Some games take an increasingly long time to load, and some just don't

[infinite phantasm]

title.

for some reason, after a duration of leaving my PC on, running some software, having some things in the background from time to time, certain games (SPECIFICALLY games, not software) will just take a really long time to load for some reason, upwards of 20-30 seconds, sometimes even longer (45+ seconds), either showing a window with a black screen or just hiding as a background process until it actually feels like starting.

this includes games such as:
100% Orange Juice
Audiosurf
20XX
GoldSrc games
I Wanna Maker
Kero Blaster (it also takes a long load after the game actually starts for the second time, and anytime the game returns to title)
Nuclear Throne
Pizza Tower
Retro City Rampage DX
Source Engine games
Spiral Knights
Starbound
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
The End is Nigh

however, for some games, this *isn't* the case, and they work just fine. they boot as fast as they should with no issues and don't just hide in the background as a process or something. this never seems to happen with any software that doesn't involve games (afaik)

this includes games such as:
Audiosurf 2
Risk of Rain 2
Tabletop Simulator
TAG: The Power of Paint
Terraria
Time Clickers
Tower Unite

rebooting will usually fix the problem for a bit, and they run like they should -- quick and fast without issue, but eventually it rears its ugly head again. i have no clue what the correlation is between *any* of this but it's driving me insane with how long this has been going on.

i've tried:
- updating video drivers
- restarting the video card driver itself (Win+Ctrl+Shift+B)
- unplugging/replugging game controllers
- restarting steam
- closing unrelated background applications
- disabling some services (i read something about SSDP Discovery potentially being a problem so i tried stopping and disabling it. it isn't.)
- reinstalling windows *entirely* through the reset PC/keep my files function

none if it's worked. i'm out of ideas and out of options, this should not be happening on an M.2 SSD of all things. if anyone has any kind of advice/help on this, it would be greatly appreciated.
Unturned

[Iceira]

Check own SSD Brand site, just because 1 user sometime ago reported SSD serie issue dont mean all other have same firmware version.

if this is not the case, then start with dism repaire ( google this ) and sfc cmd ( google it )
things you should have done, so you learn and never forget it ever.

if this dont help,

( for games that dont startup at all ) assuming you do have game requirement ofc.
start with whitelist steam.exe and maybe game own .exe ( executable files, some game have even own config.exe ) this is know as exception rules in Anti virus app.

last is check eventviewer log if game app crash with maybe why it do so.

ps.
last is VC++ and have windows update with .net and other things like that

VC++ is special that mean from MS own page, problem here is old game use older VC++
both in 32/64 bit , and its recommend only have 1 of each build, do not have double entry with same , my game act odd then it happend, i reinstall a old game and might get 2 of same version because old script is forced backthen it was made.

ps.
This dont ruleout own pc is update ever, GPU card driver and bios and chipset drivers, problem here is noone talk about anymore because new pc has auto update app from Brand support site.

To my knowledge GPU card user know this they all have app that doi it automatic, but dont forget make Fresh install that mean DDU for AMD user or custom install fopr nvidia users, and then checkbox is there make clean install.

Dont forget all usb attached unit can be replugged mouse keyboard and gamepads, this is not a joke, steam has update alot with it, and its still bound at what system has and its old settings that might need a refresh auto detection then its replugged, because who think of that ever. and why many dont need it , they dont have gamepad, joystick or controller or pen so many things we cant see here.

I have seen game use my flightstick as gamepad, thats crazy and thats my point why game aient responding, and they auto switch to it. ( i did not say its steam faulth, ) and that my point here dont ruleout USB unit as can be a issue then game dont work or respond )

Long loadtime ( use task manager or aka. windows resource manager to investigate pc is idle then you start a game, and dont do backup or defragmentaion or whatever app use resource even seen MS installer take ages to be done. ( so you can actual forget it doing work then it snail install a update. )

you need some skills to do this or google how to do, it wont be explaned in detail, then you have done this before then you will say, i can explan this in 10 lines. but then you need to very skilled and know how to do.

dont forget you point at many games, that why you get so many topic in top of each other.

you might want to focus on newest highest game requirement, because chance are if that work then most other game might also work, so pick your poisen as we say today, and show pc spec if you dont know own game requirements.

gl with OP

[Iceira]

Alot of issue with it OP RAM not enough free storage space , boot disk is near full, and we have no info on any pc spec here. and total disk size with free space per disk.

