Long downloads are one of the main problems of GTA Online: before entering the game, users have to wait 5-6 minutes, and on weaker PCs this figure can be three times more. The modder under the pseudonym tostercx undertook to solve the mentioned problem. He uploaded files to GitHub containing GTA Online code fixes. Thanks to the changes made, the enthusiast was able to reduce the download time by 70%.

The modder also explained what the problem is. According to him, the fault lies with the disgustingly optimized code and one JSON file (JavaScript Object Notation – a format for storing and exchanging information). The latter is 10 MB in size and contains 63 thousand elements. Every time one of them is found, a check is started. According to tostercx’s calculations, about 1 984 531 500 checks are performed during the boot process, which takes a lot of time.

The second drawback associated with the described problem is the load on only one core of the central processor. GTA Online does not use all GPU and CPU power during downloads.

Thanks to its own fixes, tostercx managed to enter the game world in 1 minute and 50 seconds. This is 69,4% faster than it was before the code changes.