Loading times! This is becoming the single biggest hindrance to enjoyment of game.

[ibanix]

Good news! The 1.04 patch notes has a line about optimized save/load times. Let's hope it's a big improvement....

[Namutree]

Good news! The 1.04 patch notes has a line about optimized save/load times. Let's hope it's a big improvement....

Good news.

[Serdan]

I'm running the beta patch and I still get long load/save times, though whether they've implemented the optimisations in the beta I couldn't say.

Anyway, someone mentioned that the save files are just zips, so I went and had a look. The save files contain state files for every area you've visited (obviously), so I went ahead and deleted those, which cut save times in half (I didn't test load). It seems to me that the game mucks about with area data that isn't immediately relevant.

[Hassat Hunter]

Well, you can't expect them to just save/load the current area... what if you traveled 5 before you overwrite an older save, do you want the last 4 ignored since it just interacts with the existing area?

 

Saving doesn't just "update changed stuff" without the checking what stuff is changed, otherwise how do they know what is changed? They couldn't know.

 

And I think it's the Stash giving a longer loading time, since (but I'm an amateur could be wrong) it seems it's a physical container added to modules that's updated upon loading

 

And a LOT of people in this thread don't seem to remember how Baldur's Gate (2) ran at release, definitely not the way people see it here with rose-colored glasses.

[Serdan]

Well, you can't expect them to just save/load the current area... what if you traveled 5 before you overwrite an older save, do you want the last 4 ignored since it just interacts with the existing area?

 

The game should save changed data. At the moment I suspect that it saves all data, regardless of whether there's actually any difference between what's in memory and what's on disk.

[Doug]

Dunno if it's already been mentioned but I got a dramatic reduction in load times after deleting all surplus game saves.

[FlintlockJazz]

I have noticed my loading times getting rather ridiculous, I also noticed that when I start the game up it takes a while before "Continue" and "Load Game" become available, instead having the message "Loading save games" on them both.  I do save an abnormally large amount (I like to 'catalogue' my journey), so will also try moving saves around to see if that makes a difference too.

[SKull]

Yeah I also have the load time issues, it takes a while, but they bother me far less than quicksave, which is anything but. My PC has an i5-4460 3.2GHz, Asus R9 270, 8GB RAM, 120 SSD, running Linux Mint.

 

Not high end, but certainly not sluggish, and there has been a dramatic dropoff in performance specifically when loading/safing PoE areas. It's not about hardware.

 

Then again, complaining about 10-12 sec load times as a major problem makes me think you should practice having your immersion broken by reading a novel in public or something. If you really think these load times are an issue that makes the game significantly less enjoyable, I suggest you take up Dzogchen meditation, or perhaps Stoicism. When I was a kid (like five years ago) we had our immersion broken constantly, and we liked it!

 

This is weird. My quicksaves take about half a second while my loading screens last 15+ seconds. And it apparently doesn`t matter if it`s a broom closet or Alaska I`m loading. it`s exactly as slow every single time. And I have a high end PC so shouldn`t have any problems. I`ve just uninstalled it now because it isn`t playable for me. I was on level eight of Od Nua but before the master stairs when I ran out of supplies and needed to rest. This entailed 14 loading screens up and down so about 7 minutes straight of staring at loading screens just to rest and buy two supplies. I don`t understand why the loading screen barrage in PoE wasn`t dealt with in alpha. Anyone who for whatever reason gets stuck with long loading times will be driven up the wall by them. And even if they aren`t, do you really need to load each floor of buildings separately? What are they, Taj Mahal?

[Sinter]

Hey guys, sorry for being dumb, but where exactly are the saves located? I have a steam install and I looked in 

 

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data\data

 

and also My Documents

 

and couldn't find them

Was this question answered? Read the whole thread and I did not see a response. I'm running an iMac from 2012, latest OS, using Steam. Load times were severely impacted by internet bandwidth - turned off IP masking and things improved. Would still like to delete old saves.

[Hassat Hunter]

I was on level eight of Od Nua but before the master stairs when I ran out of supplies and needed to rest. This entailed 14 loading screens up and down so about 7 minutes straight of staring at loading screens just to rest and buy two supplies.

DUDE...

Master Stairs.

