Really slow loading times...

[bigthing 35]

 Hay,

I am aware that the size of the plugins folder greatly effects loading times, but my loading times are around 10 mins, however my plugins folder is only 2.02GB.

Comp Specs: AMD Athlon 64 Duel Core Processor 6000+ 3.00 GHz

                          1.50 GB of RAM

                           ATI HD 4350 Graphics Card

Is there any reason for loading times to be so slow? Is there any way to make it faster?

P.S I remember seeing something about duel processors effecting the game somehow... could something be done there?

Thanks in advance BigThing (Matty)

[TowerDude 2,186]

Once i did a defragmentation and it helped a lot, I usually open LE before hand, like that i can do something else beside.

Normally the speed is due to the depth of the plugins folder, Try defragmenting, it helped me a lot

[bigthing 35]

Thanks, i will do that later :-D Will post the results (fingers crossed!)

[joshriddle 29]

Originally posted by: bigthing

Thanks, i will do that later :-D Will post the results (fingers crossed!)quote>

I can virtually guarantee that a defragment helps. Also run Disk Cleanup, and then do an error check on the disk (Chkdsk). Disk cleanup disposes of TEMP files the game leaves behind from your last session, improving performance when it comes to the game.

I actually defrag it whenever I get off the computer, and regardless if I am leaving for ten minutes, I defrag it. Even when everything is packed together as tight as sardines I defrag it even more.

It greatly, and I mean greatly helps.

[Timmystwin 201]

i just try and limit the number of folders involved, and i try and keep everything in one folder that needs each other. ( All PEG stuff etc.)

[SimCity4IE 202]

My 3GBs take about 10-15 seconds to load. I use an SSD though  

[joshriddle 29]

Originally posted by: SimCity4IE

My 3GBs take about 10-15 seconds to load. I use an SSD though  quote>

What's an SSD?

[CIUU96 6]

@ joshriddle

SSD states for Solid State Drive, it's kinda like a normal hard drive but with the exception that it hasn't got any moving parts in it. The advantages of a SSD compared to a normal hard drive are for example speed, longer lifespan, less heat, no sound at all and smaller power requiements. SSDs usually still cost more and haven't got as much space as normal HDDs.

--

Well, i guess that i have to try defragment too, my plugins take very long to load too. Posting results after.

[joshriddle 29]

Oh the Solid states. I wouldn't get one of those until 2015. Until then I'm sticking with the disk drives.

Try also doing stuff such as getting a registry clearner, I use Registry Mechanic, clean the registry every day, compact it every few days.

[Ant1-b0dy 0]

On Topic: Assign the program to one core and high priority and you'll see better improvement in your gameplay. As for drive issues I recommend the program CCleaner; it removes temp files, bad registry errors, flushes your DNS cache and improves system performance overall. If you're on Win7 don't bother with the Registry Cleaner part!

Off Topic:

You can think of a flash drive like an SSD.

I remember when Intel and OCZ started pushing them to the market; $1,100USD for 80GB! I also read up upon a comparison between an SSD and HDD and the SSD doesn't affect system battery life as much as expected, and SSDs are only good for one program at a time, if you open more than 1 program the speed drops considerably.

If you're going to get an SSD, get it for your O/S and use a 2TB drive for storage (don't bother with anything larger than 2TB unless you're comfortable with a JBOD, multiple RAIDs or have an EFI processor [intel Xeon] as Windows won't recognize any more than 2TB)

[joshriddle 29]

Originally posted by: Ant1-b0dy

On Topic: Assign the program to one core and high priority and you'll see better improvement in your gameplay. As for drive issues I recommend the program CCleaner; it removes temp files, bad registry errors, flushes your DNS cache and improves system performance overall. If you're on Win7 don't bother with the Registry Cleaner part!

I wouldn't bother downloading anything else then Registry Mechanic when it comes to the stuff that Windows provides for you for maintenance.

Actually the bloat Microsoft sometimes puts on their OSs is a good thing. Defrager is a lifesaver. Oh and don't bother with cleaning the registry? Registry Mechanic is extrememly sensitive to the tiniest unnoticeable issues, and repairing them can help greatly. Did you know that for each file you open in MS Paint, after you save it it turns up as a problem? That said, registry cleaners IMP are necessary for any Windows platform.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Your 1.5GB of RAM is the hold up.  The 2+GB of plugins have to go somewhere, and where they go is on pages in the swap file, along with your program text, etc.  You have a dual processor.  Whoever sold you that machine should have known better.  With two processors, 1GB per processor is kind of minimal.   I would like 2GB per processor.  A little excessive, but with 4GB RAM available, your load speed should be about the same as the read speed of the disk.

