LOOOOOOONG Loading Times...

" 2 x 184-pin DIMM Dual channel DDR 266/333
Max capacity: 2 GB"

So, just get another stick of 512, preferably the same specs as the 1st ;)
 
Ok. Firstly, to be honest, things like drive fragmentation and memory tuning don't normally make enormous amounts of difference on well-run systems. It is worth running a benchmark (such as sisoft sandra or whatever) that lets you compare with other computers - just to check that there is nothing blatently wrong with your memory or drive systems.

We know your AGP is ok. I would check DMA too - to do this, get up Device Manager and look for your ATA/ATAPI (or serial ata) controllers. You should be able to check DMA in there.

Next thing to do - can you go to trainstation or something and time just how long the first 'loading' takes (with a stopwatch). Tell me which bit you tried and I'll try the same here, and we can then objectively compare.

Another thing - what kind of hard drive do you have, and what speed is it?
 
koopa said:
Ok. Firstly, to be honest, things like drive fragmentation and memory tuning don't normally make enormous amounts of difference on well-run systems. It is worth running a benchmark (such as sisoft sandra or whatever) that lets you compare with other computers - just to check that there is nothing blatently wrong with your memory or drive systems.

We know your AGP is ok. I would check DMA too - to do this, get up Device Manager and look for your ATA/ATAPI (or serial ata) controllers. You should be able to check DMA in there.

Next thing to do - can you go to trainstation or something and time just how long the first 'loading' takes (with a stopwatch). Tell me which bit you tried and I'll try the same here, and we can then objectively compare.

Another thing - what kind of hard drive do you have, and what speed is it?
Click to expand...
Alright.
I went to Device Manager and clicked on teh IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Then what do I click on?

And I will clock my first loading screen. Before I get to the trainstation. :)

My hard drive is a Maxtor 2F030J0. It's 30GB I think.
 
joule said:
Alright.
I went to Device Manager and clicked on teh IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Then what do I click on?
Click to expand...
It's hard to say because it depends which ATA drivers you have installed (standard/Nvidia/etc), keep looking around.

joule said:
My hard drive is a Maxtor 2F030J0. It's 30GB I think.
Click to expand...
Ok, so it's 5400 RPM with a 2MB cache. That's naturally going to be slower than a 7200 RPM with a better setup.
 
koopa said:
It's hard to say because it depends which ATA drivers you have installed (standard/Nvidia/etc), keep looking around.


Ok, so it's 5400 RPM with a 2MB cache. That's naturally going to be slower than a 7200 RPM with a better setup.
Click to expand...
No, I think it's 7200 RPM.

Also... ;(

Here is my loading time for the opening scene (TRAINSTATION)
I think something is wrong...



















2:16
;(

EDIT: Here is what it says under device manager and ATA/ATAPI controllers:
* Intel(R) 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CB
* Primary IDE Channel
* Secondary IDE Channel

Which do I go into?
 
joule said:
No, I think it's 7200 RPM.
Click to expand...
Ok, google seems to say 5400, but I take your word for it :)

Here is my loading time for the opening scene (TRAINSTATION)
I think something is wrong...2:16
Click to expand...
Holy-mother-of-crap that's long! Edit - Ok, if I 'start new game' and click on 'point insertion' it takes 50 seconds to load. I've not played HL2 today so it's not cached.

* Primary IDE Channel
* Secondary IDE Channel

Which do I go into?
Click to expand...
You want the one your HD is on, so maybe primary IDE.
 
Ok. I went into Primary IDE Channel.

Then Advanced Settings.

Here is what it says:

Device 0
Device Type: Auto Detection (Which is grayed out. I can't select)
Transfer Mode: DMA if available (That is selected)
Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 5

Device 1
Device Type: Auto Detection (That is selected)
Transfer Mode: DMA if available (That is selected)
Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable

What now? Is everything set as though it should be?

EDIT: I will time the loading screen again.
 
