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[RESOLVED] Is this standard behavior? (Merge Sets question)

jperkins79

By jperkins79
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jperkins79 Advanced Member

jperkins79

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I just found out about the Merge Sets option. So, I have turned it on for my Playstation emulator. (It works wonderfully, btw). But when I go click into "Final Fantasy VII", it shows a "loading" screen for about 7 or 8 seconds. It doesn't take that long to load on startup, or when going into the initial Playstation emulated games screen. I have verified that the loading is coming from the Merge Sets option being enabled. I can go into a game that has only 1 .iso file and no subfolders, and it will do the same thing. Disabling Merge Sets stops the loading screen from showing up.

I'm just curious if the behavior I'm experiencing is normal, or not. If it's not normal, I can post up my .ini and log files. Just let me know.

nullPointer GameEx God (Top Rank)

nullPointer

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Posted

Hmm this may or may not be normal, and could be dependent on a number of factors. Taking a look at your log and GameEx.ini may shed some light on the issue. Just to clarify the 7-8 second pause occurs between selecting a game from your list and loading the Game Info screen?

jperkins79 Advanced Member

jperkins79

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Yes, when I enter the Playstation game list, that loads normally. However, when going into any game, whether there are merged items or not (not merged meaning a game with a single .iso file), it will take that much longer to load. I just timed it, it seemed to consistently be 11 seconds.

It's worth noting, that these ROM files are being loaded from a mapped network drive. If I copy the folders down from the network drive to a local drive, the "loading" screen doesn't show up and the game description page loads immediately. But also worth noting, that if I disable the Merge Sets option, the same files on the same drive will load immediately as well. It's something about enabling Merge Sets on files stored on a network drive.

Other info worth mentioning... the mapped network drive is on a server in my home, behind my router, on a gigabit network connection.

Here is my Playstation emulator .ini:

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And here is my game log:

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nullPointer GameEx God (Top Rank)

nullPointer

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Hi jperkins,

My feeling is that you’ve discovered the cause of the issue already. It sounds like storing your PSX disc images remotely is causing some latency in GameEx. Obviously you’ve got some good speed on your network, but even then it appears to be the defining cause of the issue. Only Tom could say with certainty whether this is normal system behavior (although it would be great to hear from someone else running a similar setup)

One point I might mention. I notice you’ve got Merge Sets set to true as well as Roms in Folders set to true. Bear in mind that when you set Roms in Folders to true, GameEx must perform a recursive search of every sub-directory under your ROM directory in order to locate your disc images. Running a full recursive search across a network connection could be a costly operation depending on the size of the ROM directory. If it’s not already I’d recommend insuring that your ROM directory structure is not terribly deep. After locating your ROMs, GameEx has to aggregate the data in conformance with the Merge Sets feature (and find matching database data). All the same, 11 seconds is practically an eternity in processor time … but also not outside the realm of possibility once network latency is added into the mix I suppose.

I dunno ... it would be great to hear from someone running a similar setup if they've experienced similar latency.

jperkins79 Advanced Member

jperkins79

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yeah, I kinda figure this will be a "that's just the way it is" scenario, and it's not by any means a big deal. More than anything, I'm just curious if others have experienced it.

EDIT: So, looks like it is indeed the recursive folder scan over the network that is causing the delay. I just moved all of the discs out of their own folders into a single folder on the network drive, and disabled Scan Subfolders, and it loads instantly.

Well, at least the 'mystery' is solved. I think I'll keep all my discs in a single folder and leave on Merge Sets. It's too nice of a feature to do without, just for the sake slightly better file/folder management.

Edited by nullPointer
This topic has been marked as RESOLVED and is now closed. Please begin a new thread if you are experiencing any similar issues.
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