[Ant1-b0dy 0]

Originally posted by: joshriddle

I wouldn't bother downloading anything else then Registry Mechanic when it comes to the stuff that Windows provides for you for maintenance.

Actually the bloat Microsoft sometimes puts on their OSs is a good thing. Defrager is a lifesaver. Oh and don't bother with cleaning the registry? Registry Mechanic is extrememly sensitive to the tiniest unnoticeable issues, and repairing them can help greatly. Did you know that for each file you open in MS Paint, after you save it it turns up as a problem? That said, registry cleaners IMP are necessary for any Windows platform.

quote>

Did you even read what I posted? Win7 has an efficient registry system, as a result little performance improvement comes from running CCleaner's registry cleanup. RegMechanic is a good utility but its used for cleaning out the registry, not temp files, DNS cache, cookies, history, error reporting, ect... nor does RegMechanic have the ability to delete startup entries, restore points, or even secure deletion. Defragging is good and if you actually read what I had posted, I never said Defragging your drive was bad. I use PerfectDisk which is a lot more advanced than the Windows built in Defrag program.

[paulmc 391]

I've read about defrag, when you install and uninstall various programs or even delete files, it leaves holes at disco, so when you install another program, the OS places a part of it in the hole of the former program and another in other sector of HD. So defrag is the process to put all the stuff togheter, everything that belongs to specific program stays in the same place, it makes the program or game load faster and it become even the OS faster.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: paulmc

I've read about defrag, when you install and uninstall various programs or even delete files, it leaves holes at disco, so when you install another program, the OS places a part of it in the hole of the former program and another in other sector of HD. So defrag is the process to put all the stuff togheter, everything that belongs to specific program stays in the same place, it makes the program or game load faster and it become even the OS faster.quote>

With a FAT16 or FAT32 File System (Windows), fragmentation is much worse than you think.  In working language, a piece of a file that has separate existence in the file system is called an extent, and files that have them are called multi-extent. 

When you start up a city in SC4 it has a limited amount of space at the end because of the way file allocation works.  Files are always given to the user in an exact number of allocation units whether it is full or not.  When you do a save, the file system tries to write the file back on its old space, but if it can't it writes as much as it can, makes a link, and gives you a new extent.  If the file system is badly fragmented, you may get several extents.  And as your city grows and you continue to do saves, the number of extents increases as the tables that have to be saved get bigger and bigger.

So it is worth running the defragmentation utility at least once a week.  Some people run it every day, overnight.  If you have never run defrag, the first time will take a very long time, so it is better to run that time overnight.  After that, you can sit an watch if you like watching paint dry.

[SteveMSim 275]

While defragging will help improve your computer's overall performance, another thing that will speed up the game's loading time is to use the SC4DatPacker. It will compress your plugins. I use it to compress and consolidate my plugin files. Without the SC4DatPacker, it would probably take 30 minutes to load my game and then my city.

[MsProll21 0]

A good practice to keep your system is up to par is setting up your system to run a defrag on a schedule that you choose (ex: every Sat @11pm) that way your system stays maintained without having to cut into time on the PC waiting for it to defrag & disk cleanup.

My plugin folder has over 3GB of items. Defragging helped the load time tremendously, as like many of the others stated. I never heard of the DATpacker program, but I'm going to look into it.

[hittwice99 618]

As well as de-fragmentation, a good idea is to remove any misc files from your plugins folders that you may of copied in when installing new plugins (pictures, html, txt, etc). This can help in speeding up loading times. When you start the game, the plugins folders are scanned and loaded simultaneously. Because the game can only load files it understands (SC4 Model, LOT, Desc, etc) any other files will have to be skipped, causing the process to take longer.

There is a simple application at SC4 Devotion called the BSC Cleanitol (register first). It is designed to scan your plugins folders (for misc files or duplicate dependencies) and move the them to a destination outside your plugins folders. Duplicate files can also slow down loading times.

