Loading.....done?

kobaj · 11-19-2005, 02:54 PM

Well I was pondering last night, and I got to thinking about video games.

So what is the point of loading seens. Your hard drive takes about half a second to find the map file and a half a second more to open it, so why are there long loading seens in half life 2 and other games? Is it because the file is encoded or something and the game has to decode it and then run it? If so why make it encoded, why not just leave it a simpler file to open?

4W4K3 · 11-19-2005, 03:38 PM

Does it run off of your harddrive or CD-Rom? Most games require the CD now, but lets jsut assume it's all HDD.

You've got to load the map, the textures, the lighting, the game engine, etc. It's not just one file...there are many many attributes and such. The game has to pre-load responses to what the user wil do, otherwise if you do something unexpected, the game will pause while you are playing it, and then simulate a response (makes for incredibly glitchy gameplay.) Don't forget loading cut-scenes, sounds, etc.

maroon1 · 11-19-2005, 03:43 PM

i have HL2 and the loading time is not that long. how much systen ram do u have??

4W4K3 · 11-19-2005, 04:12 PM

lol same avatars, confusing.

Having faster harddrives (meaning SATA or SCSI as compared to something slow like ATA100/133) and having more system RAM can help decrease load times. Of course they won't help if you have a slow CPU/Mobo of course, but I imagine your system is at least somewhat fast if you are attempting HL2 on it.

maroon1 · 11-19-2005, 04:44 PM

yea i think he stole my avatar

pbsk8er03 · 11-19-2005, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maroon1

yea i think he stole my avatar

No, I think hes had it much longer.

maroon1 · 11-19-2005, 05:56 PM

yea but i didn't steal it from him, and the proof is that if u look at my avtar it has better qauilty than he has

Blue · 11-19-2005, 06:18 PM

Quote:

yea but i didn't steal it from him, and the proof is that if u look at my avtar it has better qauilty than he has

Hmmmmmm. eh that is true

. I did not even notice until you said that. I think though what is meant that you stole the idea but of course got it somewhere else as it appears a better quality. At any rate it is just an Avatar after all and so who cares?

. Just don't steal mine (talking to no one particular) as I'll think you are mental

hehe.

hypojam · 11-19-2005, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kobaj

Well I was pondering last night, and I got to thinking about video games.

So what is the point of loading seens. Your hard drive takes about half a second to find the map file and a half a second more to open it, so why are there long loading seens in half life 2 and other games? Is it because the file is encoded or something and the game has to decode it and then run it? If so why make it encoded, why not just leave it a simpler file to open?

Must just be huge amounts of data needing to be transfered and processed i guess

kobaj · 11-20-2005, 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4W4K3

Does it run off of your harddrive or CD-Rom? Most games require the CD now, but lets jsut assume it's all HDD.

You've got to load the map, the textures, the lighting, the game engine, etc. It's not just one file...there are many many attributes and such. The game has to pre-load responses to what the user wil do, otherwise if you do something unexpected, the game will pause while you are playing it, and then simulate a response (makes for incredibly glitchy gameplay.) Don't forget loading cut-scenes, sounds, etc.

So your saying loading is taking all those files and opening them? I can sorta see that. And glichy, reminds me of halo, no loading but glitchy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hypojam

Must just be huge amounts of data needing to be transfered and processed i guess

By processed I am guessing you are saying taking the lighting and adding it to the map and calculating how it effects it, along with sounds and everything elts.

Maybe its both your ideas.

Now to all this off topic chat you guys have.

The avatar is from firefox and is free to destribute AFAIK, his is better quality, mine isnt ( I saved it as jpeg ).

And with the ram, I have 512mb and a ata133 hard drive. But im not complaining it takes a long time to load, just why does it load? (Cept in tribes vengeance, I can start it loading and come back 5 minutes later and it still be loading.)

Thanks.

11-19-2005, 02:54 PM	#1 (permalink)
kobaj Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2,216	Loading.....done? Well I was pondering last night, and I got to thinking about video games. So what is the point of loading seens. Your hard drive takes about half a second to find the map file and a half a second more to open it, so why are there long loading seens in half life 2 and other games? Is it because the file is encoded or something and the game has to decode it and then run it? If so why make it encoded, why not just leave it a simpler file to open? __________________ My site My sigThanks Kornowski for ava and sig. Winner of photo competition: Bokeh.

11-19-2005, 03:38 PM	#2 (permalink)
4W4K3 VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Lewisville, TX Age: 20 Posts: 6,875	Does it run off of your harddrive or CD-Rom? Most games require the CD now, but lets jsut assume it's all HDD. You've got to load the map, the textures, the lighting, the game engine, etc. It's not just one file...there are many many attributes and such. The game has to pre-load responses to what the user wil do, otherwise if you do something unexpected, the game will pause while you are playing it, and then simulate a response (makes for incredibly glitchy gameplay.) Don't forget loading cut-scenes, sounds, etc. __________________ My Computer I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe. Can I eat your brain? FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358

11-19-2005, 03:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
maroon1 Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Somewhere in Hell !!! Posts: 2,598	i have HL2 and the loading time is not that long. how much systen ram do u have?? __________________ Free softwares: Avast! antivirus - FireFox - FDM - OpenOffice - CCleaner

11-19-2005, 04:12 PM	#4 (permalink)
4W4K3 VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Lewisville, TX Age: 20 Posts: 6,875	lol same avatars, confusing. Having faster harddrives (meaning SATA or SCSI as compared to something slow like ATA100/133) and having more system RAM can help decrease load times. Of course they won't help if you have a slow CPU/Mobo of course, but I imagine your system is at least somewhat fast if you are attempting HL2 on it. __________________ My Computer I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe. Can I eat your brain? FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358

11-19-2005, 04:44 PM	#5 (permalink)
maroon1 Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Somewhere in Hell !!! Posts: 2,598	yea i think he stole my avatar __________________ Free softwares: Avast! antivirus - FireFox - FDM - OpenOffice - CCleaner

11-19-2005, 05:56 PM	#7 (permalink)
maroon1 Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Somewhere in Hell !!! Posts: 2,598	yea but i didn't steal it from him, and the proof is that if u look at my avtar it has better qauilty than he has __________________ Free softwares: Avast! antivirus - FireFox - FDM - OpenOffice - CCleaner

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