| Factor | Impact on "Preparing Game Data" | | :--- | :--- | | | On a traditional HDD, this process can take 5–10 minutes. On an NVMe SSD, it takes 15–45 seconds. | | CPU Power | Shader compilation is heavily single-threaded. A weaker CPU will bottleneck the process. | | GPU Driver Version | Frequent driver updates force a full re-cache. | | Game Language Packs | Installing multiple languages (e.g., English + Korean + Chinese) dramatically increases the data that needs verification. |
Because the shader cache uses system RAM and disk swap, a small page file can cause throttling. starcraft 2 preparing game data
Close Battle.net and ensure no Blizzard processes are running in Task Manager. | Factor | Impact on "Preparing Game Data"
If you find yourself stuck on this screen for more than a minute, it is typically due to one of the following: A weaker CPU will bottleneck the process