Start up frame rate

[Dragon Tamer]

dude... I want your computer.  How much did that cost your?

[68ZooM]

dude... I want your computer.  How much did that cost your?

i built mine for around 1,200 two years ago including a Samsung 24" HD monitor and Lycosa Razor backlite Keyboard and Razer deathadder blacklte mouse, Keyboard and mouse are flatblack but the all the funtions and letters/numbers all glow blue, makes it better for us guys with bad eyesight lol

[Tigger29]

Just wanted to let you know. I migrated to Win7 x64 ultimate. Still some low frame rate when logging in but much much less troublesome. In fact not enough for AH to alter graphics setting at all. Low frame rate condition last for 3-5 seconds@20-30FPS where it would last for a solid 10-15 seconds@5-10FPS with the exact same rig running winXP home.

On a side note, When I first logged in, AH gave me an error message reading "device not recognized" or something along the line. Along with that, it seems that the game no longer reporte the right amount of vidMemory/used vidMemory.

It's normal for a computer to have slower frame rates the first few seconds while it loads everything into memory (skins, textures, etc).  I wish they'd implement some kind of system that would give it ten seconds before it automatically starts disabling graphics options on you.

Personally I believe that hard drive speed has a lot to do with this... either that or something else using up resources preventing prompt transfer of the information into the memory.  While only once did it actually disable my advanced graphics options I did have problems with it taking several seconds for things to 'smooth out' like they should.  This issue disappeared when I upgraded from an old 5400rpm drive to a WD velociraptor although I believe any regular drive would have worked fine.  Shortly after that I was using my old drive as a data drive and it crashed so I think the slow speed was a sign of it going south.

[Skuzzy]

Actually, there is a 10 second delay before the game decides to reduce the graphic options.  If a computer takes longer than that to get stable, then, chances are, there are going to be performance issues unless the graphics options are turned down.

[Dragon Tamer]

What made you guys decide to go with 10 seconds?  Can you increase the time to 30 seconds?

[Skuzzy]

If a computer takes longer than 10 seconds to stabilize/load the game, then there are resource issues with the computer. 

It should only take 1 to 2 seconds for everything to be done.

[Dragon Tamer]

Then I guess I need a new computer...

[PuppetZ]

A new OS fixed it for me. WinXP would take forever to load AH on both my old and my new rig. The same new rig on win7 take 1-2 second.

[Skuzzy]

Give it time.  Windows will get slower and slower as time goes on.  In my testing Windows XP is much faster at loading than Windows 7 is, but that is with a fresh and stock install of both.