diff --git a/baystation12.dme b/baystation12.dme
index a837576e39875..57e7f9e784aed 100644
--- a/baystation12.dme
+++ b/baystation12.dme
@@ -235,6 +235,7 @@
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\initialization\culture.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\initialization\customitems.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\initialization\fabrication.dm"
+#include "code\controllers\subsystems\initialization\icon_updates.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\initialization\materials.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\initialization\misc.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\initialization\misc_early.dm"
@@ -247,7 +248,6 @@
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\processing\disposals.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\processing\fast_process.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\processing\graphs.dm"
-#include "code\controllers\subsystems\processing\icon_updates.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\processing\nano.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\processing\obj.dm"
 #include "code\controllers\subsystems\processing\processing.dm"
diff --git a/code/__defines/subsystem-priority.dm b/code/__defines/subsystem-priority.dm
index 37cb53dc05767..8312622663f97 100644
--- a/code/__defines/subsystem-priority.dm
+++ b/code/__defines/subsystem-priority.dm
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 // SS_TICKER
 #define SS_PRIORITY_TIMER 30
 #define SS_PRIORITY_OVERLAYS 20
-#define SS_PRIORITY_ICON_UPDATE 10
+
 
 // Normal
 #define SS_PRIORITY_TICKER         100 // Gameticker.
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #define SS_PRIORITY_CHAT           40  // Chat
 #define SS_PRIORITY_AI             25  // Mob AI
 #define SS_PRIORITY_ALARM          20  // Alarm processing.
+#define SS_PRIORITY_ICON_UPDATE    20  // Queued icon updates. Mostly used by APCs and tables.
 #define SS_PRIORITY_EVENT          20  // Event processing and queue handling.
 #define SS_PRIORITY_SHUTTLE        20  // Shuttle movement.
 #define SS_PRIORITY_CIRCUIT_COMP   20  // Processing circuit component do_work.
diff --git a/code/controllers/subsystems/initialization/icon_updates.dm b/code/controllers/subsystems/initialization/icon_updates.dm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..6434ad1e889e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/code/controllers/subsystems/initialization/icon_updates.dm
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+SUBSYSTEM_DEF(icon_update)
+	name = "Icon Updates"
+	wait = 1
+	priority = SS_PRIORITY_ICON_UPDATE
+	init_order = SS_INIT_ICON_UPDATE
+	runlevels = RUNLEVEL_LOBBY | RUNLEVELS_DEFAULT // If you make it not fire in lobby, you also have to remove atoms from queue in Destroy.
+
+	// Linked lists, queue_refs[x] should have null or args stored in queue_args[x]
+	var/list/queue_refs = list()	// Atoms
+	var/list/queue_args = list()	// null or args
+
+
+/datum/controller/subsystem/icon_update/UpdateStat(time)
+	if (PreventUpdateStat(time))
+		return ..()
+	..("queue: [length(queue_refs)]")
+
+
+/datum/controller/subsystem/icon_update/Initialize(start_uptime)
+	fire(FALSE, TRUE)
+
+
+/datum/controller/subsystem/icon_update/fire(resumed = FALSE, no_mc_tick = FALSE)
+	if(!queue_refs.len)
+		suspend()
+		return
+
+	while (queue_refs.len)
+
+		if(Master.map_loading)
+			return
+
+		// Pops the atom and it's args
+		var/atom/A = queue_refs[queue_refs.len]
+		var/myArgs = queue_args[queue_args.len]
+
+		queue_refs.len -= 1
+		queue_args.len -= 1
+
+		if(QDELETED(A))
+			continue
+
+		A.icon_update_queued = FALSE
+
+		if (islist(myArgs))
+			A.update_icon(arglist(myArgs))
+		else
+			A.update_icon()
+
+		if (no_mc_tick)
+			CHECK_TICK
+		else if (MC_TICK_CHECK)
+			return
+
+/atom
+	var/icon_update_queued = FALSE
+
+/atom/proc/queue_icon_update(...)
+	// Skips if this is already queued
+	if(!icon_update_queued)
+
+		icon_update_queued = TRUE
+		SSicon_update.queue_refs.Add(src)
+
+		// Makes sure these are in sync, in case runtimes/badmin
+		var/length = length(SSicon_update.queue_refs)
+		SSicon_update.queue_args.len = length
+		SSicon_update.queue_args[length] = args.len ? args : null
+
+		// SSicon_update sleeps when it runs out of things in its
+		// queue, so wake it up.
+		if(!Master.map_loading) // Don't wake early if we're loading a map, it'll get woken up when the map loads.
+			SSicon_update.wake()
+
+/datum/controller/subsystem/icon_update/StartLoadingMap()
+	suspend()
+
+/datum/controller/subsystem/icon_update/StopLoadingMap()
+	wake()
diff --git a/code/controllers/subsystems/processing/icon_updates.dm b/code/controllers/subsystems/processing/icon_updates.dm
deleted file mode 100644
index 6990045ef69f7..0000000000000
--- a/code/controllers/subsystems/processing/icon_updates.dm
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,62 +0,0 @@
-SUBSYSTEM_DEF(icon_update)
-	name = "Icon Updates"
-	wait = 1	// ticks
-	flags = SS_TICKER
-	priority = SS_PRIORITY_ICON_UPDATE
-	init_order = SS_INIT_ICON_UPDATE
-	var/static/list/queue = list()
-
-
-/datum/controller/subsystem/icon_update/Recover()
-	LIST_RESIZE(queue, 0)
-	queue = list()
-
-
-/datum/controller/subsystem/icon_update/UpdateStat(time)
-	if (PreventUpdateStat(time))
-		return ..()
-	..("queue: [length(queue)]")
-
-
-/datum/controller/subsystem/icon_update/Initialize(start_uptime)
-	fire(FALSE, TRUE)
-
-
-/datum/controller/subsystem/icon_update/fire(resumed, no_mc_tick)
-	var/atom/atom
-	var/list/params
-	var/queue_length = length(queue)
-	for (var/i = 1 to queue_length)
-		atom = queue[i]
-		if (QDELETED(atom))
-			continue
-		params = queue[atom]
-		if (islist(params))
-			atom.update_icon(arglist(params))
-		else
-			atom.update_icon()
-		if (no_mc_tick)
-			if (i % 100)
-				continue
-			CHECK_TICK
-		else if (MC_TICK_CHECK)
-			queue.Cut(1, i + 1)
-			return
-	if (queue_length)
-		queue.Cut(1, queue_length + 1)
-	suspend()
-
-
-/**
- * Adds the atom to the icon_update subsystem to be queued for icon updates. Use this if you're going to be pushing a
- * lot of icon updates at once.
- */
-/atom/proc/queue_icon_update(...)
-	SSicon_update.queue[src] = length(args) ? args : TRUE
-	if (SSicon_update.suspended)
-		SSicon_update.wake()
-
-
-/hook/game_ready/proc/FlushIconUpdateQueue()
-	SSicon_update.fire(FALSE, TRUE)
-	return TRUE