Insane loading time

[Indiasong]

At first I thought I had overdownloaded, but now I'm thinking of a bugged something. My game takes 2 hours to load.I have a lot of custom content, but it went from 3/4 of an hour to 2.
Does anyone knows of an object that would have this effect?
Or a clothing item. I loaded bodyshop nearly 2 hours ago and it hasn't appeared on the desktop yet.
I have a download folder, and an object folder, and a hacks one. Does bodyshop load all the folders, or just the downloads one, which would narrow it down a bit?

[Jelenedra]

Well, theorectically the objects and the hacks folder should be in your downloads folder too. So, yes, they load up as well.

You can pull the hacks folder, but it won't do much good, as hacks are miniscule part of the loading process.

Time for generic advice:

Delete the groups.cache file.

Delete some of that junk. Use SimPE's Abadoned Mesh Tool to help search for meshes you have no textures for. Deleting hairs, clothes, and objects in game or in bodyshop do NOT delete the mesh as well. So you probably have a butt load of those just hanging around.

[Horanda]

It may not have anything to do with the game.
Do a virus check and defragment the hard drive, these procedures work wonders from time to time.

[miros]

Are you sure BodyShop is still loading and didn't crash without you noticing?

[numaari]

Use SimPE's Abadoned Mesh Tool to help search for meshes you have no textures for. Deleting hairs, clothes, and objects in game or in bodyshop do NOT delete the mesh as well. So you probably have a butt load of those just hanging around.

Ack!  I did not know that SimPE could do that.  Could you tell me where I might find that option?  I can wander around in SimPE for hours, getting nothing much accomplished...  Not an intuitive tool.

[Jelenedra]

Uuuuuhhhh, check Theo's thread. I have never used that tool, but I know it exists. Do a MATY search for "orphaned mesh scanner."

[blubug]

I thought that only did clothing and hair meshes. And it didn't do much for me, some of the orphaned meshes it found weren't orphaned at all (objects).

[Jelenedra]

It's not perfect, but it still does work.... a little... at least I've heard...

[ZiggyDoodle]

My game takes 2 hours to load.

Out of curiosity, how much RAM are you running with?  And how many EPs?

[Indiasong]

It loaded after 2 hours and 15 mns. I deleted a few things more.
I'm running all expansion packs, no specials, with 1500 gb of ram.
No viruses, defragmented. So, bodyshop loads everything in the Sims2 folder?

[Paperbladder]

Yeah, it loads all the skins in the Downloads and SavedSims folders.

Load times have very little to do with the RAM, they have more to do with the Processor.  Speaking of which, how big is your downloads folder?  If it's 17GB like someone else had on here there's no doubt that your excessive load times are caused by it.

[blubug]

Bodyshop also does that to me, with my 8GB download folder. So I just have a testing-bodyshop game with only the clothing, props and hair for bodyshop-creation. It takes a lot less to load. I just switch names of Sims2 folders. Better than deleting stuff IMO.

[Flamingo]

Have you installed anything suspicious or any major programs lately? I know the latest Norton Antivirus software is horrid for a machine's speed. I would recommend running msconfig.exe to decrease the amount of applications that start at start up, and to kill applications that aren't needed to run the game with Task Manager.

You may wish to try removing your downloads folder and loading before doing this, however, to determine whether the problem is your computer, or your downloads.

[MistyBlue]

Did you mean 1.5 GB of RAM? Just wondering...

My suggestion is using the clean installer to go through all of your downloads and start deleting what you don't want or use anymore. That will greatly decrease your load time for the game. Then go into the game and start deleting clothes and hair that you don't want anymore. I also suggest putting everything in sub folders by site or type of item. I had a 20 GB downloads folder and I successfully got it down to 1.5 GB and am, thus far, maintaining it in that area. My load time used to be something like 20 minutes, then about 3, now it's 2. Playing is so much better now that it's not running slow, either.

As for body shop, that always takes forever to load no matter what. Cleaning out your clothes, hair, skin, and all that other junk will help out, but it probably still won't load under 10 minutes. 

