[Solved] Very slow launching of zip games due to double file protection software

[wikkyhorse]

Summary

Within LaunchBox, launching a compressed zip game, which opened RetroArch, was very slow (40+ seconds). I discovered that I had two file protection services on: my normal Eset Smart Security (antivirus) and NordVPN with its File protection option turned on. Turning off NordVPN File protection made things run smoothly again.

I'm hoping this information will save others time.

 

Side issue

I later noticed that just copying zip files among various different SSDs was very slow (would calculate for many seconds and then cap out around 550 Kb/s), but copying other file types (like large video files) was nearly instantaneous.

 

Troubleshooting

I'm on LaunchBox 13.14. For debugging purposes, I turned on logging: Tools > Options > General > Debugging > Enable Debug Logs check box.

In the log files, I confirmed that the time between trying to launch a game and having the zip finish extracting was in the tens of seconds.

Ignore this kind of error. It's apparently a Microsoft Windows benign error per this thread: "Options taking forever to open on LB & BB 13.6" https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/75266-options-taking-forever-to-open-on-lb-bb-136

2024-06-23 12:22:18 AM FIRST CHANCE EXCEPTION: Could not load file or assembly 'F:\LaunchBox\Core\Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.XmlSerializers.dll'. The system cannot find the file specified.
   at System.Runtime.Loader.AssemblyLoadContext.LoadFromPath(IntPtr ptrNativeAssemblyLoadContext, String ilPath, String niPath, ObjectHandleOnStack retAssembly)

 

I then saw this issue regarding 7-Zip.

2024-06-23 12:23:53 AM FIRST CHANCE EXCEPTION: Could not find file 'F:\LaunchBox\ThirdParty\7-Zip\Temp\link'.
   at Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles.SafeFileHandle.CreateFile(String fullPath, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, FileOptions options)

I went to <LaunchBox directory>\Plugins and moved the ArchiveCacheManager folder out in case that was causing issues. That didn't fix the issue, so I moved it back.

I went to Tools > Manage > Emulators to open Retroarch settings. I unchecked the "Extract ROM archives before running" check box. (I can't remember why I normally have this checked. Perhaps it's because some cores don't support compressed files, or perhaps I have a mixture of zip and 7z files, or perhaps some later-generation consoles for CD games require extraction.) Anyway, unchecking the box made things perform correctly.

I was ready to be content with that. Later on, I was testing out copying around 20 of the zipped ROM files from one directory to another (across different SSDs) for backup purposes. I noticed that Windows copied the files very slowly. I restarted the computer in safe mode and no longer had the slowness. Back in normal mode, the slowness occurred again. (Sometimes the zip files would copy super fast as expected, but most of the time they would be slow and I'd cancel out. The occasional fast copy was probably just a fluke.)

Given that safe mode disables most applications, I figured I should check my antivirus settings. In Eset Smart Security, I went to Setup > Advanced Setup > Cloud-based protection. Toggling off Enable ESET LiveGuard didn't fix my issue.

 

I found this post: "Eset slowing down windows 10 copy/paste to a crawl" https://forum.eset.com/topic/39788-eset-slowing-down-windows-10-copypaste-to-a-crawl/

That was the answer. Turning off NordVPN File protection fixed the zip file copying and thus also the LaunchBox slowness. (I was able to recheck the  "Extract ROM archives before running" check box to turn that back on.)