"The progress bar keeps resetting to 0%"
That's actually good news. Every time the optimizer finds a better arrangement, the progress bar resets to 0% and starts measuring again from the new baseline. Lots of resets = lots of improvements. Be patient and let the run continue.
"The progress bar reached 100% but the result isn't great"
100% means no better order was found that still follows all of your current rules. It doesn't always mean perfect — there may be a slightly better arrangement this run didn't happen to find.
In practice, this usually means either:
- you are close to the best order your current rules allow, or
- you have so many locks, links, groups, or act restrictions that there isn't much left for the app to move around.
See also: When Rules Leave Little Room to Improve.
Try:
- Run Start Optimizing again. A fresh run can sometimes find improvements the previous run missed.
- Review strict policy rules. If you have a lot of locks, links, groups, and act restrictions, there may not be much left to move around. Keep only the rules you truly need. See When Rules Leave Little Room to Improve.
- Add an intermission. A well-placed intermission can break up clusters of quick changes.
- Adjust quick-change sensitivity. If your threshold is set very high (e.g., "5 routines apart counts as quick"), you may be flagging changes that aren't really problems.
"It used to optimize quickly and now it's slow"
Long optimization runs are usually caused by lots of locks, groups, links, and act restrictions. The more pieces the app has to keep in place, the longer it takes to figure out what to do with what's left.
"Multi-show optimization seems off"
If your multi-show is showing unexpected balance or quick-change numbers, check:
- Are duplicates correctly marked? (See Duplicates)
- Do you have multi-show ignores that shouldn't be there?
- Are flexible show sizes accidentally enabled?
Reset these as needed and re-optimize.