Long loading and saving times

I have similar issue game plays fine. 100s a turns into largest map tons of races runs great. Loading in and out of the game takes 3-4 min. I have been stop watching it. Even tiny map 2 races takes 2.5-3 min to exit out of. 

I have went through my entire system and could not find an issue with any hardware or drivers. Game worked fine forever even with early intrigue. I took a hiatus and came back and the issue is there, same hardware and setup etc. My guess is some hardware / driver combination the game just doesn't like after w/e patches happened and i just dont have the patience to find it anymore.

I doubt its your memory for the loading in and out at least historically the memory issue would just creep up on you and eventually the game would become unplayable as it crept towards 32+gb though that could have changed.

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your similar experience, suggesting that it is not a memory issue.

But was hoping that someone from the Stardock would address my issue ?

As currently I cannot play the game on Gigantic size, even though I meet the system requirements.

Appreciate any help. (especially from Stardock!)

Ah well still could be memory but seems doubtful vs my experiences but as i said earlier they make changes that fudge up the crashes/wait crash and performance every patch.

Also stardock doesn't comment on anything here esp issues that they either cannot or wont fix, it is basically just blog posts by them. Its a tiny team that basically is working on something else atm. It is pretty much up to the tens of community members to help each other out.

To Developers

Would any developer be able to answer my fair question as to why my games take so long to save and load, when my system meets the requested requirements ?

I am not meaning just a few minutes, but 10 minutes or more!

Many thanks.

Does it only happen with 'Gigantic' map sizes?

A you manually managing your swap / page file size?  If so, please try setting it to auto (detailed below):

https://forums.galciv3.com/486732/galactic-civilizations-iii-support-faq

Hi,

It started OK in gigantic map size but gradually got slower. When I got to around 150 turns it was very slow to load and save.

So far I am into 100 turns on huge map size and it's OK.

Yes page size is set to auto.

@mttodd1

Anyone please help.

I was also playing Gigantic map and my player progress stuck in between, I clicked to reload the process but the speed was very very slow. Need a better solution.

Again, for each of you, I need to know if it only happens on Gigantic sized maps.

for Bowdewn, I need to know if you swap file is set to auto as I asked in my prior reply.

Set your page file manually to 48 gigs that would probably help. Auto only uses 1 and a half times your memory. Set your power options to high. Is your user interface set to low. Lower your graphics settings. Set your windows to best performance. Set galactic civilizations to low performance. Defrag your computer. Clean your computer. 

Do you have a SSD drive. If you do only use that for your paging file that way the hard drive won't slow you down.

I was playing in only a large universe and this happened to me.  I went through all the trouble-shooting steps you gave and found no problem with my system.

You said your swap file is on auto set it to 48 gigs instead.

I'll give it a try.  Thanks for the suggestion.

You welcome.

Think I was pretty clear SdRodan, that I cannot say if it is only gigantic map sizes, because it has not yet happened to my large map.

But that is not to say it won't, maybe when I play enough turns it might.

One thing to add to this and maybe its just how the game runs but when the game is taking wayyy longer than it has in the past/should. It is always "not responding" for minutes at a time. Maybe that is normal now but pretty much whenever it is responding stuff is happening but then it goes and in game and in monitors shows not responding until it goes and then does 10 seconds of loading and then the game saves/loads.

Maybe we all need to buy I9 processors and 32GB of memory, haha...

I have just built a Ryzen 2700x on a Crosshair VII board with 32gigs of ddr4 3000mhz and I still get this as well as all the mini lags (interface?). So I do not think its hardware related tbh.

Sorry to some few are still having issues. 

It needs to be noted that 'Gigantic' , with many factions, planets, etc, are going to be resource intensive.  It is important take that into account, knowing the specs of your own PCs, when you are judging performance choosing such game types. 

For the people confident in their specs, there are two things I want you to try.

