Why the load time?

kylania · 10-20-08, 10:53 AM

I just recently upgraded to a new hard drive, Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording), and my GWX 2.1 + SH3 Commander w/Rollback loading a save game from 1940 near a convoy =

From SH3 Commander Start Game Button to Main Menu usable = 48 seconds
From Yes, Load Save Game to 3D interior viewable = 2 minutes 19 seconds

This was a huge difference from my old hard drive which often took 4-5 minutes to load a game. Rest of the PC is a P4 2.13GHz, 2GB of RAM.

Commander Gizmo · 10-20-08, 07:56 PM

Thanks for the replies. I now have a much better understanding of the SH3 engine and data structure. I figured it had been tried, just thought I'd see more discussion on it in a search.

A bit off topic, but I went with OCZ for my SSD's since they're memory almost always out performs the specs they list with it. The drives do quite well. At this point, a complete system restart of Vista x64 Ultimate with all may dev tools and software installed is 62 seconds from clicking restart system fully started and ready to go. Photoshop loads in 4 seconds. Yes, you read that right. 4 seconds. Awesome, just awesome.

For those that care, my system is a bit old, but maxed. I am running a Opteron 185 on an MSI K8N SLI Platinum board with 4GB of OCZ DDR400 overlocked to 1T timing and something like 2-3-2-5. This is my old dev box and so it is actually geared more towards software dev and beta testing than gaming, but does a good job none the less. It's also whipser quiet at full load with optional booster fans if I feel like hearing a jet take off. I mounted custom switches and LED dials on the front for a custom wired fan setup, so it's one of those heavily customized boxes that stick around for a while.

Havn't exactly timed SH3, but I figure from SH3 Commander icon to giving orders aboard my boat is less about 50 seconds or so. Still, that is a long time if I am testing a mod constantly.

Graf Paper · 10-20-08, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Still, [50 seconds ] that is a long time if I am testing a mod constantly.

So just use dummy campaign files or create your own, smaller campaign_RND.mis and campaign_SCR.mis files with just a handful of ships and planes for testing.

Load times will be dramtically faster when you have little or no traffic to generate and track.

There was a mod released that does just that. I want to say it was called "SH3 Campaign Mod for Testers".

10-20-08, 10:53 AM	#1
kylania Silent Hunter Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 3,528 Downloads: 118 Uploads: 0	I just recently upgraded to a new hard drive, Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording), and my GWX 2.1 + SH3 Commander w/Rollback loading a save game from 1940 near a convoy = From SH3 Commander Start Game Button to Main Menu usable = 48 seconds From Yes, Load Save Game to 3D interior viewable = 2 minutes 19 seconds This was a huge difference from my old hard drive which often took 4-5 minutes to load a game. Rest of the PC is a P4 2.13GHz, 2GB of RAM. __________________

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10-20-08, 07:56 PM	#2
Commander Gizmo Watch Officer Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 339 Downloads: 76 Uploads: 4	Thanks for the replies. I now have a much better understanding of the SH3 engine and data structure. I figured it had been tried, just thought I'd see more discussion on it in a search. A bit off topic, but I went with OCZ for my SSD's since they're memory almost always out performs the specs they list with it. The drives do quite well. At this point, a complete system restart of Vista x64 Ultimate with all may dev tools and software installed is 62 seconds from clicking restart system fully started and ready to go. Photoshop loads in 4 seconds. Yes, you read that right. 4 seconds. Awesome, just awesome. For those that care, my system is a bit old, but maxed. I am running a Opteron 185 on an MSI K8N SLI Platinum board with 4GB of OCZ DDR400 overlocked to 1T timing and something like 2-3-2-5. This is my old dev box and so it is actually geared more towards software dev and beta testing than gaming, but does a good job none the less. It's also whipser quiet at full load with optional booster fans if I feel like hearing a jet take off. I mounted custom switches and LED dials on the front for a custom wired fan setup, so it's one of those heavily customized boxes that stick around for a while. Havn't exactly timed SH3, but I figure from SH3 Commander icon to giving orders aboard my boat is less about 50 seconds or so. Still, that is a long time if I am testing a mod constantly.