Slow BF2 load times...making me angry...

[CrazeD]

This is really p***ing me off.

First off, my specs:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
ABit UL8 mobo
2GB DDR400 Dual-channel RAM
2x80GB IDE HDD's
ATi x800GTO 256mb videocard

Ok, I can run BF2 on all high settings @ 1024x768 with no lag at all. The only problem is, my load times are absurd. It literally takes me almost 4 - 5 minutes to load the map and verify.

my dad, on the other hand, loads the game in under a minute and is usually the first one in.

I'm not 100% certain of his specs, but this is basically what he has:
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (2GHz)
Some ASUS mobo
2GB Corsair XMS DDR400 Dual-channel RAM
200GB IDE HDD
ATi x850XT

And it's not so much the map load times, as the verify times. The verify times are sooo long. I don't really get it. My video card is a step under his, while my CPU is a lot better than his...both have 2GB RAM (though his is better) yet he loads atleast twice as fast as I. Even reducing settings to a mix of high/medium @ 800x600, still takes forever.

I do frequent spyware scans, virus scans, and I defrag with O&O. My temps are fine, CPU is around 40*C at load, and videocard doesn't exceed 80*C at load (which is fine for my card, it's toasty).

I run the game at 70+ FPS at my current settings, yet load times are retarded....and I really don't get it. I've followed all the tweaks out there, renaming my BF2.exe to something else...all that stuff.


And also, on that note, I used regedit and went to the key, "DisablePagingExecutive" which is usually a "0", I changed it to a "1" (as instructed by a tweak guide). Now, I'm not sure if that should be left 0, or 1? It helped me at one point, it decreased load times by a lot...but now it doesn't seem to do anything, so.


Well, if anyone has any ideas..please lemme know.

 

[Trotter]

Go through this guide:
http://www.tweakguides.com/BF2_1.html

It will help you out.

I have used it, especially the tips about changing the extensions on the movies and such so the game doesn't load them.

 

[Nubius]

I have used it, especially the tips about changing the extensions on the movies and such so the game doesn't load them.

Havoc was saying doing the one removing the movies sometimes makes servers think you're running a hack.

 

[Trotter]

Ah, you don't remove them. You just rename their extensions. The guide also has a link to a static graphic you can use as a background for the logon and server screens.

I think if you don't use anything if picks it up as a cheat.

 

[CrazeD]

I read that whole guide, and didn't really learn anything I didn't know. I have already disabled my intro movies.

Actually, I followed basically everything here: www.bf2lag.com


Thanks for the ideas. Anyone else got an idea?

 

[Trotter]

Actually, I followed basically everything here: www.bf2lag.com

Nice tweaks. I went through them, and implemented most of them.

Setting BF2 to high priority sucked for me. My keyboard and mouse are both USB, so my input was slow... no sprinting, slow to go to zoom/sights and back.

Did you set your audio to English VO Only? That speeds the load time a little because it only has to load one set of recordings.

 

[CrazeD]

Yes, I did.

 

[Trotter]

OK.

Is it the actual load time of the map that's messing you up, or the verification? The load time could be your connection, but verification would be BF2 itself.

Have you tried uninstalling it, cleaning your registry, and then reinstalling it?

 

[CrazeD]

I did recently (maybe 3 weeks ago?) reinstall it.

I'm contemplating reformatting, because there's a few things messed up..so if I do, I'll see if it's faster.

I just cleared my optimization cache last night, so it re-optimized...maybe that will help somehow.

It's the verification that takes forever, the map loads pretty quick.

 

[Trotter]

Are you running anti-virus or a firewall? Either or both couls be slowing it down. I did some searching and it looks like McAfee is really bad about it.

I also found a discussion on a forum about the verification times. Most thought it was a PunkBuster issue, although one threw out about defragging (not your problem).

I also found this:

More RAM helps. (2 Gb is optimal for BF2)
Defragging your drive, and maintaining at least 15% free space will help.
A faster hard disk helps. (snipelfritz (http://www.totalbf2.com/forums/member.php?u=4507) has a 5400 RPM drive).

Look for Linux or Linux64 servers.

The MD5 checksum is turned off on those servers, so you have no client data to verify.

You can find these by looking for the Penguin or the "64" symbol in the server browser.
That will solve the problem completely for anyone who's having a severe problem. No other solutions are available, so pony up for some hardware, or play on servers that don't verify.