[0.15.23]Factorio loads very slowly

[Gergely]

It may have been reported already, I tried searching, but I'm not good with any sort of search engine, so maybe that's the reason why I haven't found any similar reports. In Factorio 0.15.23, it is still the case.

The thing is... Factorio loads very slowly on my computer ever since I installed the first experimental version of 0.15 At first, I didn't make a report, because I thought it is the high res stuff, but now I'm writing this because of the following:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=49499#p288988

1) It sounds like your config is not saving properly. But I don't see any errors in the log. Try to delete config.ini (in %APPDATA%\Factorio\config\config.ini). If that doesn't help, try to disable Steam Cloud for Factorio.

2) The game is loading incredibly slowly on your computer, not only loading assets, everything everything is slow. For comparison here is my log from the first launch of 0.15.19 on Steam.

Code: Select all

   0.001 2017-06-12 15:32:03; Factorio 0.15.19 (build 30238, win64, steam)
   0.001 Operating system: Windows 10 (build 15063) 
   0.001 Program arguments: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Factorio\bin\x64\Factorio.exe" "--max-texture-size=0" "--force-opengl" 
   0.001 Read data path: C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data
   0.001 Write data path: C:/Users/micha/AppData/Roaming/Factorio
   0.001 Binaries path: C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/bin
   0.006 System info: [CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz, 8 cores, RAM: 16299MB]
   0.007 Display options: [FullScreen: 1] [VSync: 0] [UIScale: 85%] [MultiSampling: OFF] [Screen: 0]
   0.010 Available display adapters: 2
   0.010  [0]: \\.\DISPLAY1 - AMD Radeon (TM) R7 360 Series {0x80005, [0,0], 1920x1200, 32bit, 60Hz}
   0.010  [6]: \\.\DISPLAY7 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti {0x01, [1920,0], 1920x1080, 32bit, 60Hz}
   0.010 Create display on adapter 0. Size 1280x720 at position [310, 222].
   0.322 Initialised OpenGL:[0] AMD Radeon (TM) R7 360 Series; driver: 4.5.13474 Compatibility Profile Context 22.19.162.4
   0.362 DSound: Starting _dsound_update thread
   0.362 DSound: Enter _dsound_update; tid=34736
   0.362 Desktop composition is active.
   0.362 Graphics settings preset: medium
   0.363 Graphics options: [Graphics quality: high] [Video memory usage: high] [Light scale: 25%] [DXT: false]
   0.886 Loading mod core 0.0.0 (data.lua)
   0.894 Loading mod base 0.15.19 (data.lua)
   1.009 Loading mod base 0.15.19 (data-updates.lua)
   1.031 Checksum for core: 4170786945
   1.031 Checksum of base: 2966998318
   1.413 Info PlayerData.cpp:56: Local player-data.json available, timestamp 1496396245
   1.413 Info PlayerData.cpp:63: Cloud player-data.json unavailable
   1.669 Loaded shader file C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/game.glsl
   1.684 Loaded shader file C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/zoom-to-world.glsl
   1.692 Crop bitmaps.
  12.353 Initial atlas bitmap size is 16384
  12.357 Created atlas bitmap 16384x9662
  12.359 Created atlas bitmap 16384x3212
  12.360 Created atlas bitmap 16384x2545
  12.360 Created atlas bitmap 8192x1920
  12.360 Created atlas bitmap 8192x800
  12.361 Created atlas bitmap 8192x2028
  33.389 Sprites loaded
  33.389 Convert atlas 8192x1920 to: mipmap 
  33.484 Convert atlas 8192x800 to: mipmap 
  33.568 Convert atlas 8192x2028 to: trilinear-filtering 
  33.714 Loading sounds...
  35.717 Custom inputs active: 0
  35.761 Factorio initialised
  48.402 DSound: Stopping voice
  48.402 DSound: Joining thread
  48.406 DSound: Exit _dsound_update; tid=34736
  48.406 DSound: Waiting for voice to stop ... signaled
  48.406 DSound: Joined thread
  48.406 DSound: Destroying thread
  48.406 DSound: Thread destroyed
  48.406 DSound: Releasing buffer
  48.406 DSound: Voice stopped
  48.406 DSound: Deallocating voice
  48.406 DSound: Deallocated voice
  49.360 Unable unset the current context! The handle is invalid.

