Operation firebolt slower loading character sheets during play?

Hi there. I read the blog post that in order to speed up game load times, Roll20 instead opens character sheets "when you need them". I've noticed since that update (and I could be wrong) that it takes way longer to open a character sheet now. Running a game with a decent amount of creatures in combat requires me to constantly minimize, maximize, and sometime close and reopen a sheet, usually by alt+double clicking on a token. Loading a sheet "when I need it" instead of when the game loads means I often have to wait 1-3 seconds every time I reopen a sheet. I have my own system I run on here with a sheet I coded, and this has caused a great deal of added tedium to combat. Am I missing something? Did it always take that long to open them? Or is this just another downgrade disguised as a "feature". If this is truly how things work now, for the love of all that is holy, PLEASE allow this option to be turned off to allow for smooth closing and reopening of sheets during play. Thanks. Also sending this to Roll20 support.

Operation Firebolt uses what is called "Lazy Loading", which only loads the character sheet when it is opened the first time. This was necessary because games would grind to a halt due to the sheer volume of data being stored in active memory as ALL character sheets data was open in your memory at once. Some games were nearly unplayable as a result.  With Lazy Loading my understanding is that when a character sheet is opened the first time it stays in your memory (until refreshing etc) so shouldn't be that slow to re-open, but perhaps it is unloading it from the memory when closed. Not sure about that.  Sometime in the intervening time since Operation Firebolt I noticed that character sheets got slower to load, so I don't think it is directly related to that particular update. In any case, I avoid the slow opening you are experiencing by popping the sheet out of the game. There is no delay because it is not being opened, it stays opened.  When you alt+double click on a token that has the character sheet popped out it switches to that sheet instantly.  I suggest using that option. 

1-3 seconds? It takes lo nger than that for my eyes to refocus on a new part of the screen! 🤣  But seriously, openning characters does take longer  sometimes and it varies depending on time of day and day of the week.

I never tried popping things into a new window. I suppose that's one workaround. I usually minimize them into the semi-transparent bar and double click to "maximize". But in large combats sometimes I need to close things to find them again due to the sheer amount of minimized bars filling the screen and overlapping. And also, alt double clicking on a sheet, for some awful reason, doesn't re "maximize" it if you minimized it, so it can be really hard to find things sometimes without closing the sheet outright. I noticed sometimes a very slight difference in load times the first time I open a sheet vs. when I open it the second time. But for the most part it's still quite slow when I open it the second time. I seem to remember it not always being like that. 

When using popped out sheets also Bio&Info is the first tab to see, not the sheet itself! Daniel S. said: I never tried popping things into a new window. I suppose that's one workaround. I usually minimize them into the semi-transparent bar and double click to "maximize". But in large combats sometimes I need to close things to find them again due to the sheer amount of minimized bars filling the screen and overlapping. And also, alt double clicking on a sheet, for some awful reason, doesn't re "maximize" it if you minimized it, so it can be really hard to find things sometimes without closing the sheet outright. I noticed sometimes a very slight difference in load times the first time I open a sheet vs. when I open it the second time. But for the most part it's still quite slow when I open it the second time. I seem to remember it not always being like that. 

Opening times could also be dependent on the complexity of the sheet, or the character information on the sheet. There are too many factors involved than to tie it to one thing. The sheet code has been updated many times since then, for instance. I do recall the opening animation being added (the d20 that builds itself), but I seem to recall that being from a different upgrade from Operation Firebolt. 

TheMarkus1204 said: When using popped out sheets also Bio&Info is the first tab to see, not the sheet itself! The behavior on what is opened is the same as Characters in the VTT (not popped out). Alt+double click still works to bring up the character sheet on the popped out sheet, it does not bring up the Bio & Info tab.  Shift+double click brings up the Bio & Info tab on a popped out sheet. 

Daniel S. said: I never tried popping things into a new window. I suppose that's one workaround. I usually minimize them into the semi-transparent bar and double click to "maximize". But in large combats sometimes I need to close things to find them again due to the sheer amount of minimized bars filling the screen and overlapping. And also, alt double clicking on a sheet, for some awful reason, doesn't re "maximize" it if you minimized it, so it can be really hard to find things sometimes without closing the sheet outright. I noticed sometimes a very slight difference in load times the first time I open a sheet vs. when I open it the second time. But for the most part it's still quite slow when I open it the second time. I seem to remember it not always being like that.  I would definitely suggest switching to popped out for combats, it really speeds things up for me. I use alt+doubleclick to instantly bring up the creature I need. 

Ah. If I pop it out, then alt+double click reopens it just fine. That is pretty useful, I'll definitely be giving that a try for now. Thanks for the tip!

Keep in mind that some things do not work on a popped out sheet .

Good to know!!