Very Slow Opening Character Sheets and NPC Sheets

Hello, We've used R20 for years for our game, and I've been a Pro member for years.&nbsp; Generally love the product! Over the last 3-6 months, though, my R20 game has gotten slower and slower over time.&nbsp; It is "laggy," especially when opening character sheets and NPC sheets.&nbsp; It has gotten to the point that in the last live game, it was taking up to 3 minutes to open a character sheet or NPC sheet.&nbsp; Occasionally it also lags significantly when I'm building maps, too. I use Chrome and the D&amp;D 5E (Shaped) sheets. I've gone through the R20 boards and tried various things to fix it already: I've archived a bunch of stuff in my game.&nbsp; (I still have a significant number of entries because I use it to track all campaign material; but I've archived everything that is no longer relevant to the PCs.) I went into Chrome and checked to see if "hardware acceleration" was checked (it was). I deactivated nearly all Chrome extensions.&nbsp; The only extension left on is DotVPN, which I had to install several months ago for the R20 video/audio feeds to work correctly. I've tried different computers; same result.&nbsp; (Also, it is slow for all 5 of my PCs, too, during live games, on a variety of computers and browsers.) I've worked through the Optimizing R20 wiki link.&nbsp; <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Optimizing_Roll20_Performance" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Optimizing_Roll20_Performance</a> &nbsp; &nbsp;HOWEVER, I did not do any of the Advanced Chrome Settings other than checking "hardware acceleration".&nbsp; I couldn't even find some of the suggestions in Advanced Settings.&nbsp; (I guess I'm not "advanced" enough to use them unguided!) I've tried to minimize the number of objects on maps.&nbsp; This is hard to do, given that I don't use other map making software, and R20 doesn't seem to have a way to "screenshot" a whole map in high resolution.&nbsp; That said, even with maps that have few objects, the character sheets still open very slow, so I don't get the impression that's my problem here.&nbsp; (It is a problem other times, like during load up -- I'll even freeze up one of my PCs' old laptops with a complex map.&nbsp; But I don't think it is what is causing the sheet lag.) This is the game link:&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/466806/lost-mines-of-phandelver" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/466806/lost-mines-of-phandelver</a> One thing I haven't tried:&nbsp; I read somewhere that "auto-fill" settings on browsers can have a big impact on R20 character sheets because there are so many blanks to fill in.&nbsp; I haven't been able to figure out how to turn these off in Chrome, though. Would love any ideas on how to speed up opening of sheets.&nbsp; Thanks! Sincerely, Mike

The first thing I would check, before escalating, would be the archiving you've done. Archiving a character sheet journal or page is really a cosmetic, housekeeping feature. It does not remove them from the loading process. You can demonstrate this by entering @{name of an archived character|strength} or similar. The attribute will be returned. So you have made your campaign simpler to navigate, but you haven't reduced its complexity any. The recommended method to prune campaigns for Pro users like yourself, is to create a second, Library Campaign . Use the Transmogrifier to move unneeded pages and characters into this storage game, and delete them from the main campaign. That will well and truly remove them from your game's overhead. Also, since you did not mention it, you might want to investigate how many spells are on your spellcasters. Those are wordy, attribute-laden entries whose overhead piles up fast. Keep the minimal number of spells installed on any given sheet. Don't forget to check the PCs. Many players of clerics like to put all the available spells on their sheet, only checking the prepared ones. This is bad practice, since that can add up to severe campaign bloat. You are using the Shaped Sheet. I assume you have loaded the Shaped Script. It has excellent spell management tools. Here is a sample macro you might find useful for switching on and off whole groups of spells. Finally, here is a link for controlling autofill on Chrome, though I would recommend giving Firefox Quantum a test spin.

Thanks for the very helpful information.&nbsp; I signed up for Pro to support you guys, not for the power features -- so this is all new to me!&nbsp; - I had no idea that Archive didn't remove them from the load.&nbsp; I'll create a Library campaign and delete all the characters -- that could help.&nbsp; Where is this "Transmogrifier"?&nbsp;&nbsp; - I know that several of our casters have a zillion spells.&nbsp; One even started keeping his spells on an Excel sheet because otherwise his sheet wouldn't load. - I have never used any Scripts or macros.&nbsp; I just downloaded the "Shaped Script" and pasted it into the box on the Scripts setting.&nbsp; I guess I'm going to have to read up on what it does. - I had found the Chrome "autofill" link you linked me, thanks.&nbsp; The problem is that I don't have a setting that says "Passwords and Forms," only a Password section which doesn't address forms.&nbsp; I guess I'll have to check to see if my Chrome is up to date and/or try out Quantum.

