Why is my loading screen times so long?

[Elmillia]

To what discussion?

Discussion about your 10 minutes loading time which in my humble opinion is a flat out out lie considering that my OLD Intel C2D E7200 @ 3.16ghz with 4GB RAM and Radeon 6850 takes less than a minute to bypass any loading screen.

If you really wanted to discuss this you should have made this topic in the customer support section where it belongs.

 

And your basis for calling it a flat out lie is a single machine?

 

*claps*

 

I'm happy that you have a short loading time. I really am. But others in this thread have had mixed results, so it's not just my system. I have BETWEEN 5 and 10 minutes on initial load (First log in to a character on a session), and others in the thread are having just as bad. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with our configuration so I can fix my computer and maybe get help for the others in this thread having trouble. Calling us liars helps no one.

 

Thank you.

Edited May 25, 2012 by Elmillia

[Burtlebe]

Yep, there are easily 5 min load times in this game. I noticed it got significantly worse after 1.2. Prior to 1.2, 30 seconds to 1 min was my average.

 

I am in the same boat as you, before 1.2 i rarely had load times of 1 min plus. now i rarely have load time less tan 2 mins. This is the same thing that occured in beta, where taris literally would take 10 to 30 mins to load. Also since 1.2 there are times when i am on my work computer that the game goes to a splash screen and just sits there.

[Vlacke]

And your basis for calling it a flat out lie is a single machine?

 

*claps*

 

I'm happy that you have a short loading time. I really am. But others in this thread have had mixed results, so it's not just my system. I have BETWEEN 5 and 10 minutes on initial load (First log in to a character), and others in the thread are having just as bad. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with our configuration so I can fix my computer and maybe get help for the others in this thread having trouble. Calling us liars helps no one.

 

Thank you.

 

Try to speed up your PC via some regular maintenance first, my guess is that your registry is probably a mess, i recommend Windows 7 manager for that because i haven't seen a program with a better registry cleaner yet and i have tried almost all of them, he will find a huge number of errors that other similar programs won't even detect.

Also even though this may sound weird because it shouldn't be in any way related to the game functionality, you should clear your complete temporary internet and windows files, cache etc.I know a few people that actually got better performance with SWTOR once they did that which again, sounds weird but you have nothing to lose by trying.

Edited May 25, 2012 by Vlacke

[Valsdad]

Try to speed up your PC via some regular maintenance first, my guess is that your registry is probably a mess, i recommend Windows 7 manager for that because i haven't seen a program with a better registry cleaner yet and i have tried almost all of them, he will find a huge number of errors that other similar programs won't even detect.

Also even though this may sound weird because it shouldn't be in any way related to the game functionality, you should clear your complete temporary internet and windows files, cache etc.I know a few people that actually got better performance with SWTOR once they did that which again, sounds weird but you have nothing to lose by trying.

 

Hahahahahaha, wow dude. Seriously thanks for the laugh. You think you're educated on the subject, which I find to be hysterical!

 

Just delete you're *** folder and restart your computer three times.

[Delorae]

Defrag your computer > where you have the game installed.

 

Just one small patch from this game and my harddrive gets really fragmented.

Keeping it defraged speeds up loading for me.

[Ironcleaver]

I have a fairly old computer (P4 3.2Ghz Wolfdale, 2GB Ram, GF260, 1TB WD Black Drive) and the game, while it dose take a few moments to load some plants, It has never taken 10, or even 5 minutes to load an area.

 

Pre- Patch 1.2 - I went into the game folder and found the loading screen jpeg and renamed it so it would no longer load. This had two effects. 1) it stopped the loading screen from randomally popping up durring game play (bug). and 2) When changing charcters I could select another character and hit "play" and load the game in under 10 seconds - yeah seconds. I was selecting and loading a character faster then the engine could unload all the game data from memory - so it didn't have to load it twice. It only had to load "new area" data, which isn't much.

 

Post-Patch 1.2 - #1 still holds true. With #2 though, all data is removed from memory and reloaded from scratch while zoning now. period. No way around it. The trick I did above no longer lefts load times. The game went from "pretty snappy" zoning to "complete slug" zoning.

 

There is no reason to unload and reload all data each time while zoning - it's completely inefficient and is forced upon us. Yeah we need to change zone data but we do not need to reload the special effects data, ect, ect, ect... each time. :-/

 

Anyway, just my observation.

[Bloodstealer]

To what discussion?

Discussion about your 10 minutes loading time which in my humble opinion is a flat out out lie considering that my OLD Intel C2D E7200 @ 3.16ghz with 4GB RAM and Radeon 6850 takes less than a minute to bypass any loading screen.

If you really wanted to discuss this you should have made this topic in the customer support section where it belongs.

