Ultra Slow Loading in OpenGL

[40sTheme]

I didn't get too many responses in Software forums, so I figured I'd post here, since it is somewhat relevant.
I recently downloaded the Prey and Quake 4 demos to see how well my new 7950GT would run them.
Here's the issue:
Prey - haven't been able to even play since the first level took 20 mins to HALFWAY load
Quake 4 - levels take 5+ min to load
Now, I have correctly cleaned all of my old ATi drivers. I have a more than adequate system (Pentium D 820, 2GB DDR2 800, 7950GT, 520W PSU, 93.71 drivers), and on my friends system (Athlon XP 3200, 768 MB DDR some speed, X1950Pro AGP, 420W PSU, Cat 7.1s), those games take ~30 seconds to load. Is there any explanation for the ridiculous load times? Quake 4 has no problems while running, either, 8x AA, 16x AF, the works at 1280x1024, never drops below the cap of 60 (yay vsync + triple buffering). I just don't understand why it runs so great, but takes so friggin long to load.

 

[40sTheme]

Noone knows anything?

 

[Stumps]

try reformatting and reinstalling windows....it's sounds like something is screwed up with your windows...especailly since the problem is not isolated to just one game.

 

[40sTheme]

Ugh.. I don't want to reformat. It's only in OpenGL games, so... is there any DxDiag like thing for OpenGL testing? Oblivion, FEAR, etc all load fast and smooth.

 

[Stumps]

have you tried to remove and reinstall the forceware drivers, using driver cleaner in safe mode?

I had a similar problem a few months back where after upgrading forceware drivers my PC couldn't complete any run of 3Dmark and would crash randomly in games, after a few uninstalls and reinstall of the driver it eventaully worked itself out and everything works fine now.

 

[40sTheme]

Yeah, I've tried the 93.71s, the 92.somethings and 91.somethings. Currently running the 93.71s, and the other two only worsened the problems.

 

[Stumps]

maybe a reformat might be the only fix....

 

[40sTheme]

Meh, I just won't worry about it then. Thanks for the help, though. A reformat isn't exactly in my plans right now.

 

[pcblog]

40sTheme, this also happens to me. Extreme long load time(15 mins) on full retail game on Doom 3, Prey and Quake 4 , and forget reformatting, it didnt help. It never happen before so I dont know wtf is wrong.
Oblivion, FEAR, BF 2, Serious Sam 2 all load fine. I think it is either video card driver, or hard drive problem or perhaps something to do with windows xp update?
I have a ATI x1800xt with 6.12 driver. Seagate 7900.10 320 hard drive.

 

[BFG10K]

Have you updated your BIOS and chipset drivers?

Also don't run the games under Ultra Quality unless you have a 640 MB vid card or better.

 

[40sTheme]

It's the demoes, so Ultra Quality is not an option.

 

[BFG10K]

Do the demos have patches?

 

[40sTheme]

No, they do not. May I also mention the games take forever to start up/load the menus as well as the actual maps?

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Have you updated your BIOS and chipset drivers?

Also don't run the games under Ultra Quality unless you have a 640 MB vid card or better.

hehe, I was just going to post that...I just tried Q4 at Ultra quality on my OC'd 7800GS....it took about 10 mins just to get to the intro...which was a 15 minute slide show.


I'm not going to try those setting in Prey....


I want my 25 minutes back......meh I'd probably waste em anyway.

 

[40sTheme]

BIOS is the latest released version for my computer (Dell A06), i'll have to check on the chipset drivers, however.

 

[40sTheme]

No driver updates for the 945 chipsets seemingly available.
EDIT: Finally let Prey load all the way up. Hits 100%, loading screen gets huge, stops responding.