[0.17.2] Steam version takes significantly longer to load

[bourne327]

I use the Steam version on one computer and the standalone website download version on another.

The standalone website version loads in about 5 seconds, Steam version hits "Cropping Bitmaps" and crawls for about 60 seconds before taking 5 seconds to finish everything else. I thought it just took a long time to load the game, but it seems it just takes a long time to load the Steam Version only. This happens on every power up of the game, it always has to crop bitmaps.

Steam Computer loads in 4 eons: Asus MoB, AMD processor, GTX1050TI, 120G SSD, 1T HDD
Website Version Computer that loads almost instantly: Lenovo T480, Intel I5-8250U, 500G SSD

Anyone else have a problem with this? Bug? Hardware issue I don't understand yet?

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[Twinsen]

There should be no reason why one is slower that the other.
Maybe you are using different graphical settings for each. Please post the log files for both versions so we can see your settings and more details.

- make sure that both read and write folders are on the same HDD/SDD in both cases.

- make sure that when you are starting each instance, the previous instance of Factorio is not running. (or any other application that might be using a large amount of vram).

[Pentasim]

I can confirm this.

Steam takes about twice as long than the standalone version.
Times are taken after complete reboot of the system.

Steam:
127.033 Factorio initialised
122.259 Factorio initialised

Standalone:
61.884 Factorio initialised

If the system is not rebooted, both take about the same time each when run a second time:

Steam after steam:
16.263 Factorio initialised
Standalone after steam:
17.363 Factorio initialised

steam1.log

(10.55 KiB) Downloaded 109 times

steam2.log

(4.05 KiB) Downloaded 97 times

standalone.log

(4.23 KiB) Downloaded 111 times

steam-2nd-time.log

(4.05 KiB) Downloaded 96 times

standalone-after-steam.log

(4.23 KiB) Downloaded 87 times

[bourne327]

I moved Factorio to my SSD from the HDD. All times improved by 25%, but still a very long time to launch after reboot.

Sorry, I do not know how to find log files :/

[invisus]

Sorry, I do not know how to find log files :/

Logs should be available here.

[bourne327]

Thanks!

[Rseding91]

The logics don't show anything special happening on the steam version vs the standalone version. The only thing I can think of is some 3rd party program interferring when reading the files from the steam directory.

Can you try taking the exe from the standalone version and putting it in the steam directory next to the factorio steam exe? See if it has the same performance problem.

[Zaflis]

Does 0.17 now automatically cache texture atlas? It reduced loading times significantly, as long as the mod setup hasn't changed or game just patched. I still have this set in:
\AppData\Roaming\Factorio\config\config.ini

...
[graphics]
...
cache-sprite-atlas=true

(may also need to set: video-memory-usage=all)

[Jon8RFC]

I forgot to post that I tested this last night on Win10 and standalone and steam start up at a similar pace for me, without significant discrepancy. I also use the cached atlas.

I tested with UAC both on and off using the Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System EnableLUA key set to zero. I had noticed that the Factorio installer took a long time to load, even with UAC "off" through control panel. I forgot what, but some embedded security program within Windows was bogging down the installer from starting, and setting EnableLUA to zero resolved that. With UAC on and EnableLUA set to 1, there wasn't a difference in load times, so it's not related to that on my end, at least.