diff --git a/client/app/scripts/components/nodes.js b/client/app/scripts/components/nodes.js
index c41254d8fa..78b4945345 100644
--- a/client/app/scripts/components/nodes.js
+++ b/client/app/scripts/components/nodes.js
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
   isTopologyNodeCountZero,
   isNodesDisplayEmpty,
 } from '../utils/topology-utils';
+import { nodesLoadedSelector } from '../selectors/node-filters';
 import {
   isGraphViewModeSelector,
   isTableViewModeSelector,
@@ -82,9 +83,9 @@ function mapStateToProps(state) {
     isResourceViewMode: isResourceViewModeSelector(state),
     topologyNodeCountZero: isTopologyNodeCountZero(state),
     nodesDisplayEmpty: isNodesDisplayEmpty(state),
+    nodesLoaded: nodesLoadedSelector(state),
     timeTravelTransitioning: state.get('timeTravelTransitioning'),
     currentTopology: state.get('currentTopology'),
-    nodesLoaded: state.get('nodesLoaded'),
     topologies: state.get('topologies'),
     topologiesLoaded: state.get('topologiesLoaded'),
   };
diff --git a/client/app/scripts/selectors/node-filters.js b/client/app/scripts/selectors/node-filters.js
index 0d1d0c7d3b..b8b517ecf9 100644
--- a/client/app/scripts/selectors/node-filters.js
+++ b/client/app/scripts/selectors/node-filters.js
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 import { createSelector } from 'reselect';
+import { fromJS } from 'immutable';
+
+import { isResourceViewModeSelector } from './topology';
+import { layoutNodesByTopologyIdSelector } from './resource-view/layout';
+import { RESOURCE_VIEW_LAYERS } from '../constants/resources';
 
 
 export const shownNodesSelector = createSelector(
@@ -7,3 +12,35 @@ export const shownNodesSelector = createSelector(
   ],
   nodes => nodes.filter(node => !node.get('filtered'))
 );
+
+export const shownResourceTopologyIdsSelector = createSelector(
+  [
+    layoutNodesByTopologyIdSelector,
+  ],
+  layoutNodesByTopologyId => layoutNodesByTopologyId.filter(nodes => !nodes.isEmpty()).keySeq()
+);
+
+// TODO: Get rid of this logic by unifying `nodes` and `nodesByTopology` global states.
+const loadedAllResourceLayersSelector = createSelector(
+  [
+    state => state.get('nodesByTopology').keySeq(),
+  ],
+  resourceViewLoadedTopologyIds => fromJS(RESOURCE_VIEW_LAYERS).keySeq()
+    .every(topId => resourceViewLoadedTopologyIds.contains(topId))
+);
+
+export const nodesLoadedSelector = createSelector(
+  [
+    state => state.get('nodesLoaded'),
+    loadedAllResourceLayersSelector,
+    isResourceViewModeSelector,
+  ],
+  (nodesLoaded, loadedAllResourceLayers, isResourceViewMode) => (
+    // Since `nodesLoaded` is set when we receive nodes delta over websockets,
+    // it's a completely wrong criterion for determining if resource view is
+    // in the loading state - instead we look at the 'static' topologies whose
+    // nodes were loaded into 'nodesByTopology' and say resource view has been
+    // loaded if nodes for all the resource layer topologies have been loaded once.
+    isResourceViewMode ? loadedAllResourceLayers : nodesLoaded
+  )
+);
diff --git a/client/app/scripts/utils/topology-utils.js b/client/app/scripts/utils/topology-utils.js
index d1103d6f16..f92c15088d 100644
--- a/client/app/scripts/utils/topology-utils.js
+++ b/client/app/scripts/utils/topology-utils.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { Set as makeSet, List as makeList } from 'immutable';
 import { isNowSelector } from '../selectors/time-travel';
 import { isResourceViewModeSelector } from '../selectors/topology';
 import { pinnedMetricSelector } from '../selectors/node-metric';
-import { shownNodesSelector } from '../selectors/node-filters';
+import { shownNodesSelector, shownResourceTopologyIdsSelector } from '../selectors/node-filters';
 
 //
 // top priority first
@@ -137,14 +137,15 @@ export function getCurrentTopologyOptions(state) {
 
 export function isTopologyNodeCountZero(state) {
   const nodeCount = state.getIn(['currentTopology', 'stats', 'node_count'], 0);
-  return nodeCount === 0 && isNowSelector(state);
+  // If we are browsing the past, assume there would normally be some nodes at different times.
+  // If we are in the resource view, don't rely on these stats at all (for now).
+  return nodeCount === 0 && isNowSelector(state) && !isResourceViewModeSelector(state);
 }
 
 export function isNodesDisplayEmpty(state) {
   // Consider a topology in the resource view empty if it has no pinned metric.
   if (isResourceViewModeSelector(state)) {
-    // TODO: Check for empty displays here after Scope v1.5.0 has been released.
-    return !pinnedMetricSelector(state);
+    return !pinnedMetricSelector(state) || shownResourceTopologyIdsSelector(state).isEmpty();
   }
   // Otherwise (in graph and table view), we only look at the nodes content.
   return shownNodesSelector(state).isEmpty();