Program Running Slow

[Savontb82]

Sorry for the long post, but I'm hoping someone has the technical knowledge to help me out. I recently purchased a new computer so I can speed up the design process and use PBR ray tracing. My old computer was a 6 year old desktop with decent specs but no dedicated GPU. The design process was painstaking, as the program ran very slowly, frequently froze and occasionally crashed altogether. PBR was impossible, and even standard renders didn't look as good as I wanted. I decided to replace it with a new laptop to address these issues and allow for mobility. I researched the CA recommended (not minimum) system requirements and ordered a laptop with specs customized to meet them. I've included software and system info for the new computer below my signature.

 

The problem is, I'm starting to see some problems with running CA on the new computer too. I only have a couple of weeks left to return if needed. I'm trying to determine if the issues are related to the computer itself, or user error, or maybe my expectations were just unrealistic to begin with. While the software definitely runs smoother and faster on the new laptop, there have been a few occasions where it has slowed down almost to the level I saw on my last computer. Granted, I'm now usually toggling between floor plan view and camera view (sometimes multiple cameras) with PBR. I know my file sizes get pretty large, because I usually furnish and decorate as I go, plus lighting, landscaping and backdrops.

 

Today, there was an internal rendering error (unfortunately, I didn't capture the specific error code) that caused it to freeze, and I had to shut down and reopen. Now I'm scared, because this is what I was trying to eliminate by upgrading. Not sure if any of this is directly related to the GPU. I did read conflicting opinions on whether the RTX 4000 series is any better than the 3000 series for ray tracing, but I expected that either would be sufficient.

 

Also, I've noticed that when I type a search term into the library browser, it often takes a while to process the search. Sometimes, the progress bar will show 0% or even 100% but the search results never come up. I usually have to repeat the same search 3 or 4 times to get results to show. I did not have this problem at all on the old computer. I did update all of the catalogs when I downloaded CA on the laptop.

 

Can anyone help me determine what the problem(s) might be?

 

Thanks,

 

Avon Bright

Chief Architect X15

HP Envy 16t-h100

Windows 11

Intel Core i7-13700H, 2400 MHz, 14 cores

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 GPU (8 GB)

32 GB RAM

1 TB SSD

[SHCanada2]

please characterize "slow"

 

I bought a new computer thinking things would be faster, but they are not really for opening up dialog boxes. I notice dialog boxes have a variable speed. sometimes they open quick, sometimes it takes a couple seconds. Ray tracing is faster with my new computer.

 

I personally do not get the render errors anymore. They were originally caused by the video card driver. You should upgrade your driver to the latest if you have not yet already

 

 

if you want post the plan and what is "slow" and I can try it out

 

[ericepv]

Some things to check:

• Make sure your video card driver is up to date
• The slow library response can be caused by checking 'Include Web Results' (to the right of the library search bar)
• If you have a rendering window open, if it's in PBR mode, that can slow things down. If you want to view in PBR while working on the file, reduce the sample size and click on 'Cap Live Samples'

 

[Savontb82]

Thank you both for your responses. It's hard to describe slow, as it gets progressively slower as I work on a plan. Usually, when I first open a plan, everything will be fast and smooth. Then, it starts taking several seconds for a dialog box to open up, then maybe 15-20 seconds. If I move or resize an object, it may process for 20 seconds before it shows the change in camera view. It will gradually get worse, until I just shut it down for a while and reopen it later.

 

I am realizing that maybe my files are getting too big, because I was going to attach one that I'm having problems with, but it exceeds the max attachment size of 14 MB. The plan file is 93.7 MB. I also usually save my files to OneDrive. I read in another thread that CA works better on files stored locally, so I started saving them to my hard drive, but that doesn't seem to speed anything up.

 

I'm not sure about the video card driver; I will have to check that. I just assumed everything got covered in the updates when I setup the computer a couple of weeks ago.

 

Yes, I do include web results in my searches, so I can uncheck that. I almost always have a PBR camera window open. I usually set the sample cap at 50 when I'm working, then I'll turn it up to around 2000 when I'm ready to capture images.

[ericepv]

In addition to my earlier suggestions, here's a few more thing to check:

• Do you have any light sources switched on? The more you have, the longer it takes Chief to respond, turn off lighting in areas not visible to your camera.
• Symbols with a high surface count (often imported ones) can also slow you down.
• When working on a file with a PBR view open, I usually set the sample size to 10 or less.
• How often do you clean up your hard drive? It helps to run disc cleanup regularly.
• Here's a great article from the Knowledge base that covers this topic in more detail:  https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00521/troubleshooting-slowness-in-chief-architect-plans.html

[Savontb82]

Yes, lighting is usually one of the last things I do, but there are always a lot of them. I use the automatic light set with limit of 20 until I'm ready to capture images; then I turn more on as needed to get good pictures.

 

I don't use a lot of imported symbols, but I do use a lot of different textures and objects. I'll take your advice and reduce my sample size to 10. I don't necessarily wait for the samples to max out before moving forward anyway. I haven't done any hard drive cleaning yet, but it's only been a couple of weeks since I bought the laptop. I did a lot of cleanup on my old computer before transferring over my files.

 

Thanks for the article! I will take a look at it now.

[SHCanada2]

I suppose a question would be, using the OOTB residential template, do you get this slowness, or do you only have slowness for the 95MB file sizes

[para-CAD]

Chief has very helpful tech-support people who might be able to walk you through solving this problem for you. 

[DBCooper]

I think the tech article that Eric posted above has a lot of good general info and it might help you solve your problems.

 

Another thing you might want to do is post a copy of the plan that you are seeing the problems with.  You would need to use the "backup entire plan" tool to make sure that all of the materials and other files are included and you will probably need to put it on an online location (like dropbox) because it will probably be too big to put on the forum.  Then someone could see if they are getting the same problems as you.  If they are, then it probably has more to do with what is in the plan than with the machine you are using.  They might also be able to figure out what in the plan is causing the biggest slowdowns.  What I typically do in cases like this is just start deleting things until I see a big speedup.

 

And if all else fails, call tech support because they might be able to help.

 

[Kbird1]

Chief is slow if you work in PBR, even with my new 4080 Super Desktop GPU, your 4060 Laptop GPU is significant slower, so try working in Standard View , with Lines on ( my preferred method these days) and when you have a Camera View you Like in Standard view "duplicate" it via the Project Browser and switch it to PBR and change the settings as necessary.

 

There are Issues with certain Nvidia Drivers including the latest Studio Driver so personally I am back on the Game Ready Driver Ver. 551.52 on the 4080S, before that on my 3080ti I was on the Drivers in my Sig.

 

Mick.