andre
Experienced
Posts: 35
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Post by andre on Dec 9, 2020 11:15:10 GMT
Hi All,
Due to COVID, this year a couple of my final year dissertation students run their experiments in PsyToolKit. One has now contacted me saying:
A few people have complained that the study server is running extremely slow and that it just freezes or stops working therefore they have not been able to complete the study. Even when I tried to run the study to check it was running very slow and not loading fully.
So far I haven't had any problems. Is this a known issue which just can happen from time to time?
Best wishes,
Andre
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Post by destinygonzales on Dec 11, 2020 2:04:36 GMT
I am having a similar issue! I just created a post with my specific issue (https://psytoolkit.boards.net/thread/440/bug-when-loading-sound-file). One of my lab mates was also experiencing loading issues, though it would eventually play after a few minutes. Mine is stuck on a screen, even when I let it load overnight.
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andre
Experienced
Posts: 35
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Post by andre on Dec 11, 2020 9:37:59 GMT
For us, it is also related to playing sounds (wav-files)
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Post by destinygonzales on Dec 14, 2020 23:58:29 GMT
I have been using mp3 files for my melodies and wav files for my short nonwords. One of my labmates had loading issues too, but her experiment did not use any sound files and eventually loaded after 15 minutes.
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silk
Experienced
Posts: 32
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Post by silk on Dec 15, 2020 9:12:14 GMT
Hi there,
Silly question but what is the size of your .wav files (and how many do you have) ? Usually it is not recommended to use wav files, which are bigger than mp3 files and may explain a slower loading. You can convert your wav files with a free software like Audacity or with online converters.
Also, people who do your experiment "download" your stimulis on their browser, that's what "loading files" roughly means here (correct me if I'm wrong). So if an experiment is too slow to load, it may be because the server is slow, or the internet access of your participant is slow (perhaps both we don't know). (That being said, I also experienced a slower loading the past week, but it wasn't really significant, everything seems to work fine now).
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Post by destinygonzales on Dec 16, 2020 2:27:43 GMT
Hi there, Silly question but what is the size of your .wav files (and how many do you have) ? Usually it is not recommended to use wav files, which are bigger than mp3 files and may explain a slower loading. You can convert your wav files with a free software like Audacity or with online converters. Also, people who do your experiment "download" your stimulis on their browser, that's what "loading files" roughly means here (correct me if I'm wrong). So if an experiment is too slow to load, it may be because the server is slow, or the internet access of your participant is slow (perhaps both we don't know). (That being said, I also experienced a slower loading the past week, but it wasn't really significant, everything seems to work fine now). Thank you for your response! I'm actually having issues with the mp3 melodies (range from 8-13s), not the nonword wav files (only 2s each). I even converted all my nonword wav files to mp3 files (as you suggested), and I still run into the issue. The weirdest thing is that the addition of any melody different from the 4 I've been using for the past few months (abc, amazing grace, zipadeedoodah, dont stop believing), causes my experiment to stay at "loading 93%". I tested this out for each new melody and then altogether. When I unmute one of the melodies (e.g., piano man), it freezes at 97% and is around 65% when they're all unmuted. This issue is showing up on my end; I have not sent this experiment to any participants yet. It's almost as if some update for PsyToolkit doesn't accept my new melodies, even though they're from the same stimulus set and roughly match the length of my other four melodies. Here is an example of what my code looks like. sounds #thislittlelightofmine this_little_light_of_mine.mp3 #pianoman piano_man.mp3 #sweetcaroline sweet_caroline.mp3 #happybirthday happy_birthday.mp3 #herecomesthebride here_comes_the_bride.mp3 #rowrowrowyourboat row_row_row_your_boat.mp3 abc abc.mp3 amazinggrace amazing_grace.mp3 zipadeedoodah zip_a_dee_doo_dah.mp3 dontstopbelieving dont_stop_believing.mp3 victumy victumy.mp3 glarks glarks.mp3 utolaze utolaze.mp3 piacuck piacuck.mp3 |
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Post by destinygonzales on Dec 16, 2020 16:51:11 GMT
Is the server down for others right now? I tried loading different versions of my experiment and checked my wifi. I'm stuck on a "wait a second..." screen that I usually don't see for longer than 1-2 seconds. My experiment can run offline, but online is not working.
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Post by PsyToolkit on Dec 19, 2020 16:11:55 GMT
The server has not been down. I have created a new FAQ answer about these questions. If it happens and you really think the server is slow, feel free to email psytoolkit@gmx.com
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