41 replies to this topic

[Ilesyt]

Are there any of you guys out there that have this same problem ?
I found that whenever I was loading a map it took me AGES to get it loaded, it took me over a minute to loads maps, sometimes even more than 2 minutes, rarely even 3 minutes!

I checked my data transfer on my router and I found out that it hardly used any of it.
Is there anyone out there with the same problem ? Anyone know what might cause it ?

These are my laptop's stats and I shouldn't be having any problems with it, I don't have (m)any performance issues in WvWvW and I'm there a lot, it's just the loading that takes me a WHOLE long while...

Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 CPU    M 480  @ 2.67GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3950MB RAM
Page File: 3935MB used, 3962MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Card name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Display Memory: 2733 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1014 MB
Shared Memory: 1719 MB
Current Mode: 1600 x 900 (32 bit) (59Hz)

And the location of my dat file is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Guild Wars 2 Beta

All of my friends and guildies loaded much faster than me and I would like to load faster than I currently am.

Edited by Ilesyt, 10 August 2012 - 10:49 AM.

[XgreatArtist]

Could it be your hard drive?
Loading stuff is HDD business. Chances are you have a slow HDD while your friends have faster ones
And most laptop HDD are 5400rpm or less

[Xezz]

As the poster above me said, it looks like it is your harddrive. If it is slow or quite fragmented you are going to have issues with loading times.

[Ilesyt]

Well I had my hdd defragmented a month ago , but I COULD defragment it again :/
And my HDD is serious business, 1 TB  and not sure how much but it was over 5400 rpm.

[Killyox]

Ilesyt, on 10 August 2012 - 09:27 AM, said:

Are there any of you guys out there that have this same problem ?
I found that whenever I was loading a map it took me AGES to get it loaded, it took me over a minute to loads maps, sometimes even more than 2 minutes, rarely even 3 minutes!

I checked my data transfer on my router and I found out that it hardly used any of it.
Is there anyone out there with the same problem ? Anyone know what might cause it ?

These are my laptop's stats and I shouldn't be having any problems with it, I don't have (m)any performance issues in WvWvW and I'm there a lot, it's just the loading that takes me a WHOLE long while...

Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 CPU    M 480  @ 2.67GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3950MB RAM
Page File: 3935MB used, 3962MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Card name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Display Memory: 2733 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1014 MB
Shared Memory: 1719 MB
Current Mode: 1600 x 900 (32 bit) (59Hz)

And the location of my dat file is: C:\Program Files (x86)\Guild Wars 2 Beta

All of my friends and guildies loaded much faster than me and I would like to load faster than I currently am.

They load form your drive. It's only your hardwares fault. Get faster HDD or buy SSD.

Ilesyt, on 10 August 2012 - 11:36 AM, said:

Well I had my hdd defragmented a month ago , but I COULD defragment it again :/
And my HDD is serious business, 1 TB  and not sure how much but it was over 5400 rpm.

Defrag won't help much. Your HDD is simply too slow to process all the data and thus it takes long time.

!TB and 5400rpm doesn't mean anything. It's the Read/Write values that matter for loading.

Edited by Killyox, 10 August 2012 - 11:44 AM.

[Ilesyt]

http://gyazo.com/a51...c8469d974209156

Bad or not ?

[Kendil]

Get a ssd

If you're using wireless you might have a slow connection for some reason. Have you tried plugging in a wire? Are other games loading slowly as well?

Ilesyt, on 10 August 2012 - 11:57 AM, said:

http://gyazo.com/a51...c8469d974209156

Bad or not ?

Looking at that and then looking at this http://www.tomshardw...-3.16,2901.html (it's avrage read speed)

Yes, it seems like it's your hard drive's fault.

Edited by Kendil, 10 August 2012 - 12:07 PM.

[Ilesyt]

Kendil, on 10 August 2012 - 12:00 PM, said:

Get a ssd

If you're using wireless you might have a slow connection for some reason. Have you tried plugging in a wire? Are other games loading slowly as well?

Nah that's the only one, it's just that it loads sooooo slow....


I recently played Aion and that was fine...

This is my D drive:
http://gyazo.com/48f...7e3aef29fe5a955

would it be better if I put the dat file in D or would it become even slower because of the communication inbetween C and D, but that shouldn't be a problem because C and D are just partitions of 1 hdd.

Edited by Ilesyt, 10 August 2012 - 12:14 PM.