  49.361 Steam API shutdown.
  49.363 Goodbye

• line "Desktop composition is active.": 0.362 vs 3.078 sec
• line "Loading mod base 0.15.19 (data-updates.lua)": 1.009 vs 19.754 sec

Does your laptop run in some power-saving mode or something like that? Or do you have internet browser with hunder tabs opened so it eats all your RAM?

Ever since 0.15, the game loads incredibly slow. (Compared to 0.14 which is used to load within 2-3 seconds.) I haven't made a bug report because I thought it is just the high res stuff. Which is worth the wait. I usually don't have my internet explorer (Google Chrome with ABP) open, and even then I only look into my Gmail inbox which is a single page. I only play games when my laptop is plugged in, but I don't have any power saving mode set up other than reduced screen brightness.

I wrote this bug report because I haven't received a response on that thread.
And it is still the case.

Here's a recent log file in 0.15.23.

Code: Select all

   0.024 2017-06-28 15:44:46; Factorio 0.15.23 (build 30400, win64, steam)
   0.024 Operating system: Windows 10 (build 15063) 
   0.025 Program arguments: "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Factorio\bin\x64\Factorio.exe" 
   0.025 Read data path: C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data
   0.025 Write data path: C:/Users/<user>/AppData/Roaming/Factorio
   0.026 Binaries path: C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/bin
   0.130 System info: [CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4200U CPU @ 1.60GHz, 4 cores, RAM: 6032MB]
   0.136 Display options: [FullScreen: 0] [VSync: 0] [UIScale: 100%] [MultiSampling: OFF] [Screen: 255]
   0.143 Available display adapters: 1
   0.144  [0]: \\.\DISPLAY1 - Intel(R) HD Graphics Family {0x05, [0,0], 1366x768, 32bit, 60Hz}
   0.146 Create display on adapter 0. Size 1280x720 at position [33, 6].
   0.880 Initialised Direct3D:[0] AMD Radeon HD 8670M; driver: aticfx64.dll 8.17.10.1395
   0.895     Video memory size (dedicated video/dedicated system/shared system/available): 2038/0/3016/4092 MB
   0.959 DSound: Starting _dsound_update thread
   0.959 DSound: Enter _dsound_update; tid=11052
   0.960 Device reset internal.
   0.973 Desktop composition is active.
   0.973 Graphics settings preset: high
   0.974 Graphics options: [Graphics quality: high] [Video memory usage: high] [Light scale: 100%] [DXT: false]
   1.474 Loading mod core 0.0.0 (data.lua)
   1.536 Loading mod base 0.15.23 (data.lua)
   2.651 Loading mod base 0.15.23 (data-updates.lua)
   2.726 Checksum for core: 3550962641
   2.726 Checksum of base: 1793295924
   3.503 Info PlayerData.cpp:58: Local player-data.json available, timestamp 1497612705
   3.503 Info PlayerData.cpp:63: Cloud player-data.json available, timestamp 1497102450
   3.922 Loaded shader file C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/game.cso
   3.948 Loaded shader file C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data/core/graphics/shaders/zoom-to-world.cso
   3.948 Crop bitmaps.
  49.339 Initial atlas bitmap size is 16384
  49.345 Created atlas bitmap 16384x9662
  49.347 Created atlas bitmap 16384x3212
  49.350 Created atlas bitmap 16384x2545
  49.351 Created atlas bitmap 8192x1920
  49.351 Created atlas bitmap 8192x800
  49.352 Created atlas bitmap 8192x2028
 123.860 Sprites loaded
 123.860 Convert atlas 8192x1920 to: mipmap 
 124.218 Convert atlas 8192x800 to: mipmap 
 124.298 Convert atlas 8192x2028 to: trilinear-filtering 
 125.689 Loading sounds...
 135.875 Custom inputs active: 0
 136.256 Device reset internal.
 138.502 Factorio initialised
 517.674 DSound: Stopping voice
 517.674 DSound: Joining thread
 517.678 DSound: Exit _dsound_update; tid=11052
 517.678 DSound: Waiting for voice to stop ... signaled
 517.679 DSound: Joined thread
 517.679 DSound: Destroying thread
 517.679 DSound: Thread destroyed
 517.679 DSound: Releasing buffer
 517.679 DSound: Voice stopped
 517.679 DSound: Deallocating voice
 517.679 DSound: Deallocated voice
 517.913 Steam API shutdown.
 518.266 Goodbye

And finally, here's a log file that Factorio 0.14.23 wrote when I reinstalled it just for the sake of testing. (backuped all my saved data first, and let it ran a few times to create it's own saved data.)

