VW 2018 slow start up time

[MartinFahrer]

I hope this si the correct space to put this.  Just installed and ran VW 2018.  Start up time takes 2 to 3 times longer than 2017 and this is on a SS Drive.  Any Ideas on how to speed things up?  I noticed I get the circle switching tabs too.  Looks to me that there were to many resources added on the default libraries that I never use, is there a way to get rid of some of that?

 

 

Thanks

M

Edited September 20, 2017 by MartinFahrer

[P Retondo]

Hi Jim, with great respect, I see the activation delay and that is a very important thing to fix.  But I am talking about issues that are specific to the time it takes for resources to populate, both at startup and when going to the attributes palette.  Anything having to do with resources now involves a very noticeable delay.  Do you not experience this delay when using v2017 (can't speak to v2018, because even though I have paid for upgrades, we have not installed 2018 due to fear of even greater productivity dings)?  Just for example, I click on the attributes palette, click on the fill style button, click on hatches, click on the hatch dropdown list and wait for several seconds while that list populates - it takes so long at first I clicked several times because it didn't seem to be working.  Finally get a hatch and apply it - the whole operation taking around 10-12 seconds where it used to take less than 2.

 

PS:  You have to test this immediately after startup, because once you have used the attributes palette this way the list has been loaded and persists, reducing the delay

Edited November 27, 2017 by P Retondo

[PVA - Admin]

38 minutes ago, P Retondo said:

Hi Jim, with great respect, I see the activation delay and that is a very important thing to fix.  But I am talking about issues that are specific to the time it takes for resources to populate, both at startup and when going to the attributes palette.  Anything having to do with resources now involves a very noticeable delay.  Do you not experience this delay when using v2017 (can't speak to v2018, because even though I have paid for upgrades, we have not installed 2018 due to fear of even greater productivity dings)?  Just for example, I click on the attributes palette, click on the fill style button, click on hatches, click on the hatch dropdown list and wait for several seconds while that list populates - it takes so long at first I clicked several times because it didn't seem to be working.  Finally get a hatch and apply it - the whole operation taking around 10-12 seconds where it used to take less than 2.

 

PS:  You have to test this immediately after startup, because once you have used the attributes palette this way the list has been loaded and persists, reducing the delay

I only addressed the startup since that's the topic of the current thread, the resource/attributes delays would be best handled separately and likely their causes are unrelated. I did not mean to imply that these other delays were not an issue as well, apologies.

[P Retondo]

Hi Jim, to be clear, handling of resources also affects startup delay.  I know it's difficult to separate these delays out, but based on the screen hints I am seeing, something on the order of 10-15 seconds to load the resources after activation verification, where the total startup process used to take 15 seconds.  v2017.  Have you been able to verify this extra processing time with the new resources handling?  If not, could you lay this perception to rest?  If yes, can you explain why NNA thinks it was advantageous to re-design the resources interface at such a cost?

[PVA - Admin]

1) Having more resources or larger favorites files will slow Vectorworks startup time, but shouldn't be slowing it as much as we are currently seeing, no. We suspect the excessively long load times (upwards of 1 minute) is an unrelated bug to the items that are causing resource manager/attribute slowness.

2) The slowness we are seeing in many cases when working with resources is not solely caused by having many/large resources, as I can replicate the resource selection and attribute changing problems (which are linked) even with a stock installation with no extra resources. The problem is WORSE with larger resource libraries, but even with none beyond default content it's unacceptably slow.

3) This excessive slowness (dozens of seconds) is unintentional behavior, it was not decided that this slowness was an acceptable tradeoff to bring in new functionality. We are completely in Not Working As Designed territory here. 

[P Retondo]

Jim, thanks for that explanation.  It goes a long way to know that the engineers are aware of a problem and are working on it.

[MartinFahrer]

1 hour ago, P Retondo said:

Hi Jim, to be clear, handling of resources also affects startup delay.  I know it's difficult to separate these delays out, but based on the screen hints I am seeing, something on the order of 10-15 seconds to load the resources after activation verification, where the total startup process used to take 15 seconds.  v2017.  Have you been able to verify this extra processing time with the new resources handling?  If not, could you lay this perception to rest?  If yes, can you explain why NNA thinks it was advantageous to re-design the resources interface at such a cost?

 

In my case it was 20 to 30 seconds after verification. v 2018

[Jeremy Best]

On 11/27/2017 at 12:28 PM, MartinFahrer said:

I was timing my Start up with VW.  The Program will open and be ready in 10 to 20 seconds.  Not bad, however it takes almost a minute for the Resource browser, and all the crap I never use (See all the default and cloud libraries to load automatically.  Is there any way to limit the default start up to only the things I need?  I don't need - showers, escalators, doors, HVAC crap as well as building services etc.  I am an entertainment set designer.  I am sure Architects don't need all the theatrical lighting resources.  as a set designer I don't need those, or even the truss 90% of the time.

Having lots of Favourites files can grossly slow down the loading of the Resource Manager. Does this possibility fit your situation? I have no Favourites (because it's a fresh/test install only) and it loads quickly for me. 

[P Retondo]

I have a few, but no more than I have always had.  Not a problem with previous versions, so I assume something has changed since the advent of v 2017.

