Long character load times...

[GreenGurgler]

Hello, I have been have an issue for quite soem time now and was wondering if anyone can offer any help or insight in this matter.

It is not a glitch nor is it lag related and it started right after one of the previous mod's (5 or 6 maybe?). I have a few friends who have not had this or noticed it with their PC's. I have not reported ir or inquired previously becasue other than a minor inconvenience, it doesnt affect my game play. But, I am bored tyhis sunday and doing some routine maintenance to my machine and figured Id throw it up on boards to see if I could get it resolved.

The problem is that once I load the game and select which character I wish to load, the game takes like 5 minutes to load me into the world. It only happens the first time I load that specific alt. If I log out and log back in with the same alt, it loads up super fast (like it used too) but if I log out and load a diff alt, I have the 5 min wait again.

The odd part is that other players in the game see me in waaayyy before I can see the game, and I even have friends send me tells and invites but I cannot see them as I am still in the load screen.

Other than this, the game loads everything else fine and in a resonable time frame. Log out is quick (although loggin in and out in a tavern for me has always been alot quicker than out in the open, but still MUCH slower that first time), load screens between areas is normal and reasonable, same with quest loads, etc...

So, anyone have any ideas for me? Anyone else experience this ? If specific logs would help, let me know and I can post those as well.

Thanks

[Samadhi]

I've noticed it - so u are not alone - I went from 30 sec load times to 2-3min

[Shima-ra]

same here, it wasn't that long before. Maybe my toon has too much gear now : P
But since about 5 months it has been taking a while to load in.
All my friends know it, so they wait a while to invite me, and even then their invites expired 2-3 times

[Kraldor]

That's funny. Ever since Mod 5, my loading times have been super-fast.

[Altumus]

if this specifically happens after an update it can be firewall or security software related, remove and re-add any ddo exceptions you may have in these programs.

[GreenGurgler]

if this specifically happens after an update it can be firewall or security software related, remove and re-add any ddo exceptions you may have in these programs.

This is probably the best place to look.

I use a router with a built in firewall and typically leave windows firewall off. I also us CA Security suite but do not have that firewall enabled.

I did just check and windows firewall is on and shows dnd client (coincidentally it shows it twice; once to the current location on the client and one that shows an old location on a harddrive that does not exist anymore- think I will remove that one). I will try turning off the windows firewall as well and see if I still have the problem with just the router firewall. (the windows firewall did not turn itself on, I had to replace the sytem HDD and reinstall OS a few weeks back and I think I left it on by default by mistake).

For my router firewall, are there any specific ports that I need to open?

Any IT gurus have any advice as to what is the best route to go in regards to firewalls: is router firewall sufficent? If not, is it worth using the windows firewall as well? what about the firewall that comes in CA Security Suite? Is it worht it to have multiple firewalls or is this over kill (if it makes any difference I do not leave my pc on when I am not using it).

[GreenGurgler]

Hmm... looking into the firewall and router port settings I came across this site (Im sure many people already know about it, but for those who dont this is nice): http://www.portforward.com/

I turned off the windows firewall and went into my router and set the following ports: 80, 2900-2910,9000-9010. I believe this is all? Am I missing any?

So far, it doesnt seem to make a difference but I will try a few more reboots/relogs to see.
Oddly, there is a minor improvement: while the load screen and bar seems to take just as long (too long) once I am visibly loaded in, I am ready and able to run (and everybody is clothed, chat channels are open, etc...). Previously it would still take along time for the load screen to load and once I had visual, I still had to wait another 30-60 sec for people/equip/chat channels etc to load ( I would see you all naked hehe)

I would still wonder what the best advice for firewalls is (balancing security with interference): is router firewall enough? should I turn on Windows firewall as well? what about CA Security firewall??? Any opinions??

[nibel]

I have this problem too. Usually i simple slect the char, then go to kitchen get my loyal water bootle to stay at my side all the time im gaming. Any tells and invites i receive in this time, i just say "sorry, was afk while loading".

I ever think that this working as intended, since most of my games have this same thing: slow load first, fast load later.

[Stormanne]

Do you turn your PC off daily? How much RAM do you have installed? Leaving your PC on will keep the most active apps queued up in the RAM for faster loading. The more RAM you have, the quicker the load ups will be.

[Bobokittymck]

when i put in my username and PW then i see a Bar and i see 0.02 kb/s and it never moves i just installed and downlaoded the game last night. why is this happing and also what is a good server for a new player in the USA on the PST