How to easily reduce TS4 loading times - an overview
The scientist that I am loves to optimize stuff and why not reduce TS4 loading times, especially when there is lots of CC? (of course there is)
By following the steps below I could reduce loading times of my game with 31 GB CC to 4 minutes.
1 Delete broken CC, TS2/TS3 files, duplicates
Download the Mod Conflict Detector from MTS and run it every time you get new CC.
2 Batch rename your packages in order to remove special characters
Do this only with files that remain in your mods folder. You don’t have to do it with files that you are going to merge.
Download the bulk rename utility
Remove clamps, spaces and other special characters (# ; , @ & ?) from your package names.
Type in any special character in the replace field and leave the other one empty. Mark the packages you want to rename and click “rename”. Done!
3 Merge packages
Download Sims4studio (you have to register first, but you should consider getting Sims4Studio anyway!). Select Tools -> Merge Packages and just drag and drop the packages you want to merge into one single file. Backup your individual packages.
You should ALWAYS backup your individual files before merging. I put CC files of max. 400 mb (max. 200 files) in one folder and place it on my external harddrive and then merge what is in it. By doing so I keep track of which files are merged together. What is merged can’t be unmerged again. Don’t merge too many files/too large files together or the chance of losing files will increase. Sims4Studio will tell you when it’s finished and whether it failed to merge some of the packages. You have to place these in your game individually then.
If one CC is incompatible after a game update, you can delete it from the individual files and merge again :)
Don’t fear merging! It is fast and easy and it’s impact on loading times is HUGE!
4 Enjoy your game
If you know additional methods to reduce loading times (others than just stop downloading cc, that won’t happen), I’d be happy to receive a message from you in order to complete this post :)
