Infinite Loading Time!

[Sixtus]

Infinite Loading Time!

This is my first post. Hello, everyone!

Usually I wouldn't bug anyone, but this problem just doesn't make sense to me. My gut lead me here.
First:
CPU: AMD Athlon x64 Dual Core Processor 6400+ 3.20Ghz
RAM: 4.00GB
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
OS: Windows 7 64 Bit

Here's the deal:
Up until yesterday I've been running Windows XP x64 and playing The Witcher 2 on medium-low with a satisfactory frame rate of 40-45 or so. I finally made the switch to Windows 7 x64! (took care of DirectX, C++ runtimes, Windows updates, etc) Not happy with it so far.

Anyway, my problem might begin here. After 3 install attempts (all of which failed at the last smidge of the percent-complete bar with an "Access Denied" error regarding the launcher), I copied the contents of my collector's edition DVDs to the desktop and installed without issue. Ran the launcher, auto-patched, got 2.0, registered, awesome. Moved backups of my game saves to the appropriate directory, started the game, game yells at me for a disc twice (I understand this is sort of common now), plays the game anyway, and I'm at the title screen.

If my problem didn't exist before, this is where it really started. I tried loading one of my saved games. It sat at the loading screen for longer than I remembered to count. Back on XP, my saves would load in less than 7 seconds. Almost an hour later, the snake was still chasing its tail around the king skull. The hard drive light wasn't even trying to blink. Arena mode gives me the same issue. I disabled my antivirus, ran everything as an administrator, UAC was the first thing I disabled after seeing my new desktop for the first time, etc. The tutorial loads in less than 7 seconds, so that's cool. Love hearing Geralt whine about stuff after staring at loading screens for an hour- made my day. However the tutorial runs so slowly that Geralt doesn't move until 5-10 seconds after inputting the command (plus the doom-stutter). While searching the forum, I learned this issue to be slightly common, too. I'm usually one of the guys helping people with these problems, but for some reason I'm drawing a blank when thinking of what other information I should include. Maybe its the hour. DxDiag? Attaching now, even though no problems have been found.

Hey, let me know how I can be more helpful. Um.. I can't really revert to XP. Wish I could. No disc. Feel free to skip that suggestion.

 

[waltc.480]

This is my first post. Hello, everyone!

Usually I wouldn't bug anyone, but this problem just doesn't make sense to me. My gut lead me here.
First:
CPU: AMD Athlon x64 Dual Core Processor 6400+ 3.20Ghz
RAM: 4.00GB
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
OS: Windows 7 64 Bit

Here's the deal:
Up until yesterday I've been running Windows XP x64 and playing The Witcher 2 on medium-low with a satisfactory frame rate of 40-45 or so. I finally made the switch to Windows 7 x64! (took care of DirectX, C++ runtimes, Windows updates, etc) Not happy with it so far.

Hopefully you did a clean install of the Win7 x64 OS, and you have replaced all of your device drivers with Win7 x64 versions. Although both are technically "64-bit" OSes, XP x64 drivers won't run under Win7 x64--but if somehow they manage not to crash immediately, your performance and stability with them will be rotten in the unlikely event they run at all. Beginning with Vista, the XP-style driver models were abandoned and completely revamped. You specifically need Win7 x64 device drivers for *everything.* There are no shortcuts. I would advise no less than a clean install of Win7--better yet, format C:\ and then clean install!... Those measures alone can eliminate dozens of potential problems that might crop up as a result of your previous XP64 installation.

Anyway, my problem might begin here. After 3 install attempts (all of which failed at the last smidge of the percent-complete bar with an "Access Denied" error regarding the launcher), I copied the contents of my collector's edition DVDs to the desktop and installed without issue. Ran the launcher, auto-patched, got 2.0, registered, awesome. Moved backups of my game saves to the appropriate directory, started the game, game yells at me for a disc twice (I understand this is sort of common now), plays the game anyway, and I'm at the title screen.

If my problem didn't exist before, this is where it really started. I tried loading one of my saved games. It sat at the loading screen for longer than I remembered to count.

Something's foo-bared somewhere in what you did. There's nothing relative to Win7 that would account for the three installation attempts and the ridiculous load times you've described (*failure* to load a save, I should say.) If anything it ought to outperform XP x64 in all respects.

