Vehicles that slow the computer

[Cougar2004 127]

Does adding tons of new Vehicles slow down the game?

 

We probably all know that the more files in the plugins directory, the longer the city initial load time.  It would be great to have tons of new vehicles (and reskins) to fill the city streets, but I value my in-play (after city load) CPU/RAM more than the visual extras at this time (until I build a new box). 

 

I was thinking of collecting a whole bunch of really great looking vehicles that do not replace the original maxis cars and trucks and trains, and then adding them this week.  How much of a risk would that be to computer resources during game play? (Keep in mind -  I don't have a POS computer but I built in back in 2010 so its no spring chicken either.)  Thanks to anyone who can help answer this little inquiry!

[z1 566]

Does adding tons of new Vehicles slow down the game?

 

Yes; I've timed it, and it can be quite noticeable.  That's why I don't use the Radical Automata; it slows down the game too much for me.

[Cougar2004 127]

 

Does adding tons of new Vehicles slow down the game?

 

Yes; I've timed it, and it can be quite noticeable.  That's why I don't use the Radical Automata; it slows down the game too much for me.

 

 

Thank you for the response z1.  I'll hold off for now on loading in any new cars.  I currently have only maxis defaults.

 

Any idea why it slows the game down?  Is it older vehicles that just werent modded right?  Or is it newer ones that have very high definition graphics that tax the system?   I'm trying to gauge how many I could load that would not slow the game down and if so which ones are safe.  Otherwise I'll just skip it and focus on other more functional aspects to the game than vehicles.

[z1 566]

It seems just to be the number of vehicles; the game has to expend a lot of computing power making them all move properly (especially in relation to each other), stopping at stoplights, slowing down and speeding up, etc.  That seems to be the main reason that vehicles aren't very persistent at the default settings.

[Cougar2004 127]

It seems just to be the number of vehicles; the game has to expend a lot of computing power making them all move properly (especially in relation to each other), stopping at stoplights, slowing down and speeding up, etc.  That seems to be the main reason that vehicles aren't very persistent at the default settings.

 

Interesting! I didn't think that adding more vehicles to the game actually put MORE vehicles on the streets to cause more computing power in that way. I just assumed that the the same number of vehicles were on the road (depending upon traffic conditions in the game), but that that there would be more variety, less original defaults because the pool of options grew in number. 

 

Now if I used that mod on the STEX to cause a massive increase in vehicles on the road, or even the persistent automata mod, Id expect to get my CPU hit harder.  I'd love to understand the mechanics of how new vehicles cause a CPU hit. It might help me decide what I'll do about adding cars.  Thanks!

[z1 566]

I'm sorry; I misunderstood you.  I thought you were talking about adding new vehicles in a way that the total number would increase, so that the number of old vehicles wouldn't decrease.  But if the total number of vehicles displayed stays the same, there shouldn't be any noticeable effect on your game speed.

[Cougar2004 127]

I'm sorry; I misunderstood you.  I thought you were talking about adding new vehicles in a way that the total number would increase, so that the number of old vehicles wouldn't decrease.  But if the total number of vehicles displayed stays the same, there shouldn't be any noticeable effect on your game speed.

 

Ah excellent!  So can you or anyone confirm that when we see a vehicle pack (with UDI) listed on the STEX, and install it to plugins, is this usually just adding cars skin options (not overwriting) so there is a larger pool of versions to draw from, and that doing this is not increasing the total number of cars in gameplay?  Thanks!

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

No, as Z1 said it won't change it dramatically. However every plugin you add to your folder has to be loaded when your city is, and this will effect the performance. If it's one small pack you add, the effect is negligible but every bit does at add up.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

If you have a lot of them, why not get them all together in one folder and datPack them.  This will reduce loading time and disk accesses on zooms and scrolls.  Anytime there is any kind of redraw, the program will access the plugins on disk to get the right image.  If you have a disk access light, just watch it and see.

[Cougar2004 127]

No, as Z1 said it won't change it dramatically. However every plugin you add to your folder has to be loaded when your city is, and this will effect the performance. If it's one small pack you add, the effect is negligible but every bit does at add up.

 

Thats good information.  I'll try not to add anything to the plugins that Im actively wanting to use in my game.

 

If you have a lot of them, why not get them all together in one folder and datPack them.  This will reduce loading time and disk accesses on zooms and scrolls.  Anytime there is any kind of redraw, the program will access the plugins on disk to get the right image.  If you have a disk access light, just watch it and see.

 

Very good idea! Im not yet sure how many and which ones id want...  I'l have to set aside hours to look around first.  But you are right, a datpack may help and if i want to add additionals, i suppose i could just dakpack again but i doubt it would happen too often.  Now I've never tried to use this datpack tool but i see enough people are doing it, that its probably pretty simple, worthwhile, and i can probably find someone to direct me to the download and instructions. I appreciate you for this suggestion.  

[infamousjbe 592]

Now I've never tried to use this datpack tool 

 

You need to use this to get the I-HT Fix to work correctly, if you want more of your R$$$ to have jobs that is.   And yes, it's pretty easy to use.

[z1 566]

i can probably find someone to direct me to the download and instructions.

 

You can find everything you need here.  The DatPacker is really a fantastic tool. 

[SimMavGER 8]

Lets say I do not care for 1GB more or less, is the only reason I should not DatPack the NAM that I could not easily change its installed components? Could I not just copy my plugin folder to a backup drive, DatPack what is to DatPack including the NAM and change the NAM-DatPack file with the NAM-folder if I want to change out anything? Or are there other possible Woop-de-doodles that might happen if I pack the NAM?

 

Any reasons for not simply DatPacking the whole plugin folder into one neat DAT?

