[Guide] Better loading times

[BB_Sious]

This post contains instructions on how to improve long loading times.

What is the issue?

• Loading of the games is stuck at specific parts
• Loading takes longer than "some" minutes
• File size is too big for the browser (browser.cache.disk.max_entry_size 51200)

Workaround (Chrome, Chromium, Opera and Vivaldi):

• Right click on the Chrome, Chromium, Opera and Vivaldi application (on your desktop)
• Click on settings
• You will see a "target"-line under the "shortcut" tab
• In this target-line scroll to the end and put one space after the text (DO NOT DELETE THE TEXT)
• Add --disk-cache-size=1000000000 to the parameter
• We need to add an addition for Chrome:
  --disk-cache-size=5000000000 --media-cache-size=5000000000 --disk-cache-dir="C:\chrome_cache
• Click on "apply" and reload the game

Workaround (Firefox):

• Open Firefox
• Enter about:config into the adressline and hit enter
• A warning will appear, if you accept the risk click on "I accept"
• Search for: browser.cache.disk.smart_size.enabled and change it to "false"
• Search for: browser.cache.disk.capacity and double click on that line
• Change the number to: 1048576
• Search for: browser.cache.disk.max_entry_size and double click on that line
• Change the number to: 131072
  Once you changed this, make sure to not clear the cache - except it was clearly stated by the Community Team or Support. Any cache clear will reload the big files and can create for once a slightly longer loading time. However, with this workaround it should not be stuck anymore.

Additionally, you can use the official Slim-Browser as this application is specialised in a better loading behaviour.

Note: This post provides a quick overview to avoid the issue, offer a workaround or collect more information.

For additions or questions about this post please contact us directly via forum message.

[BB_Sious]

Mac users don't have shortcuts, so you can't do the browser customizations mentioned above there.
We have also received a temporary solution for Mac users.

The Firefox Tip also works on the Mac.

For Chrome:
In the terminal

defaults write com.google.Chrome DiskCacheSize -int 1024288000

If you want to check in Chrome if the cache settings worked. Enter the following in the URL line:

chrome://policy/

If you run on defaults, nothing should appear. If the cache was changed manually, the following should appear:

Policy name
Value of the Directive
Well
Applies to
Plane
Status

DiskCacheSize
1024288000
Platform
Computer
Recommended
Okay

(with formatting)

[BB_Sious]

NOTE: Even if the Chromium page specifies a special path, it may not be 100% identical for all Linux derivatives and versions. In our player-reported cases, the default path matched.


How to set the cache size under Linux using a policy rule

System: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS

• End Chrome to be on the safe side
• Path to the Policies: /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed (if it does not exist, please create it) (root privileges required)
• Create any .json file in that directory, we called it: diskcachesize.json (you need root privileges to create it)
  
  Content:

  {
  	"DiskCacheSize":1500000000
  }

• Important: NO spaces before and after the colon, Chrome is quite sensitive there.
• Start Google Chrome
• Under Google Chrome in the address line add chrome://policy/ and click on enter
• See if a line exists under "value of policy" the number is the number from the json file and most importantly under status it must be "OK". If there is something else, there is probably some syntax error in the json file. See the note with the explanation again.
• The good thing about the policies is that if you change the value in the json file while the browser is still open, and you click under chrome://policy/ on "Reload Policies", the changed values will be taken over immediately
• Start TSO, possibly several times, until everything has landed in the cache (as soon as you are in the game, all relevant data is in the cache and should stay in it for now)
  => This means that the first times it could still be a longer loading time, but once everything is collected the loading time will be short again

Under Linux there is also often the problem that the home directory is often on its own and relatively small partition (and there are usually the user profiles from Chrome including all data) it can be that you have to specify the cache path in addition to the cache size.


How to set the cache directory under Linux using a policy rule:

System: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS

1. In general, the procedure is very similar to the procedure to set the cache size, but the effort is somewhat greater.
2. Exit Chrome to be on the safe side
3. Find out which partition has enough space (preferably well over 2 GB), in this example it is the /datadisk partition
   If the root partition "/" is already big enough and only the mounted home directory is too small, it is even better, but we stick to our example with /datadisk. The directory you ultimately choose should not be a subdirectory of /home.
   If you have found a suitable partition
4. Create a directory there e.g. ChromeCache (probably root privileges are required).
   The directory is given full read and write permissions: Example: enter chmod 777 /datadisk/ChromeCache in the shell.
5. Path to the policies: /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed (if it does not exist, please create it) (root privileges required)
6. Create any .json file in that directory, we called it: diskcachedir.json (root privileges required)
   Content:

   {
           "DiskCacheDir":"/datadisk/ChromeCache"
   }

7. Important: NO spaces before and after the quote
8. Important: Don't forget, the path is only a example and identical with the one from e.
9. Start Google Chrome
10. Under Google Chrome in the address line add chrome://policy/ and click enter
11. See if there is a line with the entry "DiskCacheDir", the path used from e. and g. is under "Policy Value" and above all if the status is "OK".
12. If not, click once on "Reload policy".
13. If still not, there is either an error in the json file, one of the paths is wrong, the permissions are wrong. Then start again from the beginning.
14. Since we have defined a new cache here, it is empty after the first start after this change.
15. Start TSO, possibly several times, until everything has landed in the cache (as soon as you are in the game, all relevant data is in the cache and should remain in it for now)
    => This means that the first times it could still be a longer loading time, but once everything is collected the loading time will be short again