Code: Select all

   0.069 2017-06-29 10:04:29; Factorio 0.14.23 (build 25374, win64, steam)
   0.070 Operating system: Windows 10 (build 15063) 
   0.070 Program arguments: "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Factorio\bin\x64\Factorio.exe" 
   0.070 Read data path: C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data
   0.071 Write data path: C:/Users/<user>/AppData/Roaming/Factorio
   0.071 Binaries path: C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/bin
   0.244 System info: [CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4200U CPU @ 1.60GHz, 4 cores, RAM: 6032MB]
   0.248 Display options: [FullScreen: 0] [VSync: 0] [UIScale: 100%] [MultiSampling: OFF] [Screen: 255]
   0.291 Available display adapters: 1
   0.292  [0]: \\.\DISPLAY1 - Intel(R) HD Graphics Family {0x05, [0,0], 1366x768, 32bit, 60Hz}
   0.293 Create display on adapter 0. Size 1280x720 at position [33, 6].
   0.908 Initialised Direct3D:[0] AMD Radeon HD 8670M; driver: aticfx64.dll 8.17.10.1395
   0.922     Video memory size (dedicated video/dedicated system/shared system/available): 2038/0/3016/4092 MB
   0.979 DSound: Starting _dsound_update thread
   0.979 DSound: Enter _dsound_update; tid=14192
   0.981 Device reset internal.
   0.992 Desktop composition is active.
   0.992 Graphics options: [Graphics quality: normal] [Video memory usage: high] [Light scale: 25%] [DXT: false]
   1.120 Loading mod core 0.0.0 (data.lua)
   1.130 Loading mod base 0.14.23 (data.lua)
   1.341 Checksum for core: 1291735968
   1.341 Checksum for mod base: 786624017
   1.958 Info PlayerData.cpp:55: Local player-data.json available, timestamp 1498723460
   1.958 Info PlayerData.cpp:60: Cloud player-data.json available, timestamp 1498723413
   2.175 Initial atlas bitmap size is 16384
   2.179 Created atlas bitmap 16384x5589
   2.179 Created atlas bitmap 4096x968
   2.180 Created atlas bitmap 4096x3652
  21.369 Sprites loaded
  21.369 Convert atlas 4096x968 to: trilinear-filtering 
  21.414 Convert atlas 4096x3652 to: mipmap 
  21.932 Loading sounds...
  25.355 Custom inputs active: 0
  25.448 Factorio initialised
  28.767 DSound: Stopping voice
  28.768 DSound: Joining thread
  28.769 DSound: Exit _dsound_update; tid=14192
  28.769 DSound: Waiting for voice to stop ... signaled
  28.769 DSound: Joined thread
  28.769 DSound: Destroying thread
  28.769 DSound: Thread destroyed
  28.769 DSound: Releasing buffer
  28.769 DSound: Voice stopped
  28.769 DSound: Deallocating voice
  28.769 DSound: Deallocated voice
  28.840 Steam API shutdown.
  28.844 Goodbye

[Klonan]

Thanks for the report

It seems to just be slow loading the sprites from the disk,
What type of a harddrive are you using?

[Gergely]

Thanks for the report

It seems to just be slow loading the sprites from the disk,
What type of a harddrive are you using?

I'm using Hard Disk Drives only.

[Klonan]

Thanks for the report

It seems to just be slow loading the sprites from the disk,
What type of a harddrive are you using?

I'm using Hard Disk Drives only.

What is the RPM or other speed value of the hard disk drive?

In any case, slow OS read times could be due to many many factors but it is unfortunately not a Factorio bug

[Optera]

Anti Malware programs like Windows Defender tend to considerably slow down disk IO as they constantly block other programs until they proof read everything.
Windows Defender usually only slows starting Factorio once until the system is rebooted.

Another option to speed up sprite loading considerably is setting cache-sprite-atlas=true in config.ini and disable texture compression as Rseding91 described in this reddit post.
I really don't see why this is not active by default. Do you want to save disk space?

For some systems it also seems toggling vsync or setting VRAM to high instead of all acts as a speed boost. Not really sure on those though.

[Gergely]

The thing is, Factorio 0.14.23 loads just fine.

