Load Sim City Faster!

[FavreKev04 13]

Hey guys today I noticed that I never play with no sound. I listen to music or have my tv on behind me so i never need the sound. So I check my SimCity folder(the one under programs), and there's a 116MB file just for sound. I was thinking what would happen if I removed it. I removed the file and Sim City loaded much faster. Just because I deleted that one file it loaded almost twice as fast for me. It does no harm to your game what so ever, just you won't be able to here any maxis noises, or songs. Try it out, just remove it from the folder and try it out yourself. If you want the sound just leave the file in their.

[Skram 4]

thats cool but i still like the music on so i probley won't remove it

[WillG_75 19]

Yeah, I can't concentrate when I have anything else on. But thanks for the info!

[Simfan34 11]

well, the music still exists, and you can play it in your music player.

[jacqulina 162]

i have done this for about 6 months now and yes its true

[Deever 23]

Ok then. Let's try it (minimizes window, deletes the file and proceeds with playing)...

OMG! The game loaded faster than ever! It's true people.

[GMT 389]

hm... doesn't it help to just rename it?

I mean, you can disable the plugin folder by renaming it, so you don't need to move or delete around...

I'll try it

[Goin2Chicago 4]

i'm courious about what GMT said. *waits for another reply from GMT*

[jacqulina 162]

i didnt delete the file i stored it in my documents just in case lol

[Goin2Chicago 4]

wait this may sound like a stupid question but where is the folder that this sound file is in? i can't find it.

[Deever 23]

... Do'h! Well duh! Oh well. My SC4 music hasn't worked since I uninstalled Sim Mars anyway(reinstalling the game would've fixed it but I got lazy). Since then, I've been playing the BGM's on Winamp.

[jacqulina 162]

its in the maxis file in program files under radio

[AfroThunda 1]

Good idea, do you still hear cars and other noise around the city?

-Afro

[+Guest]

Well I assume if you havn't got to many custom downloads and it's a new system this might help because it still takes me about 15 minutes to go from point A to point B.

 But thanx for the tip and happy holidays.

[Bookworm 1]

You would still hear cars/noise/etc, because those files are built into the simcity#.dat files, I think. The other sounds are just the music that plays in the background during the game.

[Frankie_Grove 32]

I believe (and hope) you are correct wormy one

[GMT 389]

well... I renamed the radio folder and changed "sound.dat" in the simcity4 main directory to "sound.dat.bak" (what means for the system that this is a backup-file that's gotta be ignored) and the game loaded without any sound (no system klicks, no browsing klicks, no ingame sound)...

but the overall loading time hasn't changed that much. I think it depends on the overall count of files to be loaded, or to be short: the cut in loading times disableing the soundfiles depends on the since of the plugin-folder.

sounds logically to me cuz cutting 250mb soundfiles out of 600mb files to load counts more than cutting 250mb soundfiles ot ouf more than 2 gigs of files... if you know what I mean...

[muscrat 2]

My game is finally running smooth!!!

[112233 1]

I did it, and it works, besides usually just pull out my Zune or my limewire(<----Piracy) and listen to that while playing

[KingTitan 6]

I always disable my virus scan programs..no probs there.

[bwatterud 7]

Interesting, I might try that. Is the folder for all sound or just music, because I kind of like the ambient noise.

[112233 1]

Its 4 all sound, Titan do you yank out your internet cord when you disable your antivirus? You should if you dont you may get a worm.

[Kelton 0]

Works for a Mac too.

(Disclaimer: I am not trying to start a war, I am just trying to be funny with this smart ass remark.)

ohh the best way not to get a virus is to get a mac. . . . .

[Vanasonic 49]

I'm going to try that myself.

[bwatterud 7]

Taking the sound files out, or getting a mac?

[Sunil 3]

Would this conept work for the Sims 2 ?

Since there is so much soudns in there I'm guessing ti would imporve alot?

[jacqulina 162]

bwatterud they are seperate so you can remove one or the other

[112233 1]

Kelton, good one i almost said a anti-mac remark which i would have regretted, lmao

[The_sanderson 6]

I delete the musics,and list to execute in media player.It

[cityhawk 12]

Meh, doesn't really help for me. Something else you can try, though, is this:

Get ALL the readmes and pictures that are contained within the plugins out of the plugins folder. It works for me.

ANOTHER thing you can do is this:

If you're holding off on skyscrapers for a while, just take them out of your plugins folder and set them to the side. I had a whole folder of NDEX skyscrapers that I took out, and my game runs much faster. Since most skyscrapers tend to be in the 2, 3, and 4MB sizes, that NDEX folder of mine contained 92.7MB, and it really helped when I took it out of my plugins folder.

Just my 2 cents

Signed,

Craig, The ST Gamerz Club