Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - Technical Issues Game basically unplayable - several issues

Hey there, wanted to try this game for a while and since its just released I bought it, however I've had nothing but trouble and basically been unable to play the game, the issues are as follows:

Horrendous start up load, and loading a save game times - have to usually wait around 15 minutes before the game even gets to the main menu and around 20 or more minutes before I can load a save game.

Playing the game itself, every click or two, using combat abilities, character interaction - basically anything other than standing still causes stutter / lag / freezes which can last anywhere from a second to a minute before the game runs smoothly again - but the issues then instantly repeat, even with something like opening the inventory.

So whilst I "could" play the game, the load time to get started is nearly an hour, and the constant stutter completely breaks any pace and flow, turning the game into a slog. I had enjoyed what I have played and would love to play the game properly, but am simply unable, I havent been able to find much help accross numerous forums - this issues remain basically the same regardless of graphical quality (from very low to ultra).

My specs are:

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4094MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770

If anymore information is needed, let me know - can anyone help me here or do I just have to try the game each patch? :S - I have plenty of games of varying requirements that I can run on ultra ranging from WoW to Witcher 2, can't see my specs being much of a problem.

P.S I have already emailed the supportdos@larian.com and sent info from their analysis tool

For the Steam version, did you try verifying local files? In the Steam library, right click on Divinity Original Sin and select Properties, switch to the Local Files tab and then click on the 'Verify Integrity of Game Cache...' button.

Are you shutting down all non-essential programs (especially anti-virus) before starting the game?

I have done both of those - and from manuall shutting down programs myself, to using a games booster.

Currently trying a reinstall to see if it has any affect.

UPDATE:

full reinstall seems to have fixed it - can play and its running smoothly... very odd - will report back here if the situation changes but for anyone else having similar issues try a full reinstall and I hope your issues are also fixed

gonna have to bump this again - every few times I try to play the issue repeats - often requiring several reinstalls or validating files - both of which are lengthy processes. when it loads up quickly the game runs and plays beautifully and I am loving it; however it makes it difficult to want to try and play with these issue - though at this point im beginning to suspect there may be a problem elsewhere - but if there is anymore advice or anyone with a similar issue; the help would be appreciated.

thank you ^^

Hi,
If your drivers are updated and playing the game in low settings doesn't change anything, you might want to check your RAM or hard drive.

Have you noticed any issues with your computer lately other than this game's performance ? bsod's ? crashes ? other programs failing ?

Try installing from scratch to another hard drive (intenal/external) or an usb3 dongle or sd card(class 6 or above).
Be sure that you don't install to another partition.

If it works well, you might want to use a few tools to check your hard drive. A quick search will give you plenty of info and tools.
If there are bad sectors, they can be found and defined as unusable by your OS. Or alternatively, buy a new hard drive.

If not, download burn and run some ram test tools such as MemTest86 or Windows Memory Diagnostic. You can alternatively try new ram sticks from another working pc.
If your ram is faulty, change it asap.

Aside from what TheSlider all correctly surmised, (It can either be HDD, cable, or RAM) and the slow-down is when errors cause windows to disable DMA modes for that drive, and switch it to PIO (which is INFINITELY slower)

There is also the possibility of Malware infection causing these issues. However unlikely, but I would suggest looking at the task manager (Ctrl + Shift + ESC) to see what your CPU usage and RAM usage is during idle and if all fails, scan with AV (or Spybot, Malwarebytes etc.)

You can never know for sure what exactly causes an diffuse issue like the one you describe. What HDD do you have, did you check (and replace) the cable in question? SSD or HDD, etc.