Very Slow Start-Up Load Times

[Bottom Of The Sixth]

Is anyone else experiencing very slow start-up load times?


Ever since purchasing the original released version OOTP19, I have been dealing with very long load times, where it takes my computer on average 3 minutes and 49 seconds, to start the game up.


OOTP18 on the other hand only takes 9-12 seconds to start.


Due to this, I have been using OOTP18.


Even with today's release of OOTP19 Version 19.9.114, I see no improvement.


I am running Win7 with an Intel Core i7-4710HQ CPU @2.50GHz w/16 RAM


Thanks

[NoOne]

EDIT: i have an idea that may apply better than the rest of this drivel below... how many threads are you using in the game's settings? make sure it does not exceed number of physical cores (not hyperthreading nonsense). 4 cores - 4 thread at most.

e.g. i have an i7 2600k... 4 cores, 4 logical cores... 8 total, but not really... it's a gimmick for the most part. now, if you put a 4core cpu to use 8 threads in ootp, it will be incredibly slow -- if still functioning as it did in the past..

i looked it up. you have 4 cores.. makes sure you use 1.2.3.or 4 threads in game settings.

---------------

too many possibiliteis to cover all..

try defragging that directory (the included windows prgram can't defrag 1 director of coice, i don't think... can get a free one though and it saves time.)

if you have an SSD, ignore that suggestion, never defrag an SSD. on an hdd, it coud feasily improve load times. ootp is not good at keeping it's data in a continous, sequential area of hdd. it constantly read and writes tiny files and they get insanely fragmented over time and use of the game. with an hdd, you'll see read/write speeds drop form an optimal of ~100-150mb/s to ~2-4mb/s... when loading a 1 gb+ league, that can make a difference. (loadup is similar, but i don't think that stuff gets as fragmented as league files, but could be wrong)

also, look for minimum file size to defrag... reduce to 1kb for this directory, not entire drive defrag or it will take forever and a day for a large drive.

... get an ssd? that improve speeds of loaidng, but there has to be other factors causing the slow down too.

<rhetorical> what is it stalling on during initialization? the messages at top wihle it loads. if it consistently stalls at one point, do a forum search and see if others hve same problem.

have you done anything differently lately? changed anything? added an antivirus security blanket? etc etc..

turn off any realtime AV software or make an exception for ootp, see if that helps. that real-time stuff doesn't protect you from anything nefarious, fwiw... it really is just a security blanket unless you do really really odd and dumb things with a computer.

e.g. you click okay to anything a website pops up... like downlaoding some software to watch a video, lol... or some streamed cable... never need proprietary software and it likely is bogus if not a big company well-known name.

[Bottom Of The Sixth]

Thanks however, I am not sure where to look to see how many threads I am currently set to use.

[NoOne]

when game first loads, click Settings... not sure which tab... expert? finite area to search from there, though.

if a game is loaded and hapend to be on forums too, you can access this in game too.. menu at tope File - settings -- agin label could be wrong... not global settings, not league settigns... will pop-up same settings menu as above.

look for a setting related to # of threads....

althogh if not familiar with the setting, that makes it less likely to be the cause... unless ootp saw "8" cores and didn't realize 4 were logical cores.

even if "default" says "8", use 4 for your i7-4710HQ cpu.

what's happening is it's trying to use a logical core as a full cpu core, which it is not. so any mutlithreading benefits are constantly lost as it waits for the slower logical cores to do their equal share of the work.. .which gaain, incapable of doing at the same speed. it's basically running at the speed a logical core could run the game... a fraction of what a cpu is.

[Bottom Of The Sixth]

It was set at the recommend setting of 8.


I reduced it to four, as you suggested, and the load time was faster by 1 minute and 10 seconds however, it still took over 2.5 minutes for the game to load.


Not sure why it takes OOTP19 so long as loading OOTP18 only takes 8-12 seconds.

