[BUG?] Slow Down Entering Play Mode with Gaia 2023

[Wicked Rabbit Games]

I'm creating a scene using Gaia. When I try to enter Play Mode, the editor spends minutes (up to 5) "Importing Assets" before actually getting on with the Play mode. Obviously, it could be many things, but when I remove the Gaia components (but not the terrain), the "Importing Assets" portion of the delay is significantly shorter (15 seconds).

Using Unity 2023.2.14f1 and Gaia Pro 2023 4.08.

[Bryan]

Yeah this is sadly one of those we don't know much about. 
This is a Unity process and was introduced I think in 2021 or 2022. 
Not really much we can do about it, they added progress bars for everything including closing Unity down haha. 

You could try to use the profiler and see where the hiccup might be.