Also, as mentioned above, the SC4 DAT Packer is an effective tool that compresses the contents in your plugins folder into DAT files. It is available here from SC4 Devotion. This also can speed up loading times dramatically. The DAT Packer automatically skips unrelated SC4 files before compressing.

Currently, I don't DAT Pack my files and my loading time is around 80 seconds with 2.12 GB of plugins (from start to loading a large populated city). I have found that organising the plugins into categories depending upon file type helps. E.g. I keep all of the dependencies in one folder with sub categories for DAT and SC4 Model files.

I hope these tips help in speeding up your loading times.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I don't use the DATPacker program (I have it), but I do compress unconsolidated BAT files into a .dat using Ilive's reader.  This may not make much difference, but it definitely helps with plugin maintenance as I only have one file per lot.

Be a little careful what you pack.  If you use the lot editor you may regret over-packing because the lot editor has very limited buffer space, and you may want to select some stuff out when using it.

As for plugins that have regular updates like NAM, NWM, RHW, SAM, RTMT, I suggest these not be packed.  It is a lot of work to get rid of old versions if they are packed into some big file.

[SC4BOY 20]

DatPacker and Cleanitol both are outstanding programs and do wonders in cases where they apply. However uninformed usage of either of them without understanding or at least having a good idea of what they are and how they work can cause you to introduce signifant problems in your SC4 install. For that reason I'd suggest that if you don't want to learn about them first, don't use them.

[simmaster07 1,220]

My laptop (before it broke) was a dual-boot between Ubuntu and Windows 7, with SimCity 4 running in WINE on Ubuntu. Because Ubuntu was formatted using an ext3 journaled filesystem, there was little fragmentation (but not none).

@Ant1-B0dy: Is that to suggest that Windows 7 will have no registry issues? They will happen nevertheless, for example, installation and uninstallation errors. As a matter of fact, my other Win7 box has 615 registry errors.

[paulmc 391]

After defrag I can notice a good diference in the loading time of the game, it's a good thing to do to decrease loading time, or at least in my case it worked, but thanks to discussion here, now I will make defragging a habit.

[bigthing 35]

Lol, i havent been on the site for 2 days and my threads got quite long :-P

Sooooo, list of things to do:

1. Defrag (lots) NOT DONE YET

2. Assign SC4 one core NOT DONE YET

3.Get more RAM (@ A Nonny Moose I did have 2GB but one of the sticks were faulty and causing system crashes, replaced with a smaller one) NOT DONE YET (expensive :-P)

4.Remove unnecessary files (Pictures, .txt e.t.c) IN PROGRESS

5.SC4 DatPacker? (could i have directions to a tutorial?) (@A Nonny Moose, i don't use the lot editor) NOT DONE YET

6. (this is one of my own) Get a full version of win7 (i'm still on the demo :/) NOT DONE YET

I have a lot of work to do now :-P

Is there anything else?

[Ant1-b0dy 0]

Originally posted by: simmaster07

@Ant1-B0dy: Is that to suggest that Windows 7 will have no registry issues? They will happen nevertheless, for example, installation and uninstallation errors. As a matter of fact, my other Win7 box has 615 registry errors.quote>

Not at all. I'm saying Win7 has a much more stable registry system. Why can't anyone read? At the most i've had about 40 registry errors on Win7 x64 within 2-3 weeks. On my work computers with WinXP SP3 they daily run a few hundred depending on what's used.

[joshriddle 29]

Originally posted by: Ant1-b0dy

Originally posted by: simmaster07

@Ant1-B0dy: Is that to suggest that Windows 7 will have no registry issues? They will happen nevertheless, for example, installation and uninstallation errors. As a matter of fact, my other Win7 box has 615 registry errors.quote>

Not at all. I'm saying Win7 has a much more stable registry system. Why can't anyone read? At the most i've had about 40 registry errors on Win7 x64 within 2-3 weeks. On my work computers with WinXP SP3 they daily run a few hundred depending on what's used.

quote>

On W7, saving a file in Paint leaves behind a problem. So does WordPad. So does Windows Update. So does Uninstalling/reinstalling. So does launching a silly program. There were problems of which I had no idea about. I was doing no better registry wise then I was on XP.

What cleaner do you use anyway? I recommend buying Registry Mechanic.