Very long game loading times

[Dopey Shepard]

Like, I'm stuck at 30-33% for like 1-2 minutes straight, the whole loading thing is like 3 minutes. AAA games load faster than that. What is wrong? Is it my software or smth?

Anyone else having such issues on a 7200 rpm HDD?

Are there any of you with SSDs with such issues?

[Fel]

That loading loads all of the required files including mods and processes them before storing the result in the memory.
So while a SSD or faster hard drive can help, it's often the CPU that works the hardest during that phase.

[Premu]

The first time the game loads takes some time for me even with a SSD (even without mods). If you load up Factorio again without shutting down the PC it loads signifcantly faster, though.

[Dopey Shepard]

Originally posted by Premu:

The first time the game loads takes some time for me even with a SSD (even without mods). If you load up Factorio again without shutting down the PC it loads signifcantly faster, though.

yeah exactly, the second time I load it it frigging FLIES like wtf? And no I dont have a single mod installed, only the latest experimental version, nothing else

[Wood Boogers]

Another factor... pardon the pun is connection ping. Lower numbers are better, larger numbers are not.

[AlexMBrennan]

yeah exactly, the second time I load it it frigging FLIES like wtf?

If you are using a competently written operating system then any available memory will be used to cache disc reads. That's why it lists "free memory" and "available memory" separately.

[Dopey Shepard]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

yeah exactly, the second time I load it it frigging FLIES like wtf?

If you are using a competently written operating system then any available memory will be used to cache disc reads. That's why it lists "free memory" and "available memory" separately.

do you mean my ram? And yes, I do somewhat start lagging on my PC once my free ram is depleted and goes into "available". What is the solution to that? Just completely format my HDD with windows, reinstall the system and stuff?

Also, this long loading thing is gonna be even on a clean boot with all my ram in "free", so either way it's not good

[Fel]

A proper shutdown or restart of the computer re-initializes the ram usage unless your computer has a problem, doing this once a day instead of the sleep mode that many people seem to use usually keeps your ram from being filled with garbage.

[Dopey Shepard]

Originally posted by Fel:

A proper shutdown or restart of the computer re-initializes the ram usage unless your computer has a problem, doing this once a day instead of the sleep mode that many people seem to use usually keeps your ram from being filled with garbage.

I can't possible sleep, I start lagging like hell after several hours in, and idk why, I can shutdown my browser, re-locate my ram to "free" but the lag is still there. Like, opening my computer can take 5 seconds or so, that kind of stuff. This happens more often than it should. Not sure if such lags should ever happen tbh

Also I get major slowdowns after installing a game, like, even installing and applying a big update may give me such slowdowns, I can't even shutdown the PC from the Windows/start key, I have to manually do it with a button on my PC case. Like wtf really....

I am running W7 64 bit, I make sure my harddrives are always de-fragmented yet these issues are still there

[Premu]

Originally posted by Dopey Shepard:

I am running W7 64 bit, I make sure my harddrives are always de-fragmented yet these issues are still there

Wait, do you have a SSD? In this case don't defragment it, it doesn't help to speed it up, but significantly reduces its life time!

[Repsack]

I once had huuge troubles getting factorio to load fast, but i managed to solve it. Here is a link to the reddit post i made where i marked it solved myself:
https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/9onj53/cannot_avoid_that_factorio_loading_time_is_30

[Dopey Shepard]

Originally posted by Repsack:

I once had huuge troubles getting factorio to load fast, but i managed to solve it. Here is a link to the reddit post i made where i marked it solved myself:
https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comments/9onj53/cannot_avoid_that_factorio_loading_time_is_30

thanks but how does that help me? The OP in that link's post says that loading times was reduced to 30-60 seconds by defragmenting, which I already did, not with SSD, but with HDD

[Repsack]

Originally posted by Dopey Shepard:

thanks but how does that help me? The OP in that link's post says that loading times was reduced to 30-60 seconds by defragmenting, which I already did, not with SSD, but with HDD

The thing about changing the config file may work well for you. Try it if you want to.

[XManBG]

Hi guys, the topic is somehow old, but the problem with the long loading time at game start still presists. It takes about 1 minute from 0% to 100%. Running Factorio version 1.1.36 on SDD with 64-bit Win7, Core i3 at 3.3 GHz and 8 Gb RAM. Loading and caching sprites, or decompressing them every time the game loads is obviously not good practice.

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by XManBG:

Hi guys, the topic is somehow old, but the problem with the long loading time at game start still presists. It takes about 1 minute from 0% to 100%. Running Factorio version 1.1.36 on SDD with 64-bit Win7, Core i3 at 3.3 GHz and 8 Gb RAM. Loading and caching sprites, or decompressing them every time the game loads is obviously not good practice.

the first time you load the game after a system reboot (or if you were playing another game that managed to fill up your memory) will take longer - every subsequent reload that session will be much faster due to the caching

EDIT: also your system specs there imply that it may be a laptop - and if you are using integrated graphics then that will also have an effect, as will the graphics settings you have selected (hi res graphics, sprite atlas size etc)

in short - the game has a lot of data, and more so to use higher settings - and so the better your hardware, the quicker that initial load will be - but for all hardware, subsequent loads for a session will be significantly quicker due to the caching

EDIT 2: also, as mentioned earlier in the thread, mods will load first, and many mods will increase load time for every load - this will be the early % of the load - sprite loading happens between 40% and 50% if i recall - and once it is loaded the rest of the load moves very quickly - and again the first load of a session will always be slower

EDIT 3: also - 1 minute is not a long load time - especially since once Factorio is loaded everything happens super fast - whereas other games may load the menu screen very quickly, but each time you load a save may take a long time - all games are different, but generally all have to choose where they make you wait - and personally i prefer a long initial load if everything is super quick once i am in the game - instead of lots of loading time when i am in the middle of a session of play

[helmey112]

Originally posted by Drizzt:

- and personally i prefer a long initial load if everything is super quick once i am in the game - instead of lots of loading time when i am in the middle of a session of play

+1