Game is taking too long to load the main menu

Thank you.

I think the main issue is that some players who have alot custom content and mods are encountering 'very long' loading times to just reach the main menu. Because of this side effect (akin to having "Show at Startup" custom content list enabled), the game is trying to load all this content 'upfront' too - some have reported it takes them 'hours'. This can range from 40min - 1.5 hrs+ depending on how much cc/mods they have and how fast their storage device is while before that patch update it was not so bad. Coupling this issue with the 'no results found gallery bug' makes players want to quit the sims 4 altogether.

I appreciate the intent - the loading screens when moving between lots have always been tedious to sit through - but unfortunately I am experiencing both a longer game launch and initial play start, while the loading time when moving between lots is definitely not appreciably shorter for me. They're the same as they've always been, and now I have to wait longer for the game to even begin.

On the plus side, for me none are longer than a couple minutes (I simply would not play if they were longer than 5 minutes, can't believe anyone would stick with this game waiting over an hour, that's... something else). But I have a newer, fairly high end gaming PC, and every other game I play runs beautifully with next to no wait time, so sitting through loading screens for minutes at a time every time I change lots remains one of the reasons I wish EA would just make a new Sims game from scratch without constant loading screens.

I th ink the issue a lot of players that i spoken with in discord/twitch are cc/mods players. I personally have about 11.7 GB of cc & Mods that is moderate compared to most users. And since the June Update the loading time has been very slow went from seconds to 3-5 minutes to load to just the main menu. 

Another issue when I get to the main menu the household preview thumnail image is empty. Like If I am playing the Goth, The Pleasants there is no preview of them showing. But when I put in Simmatically main menu mod they show. It is something on EA's side blocking it. Without mods - my game is a lot faster loading and I literally just upgraded my PC two weeks ago and it was formatted and still the issue persists. So... something is off here. This bug like many players is causing a major sim burnout. 

When I first turn on my Sim game it take a 1 or 2 mins unless I press the power button and act like I'm going through my messages once it gets to the the load start new or resume on Sims that's when it starts taking long time to actually open like the loading part will go through then my game just freezes on a completed loading screen for 5 mins then it allows me to play as I'm traveling it be also saying Internet disconnected  but whole time internet still intact it also be saying I don't have most packs but I have all the a packs it be notification after notifications saying something wrong when it's not like Internet or me not having packs 

I play on my Xbox I have no mods or anything extra just all Sims packs  as well 

Thanks for explaining the change; it makes sense of the altered startup behavior. From the perspective of a PC player using mods (about 60 GB—which is a low-to-average amount): my startup time has increased from 3 minutes to 8 minutes. That is still tolerable. However, I don't notice any speed advantage during travel or similar processes at all. I also get the impression—though I’m no expert—that the new startup logic means the game isn't receiving as many system resources. Before: I clicked "Play" in the app, the startup screen appeared immediately, the Plumbob spun, and the startup music played. Now: I click "Play," and the game's launch is initially visible only via the taskbar icon; the startup screen appears later, and the music doesn't start until I click on the screen again. So, it doesn't just take longer—it feels sluggish. This also applies to "Save and Exit." Objects now disappear as if in slow motion; you stare at bare walls for a while before the screen finally closes. This new sluggishness is noticeable during actual gameplay, too: fully animated actions now occasionally exhibit tiny visual "skips" or stutters—usually a sign of increased processing load.

Just finished the latest update, and my game took around 5 minutes to initially load. Hope it’s not like that every time. I have no cc or mods. 

I decided to test this with my game, and I've got the following results...

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Game Version 1.126.78.1020, almost all DLCs except a few recent kits and whatever. Loading times (yep, I used a stopwatch for this):

• With both mods and saves folders: 7:38 mins
• No mods: 4:33 mins
• No save folder, mods enabled: 05:08 mins
• No mods, no saves folder: 03:57 mins

Mods folder is 128 MB and has only several gameplay/utility mods and no CC. Saves folder is 838 MB, with several "stages" of the same save (I player for about a generation there by now), a few test saves and one barely played one. UPD: saves.zip

Hardware info:

• Laptop model: Asus Expertbook B1503CVA
• 1 GB SSD
• 16 GB RAM 5200 MT/s
• Intel Core 7 150u
• Integrated graphics card
• Windows 11 25H2, build 26200.8875

Thanks a lot for the clarification! Now that I know what happens, I completely agree with this approach.

Just in case, I checked with the new 1.126.78 version and my game takes 1 min 30 sec to load to the Main Menu (modded game, but not heavily). My save loads almost immediately (wow!). And it takes 30 sec to load my household and 27 sec for my sim to travel to a very heavy lot (normally traveling takes around 20 sec).

I think these are pretty good results, so thanks so much for the loading optimization!