LONG Load Times

[Freebird]

Been looking in here for any info....

My SH4 is taking forever to load up and a long time to save a game, too.

I delete all the prior saved games so they don't accumulate and still am getting longer load times.

I have SH4 installed on a(partitioned) D: drive and see that it is keeping all the files in my C:/My Documents

Any tips? TIA

Gary

[Sailor Steve]

I don't know. I've heard about accumulated save games, but I haven't played enough to have a problem, bouncing back-and-forth as I do from SH3 to SH4 to doing research.

Someone will be along soon who knows what's what.

I just wanted to say WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

[Freebird]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

You guys have a great forum/network here and after flying MSFS for 8-9yrs. this is a great change of pace.

Gary

[Sailor Steve]

:DL I played Flight Sim back when it was just green lines on a black screen. Don't have the power to run FS10 though. In fact my rig has trouble with FS9 - and SH4, for that matter.:dead:

[Rockin Robbins]

Are you running 1.4 or 1.5? One of the vital improvements in SH4UBM was vastly reduced loading times, as the game only loads up exact positions of targets in sensor range instead of every target on all the oceans when you load a saved game.

[Sailor Steve]

Well, that might explain why I haven't had that problem. I did not know about that.

[Armistead]

It's best not to save during any action. I've also heard it's better to save surfaced while stopped. Obvious the more action, contacts, near ports, ect...it takes longer to load a save because it has to process that extra info. Course the more ram and system resources you have, shouldn't be much of a problem. When I played on my rig with lower specs I got some long load times, now on my new rig I haven't had any problems with load times regardless of what's going on.

Also the longer you're into a patrol, the longer it can take to load, due to messages, patrol logs, ships sunk, ect...just more info to process.

Make sure you don't have background programs running you don't need which are very few. I once had a save game that was taking forever to load and checked and my virus scanner was running. Sometimes I notice if I play a long time, alt tab out a lot, stay online, ect...it can mess with load times, if not screw up the game. I use to leave the game on pause and alt out and do other things for hours before I would come back to the game.

Still, the main thing is that it's loading correctly, so I wouldn't worry too much about it as long as you're getting a good load. If it gets stuck, I would reboot then try.

[Undefined]

What are your computer specs?

My old computer loaded SH4 up in ages, also it lagged very bad. When i got my new PC i was amazed how quickly SH4 loaded, it was like instant to me :D.

[Freebird]

I have 1.5

SH4 was loaded on my D:(partitioned) Drive and I see it's normal for SH4 to create and utilize a saver folder on my C: drive(UGGGHH!)

The damn saver folder is up to 3.24GIGS!

Something seems weird there....

Gary

[Captain Dave]

After installing and removing all kinds of mods over the past year, my load time was over 3 minutes.I think my main SH4 data file had gotten fouled up with bits and pieces of mods. The game ran OK, just took a long time to load. I ended up completely reinstalling SH4 (1.5) with only the mods I wanted. My load time is now 1 minute 50 seconds. I'm running a old 939 motherboard with DDR memory, so it's not the fastest thing around.
Hope my commentary helps.

[Rockin Robbins]

939 motherboards, DDR memory, AMD dual processors and nVidia 7600GT graphics cards forever!:rock:

[Captain Dave]

939 motherboards, DDR memory, AMD dual processors and nVidia 7600GT graphics cards forever!:rock:

You bet! I'm running an Opteron processor. SH4 runs smooth. SH5 will probably be a different story.

[Armistead]

939 motherboards, DDR memory, AMD dual processors and nVidia 7600GT graphics cards forever!:rock:


7600 GT....c'mon RR you can step way up for another less than 100 bucks. I ran a 7600 and didn't see what colors I was missing. You can get a 9800 for $80. I run a x250, decent card for $150.

[magic452]

RR can't afford a new card till he bust up enough rocks and I head they don't pay all the well. :haha:

Magic

[Munchausen]

You can get a 9800 for $80. I run a x250, decent card for $150.

:hmmm: What's the use of upgrading until we know what it'll take to properly run SH5?

[vanjast]

This sounds like a memory overrun type thingy

How much disk space do you have left... and what are your system's 'virtual disk space' settings. also what size disk do you have.

The point is, that when you get close to a full disk, Windoze goes for a wobbly regarding Virtual disk space and usable disk space. As a general rule, I keep a minimum of 20GB free on my disk.

Try a disk cleanup and defrag - You might have tons of c'r.a-p (and nrop :) ) on the disk.
start it and go for a walk for a few hours.
:D

[Armistead]

:hmmm: What's the use of upgrading until we know what it'll take to properly run SH5?


To play SH5, plan on a new PC....get a cheap card now for SH4. Like most, I would hate to think what I've spent on PC's and upgrades in my life...I bet I could buy a very nice car...I got a box with about 20 video cards in it...some old worthless ones that probably cost $400 many years ago...

Like to have that money back.

[Sailor Steve]

...some old worthless ones that probably cost $400 many years ago...

Like to have that money back.
:rotfl2:

This is way off topic, but you made me think of it, so we can blame you instead of me.

Awhile back there was an episode of The Dead Zone which involved a search for a plane that crashed in the mountains, carrying a cargo that was insured for $2,000,000. People were killing each other and taking hostages, all to find that treasure. In the end of course the good guys win, and find the wreck, and open the box, to find two million dollars worth of...five year old computer chips.

[Munchausen]

:rotfl2:

...five year old computer chips.

:-? Yup, the computer industry has managed to do what the auto industry tried and failed to do years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
While acknowledging the widespread use of planned obsolescence among automobile manufacturers, Volkswagen pitched itself as an alternative. "We do not believe in planned obsolescence," the ads suggested. "We don't change a car for the sake of change."

[Freebird]

Not sure if I was being kept out on patrol extra long(did a few refits for more fish) or what but the saved file was getting HIGE and took around 10-12min to load.

I ran my partition manager to free up more C drive and then I couldn't load the file at all and had to begin another career. :damn:

My system is pretty old and I'll be building a new one soon.

Thanks for all the tips!

Back to the hunt......

[Sailor Steve]

Don't feel too bad, FB. I've been playing SH3 since its release almost five years ago, and every time some new mod comes out that I want to try I start over again, because I want to see how it looks in 1939. The farthest I ever got was late 1940.

Now I'm doing the same thing with SH4. I just loaded up the latest version of OM and I'm starting all over again.:dead:

[THE_MASK]

The giant save game files . Thats why i had to stop playing SH4 18 months ago .