Loading takes ages

[Dazzyls 576]

I wanted to make an update on Riverdam today, but I only had about an hour (including writing the update and uploading pictures) so I started up the game, but it was loading for like half an hour and then I lost hope and shut the game down.

Anyone has any idea why this happens? Is it because I use too many mods?

[Mystrelia 57]

How many mods do you have? They will definitely slow down the load time. I noticed right away after adding mods, not so much the building assets and such, much more so with the mods, that at roughly halfway through the loading bar the game has to stop to get them processed for loading. I only have a couple dozen so it only takes a minute or so but the more a person has the longer it's going to take.

[Dazzyls 576]

I only have about 10 mods turned on. Does it matter if you just have them deactivated or uninstalled?

[Mystrelia 57]

Ten isn't all that many (I have about a couple of dozen) and shouldn't be slowing your load time down by much at all but it's possible that you have mods that conflict which hypothetically could do that. If you deactivate them they won't be loading when you load your save so it should speed it up. I'm thinking one of the mods is the culprit and since you only have ten I'd suggest load a new map and see how long it takes to load then exit (you can exit without saving) then start turning off the mods one at a time or in batches like I suggested above and see if one of them is causing the increase in load time.

[Dazzyls 576]

Ten isn't all that many (I have about a couple of dozen) and shouldn't be slowing your load time down by much at all but it's possible that you have mods that conflict which hypothetically could do that. If you deactivate them they won't be loading when you load your save so it should speed it up. I'm thinking one of the mods is the culprit and since you only have ten I'd suggest load a new map and see how long it takes to load then exit (you can exit without saving) then start turning off the mods one at a time or in batches like I suggested above and see if one of them is causing the increase in load time.

I turned one very small and unuseful mod off yesterday (Western Siren Mod), but the game loaded faster. Yesterday, it just stopped in the middle for a few minutes, but the days before, it didn't do anything after it stopped. I had been waiting for half an hour and I think it just crashed.

Also I think my laptop is just not good enough for this game. I only have 4 GB RAM and I think I need to buy a new one. Is 6 or 8 enough for the most games these days?

[89James89 1,169]

I have the 8 gig laptop with a gig of dedicated graphics and it still hangs for a min or two when loading due to the mods I have installed. I did try just using the base game but the I think the wait is worth it to have the mods.

 

It does seem that you might be struggling spec wise.

 

 

Cheers

 

James

[Dazzyls 576]

 

I have the 8 gig laptop with a gig of dedicated graphics and it still hangs for a min or two when loading due to the mods I have installed. I did try just using the base game but the I think the wait is worth it to have the mods.

 

It does seem that you might be struggling spec wise.

You said 2 minutes. I have to wait about 10 minutes longer and sometimes it even crashes.

[89James89 1,169]

I know, I was just posting my laptop specs so you had some idea of how an upgrade would change things ^^.

 

Cheers

 

James

[Dazzyls 576]

 

I know, I was just posting my laptop specs so you had some idea of how an upgrade would change things ^^.

 

Cheers

 

James

 

Do you know if new RAM is expensive? Because I don't have that much money.

[mgomrjsurf 16]

Like 30 Dollars and People are making good Buildings like real ones so it's worth the wait. Now if their were in a Collection Game might load faster. Mine Crashes to.

[Mystrelia 57]

It sure could be your system in general. Can you post the rest of your specs here? Processor, graphics card, etc.? As it is you have the minimum amount of RAM to even play the game. If it's possible to hit the Recommended specs it'll play pretty decently. I had just one component, my GPU, which was between minimum and recommended and just that made the game lag horribly.

[TPB 562]

One trick I use to help the game run smoother on windows is open Task Manager, right click on cities.exe and go to details, then set the CPU priority to real time.

 

My load times go down dramatically by doing this, and I suspect everything else gets a boost too.

 

By the way if anyone knows how to do this on windows 8 so it stays on that priority forever I would be very interested, as of now I have to do this step each time I open the game.

[Dazzyls 576]

I'll try some of your solutions and post the specs later.

[xonedl 341]

- enable road color changer...

- hmm, don't like it

- disable road color changer

- load game, wait... highway missing at distance view...

- exit game

- load game again... $%&^!, it take ageeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssss!!! I finish opening this page, typing this message, and it still loading. $%&^!...

[Dazzyls 576]

- enable road color changer...

- hmm, don't like it

- disable road color changer

- load game, wait... highway missing at distance view...

- exit game

- load game again... $%&^!, it take ageeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssss!!! I finish opening this page, typing this message, and it still loading. $%&^!...

I think that's nothing compared to the 15 minutes I have to wait. Or did it take very long to open this page? When I exit the game, my whole laptop is incredibly slow for a few minutes.

[Ryno917 102]

4GB of RAM is pretty much nothing these days. 8GB is basically a minimum for most modern games, realistically. I run with 16GB.

