Is this a good idea?

[Jankowski]

ok, the way i see it, the reason behind the 10 minute load times in gwx is that every time you load a campaign, you load the whole war, not just the part of the war you are in. is this correct?

if so, my solution to reduce load times by about half maybe, would be to have a jsgme campaign file for 1939, 40, 41, and so on. and every time you start up your game, you set the correct year of the war you are in. this means that the game dosent load events or ships from 1945 when you are in 1940.

good idea? will it work? please give feedback!

[Pisces]

Perhaps it will make a difference, I don't know really. Those that made the suppermods must know better how the game works at startup. Most models will be used throughout the war though, so there won't be much difference in 39 or 44. Also you'll have to allow for some overlap in the years since you cannot promise your crew you'll be in home-port in time for Weihnachten (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weihnachten).


You do know that GWX allready splits up the campaign in the major sea areas? Atlantic(default), Black Sea, and Indian Ocean. The Merged campaign has it all, so use that only if you need to cross over to those regions.

[Jankowski]

yeah, though the atlantic still takes long to load.

[Jimbuna]

The game engine does load EVERYTHING you are correct.....the only way of lessening the load is to use a specific theatre of operations as pointed out above...this is hard coded I'm afraid.

When I'm testing mods I use what's called a 'Blank Campaign' file which reduces the loading time by approximately 90% but this means there is no 'traffic' in the SH3 world so counterproductive to anyone wishing to play a career :doh:

We live with what we've got I suppose :hmmm:

[RConch]

The load time does not seem to be much of a bother to me.
I look forward to it with anticipation.:D

[Jankowski]

but would it be possible to have a seperate campaign file for each year and enable them by jsgme?

[flakmonkey]

Its a pretty good idea, clearing the campaign files altogether (for mod testing) results in load times for gwx going down from around 2mins to less than 10 seconds so youre right the campaign files are the thing to edit if youre after faster loading.
But it might be a pain to have to remember to swap to the next years files each time.

[Jimbuna]

but would it be possible to have a seperate campaign file for each year and enable them by jsgme?

Most definitely.....but your contemplating a mammoth task.

The campaign files for GWX took (at a guess) well in excess of a few thousand hours to create...and that does not include the countless hours spent by a group of testers.

Don't get me wrong, it is possible....simply finding the time is the key.

[flakmonkey]

Most definitely.....but your contemplating a mammoth task.

The campaign files for GWX took (at a guess) well in excess of a few thousand hours to create...and that does not include the countless hours spent by a group of testers.

Don't get me wrong, it is possible....simply finding the time is the key.


I think it would be actually quite easy to edit the existing files, after all the editor allows you to display traffic by year, so for example select display from 1940-1945, select everything and hit delete, there you now have just the traffic for 1939 (save it as seperate .scr or .rnd file) likewise for the years 1940-45 and you`d end up with 7 rnd campaign files and 7 scr sampaign files.

[fw66]

I think it would be actually quite easy to edit the existing files, after all the editor allows you to display traffic by year, so for example select display from 1940-1945, select everything and hit delete, there you now have just the traffic for 1939 (save it as seperate .scr or .rnd file) likewise for the years 1940-45 and you`d end up with 7 rnd campaign files and 7 scr sampaign files.


That is what I was thinking too. But that may delete more than you wanted as some traffic may be listed as active from 1939 and ending in 1940 or whenever and so by doing this you might indirectly remove stuff from 1939 also.

edit: For example, imagine a pt boat set to patrol the British east coast; it may be active on a particular route for a number of years (say, 1939-42), so it would appear on the editor for 1940-45 but would deleting it also delete it for 1939?

Or does it not work like that?

[comet61]

The "Reduced Campaign Layers for GWX" mod does work somewhat. You can load specific areas of the Atlantic or North Sea, etc. I have found that the Atlantic, North America still loads at a considerable time versus the Indian Ocean or the Med. Of course I rarely go to the Black Sea or Indian Ocean Campaigns, but when I utilize the Reduced Campaign Layers mod for the Atlantic, I only notice about a 30sec to a minute reduction time. And yes...I did time it. The Med and Indian Ocean is much faster however.

[Jimbuna]

I think it would be actually quite easy to edit the existing files, after all the editor allows you to display traffic by year, so for example select display from 1940-1945, select everything and hit delete, there you now have just the traffic for 1939 (save it as seperate .scr or .rnd file) likewise for the years 1940-45 and you`d end up with 7 rnd campaign files and 7 scr sampaign files.

One small caveat....selecting a definitive period, whilst omitting everything outside of said period, the colours change dependant on whether they're active or not.

Extreme care will be needed to ensure the traffic within the given time period is left.

I recall a certain 'knowledgeable' individual attempting to re-invent the wheel and create a blank campaign for a multiplayer group, rather than use the GWX testers one which was over a year old......spent a month on said job and fell out with the group denying them the use of the mod.

As soon as this was made known I knocked one up in 2 minutes (click and drag + delete).

A blank campaign is a different kettle of fish to what the OP is potentially contemplating.

As I said earlier "Most definitely" but dabbling with the campaign files can quite easily ruin an otherwise sound installation and could well need much testing for stability.

[maillemaker]

With my new computer, i7-930 and 6gb ram, my games load in just a couple of minutes. :)

Steve

[pickinthebanjo]

When I load the game I make sure I got something to do for the next 10min:)

[Jankowski]

i would do this myself, if my MUM HAD NOT HIDDEN THE GAME FROM ME AND THEN FORGOTTEN WHERE SHE HID IT!!!!!!!

(in case you are wondering if i m some loser who never left home, i am 16 for that matter:DL)

one day i will find it!!

also, if the same ship, E.G, a small friegther is the same through the whole war, would it have an effect on the load times? in other words, what takes up the large majority of load times? is it multiple ships, or multiple TYPES of ships?

[sharkbit]

When I load the game I make sure I got something to do for the next 10min:)

Same here. I get some reading material handy and warm up the couch.

:)