Slow loading and connecting times *FIXED* Caused by ENB Series mod

[Viper]

Strangest thing: Since I reinstalled EM (latest version) again a couple of days ago, I noticed that the game is extremely slow while performing certain actions.

The problem mostly seems to occur during a couple of specific tasks:
- Connecting to a server (it says it's connected but nothing happens; you can see the windows loader thingy spinning. Loading the actual game files as soon as I'm connected to the server is actually as quick as can be expected.)
- Respawning
- Renaming / deleting / etc pilot profiles
- I might have forgotten another one here

Some info:
- PC running on Windows 10
- EM is installed in its default location (C:\\sw3dg)
- I'm using a AMD Phenom Black Edition 4x3.4Mhz Quad core (Yes, it's still running!)
- My hard drive is a Samsung SSD
- 8Gb RAM (EM uses only a fraction)
- Exception for EM created in Windows Firewall
- I'm on a fiberglass internet connection, speed should not be an issue
- I'm using the ENB Series mod among a couple of other mods, which is known to cause performance issues. The game's performance however is not the issue, I'm still running 60fps.

Anyone any idea?


P.S.:
Just remembered but not sure if it's related: I first installed EM in the Program Files folder (the 64 bit one, but also tried the 32 bit). When I then started the game, I got 2 windows messages, the first saying something along the lines of "File could not be unzipped", and the other something like "Incorrect file block". Not entirely sure about the wording of the latter.

P.S.#2:
Just noticed that when I die in game and hit the respawn button, the loading really takes long. You can see the windows loading icon thingy spinning intermittently, then a short flicker at the bottom of the screen and then the loading thingy again. This seems to repeat itself over and over.
After 5 minutes with no results I killed the EM process through the Windows task manager. In the mean time EM had been collecting memory, starting in the neigborhood of 200Mb which probably is its normal use, but building up to around 600Mb the moment I killed the process, which seems a bit much.

Hope it helps.

[Edited on 10-21-2015 by Viper]

[Edited on 10-22-2015 by Viper]

[Vice]

Sounds like something is hindering and/or interfering with the read/write performance of your hard drive. Check your running background programs, particularly any security related, and make sure nothing is trying to scan/update/operate while the game is running.

Although it may not be related, I ran into a situation recently where Open Office would just hang for long periods of time when trying to launch it, load files, etc. The same thing would happen when trying to manage other files and load other programs. After narrowing down running tasks, it appeared to be one of Windows 10's update functions. Once I let that finish and performed the required restart, things went back to normal. Something else to possibly watch out for is Windows 10's update behavior, which tends to happen whenever and not when you may want it to.

[Viper]

You could be onto something there. On the one hand my SSD did go into frozen state a couple of weeks ago, and had to be rescued by the guys in the repair shop. In fact, nothing was rescued but all data was simply erased and the disk received some new firmware.

On the other hand, Windows 10 update behavior does suck. I don't even think you can deactivate it. I checked, and it turns out that my pc had done updates at about the same time of the delays...

[Vice]

Could be either, it can be tough to pin down. Although with gamers and other general purpose users of Windows 10 reporting similar issues in all kinds of software and Windows functions (including even file explorer), I'd suspect Windows 10's update and/or search functions as being a possible part of the equation at least some of the time.

If it isn't an SSD hardware issue on your system, you could also try to turn off the search service and anything else running that might be interfering with hard drive performance, reboot, check to make sure they remain turned off, then test again for performance changes.

Problems like the intermittent program/game stalling, slow read/write performance, spontaneous involuntary sleep mode activation (on an Alienware laptop I use), and some other things eventually lead me to decide not to use Windows 10 for any significant development work nor gaming. They'll likely iron out such problems over time, but for now, I have it on two systems just for testing and not much else.

[Viper]

Well I think I figured this one out - and surprisingly, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with Windows.

It seems to be the ENB Series mod after all. Not sure if you are familiar with it, but it has a load of options you can set. With the global effects option set to 'on', the mod loads at the same time when you load the game. Now the delays happen.

If you deactivate this option and load the game with the mod turned off, the delays are gone and everything works as it's supposed to. In any case you can activate the mod when you're in game by hitting shift-f12. Since I've started to do that, all my problems are gone.

On a side note: the ENB Series mod produces spectacular graphics. Not just the bloom or the other sweetness, but also the reflections it produces. Looks astonishing against the inside of your cockpit canopy for example. Would it be an idea to incorporate (part of) it into a future release? In my opinion it really adds to the whole game experience.

[Vice]

As you have discovered, it apparently alters software from normal operation, which can potentially introduce problems that otherwise would not exist. If it runs that way on Windows 10, it certainly wouldn't be a very good option, default or otherwise. You can certainly try it as an option, but it could not really be integrated as a supported option since it's not my software and is altering my software to operate outside of how it is intended to run. Why it would change read/write performance would be a mystery. I'll move this thread over to the customizing forum shortly since it appears to relate to that topic.

[Marvin]

If an "ENB" thread already exists, you might want to merge the two.

[Viper]

As you have discovered, it apparently alters software from normal operation, which can potentially introduce problems that otherwise would not exist. If it runs that way on Windows 10, it certainly wouldn't be a very good option, default or otherwise. You can certainly try it as an option, but it could not really be integrated as a supported option since it's not my software and is altering my software to operate outside of how it is intended to run. Why it would change read/write performance would be a mystery. I'll move this thread over to the customizing forum shortly since it appears to relate to that topic.

Of course, that makes sense. But perhaps we would see some similar effects, but coded by you, appear in EM some time?

I have no idea why the mod would affect read/write performance on my pc, or is prohibiting the game itself to write data. The mod itself exists of a DLL file and an INI file to set all the different options, that's pretty much all I know. I've taken a short look at the creator's website, here's a small excerpt:

ENBSeries is 3d graphic modification for games like TES Skyrim, TES Oblivion, GTA, Deus Ex, Fallout, and others. It work by modifying render functions calls of the games and applying additional effects. ... Available effects are SSAO, SSIL, Depth Of Field, Lens FX, Bloom, HDR, Tone Mapping, Sharpening, Sun Rays, Shadows, Detailed Shadows, Reflection and others in various versions of them.

So it appears the mod would 'grab' some of the game's processes, and adjust them before they are processed (at least, that's how this sounds to someone like me who doesn't really know these things)? So in fact, it would litterally be interfering with the game code? That would certainly explain the behavior I guess.

I edited the title of the topic to reflect that the problem is caused by something else than the game.

[Edited on 10-22-2015 by Viper]