Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => FS2 Open Coding - The Source Code Project (SCP) => Topic started by: J3Vr6 on November 13, 2003, 09:59:04 am

Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: J3Vr6 on November 13, 2003, 09:59:04 am
Alright, I'll throw in my little silly disclaimer that I'm not a coder and don't know anything to do with coding.  This was just something I was noticing last night (actually been thinking this for a while) when I couldn't get through a mission and had to restart it over and over again.

Do you know how if you die in a mission you have the option to "Quick Start Mission" where it will reload the entire mission again and throw you in?

My question is:  Is there any way to have the game keep the mission info loaded from the original mission load so you don't have to re-load it when you select "Quick Start Mission" ?  As it is now, if you click to quick start, it sends you back to the loading screen and takes a couple of minutes to reload, even though you were just playing it.

My suggestion would immediately throw you back into the beginning of the mission without re-loading it.  The game would have kept the mission info on hand so there wouldn't be a loading time.

Again, I'm no coder so I don't know how difficult it would be to implement, but thought I'd suggest it.  I'm not expecting miracles and I understand that just because someone suggests something or an SCP coder replies, that it doesn't mean it's gonna get done.  And yes, I know the SCP peeps have said they're not implementing anything new til current bugs are ironed out.
Title: Re: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: Col. Fishguts on November 13, 2003, 10:05:36 am
Quote
Originally posted by J3Vr6
....... As it is now, if you click to quick start, it sends you back to the loading screen and takes a couple of minutes to reload, even though you were just playing it.
....


A couple of MINUTES ?!?

If i hit "Quick Launch" the loading time is about 3 secs for me, while a normal mission loading (for the first time) is between 5-10 secs.
So, quick launch is clearly faster....since it dosn't have to reload all the textures/models and stuff, but still a bunch of variables and the graphic engine itself have to be reset, which needs some time
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: J3Vr6 on November 13, 2003, 10:06:56 am
Mine's a couple of minutes :(  Not everyone has an uber machine to play FS2 on...
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: Lightspeed on November 13, 2003, 10:38:40 am
my loading pages hang like 30 seconds with FSO. Doesn't happen with retail though (loads in 2 seconds there).
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: Col. Fishguts on November 13, 2003, 10:49:06 am
Quote
Originally posted by J3Vr6
Mine's a couple of minutes :(  Not everyone has an uber machine to play FS2 on...


I know...but even on my old PII350 with 64MB RAM a mission loading lastet 20 secs max.
Maybe there are strange things going on in the background on your machine.....virusscanner maybe ?
Or maybe its looking for some missing files ?
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: J3Vr6 on November 13, 2003, 10:56:13 am
Could be.  But I don't run anything in my background or keep things like virus scanner running.

Oh well, it's just me then.  Nevermind then, carry on.
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: karajorma on November 13, 2003, 01:28:22 pm
Bad idea. FREDders commonly use the quick start option to go from one version of a mission they are testing to another after moving a ship or correcting a bug.
 Altering the quick restart method in this way would mean that the FREDder would have to go back to the mission briefing again which is almost as annoying as the problem it cures.
 If this does get implemented make it an option that can be turned off.
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: RandomTiger on November 13, 2003, 02:17:27 pm
I think this is a good idea, but as pointed out the old system should be avalible as well.
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: Drew on November 13, 2003, 02:58:42 pm
it takes about a min and a half to load Fs2 for me. And i have a 2 ghz and 256 ddr......
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: Goober5000 on November 13, 2003, 06:11:50 pm
I don't think it'd be a good idea.  You would have to have an entire copy of the mission sitting in memory, unused, while you play.  It would be a severe performance hit.

Short answer: Not feasible.
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: RandomTiger on November 13, 2003, 06:45:41 pm
I was under the impression its reloading some stuff it doesnt need to.
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: Bobboau on November 13, 2003, 09:30:13 pm
as was I, and it does, the game clears out like all the models and texture after every mission then reloads them, includeing things like the warp in/out anis and explosion effects
Title: Quick Start Mission - No Re-load Time?
Post by: Drew on November 13, 2003, 10:58:21 pm
yeah, i was under the impression that all that stuff was sitting in the memory... why not just keep that there, and just reload the mission data...