[Return0]

A stated in the post above mine: There are 2 possible causes for your problem

1. you use wlan
2. your harddrive is slow

If it's No. 1, the fix is simple: use a cable for your connection

If it's No. 2, the fix isn't as easy as it sounds ("just buy a ssd" comes with some complications):
Sure, a ssd is a fine gadget and can improve your write- and read-speed significantly but before you head out to buy one, you should first think through it:
Fist of all: You have a laptop. This can cause some serious complications in terms of hardware. A laptop isn't a open system as a desktop computer. It can be very complicated to change hardware parts.
Second: It's not like all you have to do is just mount your ssd and you're done. Since you have a laptop, I don't think you have the possibility to keep your old drive (for reasons of space). You'll have to mirror your old disk or reinstall your operating system. Both of these steps need some level og knowledge or you're going to have a really bad time.
And last but not least: ssds aren't cheap. If you only have space for a singel disk, you can't keep your old harddrive. This means your ssd has to feature at least enough space to cover the size of your current installation. Depnding on the size of your installation, the prices may skyrocket.

If you wan't to hear my opinion: Accept those long loading times or invest some money in a proper gaming-pc (laptops are very mobile but they aren't designed for gaming)

[Senatic]

Ilesyt, on 10 August 2012 - 11:36 AM, said:

Well I had my hdd defragmented a month ago , but I COULD defragment it again :/
And my HDD is serious business, 1 TB  and not sure how much but it was over 5400 rpm.

which is one of the lower speeds, you wanna have a HDD going at 7200rpm and with an access time of <6ms if possible.

[Ilesyt]

I guess I'll have to put up with those long loading times then...

But would putting my Dat on the D drive help even a bit ? because it's about 8-9 MB/s faster and has like 1-2 ms less

[tijo]

Senatic, on 10 August 2012 - 12:33 PM, said:

which is one of the lower speeds, you wanna have a HDD going at 7200rpm and with an access time of <6ms if possible.

Ilesyt, on 10 August 2012 - 12:48 PM, said:

I guess I'll have to put up with those long loading times then...

But would putting my Dat on the D drive help even a bit ? because it's about 8-9 MB/s faster and has like 1-2 ms less

A 7.2K RPM HDD would help, but even with a SSD, map loading times are far from instantaneous.

You mentioned your D drive, do you have a second HDD installed in your laptop and if so what is it or is it simply another partition?

For future reference if anyone is interested, 1TB = 5400RPM in a lapotp, the highest capacity for 7200RPM drives so far is 750GB aside from maybe some enterprise drives that are likely 12.5mm thick or even thicker.

By the way, you will see no noticeable difference when first loading the game from a SSD vs a 7200RPM HDD (a recent one) you will see things like the minimap loading faster after the initial map load though.

Edited by tijo, 10 August 2012 - 01:08 PM.

[Ilesyt]

It's just a partition...

But I did these tests on it and these were my results, I did several of them too...

C: http://gyazo.com/a51...c8469d974209156

D: http://gyazo.com/48f...7e3aef29fe5a955

[tijo]

If it's just a partition, it's not worth bothering really.

[Ilesyt]

Now for something hypothetical (Because I'm not buying a SSD, it's just what IF): If I were to buy a desktop  with a SSD and a HDD

Should I install my OS on the SSD or on the HDD and install the game on the SSD ?

Edited by Ilesyt, 10 August 2012 - 01:35 PM.

[tijo]

Ilesyt, on 10 August 2012 - 01:35 PM, said:

Now for something hypothetical (Because I'm not buying a SSD, it's just what IF): If I were to buy a desktop  with a SSD and a HDD

Should I install my OS on the SSD or on the HDD and install the game on the SSD ?

You want the OS on the SSD and the game too, that is provided you got a desktop with a large enough SSD (minimum 120GB) in order to keep some free space (~20%) to prevent any drastic performance drops on the SSD.

[Ilesyt]

Meh Decent gaming has become such expensive business nowadays that regular equipment just don't fit the mark

[Return0]

I wouldn't recommend an ssd.

ssds are nice tools if you know what you're doing and you can make sure you get out the most of it.
But if you aren't a "power user", your profits of an ssd will be minor. It's just not worth the the price.

[tijo]

Ilesyt, on 10 August 2012 - 01:45 PM, said:

Meh Decent gaming has become such expensive business nowadays that regular equipment just don't fit the mark

Actually, it does, a SSD is just extra candy, but if you have one, you might as well use it. A 5400RPM drive has been considered slow for a long time, but manufacturers still make them since they're cheaper. A 7200RPM drive is what most gamers consider these days.

Most enthusiasts are running SSDs, but then most enthusiasts drop more cash on tech that the average person.

Edited by tijo, 10 August 2012 - 01:51 PM.

[Return0]

Ilesyt, on 10 August 2012 - 01:45 PM, said:

Meh Decent gaming has become such expensive business nowadays that regular equipment just don't fit the mark

Gaming hardware is indeed overpriced. Especially if you buy a premounted system.
But as long as you don't have the required knowledge, I wouldn't recommend a self-built system

[Return0]

tijo, on 10 August 2012 - 01:49 PM, said:

Actually, it does, a SSD is just extra candy, but if you have one, you might as well use it. A 5400RPM drive has been considered slow for a long time, but manufacturers still make them since they're cheaper. A 7200RPM drive is what most gamers consider these days.