Code: Select all

   0.069 2017-06-29 10:04:29; Factorio 0.14.23 (build 25374, win64, steam)
   0.070 Operating system: Windows 10 (build 15063) 
   0.070 Program arguments: "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Factorio\bin\x64\Factorio.exe" 
   0.070 Read data path: C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/data
   0.071 Write data path: C:/Users/<user>/AppData/Roaming/Factorio
   0.071 Binaries path: C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/bin
   0.244 System info: [CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4200U CPU @ 1.60GHz, 4 cores, RAM: 6032MB]
   0.248 Display options: [FullScreen: 0] [VSync: 0] [UIScale: 100%] [MultiSampling: OFF] [Screen: 255]
   0.291 Available display adapters: 1
   0.292  [0]: \\.\DISPLAY1 - Intel(R) HD Graphics Family {0x05, [0,0], 1366x768, 32bit, 60Hz}
   0.293 Create display on adapter 0. Size 1280x720 at position [33, 6].
   0.908 Initialised Direct3D:[0] AMD Radeon HD 8670M; driver: aticfx64.dll 8.17.10.1395
   0.922     Video memory size (dedicated video/dedicated system/shared system/available): 2038/0/3016/4092 MB
   0.979 DSound: Starting _dsound_update thread
   0.979 DSound: Enter _dsound_update; tid=14192
   0.981 Device reset internal.
   0.992 Desktop composition is active.
   0.992 Graphics options: [Graphics quality: normal] [Video memory usage: high] [Light scale: 25%] [DXT: false]
   1.120 Loading mod core 0.0.0 (data.lua)
   1.130 Loading mod base 0.14.23 (data.lua)
   1.341 Checksum for core: 1291735968
   1.341 Checksum for mod base: 786624017
   1.958 Info PlayerData.cpp:55: Local player-data.json available, timestamp 1498723460
   1.958 Info PlayerData.cpp:60: Cloud player-data.json available, timestamp 1498723413
   2.175 Initial atlas bitmap size is 16384
   2.179 Created atlas bitmap 16384x5589
   2.179 Created atlas bitmap 4096x968
   2.180 Created atlas bitmap 4096x3652
  21.369 Sprites loaded
  21.369 Convert atlas 4096x968 to: trilinear-filtering 
  21.414 Convert atlas 4096x3652 to: mipmap 
  21.932 Loading sounds...
  25.355 Custom inputs active: 0
  25.448 Factorio initialised
  28.767 DSound: Stopping voice
  28.768 DSound: Joining thread
  28.769 DSound: Exit _dsound_update; tid=14192
  28.769 DSound: Waiting for voice to stop ... signaled
  28.769 DSound: Joined thread
  28.769 DSound: Destroying thread
  28.769 DSound: Thread destroyed
  28.769 DSound: Releasing buffer
  28.769 DSound: Voice stopped
  28.769 DSound: Deallocating voice
  28.769 DSound: Deallocated voice
  28.840 Steam API shutdown.
  28.844 Goodbye

0.15:
138.502 Factorio initialised
compared to 0.14:
25.448 Factorio initialised

[posila]

You are comparing loading 0.14.23 with normal sprite quality and 0.15.23 with high sprite quality.

Your new logs don't show the issue that concerned me previously - it doesn't take 20 seconds just to load prototypes from base mod anymore. It is interesting "3.948 Crop bitmaps." is there. It shouldn't be there unless you just updated the game, changed sprite quality settings, or enabled/disabled some mods. If it wasn't cropping bitmaps, it would finish loading 40 seconds sooner. I tried to delete crop cache and run the game with your settings multiple times and it cropped bitmaps only the first run, so that works as expected.

Optera's suggestion to set cache-sprite-atlas=true in config.ini might be worth a shot. It is not enabled by default (or even exposed to Options), because it has significant effect only with video-memory-usage=all, and when I tested it on freshly booted system to make sure atlas cache won't be cached by filesystem, I saw only minor improvement in loading time, so it speeds up only game restarts. But most players will restart the game only when changing mods, which causes atlas cache to be rebuilt. So in my opinion most people would not get any advantage from atlas cache, and would get longer restarts when changing mods due to extra cost of rebuilding atlas cache.

That said, not-so-fast CPUs might benefit from it as PNG decompression takes up most of the time during game startup.

[Gergely]

After updating to 0.14.23, I used the default settings. Will try that.