Slow Loading Screens (Vulkan)

[-RiSe]

Even though I'm running it off an SSD, it's too painfully slow with Vulkan. It can take up to 5 minutes just to get past the loading screen after restarting from a checkpoint when killed. It's extremely annoying playing on a higher difficulty and getting killed every 10 minutes, barley playable actually. Reverting to OpenGL solves it though. Is anyone noticing this?


4770k
980 Ti
Samsung 840 PRO SSD

[Skankhunt42]

Same here. Always gets stuck at 95% no matter which api in use. Have already tried a lot without any improvement. FX8350/8GB-R7 260/2GB

[Salamand3r-]

Interesting.

I know it will use as much storage bandwidth as it can get, but those load times seem ridiculous.

@Caution!, I know you've been in this forum quite a bit, have you messed with your page file at all? I know it causes some issues, and some were manifested in longer load times.

Could either or both of you keep an eye on disk usage during these load times? And @Caution!, could you specify what storage solution you are using? I can build a nearly identical machine to yours and do some testing with the parts I have on hand.

[Skankhunt42]

FX8350
Gigabyte 970A-DS3P rev. 1.0
Sapphire R7 260 2GB
8GB RAM @1600 MHZ
2TB Toshiba HDD

I have already tried different page file sizes. When the loading screen reaches 95% the drive waits for up to five minutes, then suddenly loads the last 5% and the level starts. On very rare occasions it loads the whole thing in one sip.

[Salamand3r-]

Originally posted by Caution!ExplosiveBolts:

FX8350
Gigabyte 970A-DS3P rev. 1.0
Sapphire R7 260 2GB
8GB RAM @1600 MHZ
2TB Toshiba HDD

I have already tried different page file sizes. When the loading screen reaches 95% the drive waits for up to five minutes, then suddenly loads the last 5% and the level starts. On very rare occasions it loads the whole thing in one sip.

So in other words, the drive is idle during that pause in loading. Interesting. Is there a spike in CPU activity, and how does your RAM utilization look at those times?

I'll toss a machine together tonight to match that as closely as possible - I don't have an identical hard drive but I'm sure I can get close enough.

I didn't run into those issues when I tested on a similar setup at release, but I'll give it a shot.

[Skankhunt42]

The cpu is also almost idle, like 10% usage. The RAM is at 4-5GB. I can open the explorer and folders on my other display.

Originally posted by Salamand3r:

Originally posted by Caution!ExplosiveBolts:

FX8350
Gigabyte 970A-DS3P rev. 1.0
Sapphire R7 260 2GB
8GB RAM @1600 MHZ
2TB Toshiba HDD

I have already tried different page file sizes. When the loading screen reaches 95% the drive waits for up to five minutes, then suddenly loads the last 5% and the level starts. On very rare occasions it loads the whole thing in one sip.

So in other words, the drive is idle during that pause in loading. Interesting. Is there a spike in CPU activity, and how does your RAM utilization look at those times?

I'll toss a machine together tonight to match that as closely as possible - I don't have an identical hard drive but I'm sure I can get close enough.

I didn't run into those issues when I tested on a similar setup at release, but I'll give it a shot.

[-RiSe]

Originally posted by Salamand3r:

Interesting.

I know it will use as much storage bandwidth as it can get, but those load times seem ridiculous.

@Caution!, I know you've been in this forum quite a bit, have you messed with your page file at all? I know it causes some issues, and some were manifested in longer load times.

Could either or both of you keep an eye on disk usage during these load times? And @Caution!, could you specify what storage solution you are using? I can build a nearly identical machine to yours and do some testing with the parts I have on hand.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that these long loading times are seen with Vulkan only. With OpenGL it's only a few seconds.

[Salamand3r-]

Originally posted by -RiSe:

Originally posted by Salamand3r:

Interesting.

I know it will use as much storage bandwidth as it can get, but those load times seem ridiculous.

@Caution!, I know you've been in this forum quite a bit, have you messed with your page file at all? I know it causes some issues, and some were manifested in longer load times.

