How To Improve Loading Sprites On Game Startup
Hold CTRL + ALT then click on Settings.
You will now see a new thingamajing in the settings at the bottom of the panels called The rest.
This has special options that people normally should not fiddle with unless they know what they are doing. Some of these could lead to unpleasant side effects.
Now, click of The rest option. Then navigate to cache-sprite-atlas.
Check the box next to it, and Loading Sprites will load in a few seconds instead of potentially minutes.
IMPORTANT: Once enabled, the game will load slowly on startup one time. Afterwards the game will load significantly faster.
If the game is modified by for example being updated or modified (changed or probably updated installed mods), the game will load slowly one time, but consecutively it will load fast again.
How It Works And Caveats
Normally the game loads every single one of the sprites one after the other. This takes some time.
However, when cache-sprite-atlas is enabled, the game instead when loading puts all those sprites into a package.
Once the package is complete, consecutive startups will load sprites at a massively improved speed.
The package will however need to be remade every time the game is updated or modified by mods.
Even though this option is incredibly amazing, the developers did decide not have it in the normal settings menu and enabled by default. This essentially means that cache-sprite-atlas has some downside big enough to warrant it not being shown normally.
...But what is the worst that could happen? My save file getting corrupted? LOL. They would not even have included it in the game if it was that big of a risk.
So if you already have comfy, fast loading times then you should probably not enable it.
The Unknowns
If you find any downsides, bugs etc with enabling cache-sprite-atlas or addtional information about how it functions I would like you to mention it in the comments for me to add to this guide.
Additionally, you could tell me what specs your computer has, how long your loading times were, and how much they improved once cache-sprite-atlas was enabled.
My specs:
Processor: Intel Core i5-6400
Memory(Ram): DDR4 8GB
Graphics: Nvidia Geforce Gtx1060 6GB
Loading times before cache-sprite-atlas: 3 minutes.
Loading times after cache-sprite-atlas: 1 minutes.
Additional Tricks
Defragmenting the disc (If it is not an ssd) your game is installed on can speed up loading times a bit for some people.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3352909251
More Factorio guilds
- All Guilds
- Before The Bus
- Factorio Compact Designs
- Space Age:
- Sandbox mode in 2.0
- Seamless Space-Saving Blueprints (18x18 tiles)
- Rails Signaling for Dummies
- Factorio: How to Build a Main Bus
- Factorio: Observations, Tips, Tricks, & Efficiency
- Factorio Guide 1061