Every time I start the game, I have to check the manifest (verify files, I presume). This considerably slows the time it takes to rejoin a crashed game.....and it's really annoying. Instead of a 10 second start, it's a 2 minute start. Is there a reason for this? Anyone else know?
I finally gave up on the extra clicks and waiting; On OS X the launcher maintains the same .app that I could download in full, so I just made direct shortcuts and only use the launcher for updating. Not sure if other platforms have the same arrangement.
Same problem here on windows 7, and unfortunately its stopping me from wanting to play the game, with such a long wait before I can.
Same here. Windows vista 64-bit. I have noticed that it wants to check manifest once per day. After first launch it does not update anymore if you open it again on same day.
I really recommend to directly start pa.exe generally. No downside to it whatsoever. EDIT: I have never had any issues with the launcher though, does not take more than 2 or 3 seconds to check the manifest usually. But starting pa.exe directly still is faster
I also had this problem, but I had the game still installed via the old launcher. After I removed the old install, the checking of the manifest of the new launcher is practically done instantly. Hope that helps
Have a similar issue where the launcher every once a while takes 2 to 3 minutes to check the manifest. I don't know if it's grabbing a massive hash file in order to have the checksums present verify the files and to see if there's an update. edit: That 2 to 3 minutes happens multiple times a day was it started. As cola_colin pointed out you can create a shortcut from PA.exe to your desktop as a workaround for now.
I've been experiencing the same issue since the last minor patch. The launcher will check the manifest for 1-2 minutes every single time when starting the game. Win7 64bit, standalone version of the game.
I almost never play anymore and it's almost entirely because I have to wait ten minutes for the launcher to check the manifest every time I play. I don't have an old version installed, btw.
I would never understand why someone would avoid playing a game because the launcher is slow, if a straight-load .exe exists. I used to have the problem with C&C games loading from the autorun, and I eventually just decided to make shortcuts to the direct launchers. Later, for Red Alert 2 and Renegade, I got special launchers that skip the intro movies. Currently, the 45 second startup for Totem Arts Renegade X is long considering some crashes between matches. I didn't refuse to play the game. Google'd it, apparently unreal games can work with deleted video files, so I deleted them and now I get 8 additional seconds of black screen but an instant load into the match itself.
Well see, I work five days a week at a research institute and two days a week at a restaurant. All the while I've been going through the admissions process for University of Pennsylvania and catching up on my calculus skills. That's in addition to, you know, eating, sleeping, washing clothes, and doing dishes, so I might only have one or two hours of free time and using nearly a quarter of that time waiting for a game to load doesn't appeal to me. Then again, I'm wasting time posting here, lol. As they say, "Humans aren't rational creatures, they're rationalizing creatures."
I can dig it. I just don't rid a game with a long load time. Since 2003, I crack them to bypass the intruding load screens. Or not require the disk. Or whatever. There was a longest time back in 2004 where C&C Renegade sat in my disk tray 24-7 and 1 disk tray so it sort of hogged it. I found out about cracking it to bypass requiring game disk, then data disk, then game disk again, each time to load, as well as bypassing needing 1 disk at all, and I never looked back. I love having a disk, that is how you install stuff. I hate having to flip 2 disks around to load a game. Generally, I hate time consuming things, but that is why I remove the loading videos for RenX UDK, so instead of 45 seconds of video I get 13 seconds of black screen then I appear match-in-progress. RenX has a badass 18 second intro movie though, for as short as it is.
I dug around in the install folder and found the .exe and am just going to use that from now on, unless I know there's a patch to be had.
Can I have your knowledge? Civ II: Test of Time used to do that to me RAID 0 SSD FTW! Mine takes like 10 seconds!
I also have an SSD, but the manifest check is usually five seconds or less. I skipped the manifest check by pressing "Verify" on the launcher, then pressing "Play." After the first manifest check, the exe starts instantly.
4 to 5s myself too. RAID 0 SSD is useless, performance wise, for desktop machines. Anyway, by using PAMM, I don't use the Launcher at all except for upgrades purpose.
Who knows how long SSDs sure are good though. And yes, RAID 0 SSD's are pointless, but the make it into a single drive and can increase performance in file transfer stuff. Plus it's just cool! I always verify as well, usually I download the update and then play another day.