Could either or both of you keep an eye on disk usage during these load times? And @Caution!, could you specify what storage solution you are using? I can build a nearly identical machine to yours and do some testing with the parts I have on hand.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that these long loading times are seen with Vulkan only. With OpenGL it's only a few seconds.

I noticed that in your original post. I'm not sure if I can test that as well, again I just don't see it on my test bed.

As to Caution!, I can't seem to replicate it either. The only time I have seen a similar issue is with a bad stick of RAM (in another game though, so it may not be applicable). If you have any other RAM to test with, that might be a valid route to take.

Unfortunately, without the ability to replicate either, I don't have any ideas for -RiSe, considering it is unique to Vulkan.

Sorry guys, I tried.

On the bright side, Denuvo didn't lock me out during testing.

[911tech]

Vulkan definitely takes longer to load. But it still feels better to me for some reason once it starts. My rig is an i7-5820k + GTX 1080 and a stupid 32gb ddr4. Doom is not loaded on my SSD but when using opengl the game at least launches the splash screen immediately. On Vulkan I can launch the game and just keep surfing the net for a few minutes before the bethesda splash starts. Actual loading screens seem about twice as long when using Vulkan.

I havent really monitored disk usage between the two. Probably because no matter what I would stay with Vulkan. Maybe its just in my head but the game feels tighter on that API (multiplayer).

[Twerk_Stain]

Vulkan, to my understanding, builds a cache library on local storage like mantle did...this almost always makes initial loads extremely long (long enough to make you think something is wrong), and updating/rolling back drivers prompts a re-write...

It was very common with BF4, as people would often try to load a map and think something was wrong...then start messing with drivers and never build up that cache file. So it just kept happening.

If you haven't yet, try just starting the game to menu...then quitting...then relatively quickly launch it again. Then load a mission, mess around briefly, quit to desktop, reload again...

if after a brief bit of cycling; loading isn't getting noticeably better time wise...there is more to it in your case. You can search for the directory location of that cache file from what I remember, too...deleting that is a quicker way than wiping drivers and prompts the re-write again when you launch the game.

My first couple load times approached 3 or 4 minutes to menu, especially the first time into mp and snapmap. After 2 or 3 bad ones, though, it's no different than ogl. I'm now going instantly to menu after the intro's, the screen saying 'loading profile' or whatever is like half a second at most.

[911tech]

To clarify, the game launch to Bethesda splash takes about 4 minutes on Vulkan. I did look at disk usage and there is a quick spike at launch but almost no disk or cpu usage during those 4 minutes. Then switching to multiplayer takes about 2 minutes. Once the app is up and running map/level loads and joining matches is not noticably longer than openGL. Just seems odd, Im not really complaining. I like the way Vulkan runs once the game launches. Definitely pushes more fps when I turn vsync off to test. Runs the GPU about 10c higher pushing those extra frames too. But until I upgrade the monitor I play with vsync on.

[Salamand3r-]

Easy solution - everyone go out and buy 64gb or more of RAM, and run Doom from a RAMdisk.

:D

[911tech]

Originally posted by Salamand3r:

Easy solution - everyone go out and buy 64gb or more of RAM, and run Doom from a RAMdisk.

:D

Hehe, I would. But based on cpu/ram/disk usage during the delay I have no idea what it is doing for those 4 minutes or so. It immediatelly allocates around 4-5gb of ram but nothing seems to be taxed at all during the delay.

[Skankhunt42]

Originally posted by Salamand3r:

Originally posted by -RiSe:

Sorry, I forgot to mention that these long loading times are seen with Vulkan only. With OpenGL it's only a few seconds.

I noticed that in your original post. I'm not sure if I can test that as well, again I just don't see it on my test bed.

As to Caution!, I can't seem to replicate it either. The only time I have seen a similar issue is with a bad stick of RAM (in another game though, so it may not be applicable). If you have any other RAM to test with, that might be a valid route to take.

Unfortunately, without the ability to replicate either, I don't have any ideas for -RiSe, considering it is unique to Vulkan.

Sorry guys, I tried.

On the bright side, Denuvo didn't lock me out during testing.

Thank you!