[infinite phantasm]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Iceira W10:

Check own SSD Brand site, just because 1 user sometime ago reported SSD serie issue dont mean all other have same firmware version.

if this is not the case, then start with dism repaire ( google this ) and sfc cmd ( google it )
things you should have done, so you learn and never forget it ever.

if this dont help,

( for games that dont startup at all ) assuming you do have game requirement ofc.
start with whitelist steam.exe and maybe game own .exe ( executable files, some game have even own config.exe ) this is know as exception rules in Anti virus app.

last is check eventviewer log if game app crash with maybe why it do so.

ps.
last is VC++ and have windows update with .net and other things like that

VC++ is special that mean from MS own page, problem here is old game use older VC++
both in 32/64 bit , and its recommend only have 1 of each build, do not have double entry with same , my game act odd then it happend, i reinstall a old game and might get 2 of same version because old script is forced backthen it was made.

already done all of these in the past to try and troubleshoot, including using VC++ redist packs to make sure everything's installed

Oprindeligt skrevet af Iceira W10:

This dont ruleout own pc is update ever, GPU card driver and bios and chipset drivers, problem here is noone talk about anymore because new pc has auto update app from Brand support site.

auto-updaters are something i never use unless i want to consider gouging my eyes out, i've updated drivers manually periodically from manufacturer sites to no avail, including using DDU and NVCleanstall to get a completely fresh installation. GPU, chipset, BIOS, SSD firmwares, everything has been updated with no avail

Oprindeligt skrevet af Iceira W10:

Dont forget all usb attached unit can be replugged mouse keyboard and gamepads, this is not a joke, steam has update alot with it, and its still bound at what system has and its old settings that might need a refresh auto detection then its replugged, because who think of that ever. and why many dont need it , they dont have gamepad, joystick or controller or pen so many things we cant see here.

i have tried replugging, unplugging, swapping ports for every single USB device on my machine (which only persists of my keyboard and mouse, i don't have any USB devices other than that plugged in). no dice.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Iceira W10:

Long loadtime ( use task manager or aka. windows resource manager to investigate pc is idle then you start a game, and dont do backup or defragmentaion or whatever app use resource even seen MS installer take ages to be done. ( so you can actual forget it doing work then it snail install a update. )

taskmgr is a complete joke for trying to troubleshoot this. even when checking detailed process lists, it offers no other assistance other than saying it's responding (when in reality it's just sitting in the background taking up RAM) or not responding (sitting on a black screen starting at me). analyzing wait chains also provides nothing saying it's either running normally or just not responding.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Iceira W10:

you might want to focus on newest highest game requirement, because chance are if that work then most other game might also work, so pick your poisen as we say today, and show pc spec if you dont know own game requirements.

current specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition
RAM: Corsair VENGANCE RGB PRO 32GB (2x16GB)
OS: Windows 10 Pro
HDDs: Samsung SSD 970 EVO 1TB (boot) - Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB (game storage) - WDC WD10EZEX-60WN4A0 (music + etc. storage)

to be quite honest, most of these specs are *overkill* for the games i'm attempting to run and shouldn't be causing such long wait times, which, again, only appear after a random amount of time when they should be running just fine. playing games that make use of top of the line hardware never chug in game, it is specifically these random long load times.

and as for hard drive space, some drives are 75% full, but this has never been a related issue otherwise the rest of my PC would be horribly slow to boot or load just about anything at all. it's pretty much always within games and not software/OS related tasks.

[Lavie]

Hi!

I know you told you kind of did that before, by disabling some services, but maybe not exactly like in this guide? All the non essential services, just to test it's if that have some effect?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd

The fact you said "rebooting will usually fix the problem for a bit, and they run like they should (...) but eventually it rears its ugly head again" seem like a key to think it's not a hardware issue (but it's my non technician brain thinking that)

[Iceira]

NO IGPU card, more so other steam ujser, dont waste time on look it up as i just had had to do.

[Iceira]

We know but you know how it is, there is always a steam user that dont have it, and we cant see here what you have or know what your are doing, only after the reply we can see you look skilled enough and know all the current topic.

And you know how it is even a master in something can make a mistake but you also going to hear about it among own friends, and dont forget old rule in IT have fresh eyes on something might help sometimes.

safe boot mode do game work there. then you are over in interference issue with it

And sense you you seem skilled enough do check Brand harddisk support page per disk and just because other user menation samsung 970seris issue , could happend to any Brand. problem is to update such SSD then it need to be empty.

Do borderlands 3 work, i tried to chack your highest game, there is a reason for that, because newest game use 2015 to 2022 Vc++ and have lesser issue then old games with past VC++
but you already rule that out.


i think you miss understand task manager it ment for what is my pc is doing , why is things running slowly, a backup app and other things like that has cause game issue before and user dont even know its running. ( you might know this, but that not what being said )
its not a joke its the only app that can show if disk is busy or other things ongoing that user dont think over, ) and you should know this already with the skill you have.

and as you said it its old games you have issue with. thats mean well test games in the past thats work fine with old hardware.

lets see if other can help, maybe you have 2 pc just like me, and if it work there, then you have own system issue, problem is to ID with what.