Edited December 1, 2017 by P Retondo

[Vere]

I too have VERY slow launching of VectorWorks 2018. Even the brand new SP2 makes no difference _ it still takes 3 or 4 mins to activate the full launch. Such a frustrating waste of time! How can it be that this issue has not been solved? It never used to take a long time to get VW started. I have used this application since MiniCad days & if this had been normal, VectorWorks probably would have not survived that long....

[PVA - Admin]

4 hours ago, Vere said:

I too have VERY slow launching of VectorWorks 2018. Even the brand new SP2 makes no difference _ it still takes 3 or 4 mins to activate the full launch. Such a frustrating waste of time! How can it be that this issue has not been solved? It never used to take a long time to get VW started. 

So far we are still trying to find the cause. It is VERY widespread, but we are unable to replicate it in house. I can't even replicate it on my home network through my ISP, ISPs being our first suspicion on the delay.

Does yours also hang for the majority of the 3-5 minutes on the "Checking Activation" phase? We originally assumed the issue was tied to activation because of this, but in checking the server logs, apparently the activation call and response is happening right away, the delay is on the client side and caused by something we have yet to identify.

[Vere]

Hi Jim, thanks for your quick reply to my post!

I run VW on a single iMac with no files shared across our network _ all my work is on my internal HD.

After clicking to VW icon to launch, the start sequence begins quickly. When the VW app window shows 'Checking Activation' it stays on that screen for 3 or 4 mins, then once all the start up window functions are done and VW opens, it takes another min or more for the app to be available for work. I have updated to SP2, but  this is no faster. I did not see this delay in versions 2016 or 2017 running on the same iMac. Once up and launched, VW runs really well _ such a great CAD tool.

[PVA - Admin]

New request from Engineering:

Anyone who is having a startup time of longer than 90 seconds, please do the following:

1. Close Vectorworks
2. Launch Activity Monitor (from the Utilities folder inside your Applications folder)
3. Click on the CPU tab
4. Launch Vectorworks 2018
5. Under the Process Name column, find and select Vectorworks 2018
6. In the toolbar, click on the "System diagnostic options" button (the gear icon) and then select "Sample Process" and then enter your system password. You may need to try this twice if you don't see the "Please wait while this sample is taken" progress bar appear after entering your password"
7. Once the sampling completes, click on the "Save..." button (top right corner of the dialog) to save a copy of the sample
8. The output is a small text file that will show us what Vectorworks is doing during this time. Please post a reply with that attached, or message me with that resulting file
9.  After saving the current sample, wait a second or 2 then click on the Refresh… button, which is next to the Save… button
10. Once the sampling completes, click on the "Save..." button again and save the text file using a different name (add -1, -2, etc. as needed).

11. Now repeat steps 9 and 10 five more times.

Note that you should attempt to do step 5 as quickly as possible after step 4.
 

Thank you!

EDIT: Added 3 new steps from Engineering.

[Steven Kenzer]

Sorry about that repost...accident. Attached is my Sample Process document. My startup time varies but averages in the 3 minute range, I'd say.

Sample of Vectorworks 2018.txt

[Vere]

Hi _ Please see the attached text files generated following your Sample Process request. I have attached 5 files sampled at different times during the very long start up. Not sure if you will see anything different in these text files. Hope this help & gives an ideas where the problem is. I tried this morning launching VW while disconnected from the internet & our network. Still took about 4 mins to launch! If anything, I think the time VW takes to launch is getting longer each time. Really would like a solution..... Thanks, Vere

Sample of Vectorworks 2018_VI.txt

Sample of Vectorworks 2018_VI 2.txt

Sample of Vectorworks 2018_VI 3.txt

Sample of Vectorworks 2018_VI 4.txt

Sample of Vectorworks 2018_VI 5.txt

[Christiaan]

Samples attached Jim. Every step seems a little slow but the straw that breaks the camel's back (if I go by my splash screen) is usually the activation process.

Startup Process Samples.zip

[PVA - Admin]

It looks like this issue should be corrected in the upcoming SP3 release for 2018. 

 

VB-147433

[Steven Kenzer]

That's great to hear, Jim. I'm approaching 5 minutes of "checking activation" right now. For some reason this has gotten worse for me the past 2 days. Looking forward to the update.

[Neil Barman]

Have those of you who were experiencing this issue found that it’s been resolved by SP3?

[Vere]

Hi. Yes start up time is quicker now with the SP3. On my iMac it is significantly quicker. On my Powerbook it is quicker but not as quick as the iMac.... Good improvement though. V

[Steven Kenzer]

All in all, startup time is much improved for me. I've seen anywhere from 40 seconds to a minute+...much better than the 3-5 minutes with the previous release. Thanks, VW.

[MartinFahrer]

Yes I have noticed an iimprovement in start up time as well.  Now an average of 20 to 30 seconds.  Thanks guys at Vectorworks!!!

[TKA]

I have installed new SDS drive, new system and fresh VW copy, the first few times it super fast, perhaps 15 s, now after few days back to the old ways - 10 minutes or more.  I can see that VW is loading this and that, slowing down for instance @ Xgshelf with wheel spinning for minutes, same workspace support system.

OS X 10.13.4, VW 2018 sp3