[z1 566]

Lets say I do not care for 1GB more or less, is the only reason I should not DatPack the NAM that I could not easily change its installed components?

 

Yes.

 

Could I not just copy my plugin folder to a backup drive, DatPack what is to DatPack including the NAM and change the NAM-DatPack file with the NAM-folder if I want to change out anything?

Yes.  Just make sure not to have anything DatPacked when you upgrade your NAM or otherwise run Cleanitol.

 

 

Or are there other possible Woop-de-doodles that might happen if I pack the NAM?

 

No.

 

 

Any reasons for not simply DatPacking the whole plugin folder into one neat DAT?

 

No, although RTMT has the same caveats as the NAM.  Also, if you have a big Plugins folder, you may have to DatPack some of the subfolders separately.

[AcronShinra 60]

Adding to what RTMT said:

 

Also don't DatPack any z_folders as they are designed to be loaded last. If merged into bigger .dat file their proper working isn't guaranteed.

[Cougar2004 127]

Adding to what RTMT said:

 

Also don't DatPack any z_folders as they are designed to be loaded last. If merged into bigger .dat file their proper working isn't guaranteed.

 

Could you DatPack the z_ folders separately, to still get the benefits, that way there would be 2 dats, the main full dat, and the z folders dat still named to start with z_ so it loads after the other dat?

[Ltw 401]

 

Adding to what RTMT said:

 

Also don't DatPack any z_folders as they are designed to be loaded last. If merged into bigger .dat file their proper working isn't guaranteed.

 

Could you DatPack the z_ folders separately, to still get the benefits, that way there would be 2 dats, the main full dat, and the z folders dat still named to start with z_ so it loads after the other dat?

 

 

I don't think so (correct me if I'm wrong). Simcity only works with folders (in terms of z_ and a_). The names of the dat-files don't matter. It's better not to dat-pack the z_ folders, this way you are sure that those folders will be loaded at last.

[SimMavGER 8]

I don't think so (correct me if I'm wrong). Simcity only works with folders (in terms of z_ and a_). The names of the dat-files don't matter. It's better not to dat-pack the z_ folders, this way you are sure that those folders will be loaded at last.

 

What about putting the z_files.dat into a z_folder?

[Ltw 401]

 

I don't think so (correct me if I'm wrong). Simcity only works with folders (in terms of z_ and a_). The names of the dat-files don't matter. It's better not to dat-pack the z_ folders, this way you are sure that those folders will be loaded at last.

 

What about putting the z_files.dat into a z_folder?

 

 

That might work. I'm not sure, I have no z_ folders at the moment so I can't try that with my plugin-folder. The thing is that when you dat-pack your plugin folder DAT-packer makes a second folder plugin_compressed (or something like that). In order to speed up your loading-time you should delete the uncompressed folder. However, folder-structure might be a little more work in this case, because DAT-packer does not contain the folder-structure as it was before (it packs the sub-folders in single files). An important note is that DAT-packer should not merge more files than the z_ folder, otherwise you load things last that should've loaded first (if it works of course).

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Usually the z_ stuff is so small it doesn't matter if it is not packed.  Getting the bigger stuff is more important for loading.  We are really only talking about a few seconds or minutes of load time at the start of the game anyway.

 

I don't datPack because I have a problem with it on Linux.  Doesn't seem to make much difference.  My current loading time is 10 seconds for wine and 25 seconds to get to the region image.  I have currently got 790MB in Plugins (2520 files) including NAM 31.2 without RHW and GLR.

 

Long load times don't make much sense to me because I simply don't experience them.  Something odd about Windows file system?

 

I do keep my Plugins suite clean of documentation and other junk.  I keep the NAM documentation in its own directory out of Plugins.

 

For those on Windows with a disk resident Plugins suite, I do recommend running disk defragmenter weekly as a minimum.  SC4 saves cause many extents to be created for city files that should be cleaned up.

[Haljackey 17,302]

I use Radical Automata, and it does initially slow down the game for me. After running the city simulation for a few mins things settle right down for me.

-One tip: don't use traffic generators with Radical Automata checked off. That will slow down your game considerably.

 

I haven't noticed any performance issues with adding new vehicle skins.

 

I say only use DATpacker if you have frustratingly long loading times for cities. If you have a solid state hard drive, running SC4 off of it should eliminate the need for this program.

[z1 566]

 

I don't think so (correct me if I'm wrong). Simcity only works with folders (in terms of z_ and a_). The names of the dat-files don't matter. It's better not to dat-pack the z_ folders, this way you are sure that those folders will be loaded at last.

 

What about putting the z_files.dat into a z_folder?

 

 

Note that if you DatPack everything, the z_* folders will end up as files named z_*.dat inside your DatPacked files, and everything should work fine.

 

On the other hand, it's true that the z_* folders generally don't take up much space, and unless yours are very large, you won't gain anything noticeable by DatPacking them.

[Lot Creator 304]

Automata really don't do a whole much... just look pretty I suppose. I have 3GBs of data installed along with the *NEW* SC4 Launcher (Its HAS been a really good thing), along with that, I have about 50 new car instances, about the same number of persistent AtuMata, 20 new trains, all for freight, and reskined all the trains. I don't feel any performance drop, except on a strange spot. While I was mowing down my city, I noticed that the mass of buildings was causing more lag than even the most heftiest of Automata persistence,  even when the city was paused. It seems like bad city planning can also have a toll on CPU and memory as well. I have reconstructed everything and now I don't have much of a issue. 

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

That's pretty good Nonny. My main city can take a full 4 minutes to load and it's still incomplete, but that is due to many MMPs.