Godot: Godot is being hindered on Windows by up to 500ms

[Aaron-Fleisher]

There is currently a shader disk cache lock bug that affects NVIDIA drivers on Windows 7 and 10. This creates a delay of around 200-500ms (sometimes more), when pressing F5/scene previewing.

A solution to this is modifying
https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/942855a9ee376ce6ee30a25674856ba64316b548/editor/editor_run.cpp#L178

and using a custom hard coded path that runs another executable. This removes the delay and the game developer experiences instant scene previews like Linux users.

I feel like this has been normalized and people have forgot about it or just got "so used to it" it's a non-issue. But IMO, this really undermines the engine. And there are still a lot game developers that use Windows

A temporary solution is to change the exec path to a separate executable. A better solution would be to add a option so users can set their own custom executable path. This way, no compilation is needed.

[Calinou]

A better solution would be to add a option so users can set their own custom executable path.

Ideally, this should work without requiring any configuration from the user.

Would it work if the executable is copied to a temporary location before running the project? To make this more efficient, the executable would only be copied if there is not one already present in the temporary location, or if the current executable has a different MD5 hash.

[Aaron-Fleisher]

A better solution would be to add a option so users can set their own custom executable path.

Ideally, this should work without requiring any configuration from the user.

Would it work if the executable is copied to a temporary location before running the project? To make this more efficient, the executable would only be copied if there is not one already present in the temporary location, or if the current executable has a different MD5 hash.

Yeah, it should! What I do after compiling is I duplicate the executable and name it godot2.exe, and use that path for exec. I just figured an option in the editor would be less intrusive cause this is only specific to Windows 7, 10 and users who have NVIDIA cards. I've tried it on AMD cards, and Linux as well, it's instant.

People who are on Windows w/ NVIDIA cards should really give this a try, it's a night and day difference! 🥇

edit: It's actually longer than I initially thought:

• Before:
• 

• After:
• 

[girng]

can't reproduce on the latest NVIDIA driver update 419.17. i'm on Windows 10, GTX 950. also related #11939
they finally fixed this?! wow, the previews are instant now.

[akien-mga]

@Aaron-Fleisher Can you confirm if it's fixed for you too with latest Nvidia drivers?

[Aaron-Fleisher]

@akien-mga Seems like it, the delay is gone. Latest NVIDIA driver (419.17).

[akien-mga]

Awesome, thanks!