 

Ther ya go again... dooh maybe take a look through the forums and maybe you will see that in fact PC's across a wide spectrum of rigs has a variety of issues including load times, FPS,etc etc.. just cos your old Intel base spec has no issues means nothing.. my old Laptop it T7500 2.2Ghz with 4GB RAM, a cruddy Nvidia 8600M GPU and Vista 32bit.. it runs SWTOR as good if not better in places than my i7 2700 3.5Ghz, 16GB RAM, and dual HD6670 1GB GPU's WIndows 7 64bit and I run SWTOR on my SSD... my load times can still be upto 3mins...

The game has issues, lots of issues that affect a wide variety of hardware setups.. check your CPU usuage and then look at your GPU loading...the game only ever uses around 5GB max ever from what I have monitored, nothing too intensive there but when your CPU is working overtime and your GPU barely scratching a living most of the time and load screens hang for ages with almost zero activity going on... I am no tech wizard but I'm inclined to think that something is amiss -

 

I am glad your experience is sooo positive but if all you can add is " haha your PC is an outdated fridge".. then excuse me for passing you over as a numpty who is incapable of throwing anything useful into the discussion other than blurb.... then again for some people that is all they are capable of..

Edited May 25, 2012 by Bloodstealer

[Bloodstealer]

I have a fairly old computer (P4 3.2Ghz Wolfdale, 2GB Ram, GF260, 1TB WD Black Drive) and the game, while it dose take a few moments to load some plants, It has never taken 10, or even 5 minutes to load an area.

 

Pre- Patch 1.2 - I went into the game folder and found the loading screen jpeg and renamed it so it would no longer load. This had two effects. 1) it stopped the loading screen from randomally popping up durring game play (bug). and 2) When changing charcters I could select another character and hit "play" and load the game in under 10 seconds - yeah seconds. I was selecting and loading a character faster then the engine could unload all the game data from memory - so it didn't have to load it twice. It only had to load "new area" data, which isn't much.

 

Post-Patch 1.2 - #1 still holds true. With #2 though, all data is removed from memory and reloaded from scratch while zoning now. period. No way around it. The trick I did above no longer lefts load times. The game went from "pretty snappy" zoning to "complete slug" zoning.

 

There is no reason to unload and reload all data each time while zoning - it's completely inefficient and is forced upon us. Yeah we need to change zone data but we do not need to reload the special effects data, ect, ect, ect... each time. :-/

 

Anyway, just my observation.

 

hmmm interesting.. so it still useful in getting rid of that annoying loading splash screen....

[Bloodstealer]

Defrag your computer > where you have the game installed.

 

Just one small patch from this game and my harddrive gets really fragmented.

Keeping it defraged speeds up loading for me.

 

Yes it does... I wonder if BW will ever release something to defrag the game ... other MMO's have done this.. I believe LOTRO did something useful in this area iirc.

[Vlacke]

Defrag your computer > where you have the game installed.

 

Just one small patch from this game and my harddrive gets really fragmented.

Keeping it defraged speeds up loading for me.

 

This can always help, i have to say that your observation on fragmentation after patching is correct.

[ADPowah]

Here are two threads that you might find interesting:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=456501

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=427878

 

The highlights are that the main slow down is the handshake between the server and you where BW uses a "blocked call" method that causes the initial pause in loading. If you are seeing additionally pausing after the first 20% (ish) then it is system related and you can do something about it. If you are talking about the initial long pause this is where your computer is communicating with the server and honestly other than making sure your internet connection is good there is no fix you can implement.

[Willhousefour]

I'm running a Core 2 duo system and loading most things takes ~1 minute. My hunch is it has little to do with hardware and more to do with your connection. If you're saying you have a great connection (and aren't playing over wifi), then I don't know... my next guess would be it takes longer to load high server population areas (my server is pretty squarely normal).

[Thundergulch]

1GB dedicated video memory,

 

Care to elaborate a little more on what card you have?

 

since you have 6gb ram I'm assuming you have the i7 950 cpu or similar.

That's what I have,

6gb Ram

GTX 460SE card

2x 1TB WD Caviar Black in RAID 0 config.

 

 

I don't have 5-10 minutes, or even close.... the longest load times are loading Belsavis and Corellia. at around 1-2 minutes max, and that's still too long if you ask me.

[Thundergulch]

Defrag your computer > where you have the game installed.

 

Just one small patch from this game and my harddrive gets really fragmented.

Keeping it defraged speeds up loading for me.

 

This can help obviously, but the main issue is still client side.

I got a brand new workstation computer, i7 2600k SSD, 12GB ram, GTX 580ti 2GB, and the very first thing I did was put SWTOR on it (shh don't tell my boss lol) and the load times are the same (1-2 minutes on corellia and belsavis) on that as my home pc which is not as beastly.

 

This proves that the issue is not our hardware (unless your'e running below min specs.)

Edited May 25, 2012 by Thundergulch

[Bloodstealer]

I'm running a Core 2 duo system and loading most things takes ~1 minute. My hunch is it has little to do with hardware and more to do with your connection. If you're saying you have a great connection (and aren't playing over wifi), then I don't know... my next guess would be it takes longer to load high server population areas (my server is pretty squarely normal).