1) Virtual Memory:

Go here and look for the 'Page File Size' entry:

https://forums.galciv3.com/486732/galactic-civilizations-iii-support-faq

For testing this issue, it is CRITICAL that you set is as shown - to:

'Automatically manage page file size for all drives'

It will require a reboot.  Try the game after.

If that fails to improve things:

2) Windows Defender:

I would like to have you try excluding the folders that GC3 uses from Windows Defender. If you use another AV product, please use the folders provided to perform a like action.

Go here to see how to exclude:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028485/windows-10-add-an-exclusion-to-windows-defender-antivirus

The folders to exclude would be:

\Documents\My Games\GalCiv3
\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Galactic Civilizations III

Please let me know if this improves your load times.

Thanks for your patience here.

----------------
Sean Drohan
Stardock Customer Service Manager

Thanks for your feedback. sdRohan, the developers and myself were just discussing this issue and we are going to try to track it down. sdRohan posted some suggestions above. Please let us know if that works for you. Thank you all for reporting the issue.

Thanks Stardock!!!  I have been playing a new game in a Large Universe and have reduced my saves to 5 turns or so.  This has really helped me.  I do hope you can find a fix for those of us who would like to say every turn or two.  Thanks for acknowledging this problem.

I just received an update to GalCivIII on Steam today.  Did it address the problem with the Saving/Loading issue?

Please see:

https://forums.stardock.com/489799/galactic-civilizations-iii-v305

Also, is cloud saving for the game enabled for you?

If enabled, disable it and let me know if it makes a difference for you please.

If that fails, or produces some relief but not a lot, create a new 'OldSaves' directory in:

\Documents\My Games\GC3Crusade

Move any old saves from the 'Saves' directory there with the exception of the one you want to play.  Try again after.

My point for efforts outside of the game itself is this:

Since that is true for some of you (delays are new and not what they were), and we did not change the game to produce the phenomenon, we want to try to get out from under any outside influence that may have.

Thanks.

----------------
Sean Drohan
Stardock Customer Service Manager

I am having the same issues. The game is unplayable after 100 turns or so.

I notice that when I move my cursor over a Black Hole it makes the whole game sputter to a halt to slowly return to play. Perhaps a 6 to 8 second sputter.

I also noted another possible interact that seems to be angering the program. Lets say you complete your turn and the "Turn" button pops up. I click it and the game auto moves my ships. When a ship has unused moves the game directs you to move the ship personally.

When I decide to save at this point ,after I have clicked the turn button and between the completion of manual moves, the game REALLY slowed down from that point forward.

Once this happens the save times are as long as 5 to 7 minutes and if I leave the game and go back to it later the save file is corrupted and cant be loaded. It crashes the game.

This is very frustrating. I really like the game, I have all of the DLC's. Please tell me what you need from me to get the game working.

I am having similar issues. The diversion is unplayable after 100 turns or somewhere in the vicinity. 

I see that when I move my cursor over a Black Hole it makes the entire amusement sputter to an end to gradually come back to play. Maybe a 6 to 8-second sputter. 

I likewise noticed another conceivable communicate that is by all accounts irritated the program. Let's say you finish your turn and the "Turn" secure pops. I click it and the diversion auto moves my boats. At the point when a ship has unused moves the diversion guides you to move the ship by and by. 

When I choose to spare now ,after I have tapped the turn catch and between the fulfillment of manual moves, the amusement REALLY backed off starting now and into the foreseeable future. 

When this happens the spare occasions are up to 5 to 7 minutes and on the off chance that I leave the diversion and return to it later the spare document is ruined and cant be stacked. It crashes the diversion. 

This is extremely baffling. I extremely like the diversion, I have the majority of the DLC's. If it's not too much trouble disclose to me what you require from me to get the amusement working. mobdro for pc

I checked all those things you mentioned.

I think moving save files to oldsaves folders and only using the latest save did help a bit. But then eventually, I was playing gigantic map and it was 3 turns until age of ascension when my game performed autosave. That autosave never finished and now I can't load it either. Previous save is 2 hours before.