[agracier]

I kept my original sound mod with a lot of WIP on USB HD. It used to take around 6 minutes to load and would time out in hyperlobby. It now takes no longer (perceptibly) than stock or HSFX.
Why ?
3.00 Ghz dual core + 4 Gb ram.

Well, it's not that for sure, since i run on a quadcore with as much ram. I've just watched the game take longer and longer to load after adding mods ... it's not with each single mod of course, but over time it does become very noticeable. I now have 154 mod folders in my MODS folder ... a month or 2 ago it was only around 130 mod folders, and that made a noticeable difference.

I've often wondered if the extra loading time has anything to do with the size of the mods themselves, or if it is simply a function of the number.

The same goes for maps. Do the number or size of maps affect loading time? I once moved some 2gigs worth of textures to another location, but that didn't seem to affect loading time though.