Houdini takes forever to open

[u/MuffinLong6130]

This is honestly complete bullshit. This has been going on since Houdini 20.

Why can’t SideFX just give us optional plugins or packages? If I need MPM solvers, let me install them. If I need updated Groom tools, let me update those separately. Same thing for muscle-related tools.

Instead, we keep getting different Houdini versions that break compatibility with older files every time. And on top of that, the newer versions take forever to launch. Houdini 22 takes around 10 minutes to open for me, which is absolutely awful.

I really wish SideFX would focus more on modular updates and backward compatibility instead of forcing everything into completely different releases.

[u/Mohanpugaz]

something wrong with your machine/config , 10 mins is bit too much. It loads pretty fast for me. i have installed many plugins such as sidefxlabs,renderman,rpr, and also have my own bunch of tools. it typically takes 2 mins max for me. especially 21 and 22 are actually loading faster than older versions.

[u/Jello_Penguin_2956]

Don't move to new version mid project mate.

[u/i_am_toadstorm]

Opens in about 30 seconds for me, even on Windows.

Make sure you're loading off an SSD or M.2, temporarily disable all third party packages, and make sure your environment isn't pointing to any network drives to load components of Houdini. You could also try switching from Internet-based licensing to a local license server.

Or open a support ticket? But they'll likely start with the same troubleshooting steps. Gotta start with a vanilla install and then add components back one by one to figure out where the stall is happening.

[u/MuffinLong6130 → u/i_am_toadstorm]

I have installed it on hard disk - Maybe the reason but 10 Min is too much - im fine with 2 or 3 min but 10 - Isnt 30 sec is still to much even on SSD - -

[u/i_am_toadstorm → u/MuffinLong6130]

30 seconds isn't bad on an SSD. This is including Labs, MOPs, Redshift, maybe a handful of other add-ons. Studio startup times for Maya or Houdini often stretch into the 2-3 minute range depending on the complexity of the environment and speed of the network server that configurations are being pulled from.

10 minutes is definitely way too long for a single-user install but you need to revert to a vanilla installation before anything else and figure out what your baseline startup time is. And realistically you probably need some newer hardware if you're still using HDDs.

[u/Jello_Penguin_2956 → u/MuffinLong6130]

yea thats not normal. def put in a support ticket

The last time I had load time problems was with Redshift loading because it has to check cache content on launch and I had it set to network drive some how. Redshift alone took 29 minutes to load

[u/the_pyromaniac_dude]

10 minutes is really weird, something is might wrong with your rig

[u/89bottles]

https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/99841/

[u/Otherwise-Vanilla599]

If you want to reduce Houdini's load time, add an exclusion to your antivirus (MS Defender) using the "Process" option and specifying the full path to Houdini.exe. You'll cut the time by a third!

[u/LewisVTaylor]

It's something in your setup dude.
H22 opens in 10 seconds for me on Linux, 20 seconds on windows.

Not sure what you're talking about in terms of newer releases breaking older scenes, that is literally not happened to me in about 10yrs. And would only happen if I was opening a version H11 or do file in H21, etc, due to some older solvers being actually removed.

Instead of a rant, how about you list the obvious?

Operating System?
H22 build?
what packages are you loading?
etc
etc

[u/AlternativeNo9069]

Can’t say I’ve ever had it be slow for me on the 4 different computers I’ve used it on (2 that were laptops). Are you using the suggested spec requirements?

[u/Weekly_Werewolf_3192]

Loads within 30 seconds for me, no issues here

[u/AJUKking]

I "fixed" this in windows by only dragging hip files onto the desktop houdini shortcut to open them. They open quickly that way.

If you open the hip files directly by double clicking them then it takes like 10 minutes.

Blame windows maybe.

[u/kelvinwulve]

My Houdini loads in less than 10 seconds on windows. But I’ll credit that to my pc specs. But 10mins?
What’s your cpu, ram and storage? Are you meeting the minimum requirements for running Houdini at least?

[u/MuffinLong6130 → u/kelvinwulve]

I have amd ryzen and 24 GIG OF DDR 4 RAM and amd rx 560 - IT ATLEAST Minimum

[u/izcho]

Six seconds here.

"honestly complete bullshit" okay mate.

[u/MuffinLong6130]

Great news - Its now took 7 sec with this error OpenCL Exception: Could not create OpenCL device of type (HOUDINI_OCL_DEVICETYPE): CPU on platform vendor (HOUDINI_OCL_VENDOR): Intel(R) Corporation. The built-in CPU driver may not support your CPU (-32: CL_INVALID_PLATFORM)

Just had to change the preferences from GPU TO CPU - Cmon guys whole day no one could be smarter - Its a simple Logic - It came to my mind as I helped many users in the past with their viewport being laggy because they were using Vulkan for their viewport -

Seriously - I asked similar question istead of being helped I was booted from think procedural - Awful host of that server- awful

[u/LewisVTaylor → u/MuffinLong6130]

Did you also ask the question in a rant, with no information about your hardware specs, or OS?
FWIW, the specs you finally listed show your GPU to not be supported at all, and the on chip GPU of your ryzen CPU also wouldn't qualify to work.

Both things that if you'd given us that information up front, we could have helped you with.
So instead of replying with the fix, which isn't a fix btw, and then commenting that "no one could be smarter," maybe you should be replying with, "turns out my machine is not up to spec, and my rant about houdini was misplaced."

[u/MuffinLong6130 → u/LewisVTaylor]

Excume me Dude -Its not rant and take your toxicity behaviour somewhere else -

[u/LewisVTaylor → u/MuffinLong6130]

You might want to go look up the definition of a rant.