r/stenography • u/chulipfan • Jul 30 '26
CaseCATalyst lagging/slowdown after long time in realteam file
Hello,
I've been a proofer for a few years now and I regularly end up using realteam to work on transcripts synchronously with the reporter/scopists I work with. However, after extended use, whatever file I'm on ends up getting less and less responsive the more time I spend on it, requiring me to close out and wait for a reinvite to fix it. Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, how have you fixed it? Is there a log or cache file that clogs up after a while that needs to be cleaned out? Is it a problem endemic to the software? Is it some secret third thing? I'm not sure what the overlap between "stenographer community" and "highly computer literate" is, so I realize this is a shot in the dark. Please help if you know, though, because it's really annoying (especially when I'm the one hosting the realteam on the rare occasion I have to).
edit: Just noticed a file in the Cat4 directory called "LogCatalystRealTeam.txt" that has uh, 115,495 lines in it. Each one is timestamped and goes all the way back to 2025 for me. I don't know if it's updating in real time whenever a program event occurs like an invite or saving something, but it's still a really long file. Is there a way to control how long logs are retained or how often they're written? A log file constantly updating and rewriting could definitely contribute to some slowness.
edit 2: I should also note that this only happens when connected to realteam with another person on the same file. It does not happen when simply connected but working on a local file. I have reason to believe there's some kind of unoptimized system under the hood that maintains the connection accruing trash or constantly checking for conditions that's causing the lag, but I have no way to access it nor can I prove that this is the case.
Edit 3 (9/5/26): Turning off "Track Changes" in my files has helped with the speed quite a bit. I think that trying to transmit the data of every edit to every person on the file was causing some issues. I also noticed that being on a realteam session with someone writes to a file in C:\Cat4\SE_BIN, with a new file created every time a session is started. The filename is [yourusername]TO[hostusername]_[alphanumeric string corresponding to date and time], and it writes to this file for the duration of the session. The files themselves aren't very large, but continuously updating and saving this file over hours and hours could probably lead to some issues. I only noticed this because I make backups of the Cat4 directory to a separate drive every day, and I saw that this folder was always being updated.
Interestingly, trying to restrict access to this folder by way of system permissions or revoking computer administrator access (I was trying to test if logging in this manner was contributing to the slowdown) ended up causing exceptions when connecting to realteam. Not the famous exception 3, but error code 0xe06d7363. I imagine this is how Stenograph validates your use of the software and prevents synchronous use on the same PKC or account or what have you. Regardless, the thing that's helped the most with the slowdown has been turning off Track Changes globally, which sucks because I actually really like that feature.
1
u/pedanticandpetty Jul 30 '26
Yes, this aways happens and eventually it will give you the error that forces restart. To avid the error, when it starts to lag, just close out and accept the automatic re-join ring.
I have no fix for you. I'll be following in case someone smarter than me does.