If I hit “play” from the Unity editor (4.6.2f1), the game starts almost immediately. If I build an EXE, and double-click to launch it from Windows, it takes 6.5 seconds before I see the configuration menu (i.e. the dialog that asks about resolution and windowedness, before the game even starts). For my testing I was using the EXE built while following the Roll-A-Ball tutorial.
I have a dual-monitor setup (Dell monitors daisy-chained through DisplayPort). If I unplug the second monitor, the launch time drops to 3 seconds. I gather from this that the delay is due to the game engine probing my system.
I found something similar on an Nvidia forum, suggesting that Nvidia’s drivers are part of the equation. Basic machine info: GeForce GTX 760, 4GHz i7-4790K, 8GB RAM, Win7Pro-64.
Is this a known issue? Is there a workaround?
Update: I also discovered that un-checking “Use Direct3D 11” in the player preferences cuts the startup time to nearly nothing.