I can load the game and everything, but the loading is shockingly slow. 5 minutes long slow per each time I reload. I am also afraid of it crashing just by sneezing on it while it is loading. I have a beast of a computer so I know it isn't me. Has anyone found a fix? Should I edit the ini file? Or... what? I would love some help with this.

your system specs would help on this.

but... there is a -NoPrefetch command appicable to the shortcut you might want to try (may have mis-spelled, so please do search it before you try it) - that command will prevent the game from trying to load everything on the level at once, and can help in the short term - though... you may find many "jerky" points of gameplay as a result.

That's way too long...shouldn't take but 60-90 secs at the most to load a new game...are you using the the Complete 1.02 mod for the game? If not, that's your ticket...;)

http://www.moddb.com/mods/call-of-pripyat-complete/downloads/call-of-pripyat-complete-10-exe-recommended

I have Windows 8.1 and recently bought Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl from GOG (and applied the Zone Reclamation Project mod). I am really enjoying it, but the horrendous loading times were a nuisance. Each new map loaded for several minutes. Quickloads were better, about 10 - 15 seconds, but still not ideal. The widely recommended -noprefetch option was having only a little effect, if any.

Luckily, I found a solution by experiment: configure the game to run in Windows 98 / ME compatibility mode. Loading times are blazing fast now in comparison - about 15 seconds new map and 5 seconds quickload (I am still using -noprefetch).

Hope this helps. Good hunting, stalker!