Spell and character reduction will probably be your biggest bangs for the buck. You will really like the spell macros. Once you get a good feel for the script, take a look at the macro I linked. I wrote it specifically to help characters with large spell lists to manage. (But really, get a good handle on the script, first) The Transmogrifier is a tool to allow you to easily move many kinds of campaign assets from one game to another. Pages, Handouts, Characters, Decks, Playlists and Rollable Tables can be moved from here. I'm going to leave this bug report open and unresolved for a few days, in case you run into any complications or have questions related to this problem. After I close it though, feel free to open a new one should any other issues arise.

I've created the Library Campaign, and now am trying to delete all my Archives in the regular game.&nbsp; Is there a fast way to do it?&nbsp; The only button I get is "Restore" -- do I have to restore all ~200 of them in order to individually delete them?

Michael M. said: &nbsp;do I have to restore all ~200 of them in order to individually delete them? Yup.

Unfortunately, there are no mass deletion tools. Sorry. Fortunately, the restoration part doesn't take long.

One more question.&nbsp; I got the 5E Shaped sheet a long time ago, right after it first came out.&nbsp; I've not done anything to "update" it.&nbsp; Does it update automatically?&nbsp;&nbsp; I ask because I was reading up on the Shaped Script, and it says I should install a version of the 5E Shaped Character Sheet from the internet.&nbsp; And when I go to the download site for the Sheet, it says, " High performance &nbsp; sheet without the lag of old versions (100% sheet workers)" Could I have an "old version" of the sheet that is causing lag, and if so, how would I fix it without destroying character data? Thanks!!

It depends on how you installed it. If you used the Default installation (the drop-down option), you have the latest public version. It is almost certainly stable, but may lack some of the latest features. If installed manually (and as&nbsp; Pro user, I would recommend that for the reasons below), You need to upgrade your sheet as upgrades are published. (they are announced in the Shaped Sheet thread .) The reason I suggest manual installation is that a Pro user can use the companion script, the Shaped Script . This adds a whole toolbox of options and automations. But although they are usually developed in lock step compatibility, they aren't always pulled into the automatic repositories at the same time. Manually installing and maintaining both will ensure compatibility and the latest features and bug fixes. Also, the community developers don't usually answer support questions about older features (this is a hobby—they aren't paid). Installation instructions should be on the first post in each thread. If you are upgrading from the default or one-click install of either, you should have no conversion problems. There may be a brief lag upon opening any given sheet for the first time as it is updated. The Shaped sheet has a command to do this for the whole campaign, but if it is very, very large, it may time out. The shaped sheet will also send you a message when it is updated, to ask you to give it the OK to do some internal maintenance. Tell it OK. If you have any questions about how either works, asking in one of the respective threads will get you better answers. If you have a bug though, please use the issue trackers for either one. The community developers prefer that to reports in-thread. EDIT: One more thing, if you did &nbsp;do a manual install years ago, ask for advice in the Shaped thread, reporting your current sheet version number. Very old sheets may not upgrade properly or at all.

You don't say how many maps you have; they can also contribute to lag, and can also be Transmogrified to a Library game to help out. If you find you need to upgrade your sheet and script, I would recommend making a copy of your game and then upgrading the sheet/script in the copy to see how well the upgrade works.

The only reason I didn't suggest copying the game is that very large games frequently time out on a copy. It's worth a try, but don't be discouraged by a failure.

That's a good point, Rabulias -- thank you.&nbsp; I didn't think about it, but I also have about ~50 archived maps.&nbsp; I guess that "archive" feature is only for visual cleanup, too?&nbsp; (You guys should consider renaming "Archive" to something else!!)

OK, it took me a week, but I deleted -- one by one -- hundreds of things from my game.&nbsp; It has sped things up a little -- enough that it is bearable.&nbsp; But there's still a lag between clicking on things and opening.&nbsp; &nbsp;For character sheets, it is still a long time -- they "open" but have "loading" listed, and take 15+ seconds to populate.&nbsp; Better than it was, usable, but still sub-optimal.&nbsp; So... while I am on a roll here, anything else I should try?

Without actually auditing your game, it's hard for me to say what's a good amount. I try to keep fewer than 100 characters and a dozen maps resident in the game at any given time. (I fail, but I try). Beyond that, I again recommend trying Firefox Quantum. It might fizzle out, but for me, the speed upgrade was night and day. Try turning off any extensions you don't need. One Pass is a culprit, and sometimes Adblocker. If you still have a problem with Spellcasters, I wrote a Shaped Sheet Macro generator for handling spell lists quickly and easily. You can pull off the spells from any character who is not currently likely to show up.

Thanks!&nbsp; I got Quantum -- it does seem faster for Roll20.&nbsp; Interesting.&nbsp; That makes me think Chrome is doing something to slow it down, but I've disabled just about everything in Chrome.&nbsp; I guess I'll use Quantum for R20!

All right, I think you're good here, I'm going to close the issue. Just remember to keep an eye on game assets, including spell casters and pages. (A system re-start just before a game never hurts) and you should be fine-tuned and ready-to-go. I'll go ahead and close this issue, but don't hesitate to open another if you run into further complications.