[NoOne]

now, try the defrag -- less likely to help, but may. don't used windows defrag.

defraggler from ccleaner makers? heck, even one with a 7day trial. don't pay for this type of app.

make sure it is only targetting the ootp directory and it's not ignoring files smaller than >X kilobytes etc.

could try overclocking your cpu.. that cpu goes upto 3.5ghz... you are at 2.5? don't do this with a normal heat sink... water cooler needed if you OC, or at least i am suggesting that. if you only play ootp it won't matter... you go encode video at 3.5ghz and you chip will rise up near Max Temp allowed before it shuts itself down for safety concerns of hardware.

if have an SSD, make sure ootp is on it. that will read/write data 2x-3x faster than a hdd in real world application. sometimes faster

[koohead]

Question: by "start the game" do you mean actually launching the game from the desktop, or loading a previously saved game?

[Bottom Of The Sixth]

Originally Posted by koohead

Question: by "start the game" do you mean actually launching the game from the desktop, or loading a previously saved game?

Actually launching the game

[koohead]

Might be worth starting it in trace mode and then looking at the trace file that is generated. Believe it has timestamps. might be able to find a gap in time to narrow down what it is getting hung up on? I know this helped when I was having problems with loading a saved game that would take 3+ minutes.

[Bottom Of The Sixth]

Originally Posted by koohead

Might be worth starting it in trace mode and then looking at the trace file that is generated. Believe it has timestamps. might be able to find a gap in time to narrow down what it is getting hung up on? I know this helped when I was having problems with loading a saved game that would take 3+ minutes.

Thanks for the suggestion.


I tried your suggestion however, I didn't see anything jumping out at me that didn't look bad however, I am also not exactly sure what I should be looking for.

[koohead]

well what you should see is a continuous series of events separated by a few seconds. If you see a jump in timestamps, say 30+ seconds apart, or ideally 2 rows separated by 2 minutes in time, then you at least know what is impacting your start time. then we can look at the lines before and after and maybe give us a clue as to what may be wrong.

[NoOne]

it's writing ~1gb of data to ram. it's tiny little broken up chunks that read slowly off of an hdd.

2.5mins isn't right in most contexts.. take that output file koohead told you to do and post it in the tech support forum. you'll likely need someone to read through it. or if they ask for you to post your files etc they can do some hands-on stuff.

this sounds like something beyond simple assistance.


one last go:

try 1 thread just for fun....try 2 threads..... then, back to 4 if neither worked better

check hdd.. is it functioning properly? all hdd have a feature called SMART. various free programs can tell you if it's working correctly. CrystalDiskInfo is one such freeware program. if on load it says anything but "good" for condition, you know something is going wrong.

sounds like read speeds to me. if it's an older hdd with 25k+ hours, it could be failing.. or it could be a dud and failing much sooner too... less likely the latter.

if this were the case, things would seem normal for the most part when using a computer... it would lag occasionally but seemingly run well to the eye except during loading of applications or if the OS has to do something hdd-intensive.

[Bottom Of The Sixth]

Thanks guys for taking time to offer me some help.


I'll let you know what I find out.

[Mat]

You should definately looking at this. Latest version of the game is the fastest I have ever seen it. Game launches for me in 3 seconds since first PT update.

[NoOne]

forgot the standard : update windows, update graphics card drivers (don't use windows update for that stuff, go to the graphic's card website - intel, nvidia or amd. get their entire software suite for your card, don't go driver only or you lose out on settings.)

i really think 1 thread may help.. .then you can troubleshoot with them why multithreading isn't working, if that's the case.

[NoOne]

hope you see this... another person in main forum had similarly described startup issues.

make sure windows is up-to-date. something they've done is a potential cause. if you've hidden any updates, re-click the 'more info' and see if it reletes. he also updated all his drivers through windows, so do that too. i'd still go to your gpu's website for your video card drivers... nvidia, amd or if integrated on mobo it is intel.

[Bottom Of The Sixth]

Thanks for checking back in; I've been working with Tech Support for several days now.


Newest Windows updates, scanning hard drive for errors, updating OOTP19 has not done any good.


Until I hear back from them, I am in the mean time having to play the game with either one of these options enabled.


Use OpenGL only for 3D and Disable OpenGL



If I use either one of those settings, the game will start up and load super quick; within 2-3 seconds.


I will keep you posted to the outcome.

Thanks Again.

[NoOne]

fwiw, i don't think the "opengl for only 3d" has any negative ramfications relative to a game like ootp?

i always keep the 3d stuff off, so not sure.