I have Gothic 3 with datadisc (not from GOG, but from magazine bundle).
I've installed only Gothic 3, and all the patches. However loading time is still horrible. I mean waiting ~3 minutes, if not more. I can run Oblivion or Sanctum 2 on my pc, have 3GB of RAM, so I hope my computer is not the reason.

When I install unoficial patch (which they included) it gets even worse and the game frequently crashes.

Any idea how to improve loading times?

Thanks!

Gothic 3 is a very RAM intensive game, and at 3 GB those kind of load times aren't outside the norm. I thought the community patch made a few improvements there, so it's odd that installing it is causing you additional problems (the CP is definitely something you want to be able to play with, as there were quite a few issues with G3 even after the original patches). Make sure you're grabbing the correct CP (download here). As a long shot you could also try reducing the graphics options (I wouldn't expect this to help with load times, but it's still worth a shot).

Thanks for the correction. Seems my Google-fu needs a bit of work.

Even with the community patch, the loading times in Gothic 3 are still going to be longer than nearly any other game. Yeah it can get annoying but remember that it's loading the entire map. I suppose it's the price you pay for not having a loading screen/separate area for every town. I do wonder how much better this game would run if they had made towns their own separate area rather than loading everything at once.

Oblivion for example did it right, the loading times are basically non-existent as it loads map in a small chunks as you go.

Long loading times basically make from Gothic 3 a sort of roguelike experience. Price for death is 4 minutes staring on the loading screen.

...and having to listen to the death/reload theme. I think that song is less than a minute long but it loops for however long the loading screen is. I actually liked that song at first but about halfway through the game I had to take my headphones off whenever I had to reload after dying.

G3 happens to be a great game running a crappy engine. You just have to learn to live with that.

I heard installing on ssd drive helps loading times. Also on my 2010 4GB laptop hdd drive loading times are not that obnoxious, are you sure your overall system performance is top notch (no spyware/rootkit problem)? Mayby the real problem is that you die too often for your taste in which case don't be shy to tweak difficulty (hard is definitely for masochists, and even normal in the beginning is not for the faint hearted). Games are supposed to be fun you know...

I don't know if top notch, this Windows 7 installation I have for years. However I don't see any suspicious behavior, like increased network or cpu activity, so I assume viruses does not cause it. Other games run fine.

I am afraid as a Gothic I veteran I would be ashamed playing on easy :(

Bad luck then, your system specs probably hit just below the sweet spot for optimal performance. But don't worry, even top end systems get chop-ups from time to time with G3. Piece of serious advice: don't be. Even at easy you will get your share of the loading screen. You just need to invest a few hour into the game to get a grip on the combat system. One of the few RPGs that requires the Player to level up alongside PC character I guess...