T w e n t y S i d e d

I picked up Sims 2 primarily to use as comic fodder, but also because it might be a fun diversion. But this is the first time where load times have actually driven me away from a game.

When I click on the Sim 2 icon, it takes a bit to bring up the launcher. (An idiotic contraption. I don’t need a launcher! I just clicked the thing, and that should have been enough to launch the game.) Then I click “play” and the computer sits there, silent and inactive for half a minute. I very strongly suspect some fancy CD interrogation is going on and the game is trying to make sure I’m not a pirate. (Which is foolish, since if I was a pirate it wouldn’t be doing the check at all.)

Then the game finally appears and shows me a couple of short but un-skippable logos for the usual suspects. Then the actual loading screen appears. Then waiting. Then it finally brings up the neighborhood selection menu. I select a neighborhood, and hunker down for another wait. After more hard drive calisthenics, the neighborhood appears and I can select a house. Then it goes into deep thought once again while it loads the house. Once that’s done, then I can begin playing.

(And even after all that, it still lurches and stutters for another twenty seconds or so as you swing the camera around and it pulls the resources into memory as they come into view.)

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Sims 2:
Please Wait, Loading”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.