Long game startup time (random)

Game takes too long to start sometimes. I’ve many hours of gameplay, and normally, it barely only takes a few seconds for the game to start on my machine. But, recently, for some reason, sometimes, it takes way too long to start. The keyword here is sometimes, because the problem occurs randomly. Given how my machine usually/normally takes only seconds to start, I am thinking it stops and takes some time to authorize on the internet or something (because hardware-wise its a fast machine with fast SSD as also evidenced by very small startup and loading times in normal scenarios - see Run1 video).

I made two videos. Run1 showcasing normal startup. Run2 showcasing the anomaly.

Run1: https://youtu.be/uc3K683PT28

Run2: https://youtu.be/BCZ9g3uP7Sc

Run1 is the usual case scenario I have had since I had the game. (Usually 35-40s)
Run2 is the problem case scenario which randomly occurs, and which I have recently started to experience. (Can take upto 5 mins to start).

The problem is random in nature. But, its really annoying because it has started to happen very frequently now. Please help!

Intel Core i7 8700K (5.1 GHz OC)
MSI z370
GTX 980 Ti
16 GB DDR4
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD

DxDiag.txt (73.1 KB)

This has happened to me a couple of times, though not nearly as bad as yours… no idea what the cause is either. I’ve had it happen twice in the past couple weeks I think?

Try running the game without any overlay software that hooks D3D dlls\etc.
There might be a million reasons for this slow down, since it’s Windows PC and every machine is unique - i.e. combination of software and hardware.
It can be your AntiVirus or any other protection software. The only way to find this out is to run Even Trace for Windows to collect data

could you upload a log from a “slow” startup? they are in %appdata%\Fatshark\Vermintide 2\console_logs

you can match your playsession with the timestamp on the file

There could be information in this that tells us if it’s a step within the vermintide.exe that takes longer time than expected.

I use RTSS/Afterburner to lock frame-time to 16.6 ms. RTSS is quite effective in giving smoothness to a locked 60 fps gameplay which I prefer. Unfortunately, the in-game cap frame-rate solution isn’t as effective, and it introduces micro-stutters. I am not sure if Afterburner is causing this, but I will try to run the game without it and see if I can reproduce it.

OK, unfortunately, the problem persists even without afterburner running at all. I also don’t have any anti-virus program at the moment.

Here is a console log with normal startup:
console-2019-03-16-00.49.56-3f9c2563-5e8f-468d-85ad-382208fbb0af.log (1.0 MB)

Here is a console log with a delayed startup:
console-2019-03-18-03.06.41-3e2a3a91-e27e-4ac5-8bba-a45e0ef934a9.log (79.6 KB)

I am seeing some anomalies already. But, of course, you guys will know better. Take for example, in normal startup the time difference between these two steps is only a handful of milliseconds:
“00:49:57.325 [Application] STARTUP: setup input, File: E:\agent-work\data-dir\engine_release_celebrate_2019_02_25\runtime\application\application.cpp, Line: 2596
00:49:57.380 [Application] STARTUP: config renderer, File: E:\agent-work\data-dir\engine_release_celebrate_2019_02_25\runtime\application\application.cpp, Line: 2602”

In the same steps in the delayed startup, the difference is a whopping one minute:
“03:06:42.437 [Application] STARTUP: setup input, File: E:\agent-work\data-dir\engine_release_celebrate_2019_02_25\runtime\application\application.cpp, Line: 2596
03:07:42.520 [Application] STARTUP: config renderer, File: E:\agent-work\data-dir\engine_release_celebrate_2019_02_25\runtime\application\application.cpp, Line: 2602”

It could be some external out of game windows thing causing the delay as the other developer said. But, I don’t know what.

What input devices do you have connected to your PC besides keyboard and mouse?
What kind of keyboard\mouse do you have? Do you have any special drivers for them? Like controlling leds, macroses, etc.

This PC has two displays. One desktop monitor and a 4K TV downstairs (via a long HDMI cable). I use this PC to game both on my desk upstairs and on the couch downstairs. So, I have 4 input devices for this PC instead of 2 as is traditional for desktop PCs.

2 keyboards. One connected wired via USB (regular keyboard) and a wireless corsair K63 with a lapboard for couch gaming.
2 mice. One connected wired via USB on the desk and a wireless logitech mouse for couch gaming.

The wireless keyboard and mouse for couch gaming although connected via a USB hub remain turned off when I use the PC as desktop upstairs (I play vermintide 2 in this setup). Interestingly, it may be possible that these extra input devices are causing this. Because, now I feel that this problem has probably appeared after I setup couch gaming on this PC with that extra keyboard and mouse for downstairs gaming.

I do not use any additional drivers for these devices. They are all plug and play with windows. And, no other game has shown any problem with this besides vermintide 2.

The slowdown in log happens on a phase where our engine initializes input devices.
I don’t know what exactly slows things down. Can you try to remove remote mouse and keyboard to see if you can reproduce it?

I removed the USB hub for remote mouse and keyboard and voila! problem is gone. Game does not exhibit this problem with remote devices unplugged. But, I need those devices to play games downstairs. I don’t know why game behaves like this with the remote devices connected. No other game or application does what vermintide 2 does.

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