 

'Nuff said.

 

Users/[uSERNAME]/Saved Games/Pillars of Eternity

[Suen]

 

Hey guys, sorry for being dumb, but where exactly are the saves located? I have a steam install and I looked in 

 

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data\data

 

and also My Documents

 

and couldn't find them

Was this question answered? Read the whole thread and I did not see a response. I'm running an iMac from 2012, latest OS, using Steam. Load times were severely impacted by internet bandwidth - turned off IP masking and things improved. Would still like to delete old saves.

 

 

From the "how to report an issue" thread:

 

Savegames

Windows Location: %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Pillars of Eternity\Saves

Mac Location: Library/Application Support/Pillars of Eternity/Saved Games

Linux Location: $Home/.local/share/PillarsOfEternity/SavedGames

[jools1980]

I'm only 20 hours in and already the loading times are becoming unbearable.

 

There is a clear difference between how long it takes now and how long it took at the beginning. Simply transitioning from room to room, building to building in the many errand boy quests in defiance bay takes upwards of 10 seconds, and using your Stronghold is similarly annoying.

 

I've read somewhere about issues of save data being clogged up by useless information like the junk items you sell to vendors... could this be the issue? How can I optimise the loading times?

 

I concur, to some extent.

 

-I'm some 40 hours into the game, and personally I am not experiencing that much of a slowdown in the individual loading times (with the exception of the first load of every session: that one is clearly taking more time). Note that my pc is far from top-notch: it dates back to 2009, and usually can't run recent games very well. Yet, the individual loading times seem ok to me, per se.

 

-What I agree on, is that there are way just too many loading times. Navigating Defiance Bay is, literally, a pain, and I stopped using the stronghold altogether after I realized it took me 3 loading screens just to get to my bed: given how easy it is to acquire money in the game, the local taverns always work just fine, for me. I do realize the amount of loading times is inevitable in this kind of game, though, and I would probably be less annoyed by it if I had a better machine.

[archangel979]

 

I'm only 20 hours in and already the loading times are becoming unbearable.

 

There is a clear difference between how long it takes now and how long it took at the beginning. Simply transitioning from room to room, building to building in the many errand boy quests in defiance bay takes upwards of 10 seconds, and using your Stronghold is similarly annoying.

 

I've read somewhere about issues of save data being clogged up by useless information like the junk items you sell to vendors... could this be the issue? How can I optimise the loading times?

 

I concur, to some extent.

 

-I'm some 40 hours into the game, and personally I am not experiencing that much of a slowdown in the individual loading times (with the exception of the first load of every session: that one is clearly taking more time). Note that my pc is far from top-notch: it dates back to 2009, and usually can't run recent games very well. Yet, the individual loading times seem ok to me, per se.

 

-What I agree on, is that there are way just too many loading times. Navigating Defiance Bay is, literally, a pain, and I stopped using the stronghold altogether after I realized it took me 3 loading screens just to get to my bed: given how easy it is to acquire money in the game, the local taverns always work just fine, for me. I do realize the amount of loading times is inevitable in this kind of game, though, and I would probably be less annoyed by it if I had a better machine.

 

Only reason to use Stronghold with so many loading screen would be if all the money you wasted on buildings that give resting bonuses was not wasted and all the resting bonuses stacked. As it is, I rather pay 200 cp in inns like Dryford to get +2 to 3 different stats. If I spend whole games resting in that Inn I would have spent less cp than all resting bonus building prices combined for Keep. They really need to fix the Keep... it is a useless part of the story and mechanically and it is irritating people with so many loading screens. Edited April 16, 2015 by archangel979

[jools1980]

As it is, I rather pay 200 cp in inns like Dryford to get +2 to 3 different stats.

Yup, my point exactly. Even without the resting bonuses from the inns, I'd rather pay the 200cp just to be spared the hassle of the loading screens.

 

it is a useless part of the story

Except that it actually isn't. I'm not sure if the stronghold will have a more relevant role later on in the game (I'm 40 hours in, close to completing act2), but until now, it hasn't really had any actual importance in the game's main storyline: they could have just put the Old Watcher in any other area of the game, because that's the single feature that makes Caed Nua slightly relevant.