[Simsample]

Sometimes deleting the groups.cache file and also defragging the hard drive can help with loading times.

[J. M. Pescado]

At first I thought I had overdownloaded, but now I'm thinking of a bugged something. My game takes 2 hours to load.I have a lot of custom content, but it went from 3/4 of an hour to 2.

Grossly exceeding critical mass will force the game to thrash to disk instead of loading into RAM. As a general rule, you should try not to have more CC than half the amount of RAM in your system. Otherwise your game will quickly begin its descent into loading like shit.

[Indiasong]

I know I deserve 3/4 of an hour with my 4.8 downloads and 7.5 objects folder. When I play I switch everything off, specially antivirus.
And I have to delete group cache every other time.
But why would it suddenly more than double time?
And I have been deleting lots, hairs, beds, sofas... Plenty left, I know.
When you had 20GB, how long did it take? I have a 3gz pentium IV
So blubug, if you switched names, it means that bodyshop only loads folders named Downloads? Then my Objects folder would have nothing to do with the increase.. Well not predominantly.

[ZiggyDoodle]

What's the load time when you move your downloads folder out of your game folder to your desktop?

[blubug]

So blubug, if you switched names, it means that bodyshop only loads folders named Downloads? Then my Objects folder would have nothing to do with the increase.. Well not predominantly.

Actually, it doesn't work like that. I rename the 'My Documents/ The Sims 2' folder to something else (I name it "The Sims 2real"), run the game and it genarates a new Sims 2 game folder. (You probably knew this part). Then I create a Downloads folder in this new game folder and put only bodyshop items inside it (I only copy and paste them, so I have 2 copies, one in the original game one in my test game). Then I use that folder to create sims or clothes or whatever, when I'm done, I open the Saved Sims folder, copy the things I've recently made and paste them into my real game folder's (remember the one I renamed first?) Downloads. Then I rename my testing game folder "The Sims 2_test", and rename the original folder back to "The Sims 2" and play with my new stuff.

After that, anytime I want to use bodyshop, I change names of only the Sims 2 folder.

I hope that's clear.

[Jelenedra]

Sounds like you need a Download folder purge.

Delete EVERYTHING and reinstall a clean game! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

*coughs*

But seriously, take out your entire downloads folder and see how long it takes to load a "clean" game.

Also, you keep talking about your objects and downloads folder loading seperately. For the objects to work, they have to be IN your downloads folder, so they always load. Period.

[miros]

Jelendra, have you applied to EA when we weren't looking?

[blubug]

Jelenedra, I used to have my objects in a separate folder a long time ago, and it worked. I used to have it like that because bodyshop items didn't work in subfolders, and I hated the mess. But some stuff really does need to be in the Downloads folder, global mods, other hacks and such, so after I installed NL I dragged all my subfolders into the main Downloads folder, it works much better and it's easier to use Simpe and Cleaninstaller. I just want to say, I don't recommend having the objects folder outside the downloads folder, but it does work for some people.

[Jelenedra]

*raises eyebrow*

Miros- No, but I routinely wipe my downloads and neighborhoods folder and start from scratch. I assume that is why you asked?

Blubug-

Well, they mentioned that they have all EPs, so having an objects folder in the downloads folder to cut on loading time is kinda moot.

[miros]

Miros- No, but I routinely wipe my downloads and neighborhoods folder and start from scratch. I assume that is why you asked?

Your previous comment struck me as the usual advice you get from EA/Maxis support people -- either "delete all your custom downloads," whether you have them or not, or "uninstall and reinstall and everything will be wonderful."

[MistyBlue]

It takes a long time to clean out the things that you don't want. I think it took me a couple of hours to do the objects and a whole weekend to do the hair, clothes, and makeup. If you plan on doing the objects in game, it will take you even longer.

If you want to do the quick fix, go into the game and look at all the items you can't live without and and download them again. That way you can delete your downloads folder and not worry about it. Another thing, starting over with your clothes is not a bad idea. I found that there are a lot better things out there now than when I originally downloaded the clothes I had. Hair, too. I made it a rule not to download any hair unless it is animated.