 

In some cases I think you could be right... although my load times are never more than 3mins but on an SSD with a half decent i7 rig I often think thats too long.

I am more concerned over the FPS spiking thats become more and more evident again since 1.2. I recently re-rooled over on Red Eclipse and much busier server but I see the same FPS drops that were evident to many people during the first month or two.. since server pops declined (on my home server this was pretty evident from month 3 on wards..the FPS issues all but dissapeared and I could hold 30-70FPS pretty much anywhere (except Illum).. since moving I see FPS drops below 10FPS in fleet alot and on various planets, (I hit a record low of 4.7 FPS last week in Voidstar) with load times noticably longer than before.

My home server was Colonel Tobin.. I saw a half decent Latency of around 85ms, which considering I was playing from UK wasnt too bad but I expected some traffic lag but nothing noticeable... Red Esclipse is an EU server and I get around 25ms latency.. and my connection is pretty solid at around 20-22Mb/sec.. pretty much always 0ms jitter and an Upload/Downlaod quality of 98-100% and no more than 6ms TCP delay which is pretty good compared to what some ISP's deliver.

So I think there is more to it than just our PC standards, and our Internet connections.. but all of it co9mbined with a poorly optimised game engine I think add up to mares for many players acros the game.

 

I just hope that if the server transfers do have a positive effect on populations, the game perofmance can cope...

Edited May 25, 2012 by Bloodstealer

[Burtlebe]

Defrag your computer > where you have the game installed.

 

Just one small patch from this game and my harddrive gets really fragmented.

Keeping it defraged speeds up loading for me.

 

Actually if you have Win 7 or Vista, it defrags for you once a week

[Aldael]

Actually, loading times in this game are a little frustrating (more if u are pvping in and out of some planets).

 

 

One thing that helps is making it windowed (or fullscreen windowed), as when it is only fullscreen and u go to OS, program goes to second plane and it doesnt advance.

[Elmillia]

Care to elaborate a little more on what card you have?

 

since you have 6gb ram I'm assuming you have the i7 950 cpu or similar.

That's what I have,

6gb Ram

GTX 460SE card

2x 1TB WD Caviar Black in RAID 0 config.

 

 

I don't have 5-10 minutes, or even close.... the longest load times are loading Belsavis and Corellia. at around 1-2 minutes max, and that's still too long if you ask me.

nVidia geForce 6950 I believe it is. Not the best card, but not bad either. Certainlly well above the requirements for TOR.

[Dastrum]

As a reference point, I timed my loading screen on Taris and it was 31 seconds.

 

System specs:

 

Intel Core i5 750

MSI P55-GD65

8gigs RAM

128 Crucial m4 SSD

Win 7 64bit

 

Yes, the SSD makes a hell of a difference. I was using a WD Black Caviar 1TB HD before and loading times were pretty damn slow. The drive cost me like 130 bucks on newegg and it was well worth the money.

[Iron_Lord]

Loading times depend on the HDD you have, not so much the RAM or CPU.

 

I have a SATA II drive and Corellia is the worst planet to load (3 min 23 sec)

Fleet takes about 50 sec.

 

I heard SSD are the way to go (650MBps) compared to SATA II 350MBps

[Sinphonic]

Its because the hero engine is a POS.

 

if you take out all the art files and animations your load times will zing through.

 

Remember b4 1.2 if you opened your bag your fps would be cut in 1/2 and the open it again and it goes to 1fps.

 

It's their engine. Its terrible

[Eillack]

Loading times for me usually take 2 min max unless there is a scheduled security scan going, then maybe 4 min.

[TheOnlyKyrenS]

I don't know if this is just me but...

 

I went back to wow the other day (They gave me 7 days free so I decided to pop back in). WoW's loading screen, no addons is about 5 to 10 seconds. With dozens of addons, it's about 2 minutes. Other MMOs that I've played are about the same lengh.

 

SWTOR's loading screen is a whopping 5 to 10 MINUTES or longer. My PC is moderately powerful (Core i7, Windows 7, 6 GB ram, 1GB dedicated video memory, plenty of harddrive space).

 

Am the only one suffering these extended loading times? If not, anyone know what I can do about it?

 

A) Title should be "are" not "is"

B) That's a HUGE exaggeration of load times.

C) Get a SSD. Should cut your times.

[hijaxhfx]

How ever you look at it.. something is not right with the game, i had to get a ssd just to get good load time's and i am still slow on some planets over a min. a lot of people who comment are ignorant when they reply and think they are funny when people just want help.

[Ironcleaver]

How ever you look at it.. something is not right with the game, i had to get a ssd just to get good load time's and i am still slow on some planets over a min. a lot of people who comment are ignorant when they reply and think they are funny when people just want help.

 

There deffinetly is... There are a few threads on how the game consistently access the same data files over and over and steadily. It's whats causing the shuttering when even walking around the fleet station. I feel the "awareness bubble" of ones avatar is set way too small which is causing some of the constent data access issues.

 

Bassically, this game / engine is too hard drive intensive and could use major optimizations.