Heinously slow asset loading

IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
Ever since patch (267?) when the loading method for the game's assets were changed, the time it takes for my computer to load assets and connect to servers has drastically increased.
This is the sort of stuff I've been experiencing when trying to play.

hd9CMcAl.jpg
MPFSLXml.jpg
8zkQj7Al.jpg

It takes about 30-60 seconds to load the main menu, and anywhere near 5-10minutes when trying to join a server. Once I join the server the assets still wait a while before loading or not.

If anyone has any advice I'd greatly appreciate it.

Specs are:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
4096MB RAM DDR3 1333MHz
AMD Radeon HD 6770 1Gb
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

Although ns2 is the only game giving me this kind of problem.

Comments

  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    You only have 1GB VRAM and I assume you set that in the menu as 1GB or lower.
    NS2 has more then 1GB of textures on high.. So if you use high I am not surprised it keeps swapping textures. (its to prevent stutters)
    you can use lower texture quality or set the texture handler to off, but with it off you have the stutters again.
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    So I followed the 'nuke it from orbit' tactic from here and it seemed to have sped up some, but the textures are still taking longer than normal to load in.

    @DC_Darkling I know I don't have enough Vram for high, on lower settings the textures still load very slowly. Slower than they used to be a few patches ago.
  • SamusDroidSamusDroid Colorado Join Date: 2013-05-13 Member: 185219Members, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Gold, Subnautica Playtester, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    edited October 2014
    I have the same issue now as well, just not as bad as you, the game takes forever to load any map now on first now, and it's severely affected the editor as well, to the point where it's nearly unusable. The game also locks up if I switch from windowed to fullscreen.
    7200 RPM HDD as well
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited October 2014
    SamusDroid wrote: »
    I have the same issue now as well, just not as bad as you, the game takes forever to load any map now on first now, and it's severely affected the editor as well, to the point where it's nearly unusable. The game also locks up if I switch from windowed to fullscreen.
    7200 RPM HDD as well

    Ah, hopefully the CDT will find a fix at some point because this sort of thing is hard to play with.

    WCm21Mb.jpg
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    If your disk can take it you can try to increase the worker count, see if that helps?
  • ATFATF Join Date: 2014-05-09 Member: 195944Members
    Is your HDD activity led indicating that it's busy basically all the time when you play? And during asset loading? 100% busy or just sitting there doing jack?
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    If your disk can take it you can try to increase the worker count, see if that helps?

    That seemed to do the trick, I increased it to either 2-3 (can't remember which) and it is loading much quicker aside from a few random textures still taking a couple minutes to load.

    It isn't 100%, but it's playable again. Thank you.
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
  • SupaFredSupaFred Join Date: 2013-03-03 Member: 183652Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Supporter, Reinforced - Silver, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    What are the commands to change the number of workers?
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    edited October 2014
    Have you ran defraggler and checked your fragmentation levels?
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    IronHorse wrote: »
    Have you ran defraggler and checked your fragmentation levels?

    I use auslogics disk defrag and have since defragged without it making a difference.

    @SupaFred I found the command in the Build 269 patchnotes.

    res_workers n (n = number of used loading worker threads, default 1 )
  • GhoulofGSG9GhoulofGSG9 Join Date: 2013-03-31 Member: 184566Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter, Pistachionauts
    edited October 2014
    IronHorse wrote: »
    Have you ran defraggler and checked your fragmentation levels?

    I use auslogics disk defrag and have since defragged without it making a difference.

    @SupaFred I found the command in the Build 269 patchnotes.

    res_workers n (n = number of used loading worker threads, default 1 )

    Start using defraggler , auslogics defrag has been known to be worse than the windows vanilla defrag itself under win 7 or higher and i already have seen cases where it did corrupt the file system .... ;)
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    The advantage of windows 7 own defrag is that it autoschedules defrags, which in theory, keep the disk non fragmented. (at least for me)
  • ATFATF Join Date: 2014-05-09 Member: 195944Members
    Someone tell this to this rookie here:
    Client connected (89.92.34.147)
    [00:24:56]Client Authed. Steam ID: 143072788
    Wareniels connected.
    ...
    [00:25:29]Chat Team - Wareniels: It's so long for join this game
    ...
    [01:13:14]Chat Team - Wareniels: Anyone now why i wait 10min for join a server pls i have a good pc and a good connection...
    Map cycled directly after that so nobody had a chance to explain.
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    Sadly they can not just increase the workerload again..
    I guess when its been tested more to put it on the menu as a option if possible?
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited October 2014
    Sadly they can not just increase the workerload again..
    I guess when its been tested more to put it on the menu as a option if possible?

