5% Loading screen when launched

[walter]

I have this game installed and working fine on one computer, but when I try to run it on a different computer, it hangs at 5% loading. I've read some ideas on the forums, which include relaunching, updating display drivers etc, but nothing has worked for me so far. Help would be much appreciated.

[AlucardX60]

This happened to me too. Haven't found a way to fix it yet unfortunetly.

[AlucardX60]

Also forgot to mention, running Win. 8 with a 512MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7660G (HP) Graphics card.

[Slaya]

You cannot play this game vanilla. You have to tweak and mod it a bit. Don't worry it's easy: http://steamcommunity.com/app/9480/discussions/0/846958724811426425/

Also check the FAQ guide also linked.

[walter]

Cool. Thanks for the feedback. I'll try it out and report back.

[AlucardX60]

I installed GotR with just the basic package (no options just P, then enter) and copied the files. I'm pretty sure it installed right as I get the new slapshes at startup ("Powered by Gentlemen" etc.) but I'm still stuck at 5% afterwards.

[Slaya]

I heard waiting about 5 minutes and it should load: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=34544760

The game can start very slow when you load it for the first time.

I'd try cleaning the Windows prefetch folder out first as explained below. Sounds like a prefetch issue.

From Idol Ninja's handy dandy FAQ guide: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1715922 Power Tools is not needed if you run Windows 8 and is only for Windows 7/Vista if your CPU is not clocked at 3.2ghz.

"Is there anything I can do to fix the stuttering and lagging while driving?

The biggest issue with the PC port of Saints Row 2 is how the engine streams data from the hard drive into memory and how it prefetches (or more correctly, doesn't.)

The prefetching is the thing that tends to throw everyone because it can adversely affect people with optimal hardware that should be able to run the game well. So, you start seeing wild rumors flying around from everyone on what hardware can and can't run it well, as if it's a crapshoot. It's not, and I'll get to some ways to fix that lag in after I go over basic hardware requirements.

HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

These are some minimum requirements to get ~30fps with 1920x1200 and most everything maxed with some dips to maybe 25fps during really fast driving:
Core 2 Duo 3Ghz
ATI 4850 w/512 video memory
3GB RAM with Windows 7 (4GB RAM under Vista)
7200rpm hard drive with <4ms seek

OS:
XP will never run the game well because it can't prefetch. Vista runs it okay and you won't have to worry about speedup issues. Windows 7 performance is the best, but you'll also need to use the Powertools we released if your CPU frequency isn't exactly 3.2Ghz (the xbox 360 cpu speed.)
http://saintsrowpowertools.com

The biggest thing you can do to help SR2 performance is to give it as much RAM as you can. We're talking at least 2.5Gb free memory not being prefetched by other applications.

WINDOWS PREFETCHING BASICS:

The way Windows prefetching works is that Windows continually gathers data about your usage as you use your PC, and is constantly swapping applications in and out of memory trying to predict (or prefetch) the apps that it thinks you might need, before you even use them. That way they are already in memory and load instantly instead of loading them off the hard drive which is much slower.

Any app or game that you run should result in Windows giving that app all the memory it needs. So, it should (and does) unload other things it had prefetched, and give the new app all the memory it needs. This is the way every app normally works except SR2. For some reason with SR2, the OS will not give up any of the prefetched memory in use by other apps. SR2 will also sometimes fail to even create a .pf file and not prefetch at all if the memory is full.

STEPS TO MINIMIZE/ELIMINATE DRIVING LAG:

* Delete the contents of c:\windows\prefetch\
This will remove all the .pf files for all apps that Windows has learned and created over time. By doing so, Windows will no longer prefetch them into memory until it relearns that behavior.
* Reboot
* Make sure you have all other unnecessary applications and processes closed/ended like web browsers, background tasks, etc.
* Run Saints Row 2 and check the prefetch folder to make sure Windows created SR2_PC.EXE[SOME#s].pf

The above fix should not work that way, yet somehow does. This has worked for hundreds of players I have helped. I can't even begin to fathom how the developers found a way to get Windows to ignore its standard prefetching, but I guess there's a reason that this game has a reputation for being the worst port in the history of gaming.

NOTE: After clearing the contents of prefetch, the first few times Windows boots or loads a new app, it may initially load slightly slower until it relearns and starts prefetching. Most people don't even notice it though with high end hardware like recommended earlier.

One other performance note... The Powertools release mentioned above allows you to slow down the game to fix the Windows 7 speedup issue. The interesting thing is that the closer you can get the speed to mirror the actual 360 cpu frequency speed, the smoother the game will run.

Slightly lower hardware than the specs mentioned earlier are probably workable. It just means you'll have to run it at a lower resolution and maybe turn down some graphic settings like Motion Blur, AA, or Dynamic Lighting."

All else fails try looking & asking here: http://www.saintsrowmods.com/forum/forums/get-help-troubleshooting.33/

[AlucardX60]

Tried waiting a good 20 minutes, nothing. Then I deleted the prefetch folder, restarted and tried again waiting another 20 minutes. I got a settings file that set it to 800x600 windowed but still nothing. Maybe I should try power tools but I shouldn't need those since I have Win. 7 right?

Sorry If I'm missing something simple.

[Slaya]

Unless your CPU is 3.2ghz. You'll need Power Tools unless you are on Windows 8.

Check my SR2 setup guide again. I revised it a bit.

Check Idol Ninja's FAQ.

All else fails check & ask here: http://www.saintsrowmods.com/forum/forums/get-help-troubleshooting.33/

Good luck!

Sure it's not a bad download?

[AlucardX60]

I'm redownloading it onto my internal hardrive this time. I'll give your guide another look though. Thanks for all the support.

[Slaya]

It could very well hate being installed on drives not aren't C:

You still may need Power Tools (if cpu is not 3.2ghz of course) too. You of course will need GotR.

[AlucardX60]

Installed on C: reinstalled GotR and deleted prefetch folder, works now.
Thank you for all the support gentleman.

[Slaya]

Originally posted by Muezick:

Using Steammover to move my instal from an external to my main C drive fixed this problem.

This is already known but glad you figured it out. Next time look at the guide. ;)

[PlankGas]

Solved. Simply move install the game on your C: drive. Works using C:\Games\Steam\stamapps\common\Saints Row 2\

[Nelssoni 2]

Worked thanks a lot!

[ElD]

any concrete working fix? I tried everything and everything I tried just didn'work.
The game starts on another Mac with just integrated grphics, but cannot go pass 5% loading on MacBook Pro 16" with Radeon Pro 5300M, don't know what to do to play it here. It has t work, there must be a way. Thanks