That looks ok, joule. Can you remind us what your system specs are? (Mine are 3200+ AMD64, 1GB RAM, 7200 drive). Thinking about it, *if* you only have a 5400 drive and a ~2 GHz processor, I would guess you should expect about 1:30-1:40? Anyone with a similar setup to joule who can comment?
 
koopa said:
That looks ok, joule. Can you remind us what your system specs are?
Click to expand...
System specs:
P4 2.26 GHz
768 DDR-SDRAM (PC-3200) [CORSAIR]
This video card (Which is overclocked to XT speeds)
 
Hmmm, 38 seconds to get to the start of the Intro Sequence ? Your time does sound very wrong :(
 
Grumpy said:
Hmmm, 38 seconds to get to the start of the Intro Sequence ? Your time does sound very wrong :(
Click to expand...
:( Yes indeed.
I just ran it again and it timed in at 2:14. Not much better at all.
 
What should I do? These loading times are becoming a pain and are pulling me away from the Half-Life 2 experience. ;(
 
Installed the update tonight and noticed not only did it not do a damn thing about the stuttering but the loading times are double what they were before. Framerate is still ok though.
 
joule said:
What should I do? These loading times are becoming a pain and are pulling me away from the Half-Life 2 experience. ;(
Click to expand...
On reflection I'm not sure the time is that far off compared to what you should be getting. Can you run something with a hard drive benchmark to test against? If you turn texture detail/etc right down and retest what do you get then?
 
koopa said:
On reflection I'm not sure the time is that far off compared to what you should be getting. Can you run something with a hard drive benchmark to test against? If you turn texture detail/etc right down and retest what do you get then?
Click to expand...
I just disabled that patch.
I did mat_forcetextureintomanagedhardware 0.

Now I get 1:12 on the trainstation opening scene. About 1 minute better. :D

When it is set to 1, I get about 2:15. :x

EDIT: Where do I take the harddrive benchmark test? Link?

EDIT 2: I set my video options at Reflect All, 2X AA, 16X AF, and everything else the highest possible.
 
I have another question. When I put something into console and submit it, will it remember that command each time I start the game? Or do I have to enter it again?
 
joule said:
I just disabled that patch.
I did mat_forcetextureintomanagedhardware 0.

Now I get 1:12 on the trainstation opening scene. About 1 minute better. :D
Click to expand...
Good detective work! That's probably as good as it's going to get.
 
joule said:
I've tried many things to reduce the loading times. I don't know what the problem is. Is it my computer or the game?
Click to expand...

The game. I have one gigabyte of memory and a SATA disk, and it's still painfully slow. HL2 isn't meant for today's computers, it seems.
 
When I enter something into console, is it always remembered? Or do I have to enter it again each time I boot it up?
 
koopa said:
You have to enter it in autoexec.cfg to make it permanent I think.
Click to expand...
He is right..
Make a autoexec.cfg with the commands u want and put it in the same dir as youre config.cfg (C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\**nick**\half-life 2\hl2\cfg)
If u dont use a autoexec u have to type it in every time u play the game.
 
klippie said:
He is right..
Make a autoexec.cfg with the commands u want and put it in the same dir as youre config.cfg (C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\**nick**\half-life 2\hl2\cfg)
If u dont use a autoexec u have to type it in every time u play the game.
Click to expand...

I think steam erases what you saved when steam is restarted..
 
How do I make a autoexec.cfg or whatever? I have no idea how to do this. Please explain thoroughly on what to do and how to do it.
 
just create a new doc using notepad and add the console commands, then save it as a .cfg file or save it as a .txt and then change the extension to .cfg
 
Whether or not commands are remembered depends, some like say, cl_updaterate, cl_cmdrate will. Others such as cl_cmooth will not. To make the commands stay, you can either add them to the launch options or create a text file that is executed on startup.

There are two types, one called autoexec.cfg and one called userconfig.cfg. The first will only be executed at game startup, the other will be executed on map change aswell. It's easy to create either, simply go to the C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\email\half-life 2\hl2\cfg directory. Then create a text file named either "autoexec.cfg" or "userconfig.cfg" without the quotes. Make sure that you have "Hide extensions for known file types" in Tools->Folder Options->View unticked. Then simply enter the commands you wish to be executed in the file, a new line for each command :)
 
arsenalfc said:
just create a new doc using notepad and add the console commands, then save it as a .cfg file or save it as a .txt and then change the extension to .cfg
Click to expand...
Ok. You were very vague to someone who is new to this and doesn't know what to do. I just saved my commands in notepad and HAD to save it as a .txt file. Now what??? This is confusing.

nm. Thanks dynamic.
 
dynamicx, should I create a new folder? I'm stuck where I have to create a text file. I'm at the place where there is "config.cfg" and "valve". There are two files there. You know what I mean? I'm stuck on what to do.

