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I'm not sure if this is the right location to post this, but I'm gonna try it anyways.
Since I activated my rhino5, it takes ages to load (env. 1 minute). before that it startet in a few seconds. since this is very annoying - is there anything I can do against it?

It could be anything -- what does the CPU load look like while you're waiting for it to load? Have you tried starting Rhino in Safe Mode to see if it's caused by a plugin? If that helps, then you can selectively load-protect each plugin and try to find out which one is taking time to load. It could also be a driver-related issue.

thanks for the tips.
I did as told. In safe mode, rhino5 is up within seconds. and load-protecting all the plugin shows that the maxwell plugin is creating the delay (approx 45 seconds).
I got the latest rhino 5 wip and maxwell version 2.0.6.0, 02.04.2010 17:09:40.
cpu load is at 0% during the whole time

Well, that's not normal; the plugin is quite large, so it might take a few seconds to load, with the exact time dependent on how many of its windows you leave open (as much as possible, the various parts are loaded on-demand). So, I would first try closing all of its windows, seeing whether that makes a difference, and then repeating the experiment, leaving each different window (db manager, scene manager, etc.) open between shut-down & restart to see whether or not any particular one is taking the time.

Anything over a few seconds though, is out of the ordinary and would indicate some basic problem...the above strategies might help me to get an idea of what it would be.

I did as you told me. And tried rhino4 this time (where it also takes almost 1 min. to load the plugin).
But it even takes that long, when there are no maxwell windows at all open (just the toolbars). Any ideas left? Since I got a fast SSD as main drive, it has has to be idle during quite a while.
Could it be caused by the automatic updates change? I don't know where I could switch that off.

No, the plugin doesn't have an auto-update, just a notifier, and that runs in a separate thread. Most likely, it is caused by the plugin trying to cache file paths:

1. if you go to the Scene Manager > Options page, what do you have set for the various Textures (n) folders and Search Depth? The plugin will search and cache your entire hard drive if you tell it to. Also, are any of the folders there located on a network drive?
2. does your default document have Maxwell materials in it? Are they linked to MXM files on a network drive?
3. how many folders/files are contained in the initial directory used by the Database Manager's MXM Browser page? Is it located on a network drive?

The top cause for a slowdown would be Windows searching for files on a network drive; that can take any amount of time. Here, any version of Rhino starts up, with all plugin windows open, in about four seconds.

thanks for the instruction.

1 - no folders, search depth 3
2 - no materials at all
3 - yes, they are on a network drive and there are several folders (20 I'd say)

number 3 was the reason! thanks for the help to narrow it down. it works much faster now that I changed the start directory to a C: folder
Is there any way I can avoid this in future? I know that my network is not the fastest, but generally working on it is not a problem and I have to stick to it.

The MXM Browser remembers the last folder you set it to - the only way to avoid the lag is going to be to make sure it's not looking at a slow network folder when you shut down Rhino.

that's the way I supposed it to be ...
wouldn't it be possible to load all those directories the first time I open the material browser?

I would think it should work that way, but apparently not...I'll take a look and see why.

same here.. rhin5 takes about 30-45 secs to load.. and i have an ssd raid

but i noticed it has never been fast since the programm tries to connect to the net and download news and stuff.. (splashscreen)

my workstation doesn't have internet access, only for updating software, and i always thought the network timeout is causing the lag....

nice idea to work without internet. keeps oneself less destracted

kami wrote:nice idea to work without internet. keeps oneself less destracted

A nice Google Chrome extension for that