lol I feel your pain. But it changed a lot for me when I started to figure things out. Me and a friend started playing and did 5-6 matches, all the bad luck and wrong choices you were making. Then some things just clicked. So much so that I go into the first map solo just to quickly identify the ghost and get 600, in and out in about 15-20 at most, success rate 4/5 times.

Some things that helped. I'll write this assuming you haven't bought anything.

You are kinda invincible for a while, while some ghosts can seriously drop your sanity fast, at the start go in like a badass to find the ghost room. Here is my solo loop.

1. Grab flashlight (always have it because it stays on when you carry other things and light keeps your sanity from dropping as fast, NEVER leave it. Take EMF and Spirit Radio.

2. Go into the house with a spirit radio out and yell at the ghost while going around the house and turning every light on, if they bust fine, if they don't more light means more sanity longer.

3. If something happens, moves, scares you, pull out the EMF and mean mug it while looking for a signal. Seems to take up to 5 minutes sometimes even for a radio or EMF response and between the two I can find the ghost room most of the time.

4. As soon as you know the ghost room leave, lots of in and out to save sanity. I then go back and drop the radio and EMF and grab the canvas and UV lantern. I go back to the room and drop the canvas to give it a lot of time (I've had it take over 10 minutes for it to draw before but never longer than 15). Do a quick look around the room for fingerprints and any hallways or doors leading into or out of the room. Then I leave, this second visit takes 1-2 minutes.

5. I go back and swap for the Ectoglass and the ESG and at this point check my sanity. I've never been hunted above 50% sanity, get hunted often below 30% (unless there is a condition that makes the ghost not hunt me). Third trip back in drop the ESG and scan the room for the goo smear with the Ecto.

6. At this point I usually have all 3, or can narrow it down by canceling things. Took me a while to find the value of checking the boxes on things I'm not sure about when I only have two that I'm sure. Because say you have a spirit radio response and EMF but you aren't sure about all the others, when you check them there may be NO matches which means it can't be that. Instead of looking for 4-5 things usually you know you are only looking for 2-3.

At any point in those 3 visits you could see fog for temp. The ESG is rough which is why I play it last, the hologram of a ghost appears for 1-3 seconds above it and is easy to miss. If you have a room away with lights that work and your torch and you need the ESG you can stare at it a bit, but it really shines when you get the tripod camera.

Now that I have toys the loop is mostly the same except I make 4-6 quick visits because I'm dropping candles in the dark places and ghost room. In those visits I can get out with 70% or better sanity and then just stare at the camera for EMF, canvas, ESG and temperature in safety.

Hope this helps a little.

Edit: Also don't bother trying to take a picture of the ghost before identifying it, that and blowing the candles out etc any second objectives don't work until your whole group has selected the ghost.

Fingerprints, ecto goo etc can also take time to show up, but are always in the ghost room or near it, like a hallway or door going into it, I've never found it far away.

Don't be to hasty thinking you have the wrong room, if you got an EMF or Spirit Radio in there it IS the room. I've had to wait 15-20 minutes at the longest for canvas and esg to pop. Some ghosts just don't like to be found.