Reducing campaign layers = faster loading?

[GlobalExplorer]

Playing around with that new, lightweight parser that might be used for SHIV, I had an interesting idea:

What would happen if there was an external tool to reduce the campaign layers by removing all units that are outside the time period and geographical zone of the patrol? I'd guess you would end up with .mis files of only about 5-10 % the size of the complete ones, that I am sure of.

Now the question I ask myself are: Would this increase loading times significantly, or is the time used up for something else? And what would happen if the player loaded up a savegame .. would it be possible to manage the new campaign layers so that it would not cause problems on the users side??

This is basically a question to anybody with some experience with the campaign files. I just thought that theoretically it could be the starting point for a drastic reduction in loading times, the biggest problem I have with SHIII.

GE

[ref]

When I'm testing mods I use a set of clear campaign layers, the game loads a mission in about 20", compared to the 3/4 minutes with the full layers.

Ref

[GlobalExplorer]

Hi ref, 20 seconds vs 45 seconds or 20 sec vs 3-4 minutes??

And you mean you removed everything but the header and the game still loads?? I might try that to get an idea.

[ref]

20 sec Vs. 3/4 minutes.

Just open the mission editor and save as rnd/lnd/scr without adding anything, even campaign (didn't test it on purpouse, just forgot to disable them) starts at coords 0,0 of the map.

Ref

[Ducimus]

You can strip the RND and SCR layers totally devoid of anything and it will still load.

Personllay ive always thought (and i could be wrong) that, graphics aside; load time is a mix of number of units the game is loading (IE the sea and air directories) , plus the size of the RND/SCR layers.

[Mush Martin]

I did this for sh3 thats what MBFL mod does

[GlobalExplorer]

Originally Posted by Mush Martin

I did this for sh3 thats what MBFL mod does

What is the MBFL mod? :hmm:

Now what I am suggestion is not as mod, but a program that you configure like:

Start: Month/Year
End: Month/Year
TOO: <area>

The program would the read all campaign files, discard all units outside the specs and write the reduced layer back into new files.

That would not be difficult, at least now with the kind of libraries I am using / developing.

But! I see lots of problems with loading of previous savegames. I have not done any testing of the implications and that's what I hope to find out through this thread:

a) Do the units in a campaign layer have to be in sequential order for SHIII to load?

b) If not, and if the index of a unit / group has changed in between save/load, will SHIII then crash because it cannot resolve the references?

c) will the reduction of the layers lead to a significant speedup of loading / that does justify such a program? (feedback so far indicates this might be the case)

Would anybody have an interest in such a program? I am not saying I will do it, but I can provide a c# library that does most of the work already (it makes parsing and writing the .mis files a breeze and is very fast).

GE

[bigboywooly]

Yeah your right Duce
Try removing the campaign files AND the Sea and Roster files

I have a light set of files I enable through JSGME that only has The German roster folder and that only has subs in
The sea and Air folders are empty and so are the Scr and Rnd
I leave the LND as thats what I am usually testing with that set up

My comp is old and slow but that set up flies in

Makes port set up a breeze

[Hartmann]

Academy missions load very fast compared with Single and campaign.

i was thinking delete some unvisited world areas like pacific, india, south africa.. and focus in atlantic, caribbean and med