be stopped and restarted at any time during a download. Starting the client again will continue the download where it left off. The progress bar will start from 0 since it shows progress only for remaining files, not total files after a patch.
• Log in with your Guild Wars account details.

From Steam

• Add game to your steam library
• Launch game through steam.

Command line arguments

Primary article: Command line arguments

These switches can enable a diagnostic mode, specify an authentication server, or change client behavior.

Peripherals

As part of ArenaNet's policy on third-party programs, we are often asked about multi-boxing and the use of macros. Here is their policy:

Macros

Guild Wars 2 players are permitted to use macros as long as the macros are programmed with a 1 key for 1 function protocol.

1. This means that if you program a macro, it must require one keystroke per action. You may not program a single key to perform multiple functions.
2. For example, if you Press A and it results in the casting of a single skill, you're ok. If you Press A and it casts multiple spells, you're not ok.
3. You cannot program a macro to perform the same or multiple actions on more than one account at a time.
4. You cannot program an "auto-clicker" macro that, for instance, opens chests while you play elsewhere.

Dual- or Multi-Boxing

1. You may use more than one account at the same time.
2. You may use more than one computer at the same time.
3. You must be actively playing on each account.
4. And as stated above, you may not program your keyboard to perform functions on more than one account at a time.
   For example, if you press W on your keyboard to move forward, a single character on a single account should move forward. The keystroke or mouse click should not perform functions on more than one account.

Keyboards

Logitech Gaming Keyboards

• The G13 is a mini-keyboard that includes 25 programmable G-keys that simplify complex actions by allowing you to configure up to 75 unique functions across three different modes with three macros per key.
  (G-key programming requires Logitech® Gaming Software, available at support.logitech.com)
• G15 shows world completion, zone completion, WvW score, and basic stats (power, precision, and defense).
• G19s has its own app that shows world completion, zone completion, WvW score, basic stats (power, precision, defense, and health), and the combat log.

Razer Gaming Keyboards and Keypads

• The Razer Nostromo is a gaming mini-keyboard that is fully programmable. The official standalone legacy driver for Windows can be downloaded here (v2.02; released on 2011/07/21) and the official OSX driver here (v1.0; released on 2011/09/16).
  Razer does not provide driver support for Linux; however, a 3rd party driver called jnostromo can be downloaded here (v1.5.2; released on 2012/09/18). The jnostromo web site includes a Guild Wars 2 page for users to share their Guild Wars 2 related profiles.

Mice

Logitech Gaming Mice

• The Logitech G600 is a programmable gaming mouse designed specifically for MMOs. The G600 has support for three profiles stored in memory on the mouse itself, or any number of profiles stored on the computer (in which mode it also supports automatic game detection and macros). Its most noticeable physical feature is the side keypad of 12 thumb buttons, arranged in 4 columns of 3. Alternate columns are contoured to slope in opposite directions, giving a "hill and valley" feel that gives good tactile feedback on exact thumb position. In addition the mouse has two further buttons on top, plus the normal wheel-left, -right and -click. Alongside the normal mouse left and right buttons, a third, "G-Shift" button acts like a keyboard shift key to allow an alternate value to be assigned to any of the other buttons, allowing in the region of 40 programmable values. An earlier model of the mouse (serial numbers starting "810-") was not firmware-upgradable, and had a bug causing the cursor to occasionally jump across the screen on click. A later model released in or around 2012 (serial numbers starting "910-") does not have that problem, and is firmware-upgradable. The two models are, externally, physically identical.

Razer Gaming Mice

Mad Catz

• The M.M.O. 7 Gaming Mouse has a profile application with a limited featured built-in profile for both Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. A user submitted basic Guild Wars 2 profile that incorporates all buttons during active gameplay and can be used as a base for further modifications for specific classes can be found here.

Unsupported systems

Unsupported operating systems

• Wine: Players have successfully reported using Wine (and Proton through Steam) to run the game on both Linux and Mac.

Notes

• The Mac Beta client was first released on September 18, 2012.
  • According to an official press release, ArenaNet worked with "TransGaming, whose Cider technology allows us to mirror the game experience as closely as possible between the PC and Mac." In other words, the game was developed for Windows and ported to Mac, allowing the game to be updated on both platform simultaneously.
  • However, Mac users should expect decreased performance due to the porting process.
  • The first beta version of a native 64-bit mac client without the use of Cider was released on June 21, 2017.
  • The old 32-bit mac client is no longer available for download from the official website.
  • The mac client is unsupported as of February 18, 2021.
• Regardless of where you purchased the game, you can select a world in the North American or European region and guest to any world within the same region, but not across regions.
  • You cannot run the game from certain countries that restrict gaming, such as Iran; you can also expect your account to be blocked if you repeatedly attempt to logon from such countries. Contact support if this happens.