Converting my OOTP 2007 or OOTP 8 Saved Game Into OOTP 9 Hangs Up or Takes Too Long
 

Try making a copy of your OOTP 2007/8 saved game .lg folder with only the .dat files in it, then import that into OOTP 9. Once you are done, manually copy over the other sub-folders from the original saved game into the newly created OOTP 9 .lg folder. It will go much faster.