Timeline for Couldn't all games avoid post-start loading?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 29, 2016 at 14:43 | comment | added | Peter | @Viziionary Levels normally reuse textures a lot, and a different level uses a different set of textures. A dungeon level will use lots of dungeon wall textures, a desert level will use sand and desert rock textures, a mountain level will use rock, grass and snow textures, etc. For games where this holds true, unloading half a level when the same textures are used all over the level will only free a small fraction of the memory used (or it will unload textures which you still need). | |
| Apr 29, 2016 at 4:23 | comment | added | J.Todd | @Jezzamon So maps are never only partially loaded into RAM? Why couldnt only the needed parts be loaded into RAM? Im a web developer only, so these things are beyond my scope of experience. | |
| Apr 29, 2016 at 3:23 | comment | added | Jezzamon | @Viziionary Lets use an example. Loading stuff from the storage takes a while, so in lots of games you need to whole level in RAM at the same time. The Nintendo 3DS has 128 MB of RAM. If you have a level that has 100 MB of assets, then there's no way you can load another level whilst keeping the first one in memory. With consoles, they have much more RAM, but they still end up pushing that limit as much as they can. | |
| Apr 28, 2016 at 17:50 | comment | added | Engineer | "Load times are accepted by the users"? That's circular logic. A happens because A is accepted. There is no B! | |
| Apr 28, 2016 at 14:36 | comment | added | Tom B | Virtually nobody rolls their own game engine from scratch anymore. They buy an engine (Unreal, Unity, CryEngine) and a bunch of middleware and glue it together. The base engines aren't usually set up to stream-in content on a continuous basis, or to restart without re-loading. Think of how many times you've died in a game only to be faced with a 60 second load time, despite the fact the assets and level were already loaded. The reasons @Peter gave are also the reasons you don't see games that let you start playing them while you are still downloading the assets very often. | |
| Apr 28, 2016 at 8:10 | comment | added | J.Todd | @Jezzamon I'm thinking the entirety of the Skyrim map is never all kept in memory at any one given time. Maybe Im wrong? But if not, why would any other situation be inapplicable with the dynamic loading strategies of massive open world game maps? | |
| Apr 28, 2016 at 1:48 | comment | added | Jezzamon | There's also the issue of memory. It might not be possible to load an existing level whilst keeping the current one in memory (particularly for consoles or portable devices), so you have to use a loading screen | |
| Apr 27, 2016 at 22:16 | vote | accept | J.Todd | ||
| Apr 27, 2016 at 13:55 | comment | added | SGR | As a follow up to the 'balancing server load' point, a lot of Online games coming into the market today feature a central 'hub' area that is unique to you and no on else can access. Quite often, these areas are placed behind a load zone or a slow walking area (for example, the BOO in 'The Division') so that they can safety take you off the instance you were previously in and place you in your own private instance. | |
| Apr 27, 2016 at 0:35 | history | answered | Peter | CC BY-SA 3.0 |