Sketchup loading time?

66searcher · 21 Jul 2011, 07:58

hi,
i'm using sketchup 8 with many plugins when i open sketchup it takes over 30 seconds to load the main window and plugins toolbar !
is it normal?
if it's not what should i do to reduce the start up time of sketchup?
my system spec: Athlon x2 64X +4200,4gig of ram,Nvidia 8500 GT,win7 sp1 64X

Gaieus · 21 Jul 2011, 08:52

Hi Hamid,

True that the more plugins you have, the longer loading time will be. 30 seconds may sound a bit extreme though. Have a look at this topic we played around with a couple of weeks ago:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=34284

TIG · 21 Jul 2011, 09:06

As said, the more scripts you have loading the longer the startup will be...
Do some housekeeping and rename any .rb scripts in Plugins that you know that you never use with a .txt suffix - that way they don't auto-load... BUT on those rare occasions when you decide you do need it you can simply type load 'thescriptsname.rb.txt' in the Ruby Console and it'll then be loaded and its tools available during that session; if you decide you want the script to auto-load after all then simply remove the added .txt suffix...
Note that there are several .rb files like 'offset.rb', 'progressbar.rb' etc that might seem to do nothing - but never rename these because they are needed as 'helpers' by several other tools...
However, another issue known to slow you down startup in v8 is the number of 'Toolbar' entries in the registry... It seems that with the latest version when you 'save' your toolbar data for a later 'restore' lots of extra registry entries are made. This has a minimal affect on load time... BUT when you uninstall/reinstall scripts or activate/deactivate extensions new registry entries can be added and the old now redundant ones are not removed... Over time these build up and every entry is examined by SUp as it starts - even it it's then deemed 'not for use' - so the load time can become noticeably longer - recently I helped someone clean their registry and their load time changed from 43+secs to ~16secs! Purging your registry does have the affect of removing all toolbars - so you then need to re-set all of them as you like again [perhaps take a screenshot beforehand to help]. Messing with the registry can also prove fatal if you don't know what you are doing... There are some batch/command files available but only attempt this unaided if you are confident in your skills/carefulness... For example see here http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=335586#p335586

Rich O Brien · 21 Jul 2011, 09:12

Do your Styles, Materials etc windows cause this registry crap? I normally start SU with nothing and open what I need as I go. I might close SU with windows open so these are remembered the next session.

Is this adding to the registry?

HFM · 21 Jul 2011, 09:23

@alan fraser said:

One of the biggest culprits I've found is the latest verion of V-Ray; it takes load-up from a few seconds to something utterly ridiculous.

Second that, if you have V-ray and don't use it, uninstall [or install it on an older version of Sketchup...]

Alan Fraser · 21 Jul 2011, 09:41

One of the biggest culprits I've found is the latest version of V-Ray; it takes load-up from a few seconds to something utterly ridiculous.

Dave R · 21 Jul 2011, 09:48

SketchUp also tries to ping a server on startup so Google knows when you start a session. That might add a few seconds to starting depending upon your internet status. It doesn't wait to send the ping to open since SU will open on a computer that isn't connected to the internet. I've got at least two plugins that contact "home" during start up and they slow the opening. I just timed opening on my PC at about 45 seconds. The Components browser was open, too and had to load the components in a library. If I had closed the browser before closing SketchUp last night, it probably would have take a little bit less. Subsequent sessions today won't take so long to open.

Dave R · 21 Jul 2011, 15:04

Just counting how many users of the program they have every day. That's what they told us, anyway.

HFM · 21 Jul 2011, 15:28

[flash=560,349:2x61y4vh]http://www.youtube.com/v/yqyixwqiCag[/flash:2x61y4vh]

I didn't know Google sees when you start Sketchup, what are they doing with that info?

EDIT: fixed the movie link - TIG...

thanks TIG, didn't realize that it needed a simple 'v/' to work ^^

66searcher · 21 Jul 2011, 18:09

@ Gaieus,TIG & others:
very useful information.
plugins , styles & materials...i have MANY MANY
maybe GOOGLE should add selective startup option or i wish some smart guy create such plugin.
thank you very much.

TIG this is great...thanks
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=335586#p335586