    That said I don't think the problem is the number of worker threads, increasing it can alleviate the issue but the issue is caused by something else. Otherwise loading/asset loading shouldn't be worse than before multi-threaded loading was supported.
  • DC_DarklingDC_Darkling Join Date: 2003-07-10 Member: 18068Members, Constellation, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver
    If disk fragmentation is not a issue you can check disk queue length.
    task manager > performance tab > press the shiny performance monitor button. Then on the disk tab, check both the MS column and the queue column. (both columns are in separate windows)

    Also be sure to check your event viewer for obvious problems.

    AV may be of influence in the matter. (overscanning etc)
  • GhoulofGSG9GhoulofGSG9 Join Date: 2013-03-31 Member: 184566Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter, Pistachionauts
    If disk fragmentation is not a issue you can check disk queue length.
    task manager > performance tab > press the shiny performance monitor button. Then on the disk tab, check both the MS column and the queue column. (both columns are in separate windows)

    Also be sure to check your event viewer for obvious problems.

    AV may be of influence in the matter. (overscanning etc)

    Specially those av overreacting about ns2 because it's not digitally signed can cause alot of pain (up to 5 mins extra loading time ... )
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    It's the texture handler loading in low res textures in the interim so as not to cause you any hitching because it is unable to load the higher res textures to your gpu in time.
    It could be your video card's performance, as I also have a 1 GB card like you, (570 gtx) but I dont suffer those long of wait times.. (but my GPU also scores 4 times better than yours!) so I would definitely investigate the health of your hard drive.

    Both SSDs and much better GPUs are cheap and available these days.. I know that's not optimal, that you rather find an underlaying issue.. but really think of it this way : before 267 you were hitching so much you just weren't noticing it, now you aren't nearly as much, and can witness to what extent.


    TLDR: It's probably your sub par GPU, but you might as well investigate the possibility of a dysfunctional HD and/or software that is reading and writing like AV.
  • RoobubbaRoobubba Who you gonna call? Join Date: 2003-01-06 Member: 11930Members, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Shadow
    I'm currently playing on my old 5870 as I had to RMA my 1-year old GTX 780 recently and am waiting for the replacement. It is also a 1GB card but I found loading times identical to when I was using the 3GB GTX 780. I have a decent SSD and the initial loading times are still long (after the first load, I'm typically first into a server, though).
    I don't think his GFX card is at fault here, and while an SSD is entirely recommended for all end users in my opinion, I can't help thinking that there's something a bit hinky about the first load. It definitely shouldn't take as long as it does on my system - albeit not in the 5-10minute range, it's still well over a minute, and for a high end SSD on a high end system that seems a bit out of whack...
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    Should take 1.5 minutes with an ssd
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited January 2016
    Might as well bump this since I still have the same issue.

    84AACE59F2975E965C3BFF83287A4398A7FD7639

    (Newish specs)
    Intel i5 3570k 3.4ghz
    8gb DDR3 1333hz memory
    Nvidia GTX 960 4gb
    SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 7200 RPM HDD

    Plus side is the game is running really great aside from the whole texture issue.

    I defragged, I got a new gpu, hdd is working fine. It's still an issue I have exclusive to this game.
  • IronHorseIronHorse Developer, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributor Join Date: 2010-05-08 Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
    edited January 2016
    @IeptBarakat When standing in an area that does that to you (or just spawning into the world , as what it looks like from the screenshot) type in the console f_test and report the ms results here please

    edit: recent patches HAVE increased the texture world fill time lately, it is definitely known, just fyi
  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited January 2016
    @IronHorse

    Well the ultra blurry textures for 5 minutes happens all the time until they get loaded into vram, it's not area specific as it happens everywhere.

    My game nearly freezes(or does freeze) each time I use f_test after launching so I'm not sure how good the results will be.

    biodome marine start (fresh start)
    [125.247] MainThread : Loading 'ui/marine_buy_bigicons.dds' took 0.001ms, size 3.662mb
    [125.249] MainThread : Loading 'ui/alien_commander_tabs.dds' took 0.002ms, size 10.667mb
    [127.754] MainThread : Loading 'ui/marine_commander_tabs.dds' took 2.505ms, size 10.667mb
    [127.755] MainThread : Loading 'ui/unitstatus_marine.dds' took 0.001ms, size 2.000mb
    [141.575] MainThread : Loading 'ui/ScreenMask.dds' took 13.820ms, size 7.324mb
    [141.577] MainThread : Loading 'ui/unitstatus_alien.dds' took 0.001ms, size 7.000mb
    [141.578] MainThread : Loading 'ui/unitstatus_neutral.dds' took 0.001ms, size 7.000mb
    [141.578] MainThread : Loading 'ui/buildmenu.dds' took 0.000ms, size 1.099mb
    [150.465] MainThread : Loading 'ui/alien_commander_bg_smoke.dds' took 8.887ms, size 5.333mb
    [163.502] MainThread : Loading 'ui/alien_commander_textures.dds' took 13.037ms, size 5.333mb
    [173.324] MainThread : Loading 'ui/health_circle.dds' took 9.822ms, size 5.333mb
    [183.078] MainThread : Loading 'ui/health_circle_alien.dds' took 9.754ms, size 5.333mb
    [183.078] MainThread : Total filesystem test load time : 57.832ms to load 70.75mb
    