Could you please go step-by-step? :cheers:
 
Yup, create them right there, make sure they have the .cfg extention.
 
dynamicx said:
Yup, create them right there, make sure they have the .cfg extention.
Click to expand...
I still don't get it. I create the folder and then what? I name it .cfg??? How do I change the extension. This is all Greek to me. :x

Could you please go step-by-step with this, please?
 
In the folder with config.cfg and valve.rc, create a new text file with the names I said earlier. To create a new text file right click in a blank space in the folder, and go to New -> Text document. Ask if you need more help :)
 
Do 'New' then 'New text file'. You then need to call it autoexec.cfg. Make sure it's called autoexec.cfg and not autoexec.cfg.txt, if you hide extensions by default.
 
Ok. Thank you so very much. I created the new text file, as you had said. I opened it and put all the commands in that I wanted. I saved it. And now what?

EDIT: Ok. I renamed it as "autoexec.cfg"

Now what?
 
You're all done if the file you made doesn't have a text file icon. If it does, go to Tools -> Folder Options -> View tab -> Then untick the option "Hide extensions for known file types" Right click on the file and click "Rename". Then delete the .txt bit off the end, you should get a warning about if you really want to change the file type, click yes. That should be it :)
 
dynamicx said:
You're all done if the file you made doesn't have a text file icon. If it does, go to Tools -> Folder Options -> View tab -> Then untick the option "Hide extensions for known file types" Right click on the file and click "Rename". Then delete the .txt bit off the end, you should get a warning about if you really want to change the file type, click yes. That should be it :)
Click to expand...
:cheers: :D :D :D :imu:

Thank you so very much much much. You are very in-depth and informative on what to do. Thank you again. Everything seems ok now.

Now, I have a question. :rolleyes:

...As the title of this thread goes, how can I reduce my loading times? I have tried almost everything in the book possible. You can read through the thread and see what has been done.

Things such as -heapsize and -console, do they need to be added to that .cfg file too? I don't think they do. They just go into the Target Location. :p
 
And I have another question.
When putting in -heapsize [Number], is it a "-" in front of it or is it supposed to be a "+" in front of it?

Because I put a "-" in front of it like the tweakguide told me. :)
 
To be honest.. I don't think you really can reduce them much more without upgrading your pc. You said it took about 1:10 I think after you'd disabled the patch, that's about right for your pc. The biggest bottleneck would be the hard drive I would imagine, obviously nothing you can tweak.

One thing though, is you could increase the -heapsize command to 384000, I have 768mb ram and it's fine for me. Commands added to the Target location don't need to be added to any cfg files :) Oh, and if you can't be bothered to change any cfg files, you can add commands to the Target location by simply adding +cl_smooth 1 for example.

EDIT: if you have stuttering, try the command "snd_async_fullyasync 1"

EDIT2: "-" is for things that the game needs to know that you can't change ingame. Things like -window etc have a "-". Ones that use "+" are commands you can change ingame.
 
dynamicx said:
To be honest.. I don't think you really can reduce them much more without upgrading your pc. You said it took about 1:10 I think after you'd disabled the patch, that's about right for your pc. The biggest bottleneck would be the hard drive I would imagine, obviously nothing you can tweak.

One thing though, is you could increase the -heapsize command to 384000, I have 768mb ram and it's fine for me. Commands added to the Target location don't need to be added to any cfg files :) Oh, and if you can't be bothered to change any cfg files, you can add commands to the Target location by simply adding +cl_smooth 1 for example.

EDIT: if you have stuttering, try the command "snd_async_fullyasync 1"
Click to expand...
Alrighty. Thank you. I think I'm good to go. I'm gonna play a little now. I might check in a little later. Thanks again. :thumbs: :)
 
dynamic. I am back from playing again. I put that command in. (snd_async_fullasync 1). I noticed better frame rates and slightly reduce loading times, but the sounds were weird. They were either delayed sounds or out of synch with my actions. Hmm...Should I keep it enabled?
 
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