Edited April 16, 2015 by jools1980

[SKull]

 

I was on level eight of Od Nua but before the master stairs when I ran out of supplies and needed to rest. This entailed 14 loading screens up and down so about 7 minutes straight of staring at loading screens just to rest and buy two supplies.

DUDE...

Master Stairs.

 

'Nuff said.

 

Users/[uSERNAME]/Saved Games/Pillars of Eternity

 

 

Dude, learn to read. Nuff said. I wasn`t able to reach the master stairs and had to get back up to rest and get supplies. Why are forums always crawling with people liek you who have an opinion and just can`t wait to cram it into a conversation whether it`s relevant or not?

[Serdan]

 

 

I was on level eight of Od Nua but before the master stairs when I ran out of supplies and needed to rest. This entailed 14 loading screens up and down so about 7 minutes straight of staring at loading screens just to rest and buy two supplies.

DUDE...

Master Stairs.

 

'Nuff said.

 

Users/[uSERNAME]/Saved Games/Pillars of Eternity

 

 

Dude, learn to read. Nuff said. I wasn`t able to reach the master stairs and had to get back up to rest and get supplies. Why are forums always crawling with people liek you who have an opinion and just can`t wait to cram it into a conversation whether it`s relevant or not?

 

You can access master stairs about every other level, so why did you have to go through 14 loading screens?

[archangel979]

 

As it is, I rather pay 200 cp in inns like Dryford to get +2 to 3 different stats.

Yup, my point exactly. Even without the resting bonuses from the inns, I'd rather pay the 200cp just to be spared the hassle of the loading screens.

 

it is a useless part of the story

Except that it actually isn't. I'm not sure if the stronghold will have a more relevant role later on in the game (I'm 40 hours in, close to completing act2), but until now, it hasn't really had any actual importance in the game's main storyline: they could have just put the Old Watcher in any other area of the game, because that's the single feature that makes Caed Nua slightly relevant.

 

The dungeon under the keep and the Stronghold minigames are two different things. And both are not part of the story except as short ending to Act 1.

[ibanix]

I can verify that the start-up screen load times are much much better on v1.04. I had no delay at all.

 

On the other hand, the between-areas load times seem to be the same.

[Namutree]

 

On the other hand, the between-areas load times seem to be the same.

Crap.

[Hassat Hunter]

Dude, learn to read. Nuff said. I wasn`t able to reach the master stairs and had to get back up to rest and get supplies. Why are forums always crawling with people liek you who have an opinion and just can`t wait to cram it into a conversation whether it`s relevant or not?

There's one RIGHT THERE on level 14, which you said you were on.

Otherwise you can get one on lvl 11.

 

So, no, I'm not being 'smart'... I just wonder with the rest why the heck you went through 14 loading screens.

[Iankas]

14 loading screens might have been simply been exaggeration to drive the point home.

 

But 14 screens are actually just 7 area transitions since he has to go back the same way.

3 screens to go up 2 levels then use Master Stair back to stronghold

2 screens to go sleep in your bed (or an inn)

2 screens to go back to stronghold courtyard

2 screens to go to a vendor with supplies then back to courtyard

3 screens to go back to the original level

 

That would be 12 loading screens. 10 if he slept at an inn which also sell supplies.

Either way, pretty ridiculous.

Pretty much necessitating having SSD and pretty fast CPU lest one'd smash his head on the wall with frustration. 

Edited April 20, 2015 by Iankas

[Ink Blot]

Pretty much necessitating having SSD and pretty fast CPU lest one'd smash his head on the wall with frustration. 

I can tell you the SSD is no panacea with respect to the loading times either. Still taking 10 to 14 seconds per load screen.

[mystang89]

My load times are probably about 10 seconds or so too. I think the 10 sec really wouldn't be so bad but we or at least myself an so used to insta load times that it seems am eternity. I just alt tab out for a bit. I'll try making sure it's up to date and defragging to see if that makes a difference.

Edited April 20, 2015 by mystang89

[Ink Blot]

10 seconds isn't that bad on its own. But when you stack up 8 to 10 loading screens in a few minutes of gameplay, it becomes more than annoying.

[IndiraLightfoot]

All that I can say is: My dearest SSD, I love you!