RAM in general isn't all that expensive, but it's tricky on a laptop - you may not be able to add more at all. It depends on your model of laptop. I don't recall if this is still the case or not, but you used to have to use the same type of RAM in all slots (so if you had a 4GB stick in one slot, and a second empty slot, you could only use a 4GB stick in that empty slot as well). I don't recall if that's still the case or not, though.

[Mystrelia 57]

4GB of RAM is pretty much nothing these days. 8GB is basically a minimum for most modern games, realistically. I run with 16GB.

RAM in general isn't all that expensive, but it's tricky on a laptop - you may not be able to add more at all. It depends on your model of laptop. I don't recall if this is still the case or not, but you used to have to use the same type of RAM in all slots (so if you had a 4GB stick in one slot, and a second empty slot, you could only use a 4GB stick in that empty slot as well). I don't recall if that's still the case or not, though.

I'm pretty sure it still works that way. Alternatively if a computer has two 4-gig sticks they probably could be replaced with two identical 8-gig sticks. I have just 8 gigs of RAM in my computer and don't have any problems running Skylines.

[iviaarten 533]

yeh, 8GB seems to be about the sweet spot.

 

Also, if you're contemplating buying a new rig/laptop: and 4 core processor is good enough for current games (6 or 8 only really help for video editing and stuff like that). Instead, get a better video card (avoid laptops that have the RAM being shared with the video 'card'. Go for something with an i5, 8GB of ram, a good dedicated graphics card (current, or previous gen), with its own dedicated memory. SSD will do wonders for your load times as well. that can be a great upgrade option if you're not ready for a new machine and are currently running off a mechanical HD.

[mutton noir 170]

I have the same problem, takes half an hour to load and often crashes. I've turned a few mods off but not much improvement. Also the asset menus in game are badly designed- far too small and fiddly- directional arrows get stuck and lack of reference pictures is a real pain as is generic "new asset" title of so many! I did have a mod that changed menus into a scrollable format but it seems to have disappeared- anyone know what happened to it?

[TPB 562]

I just posted this to another thread but I will repeat it here. 

 

Do not go on mod binges.

 

Hand pick only the best ones, read their comment threads to find out if they work. See what other users have said.

 

If your game takes that long to load... I suspect you have too many Assets and Mods enabled, go through your assets and pick only the very best, unsub the rest, or at least disable them.

 

"I've turned a few mods off"

 

You need to do the opposite. Turn only a few mods ON.

 

--

 

The workaround for the menu scrolling for now is this:

 

Hover your mouse over the arrow, and don't click, but scroll your mouse-wheel. This works : )

[mgomrjsurf 16]

Yes but I like all the Mods Iv'e downloaded and would like to see them all pop up in Game. Best bet is to expand Ram if can.

[Linoa06 1,374]

Yeah my mods do lag my loading time down (going from 1-2 minutes to more than 10), it seems to be how many mods you've installed really.

[zimmie 521]

I've got about 35 mods running, over 180 assets installed and about 20 color corrections so far. I upped my 8 gigs of ram to 16 and it doesn't make a difference in loading times but will help in the game running without lag once you're in it.

 

I get a lot of crashes when loading or starting a new game since using mods, it's probably about a 50/50 chance of a crash then I have to restart and it usually doesn't crash twice in a row. I'll have to check my loading time but off-hand It feels like about 3 or 4 minutes for me.

[Mystrelia 57]

I've got about 35 mods running, over 180 assets installed and about 20 color corrections so far. I upped my 8 gigs of ram to 16 and it doesn't make a difference in loading times but will help in the game running without lag once you're in it.

 

I get a lot of crashes when loading or starting a new game since using mods, it's probably about a 50/50 chance of a crash then I have to restart and it usually doesn't crash twice in a row. I'll have to check my loading time but off-hand It feels like about 3 or 4 minutes for me.

Sans the color corrections I think I have about the same as you and my save loads in under a minute.

 

I think ultimately the number of mods a person uses will depend on what is an acceptable load time for them. I'm more keen on keeping load time to under four minutes so that will limit how many I use. Of course using fewer mods also decreases the possibility of conflicts and crashes. I have found that Assets don't increase the load time nearly like Mods do.

[asgardguardian 0]

you maybe don't believe this. But, my game loading time is 2 hours for one game load, even if i want to make a new one

I don't know what to do.

i enabled just 16 mods and not more than 50 assets.

Sometimes, it stucks in the middle of the loading then crashes.

 

 

Processor: AMD A8-6410 APU with AMD Radeon R5

RAM: 4.00 GB (3.46 GB usable)

System Type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

[rovapasi1 53]

Use loading screen mod.

[mutton noir 170]

Loading Screen and Less Steam mods should transform  your experience. It will dramatically cut loading times- make your game much more stable - fewer if any ctd. I also find it allows me to subscribe to way more assets!- the cycle continues lol! Seriously- this pair of mods are essential for anyone playing a heavily  modded game