Most enthusiasts are running SSDs, but then most enthusiasts drop more cash on tech that the average person.

Actually, the benefits of a ssd versus a decent hdd are very small in case of gaming. All you get is faster maploading but I never felt like paying 300% more just to reduce the loadingtime from 5 to 2 or whatever seconds.

Edited by Return0, 10 August 2012 - 01:58 PM.

[tijo]

Return0, on 10 August 2012 - 01:51 PM, said:

Gaming hardware is indeed overpriced. Especially if you buy a premounted system.
But as long as you don't have the required knowledge, I wouldn't recommend a self-built system

Well, 500$ won't get you much in terms of gaming performance, but it's always been that way. you can actually get something not too bad once you hit the 700$ mark and with 600$ if you go DIY, you should also be able to get something not too shabby.

Return0, on 10 August 2012 - 01:58 PM, said:

Actually, the benefits of a ssd versus a decent hdd are very small in case of gaming. All you get is faster maploading but I never felt like paying 300% more just to reduce the loadingtime from 5 to 2 or whatever seconds.

I didn't get a SSD for gaming, but since i have one, i might as well install a few games on it if i got the space, GW1 had noticeable better performance on a SSD in crowded kamadan since it has to load a lot of textures from the HDD for example. Some people noticed stuttering in GW2 on slower HDDs due to similar situations. If you look at past build threads, we've been recommending the SSD once the other components were taken care of and the person's budget still allowed it.

I did run into situations where i had to page some stuff to the drive (work related) and man was i glad to have the SSD at that time. Like you said you don't get a SSD primarily for gaming, you get it for the fast access times and faster reads/writes for other programs and the OS.

Edited by tijo, 10 August 2012 - 02:05 PM.

[Return0]

tijo, on 10 August 2012 - 01:58 PM, said:

Well, 500$ won't get you much in terms of gaming performance, but it's always been that way. you can actually get something not too bad once you hit the 700$ mark and with 600$ if you go DIY, you should also be able to get something not too shabby.

Totally agree with you.
Once you hit 1000$, all you get is just cosmetic (aka being able to run highend games like Battlefield 3 or Crysis 2 on maximum settings)

[Ilesyt]

Then what about a Hybrid ?
Would it be beneficial ?

[SuperNova]

This sounds like something a bit more than just a slow hard drive tbh.  Really the difference between hard drives isn't that much, certainly not if he has a newer one which it must be.

[tijo]

Ilesyt, on 10 August 2012 - 02:12 PM, said:

Then what about a Hybrid ?
Would it be beneficial ?

Maybe a Momentus XT 750GB would be beneficial, but only maybe, i'd have to test it but i don't have one and you can't cache the whole game on it anyways. It's also possible the Gw2.dat file itself is highly fragmented, you could see if it is with a program like defraggler and defrag only that file.

For the record, my load times are usually in the 10-15s range on an Intel 320 160GB. Gonna time it again when i get the chance tonight.

@supernova, there could be something else too so i'm gonna ask the usual question to the OP, drivers up to date?

Edited by tijo, 10 August 2012 - 02:25 PM.

[Ilesyt]

Yup i checked the drivers, tried the auto update and even manual searched for them on the site, everything is fine.

Just an additional note: I have times when the initial sprite loading takes a while too.

[Return0]

SuperNova, on 10 August 2012 - 02:13 PM, said:

This sounds like something a bit more than just a slow hard drive tbh.  Really the difference between hard drives isn't that much, certainly not if he has a newer one which it must be.

Sure. His installation isn't new nor clean I guess -> that's where the problem lies (almost 90% certain about that).
But what do you wan't to tell him? Should he wipe his Laptop and set it up new from scratch?
Laptops come with OEM-License, so it's a bit tricky to reinstall them.
And even the reinstallation of a computer by itself isn't something anyone can do.

Edited by Return0, 10 August 2012 - 02:24 PM.

[Eon Lilu]

I was worried about this but not anymore, my new pc just ordered has 240gb SSD so loading times should be alot less. 120gb SSD's are going pretty cheap nowadays if your looking to upgrade.

Edited by Eon Lilu, 10 August 2012 - 02:27 PM.

[tijo]

Eon Lilu, on 10 August 2012 - 02:27 PM, said:

I was worried about this but not anymore, my new pc just ordered has 240gb SSD so loading times should be alot less. 120gb SSD's are going pretty cheap nowadays if your looking to upgrade.

The OP has a laptop, so if he doesn't have two HDD bays (most likely scenario), he'd have to sacrifice the optical drive and get a caddy to be able to run a dual drive system which would likely be needed since 120GB for a whole system is pretty darn small. Installing, SSD, caddy and HDD as well as having to sacrifice the optical drive isn't for everyone.