    veil ready room
    [758.241] MainThread : Loading 'ui/marine_buy_bigicons.dds' took 0.003ms, size 18.310mb
    [758.243] MainThread : Loading 'ui/alien_commander_tabs.dds' took 0.002ms, size 10.667mb
    [758.248] MainThread : Loading 'ui/marine_commander_tabs.dds' took 0.005ms, size 10.667mb
    [758.249] MainThread : Loading 'ui/unitstatus_marine.dds' took 0.001ms, size 2.000mb
    [758.250] MainThread : Loading 'ui/ScreenMask.dds' took 0.001ms, size 7.324mb
    [758.252] MainThread : Loading 'ui/unitstatus_alien.dds' took 0.001ms, size 7.000mb
    [758.253] MainThread : Loading 'ui/unitstatus_neutral.dds' took 0.001ms, size 7.000mb
    [758.254] MainThread : Loading 'ui/buildmenu.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.859mb
    [758.256] MainThread : Loading 'ui/alien_commander_bg_smoke.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.333mb
    [758.257] MainThread : Loading 'ui/alien_commander_textures.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.333mb
    [758.258] MainThread : Loading 'ui/health_circle.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.333mb
    [758.259] MainThread : Loading 'ui/health_circle_alien.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.333mb
    [758.259] MainThread : Total filesystem test load time : 0.022ms to load 90.16mb
    

    veil alien spawn hive under siege cargo
    [844.023] MainThread : Loading 'ui/marine_buy_bigicons.dds' took 0.003ms, size 18.310mb
    [844.025] MainThread : Loading 'ui/alien_commander_tabs.dds' took 0.002ms, size 10.667mb
    [844.027] MainThread : Loading 'ui/marine_commander_tabs.dds' took 0.002ms, size 10.667mb
    [844.028] MainThread : Loading 'ui/unitstatus_marine.dds' took 0.001ms, size 2.000mb
    [844.029] MainThread : Loading 'ui/ScreenMask.dds' took 0.001ms, size 7.324mb
    [844.030] MainThread : Loading 'ui/unitstatus_alien.dds' took 0.001ms, size 7.000mb
    [844.032] MainThread : Loading 'ui/unitstatus_neutral.dds' took 0.001ms, size 7.000mb
    [844.033] MainThread : Loading 'ui/buildmenu.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.859mb
    [844.034] MainThread : Loading 'ui/alien_commander_bg_smoke.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.333mb
    [844.035] MainThread : Loading 'ui/alien_commander_textures.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.333mb
    [844.036] MainThread : Loading 'ui/health_circle.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.333mb
    [844.037] MainThread : Loading 'ui/health_circle_alien.dds' took 0.001ms, size 5.333mb
    [844.037] MainThread : Total filesystem test load time : 0.017ms to load 90.16mb
    

    and a bonus (the below caused my gpu driver to crash)
    Godiceman killed Mr. Friendly with Gore
    Godiceman killed VoidXI with Gore
    niftyshock killed ARC with BileBomb
    [869.941] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.953] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.953] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.964] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.965] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.965] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.976] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.977] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.977] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.988] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.988] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [869.988] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.007] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.008] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.008] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.024] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.024] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.024] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.048] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.048] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.048] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.062] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.062] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.062] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.062] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.074] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.074] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.074] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.074] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.075] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.090] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.090] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.090] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.090] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.090] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.090] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.102] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.102] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.102] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.102] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.102] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.102] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    fino killed ARC with Swipe
    ZackLK killed mk with Shotgun
    niftyshock killed ARC with BileBomb
    Godiceman killed GetSum with Gore
    fino killed ARC with Swipe
    [870.199] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.199] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.199] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.199] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.200] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.200] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.220] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.221] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.221] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.221] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.242] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1954 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    [870.242] ClientGame::UpdateWorld : Error: snapshotused 1956 more than 31 > base snapshot 1881
    Shameless killed Darren with Swipe
    [880.952] MainThread : Error: Attempted to load remote options from a file that does not exist.
    [886.129] MainThread : Error: 5 memory leaks in 'D3D9Device' (420 bytes)
    [886.279] MainThread : Error: 5 memory leaks in 'Client' (420 bytes)
    [886.746] MainThread : Error: PhysX: Foundation destruction failed due to pending module references. Close/release all depending modules first.
    [886.747] MainThread : Error: 17 memory leaks in 'PhysX' (25900 bytes)
    [886.747] MainThread : Error: 17 memory leaks in 'Physics' (25900 bytes)
    [886.747] MainThread : Error: 22 memory leaks in 'Engine' (26320 bytes)
    
Sign In or Register to comment.