How many assets is considered as "Too much"

[lukathezec]

So I've recently bought the game and have started downloading some assets,props and mods.
As of now I have about 60 mods,to which I don't think I'll add more and around 600 assets/props.
I'm not planning to stop with downloading more assets since as we all know - it's pretty addictive to subscribe to a lot of them,but I'm concerned that my game will start to crash and load more slowly.
It already takes around 10 mins to load and I can notice that the framerate is dropping,even on a smaller town on medium settings.
So I would like to know when should I start considering to slow down with the props and assets.
(I've downloaded Mesh Info for some insight of how much some particular ones take memory).
My PC isn't that bad, RADEON R7 360 2GB, 8GB RAM, AMD FX 4300 3.8GHz and so on.
Would upgrading to 12GB of ram be a good idea for the future?
Thanks for the help.

[grapplehoeker]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=823524786

[Two Dollars Twenty]

I was running about 1300 assets until I read grapplehoeker's guide. I cut down to about 900 (still too much) and noticed a big difference in my FPS.

[bmrigs]

Ten minutes to load a game is unacceptable to me. I'm at 3.97 ram used at startup and about 40 seconds to load but I don't have a big city going like some of you have going.

[soldyne]

Originally posted by bmrigs:

Ten minutes to load a game is unacceptable to me. I'm at 3.97 ram used at startup and about 40 seconds to load but I don't have a big city going like some of you have going.

LOL I was going to say the same thing before I saw your response. load time is the key factor for me and that all depends on your rig. SSD and lots of DDR4 RAM you can have lots of assets. less powerful rig means fewer assets.

[engadude]

Also, there`s a mod on workshop called "Load Screen Mod". After applying the load time on my rig fell from about 3-4 mins to less than 1 min. It also make a report on your mods and stuff.
Recommended! ;)

[templeofdoom]

It's all dependent on your system specs - generally speaking More RAM = More assets. This doesn't mean more RAM = better FPS or anything, it just means your computer will have a larger bank of memory to load assets upon a new game. I have 16GB ram and use 2050 assets with 85 mods. With the Loading Screen Mod I can achieve a new game in roughly under 4-5 minutes. Without it, my load time jumps to 10-15 minutes.

[Lone Wolf]

Originally posted by Luka Zec:

I'm not planning to stop with downloading more assets since as we all know - it's pretty addictive to subscribe to a lot of them,but I'm concerned that my game will start to crash and load more slowly.

I think this is where people get into trouble when modding games. They throw mods in their games like there going out of style and then wonder why their game runs like crap. Beside the obvious point that every mod takes resources is that one mod might overwrite another mod and cause a conflict.

There was someone on the ATS Forums who asked why they were getting 5 fps and the game kept crashing. Come to find out they had something like 20 truck mods installed that where all trying to overwrite one another. Hmm, go figure.

I'm not trying to come off as MR. Knowitall or trying to tell anyone how to play "their" game by any means. Just trying to give some mediocre advice for modding any game. The less you install/uninstall, the happier your game will be. Be sure to read the mod descriptions for game version compatability and possible conflicts with other mods you may have installed.

When adding mods, add one (maybe two) at a time. That way if you run into an issue, it's easier to isolate. Descriminate when adding mods with the thought that there will be new mods down the road you might want to add. And always make a backup of your game folder for obvious reasons.

As far as ram goes, for the few extra bucks I'd go 16 gigs if your OS is capable. It's always recommended to replace all the ram on your PC and not mix and match. Be in the 100 Dollar range (U.S.). Best of luck to you and enjoy this great city builder.

[SonOfNitrous]

3600 assets. 10 seconds to main menu, 3 mins to load city.

Try using "Less steam" and "Loading screen" mods.

[Overlord]

Originally posted by SonOfNitrous:

3600 assets. 10 seconds to main menu, 3 mins to load city.

Try using "Less steam" and "Loading screen" mods.

how much ram do you have?

[ZTwindwalker]

Your VRAM maybe too small,and 8gb ram is not enough for playing with mod/assets.