Back on XP, my saves would load in less than 7 seconds.

Again--Win7 is not your problem... Win7 is way better and far more solid than XP 64 on all counts, so you need to start thinking outside of that particular box.

Almost an hour later, the snake was still chasing its tail around the king skull. The hard drive light wasn't even trying to blink. Arena mode gives me the same issue.

An hour? Heh... You have gobs more patience than me! I might last 45 seconds-a minute or two before I'd start investigating the problem. No need to *ever* wait an hour on a file to load!

I disabled my antivirus, ran everything as an administrator, UAC was the first thing I disabled after seeing my new desktop for the first time, etc. The tutorial loads in less than 7 seconds, so that's cool. Love hearing Geralt whine about stuff after staring at loading screens for an hour- made my day.

No reason to disable UAC under Win7. W2 runs just fine for me with UAC fully enabled. UAC is not your culprit, either, I'm afraid. Also, W2 runs fine for me with Microsoft's Security Essentials running in the background for AV and malware protection. I've got lots of games and I never have to disable MSE. If you have to do that then you've either got a completely cruddy AV/malware program, or a completely cruddy OS installation or both.

However the tutorial runs so slowly that Geralt doesn't move until 5-10 seconds after inputting the command (plus the doom-stutter). While searching the forum, I learned this issue to be slightly common, too.

Nah--never had Geralt respond *5-10 seconds* after I issued a command via the keyboard (maybe .5 of a second--or a full second at the very most, but 2.0 of the game is supposed to have remedied even that small and occasional latency problem with input.) You just have some serious problems with your OS installation or game installation, or both, possibly.

Hey, let me know how I can be more helpful. Um.. I can't really revert to XP. Wish I could. No disc. Feel free to skip that suggestion.

Well, hey, let's hope you have a DVD for Win7 x64, and that it is a legitimately purchased copy of the OS. Otherwise, that may be your problem right there... Win7x64 is a far better OS than XP64 ever was, so the whole "reverting" thing is a totally bogus and time-wasting sentiment.

To condense: if you aren't running bootleg OS software, then I'd reformat my OS drive or partition, clean install Win 7x64, update it completely and double check that *all* of my device drivers are Win7 x64 specific and that nary an XP 64 driver is left anywhere on your hard drive, and *then* do a fresh install of your game.

If for some crazy reason you *are* running bootleg OS software (or a bootleg game copy, or both!)--then don't bother with any of my suggestions, because only the Lord knows what you've actually got running there on your drive... (And please, don't tell me you aren't bootlegging if you are--that's a total waste of everyone's time, most especially your own.) Best of luck to you!

 

[Sixtus]

Um. I figured it out. When I placed my old saved game folder in The Witcher 2 user directory, I copied my old config folder, too. Reinstalling the previous way (copying DVD contents to the desktop and then installing) and only copying my saved games solved the problem. Tutorial's still stuttering, though. No biggy. Apparently that's kind of common. I'll wait for a fix.

Thanks for your reply, WaltC. I actually got about half-way through my reply to your post before remembering what I did. I feel like clarifying that I was referring to Windows 7 and Windows XP as sort of a time-stamp for my story, and not complaining again and again about Windows 7. It's running brilliantly, I just don't like it yet.

When I posted, the tutorial was the only playable part of the game. With the super-stutter, it really did take over 5 seconds for Geralt to respond to my input. I'm not referring to the old .2-second latency. That I don't mind.

Anyway, I've gotta go. Thanks for your reply, you improved morale.

*Don't overwrite your 2.0 config files with an old one!*

EDIT:
I caught a moment to come back. I can't seem to find the solved button. I put my solution in asterisks.

 

[dragonbird]

As this is a new OS installation, there's probably a LOT of unnecessary services running. This could be part, at least, of the reason you're getting stutter. It may be worth going through the list of running services sometime and disabling the ones that you don't need.

 

[Sixtus]

As this is a new OS installation, there's probably a LOT of unnecessary services running. This could be part, at least, of the reason you're getting stutter. It may be worth going through the list of running services sometime and disabling the ones that you don't need.

Thank you for the tip. I'm pretty accustomed to that kind of optimization already.