Starting the game takes forever

[SirKittonew]

Hey everyone,
am I the only one whose game takes like 10 Minutes (seriously, not exaggerating) to start up from a SSD?
CPU, RAM, SSD all work fine and are state of the art, but Stellaris shows a white Screen for 5 Minutes after I hit play in the launcher and takes 5 more minutes after that in the "real" loading screen, counting percentages...
Is it supposed to do that? Can I somehow fix it?

It took quite long to start before the update, too (4 min from launcher to menu). But now its really annoying.

Any answer would be helpful :)

[zacharyb]

Well the update is probably part of the reason, but if it took 4 minutes even before the update to load up, then something isn't working right with your computer. Do you have mods installed? I load up the game in about a minute max, that's counting from starting the game, going to the launcher and selecting launch, and finally loading onto the menu. Then it probably takes another minute max to actually load the a game/save.

[The Renderer]

Don't know if you're the only one but I don't have that problem and I don't even have it on an SSD. It shows the loading bar with the percentage pretty much immediately (a few seconds) and then takes maybe a minute or two to load completely.

Edit: Actually, that's only when I start it for the first time. When I start it now, it takes 10 seconds to the loading bar and maybe 25 seconds to the main menu. Just timed it. So there's definitely something off with your game or PC.

[ABOUT CASTLE DRACHENFELS]

i have noticed an extended start up myself. it displays white screen for id say about 2 minutes. then it will start loading. probably about 5 minutes all together. so i have noticed a bit of a slow down on start up.

[SirKittonew]

Thanks for your replies! I will have a close look on everything maybe involved in this.

[Zhivago]

Originally posted by Dirk Laser Master:

i have noticed an extended start up myself. it displays white screen for id say about 2 minutes. then it will start loading. probably about 5 minutes all together. so i have noticed a bit of a slow down on start up.

Same thing for me. Drivers updated, SSD.

[Fasalrod]

I've always had this problem on my SSD. Stellaris doesn't handle SSD's right either. Only game I've seen where SSD loads slow. Even Windows 10 is already at the login screen by the time my monitor turns on and super-smooth while loading after logging in.

[rdampier00]

I suspect it is a combination of CPU processor make and model, Amount of Ram, and Video Card. I recently purchased a new computer using an AMD CPU, 8 GB of RAM, AMD RX560 video card. Compared to my previous system which used a high end Intel CPU, 20 GB of RAM, and an AMD R7 video card. On my current system Stellaris takes a noticeable amount of time to load 3-4 min. On the previous system Stellaris required less than 1 min to load. Both systems used a 1 TB hard disk drive and Windows 10 64 bit OS. On my 8 GB system the OS, third party backup/restore program (Accronis), and third party anti-virus program leaves less than 4.5 GB of RAM free for other purposes. Clearly on the 20 GB system much more of the computers resources regarding RAM were unencumbered and available.

[Drunk Demoman]

Originally posted by rdampier00:

I suspect it is a combination of CPU processor make and model, Amount of Ram, and Video Card. I recently purchased a new computer using an AMD CPU, 8 GB of RAM, AMD RX560 video card. Compared to my previous system which used a high end Intel CPU, 20 GB of RAM, and an AMD R7 video card. On my current system Stellaris takes a noticeable amount of time to load 3-4 min. On the previous system Stellaris required less than 1 min to load. Both systems used a 1 TB hard disk drive and Windows 10 64 bit OS. On my 8 GB system the OS, third party backup/restore program (Accronis), and third party anti-virus program leaves less than 4.5 GB of RAM free for other purposes. Clearly on the 20 GB system much more of the computers resources regarding RAM were unencumbered and available.

Your RAM isn't likely the issue. I've noticed this recently too, I used to have 30~ seconds of wait before a save loaded, with the federation update I have time to make myself some toast and pour a glass of whiskey and come back to it being only 2/3 done loading the save. The game itself loads the menu in about 10~ seconds, but dear god loading saves take FOREVER now.

[Midnight]

My system is a few years old (SSD; 850 Evo, FWIW) and I run a very unoptimized (unfinished) personal mod (which is basically a massive overhaul, equivalent to dozens of mods in one), and it takes about 1 minute 15 from a cold start. Once cached, it's under 45 seconds. If I had to wait two to five minutes each time I wanted to test a mod change, i'd go insane.

[Stiggy Zardust]

I am also getting insanely long start times with mods, it takes anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes to get from clicking 'play' to the main menu. Granted, I am running a lot of mods, but not more than i have typically used over the last couple years, and I never used to have launch times this long. I am also on an SSD.

[Yoghurt]

Originally posted by Stigro:

I am also getting insanely long start times with mods, it takes anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes to get from clicking 'play' to the main menu. Granted, I am running a lot of mods, but not more than i have typically used over the last couple years, and I never used to have launch times this long. I am also on an SSD.

I'm also having the same with mods, I'll leave it launching in the background where it will eventually load after 20 minutes or so, but even then going through the menus there's a noticeable delay, Stigro any chance I could see your mod list and see if there's anything we have any mods in common that might be the cause?

[Astasia]

Shipsets are usually the cause of long loading times. Possibly music packs as well, I haven't used one in a while and don't remember the effect they have.

[Old Ben]

I agree, since the update loading time has increased a lot. I run the same set of mods and it now take nearly twice as long.

Edit: So I wanted to check my load time and here is what I got on my older comp with HDs. From the launcher I hit Resume game and it took 5 minutes to get to the loading save game screen, which took another 30 seconds. I suspect the mod loading is taking much longer for some reason.

[Astasia]

Originally posted by Old Ben:

I agree, since the update loading time has increased a lot. I run the same set of mods and it now take nearly twice as long.

This thread is over 2 years old. Big mods have always added a hefty amount of load time, nothing has changed that I have noticed, other than the game constantly getting more content with DLCs which contributes to slight increases to load times each.

[AngleWyrm]

Latest test with v2.6.2, time from pressing play in launcher to arriving at main menu.

No mods or dlc: 0:38
53 mods + 4 dlc: 5:38

DLC used in test

• Federations
  
• Horizon Signal
  
• Synthetic Dawn
  
• Ancient Relics

Mods used in test
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2063459746