When the VRAM is not enough,the GPU will go for RAM, which incease the RAM usage and lost a lot of FPS since the RAM has very poor bandwidth and has much more latency to GPU when it comes against the VRAM.

Some MOD like Adaptive Prop Visibility can easiliy kill off the hi-end PC if you set the value too high,or in the very late game.

The RAM price is not at its normal for now,and your platform can only use DDR3 which will be obseleted soon,so don`t by any ram now and increase it when you change the CPU and motherboard together.
12GB is not a standard configuration and I guess you will use 3 banks of memory which will broke the perfect dual channel state and decrease the RAM bandwidth.Not recommanded anyway.

If you are not interested in new Vage GPU of AMD,you can buy a new graghic card with 8GB VRAM,or a cost-effient 6GB one.And then you can use SSAO MOD to improve the visual quality dramaticly.The best way to improve the loading speed is SSD.Buy a small one just for the OS and some games won`t cost too much.

In fact, best of the best hardware for this game is a 4k resolution monitor with good color recreation performance(Yes I mean stay away from the TN panel),it really rocks,I have a friend just buy a 4K monitor for this game once he come to my home and saw me playing on mine.BUT its a GPU killer too,so don`t go for a 6GB card if you will consider this option in future.IF you are playing this game on a monitor under 1080p resolution or using the TN panel,I promise this will be the Biggst improvement for the game exprience.

[SonOfNitrous]

Originally posted by Overlord:

Originally posted by SonOfNitrous:

3600 assets. 10 seconds to main menu, 3 mins to load city.

Try using "Less steam" and "Loading screen" mods.

how much ram do you have?

Now I have 5236 subscriptions and LS mod says it's about 9k assets
32GB 2133 + 80GB cache ssd. Game on separate ssd.

[BLÀde]

it's OVER 9000!!!!

[Overlord]

Originally posted by SonOfNitrous:

Originally posted by Overlord:

how much ram do you have?

Now I have 5236 subscriptions and LS mod says it's about 9k assets
32GB 2133 + 80GB cache ssd. Game on separate ssd.

Well that explains it. I have 16gb ram only and one SSD where is the game (only this game) Since hitting 2000 assets I'm using about 15.4gb of ram used and unfortunately it is too much for the PC to handle. Game is unplayable first 10 minutes and when I want to close game it takes about 10minutes too to shut it down and after it I have to do the reboot because the PC is too slow. Normally my system is using about 3gb of ram when I close CSL after playing it will drop to some 1,5gb and stays it here untill I reboot :D

[SonOfNitrous]

Originally posted by Overlord:

Originally posted by SonOfNitrous:

Now I have 5236 subscriptions and LS mod says it's about 9k assets
32GB 2133 + 80GB cache ssd. Game on separate ssd.

Well that explains it. I have 16gb ram only and one SSD where is the game (only this game) Since hitting 2000 assets I'm using about 15.4gb of ram used and unfortunately it is too much for the PC to handle. Game is unplayable first 10 minutes and when I want to close game it takes about 10minutes too to shut it down and after it I have to do the reboot because the PC is too slow. Normally my system is using about 3gb of ram when I close CSL after playing it will drop to some 1,5gb and stays it here untill I reboot :D

also having i7 4770k OC to 4.6 helps a lot :D

[Overlord]

Originally posted by SonOfNitrous:

Originally posted by Overlord:

Well that explains it. I have 16gb ram only and one SSD where is the game (only this game) Since hitting 2000 assets I'm using about 15.4gb of ram used and unfortunately it is too much for the PC to handle. Game is unplayable first 10 minutes and when I want to close game it takes about 10minutes too to shut it down and after it I have to do the reboot because the PC is too slow. Normally my system is using about 3gb of ram when I close CSL after playing it will drop to some 1,5gb and stays it here untill I reboot :D

also having i7 4770k OC to 4.6 helps a lot :D

Well it makes difference but not huge one. Assets = ram; and game itself is mostly GPU demanding. Thats why even players like Strictoaster with very powerful PC cant get over 10 fps in the heavy detail areas (high tris).