short freezes on first-time-loading of assets?

weezl

I'm pretty sure alot of my stuttering is because Spark is "live-loading" stuff instead of preloading them!
The latest Wolfire Overgrowth changelog video explains it perfectly, watch it at 0:25
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Em6bRBXFc" target="_blank">Overgrowth Alpha 180 changes - Wolfire Games </a>




I've brought this issue up before...
And also, there's a MUCH more serious issue I'm experiencing (read bottom).

<!--quoteo(post=1926696:date=Apr 18 2012, 01:11 PM:name=weezl)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (weezl @ Apr 18 2012, 01:11 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1926696"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->...
although I DID report something on it once, but it still says only 1 person with the problem, so maybe it got overseen simply...
but I also mentioned it the b197 comments-thread, with YOU posting 2:nd under^^
<!--quoteo(post=1904691:date=Feb 19 2012, 05:03 AM:name=weezl)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (weezl @ Feb 19 2012, 05:03 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1904691"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->@devs, here's something you might wanna take a look at: <a href="https://getsatisfaction.com/unknownworlds/topics/short_freeze_when_playing_sonds_first_time" target="_blank">https://getsatisfaction.com/unknownworlds/t...onds_first_time</a>
does this explain the long freeze after joining marines mid-round (when going straight to spawning from ip)?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
here's what i wrote:
<!--quoteo(post=0:date=:name=weezl@getSF)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (weezl@getSF)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->short freeze when playing sounds "first time"
Played b196 today and noticed that the game freezes a short time (m assuming) loading/using a sound for the first time ingame.

The same thing can be observed many times with different actions:
firing the rifle (firing and ricochet sounds)
switching to pistol (unholstering pistol sound)
switching to axe (taking-out-axe-sound)

This only happened once after starting the game for each sound.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


<b>Also, while I have your attention, HUGE PROBLEM I'm experiencing:
Not so rare, especially(/pretty sure only) after long sessions (2-3h+) of running/playing NS2, when quitting it and returning to desktop EVERYTHING is frozen except the mouse which is movable. My taskbar is on auto-hide, it doesn't pop up, nothing is interactable/clickable, not win-key on keyboard, not steam, not icons, nothing. Even ctrl+alt+del DOES NOTHING other than change the mouse cursor to 'working in background' for a second, then nothing!
(If CAD doesn't work in win - abandon all hope D: )
This can last 30s, 1m, ~5m? (I left the comp for a while), two times I waited really long and decided to force restart (probably I should have walked away for longer I'm thinking now).
The system is new and very clean, further, I've NEVER experienced this issue in my entire life.
(One that comes close is (in older windowses) everything is frozen, but mouse, however it doesn't respond to CAD by changing cursor, just moveable.)
Some more info: win7-64, fast cpu, plenty RAM, firefox running with ~50-ish tabs, uTorrent seeding Overgrowth. During the freeze-up the drive light makes short blinks sparsely and a little randomly.</b><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
new info: it seems I can resize the steam-window in an invisible manner and do it again from the new location (mouse cursor changes over the border of it), but the picture <b>doesn't change</b> it's completely static. like a desktop screenshot was overlayed my screen, and the mouse cursor is the only thing visible.
Hope you fix this soon!


edit: typo

IeptBarakat

Certain things like the nano shield cause stuttering because the game doesn't utilize precaching yet.

They said it would be added later down the road.

DJPenguin

I'm gonna miss not needing to equip the pistol and tomahawk first thing when it gets fixed.

hapro

Hmm, I literally always die at least once a game due to lag when I switch out the rifle for the pistol.

weezl

<!--quoteo(post=1939893:date=May 30 2012, 01:47 AM:name=IeptBarakat)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (IeptBarakat @ May 30 2012, 01:47 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1939893"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Certain things like the nano shield cause stuttering because the game doesn't utilize precaching yet.

They said it would be added later down the road.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
When did they say that?




<!--quoteo(post=1939897:date=May 30 2012, 02:00 AM:name=DJPenguin)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DJPenguin @ May 30 2012, 02:00 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1939897"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm gonna miss not needing to equip the pistol and tomahawk first thing when it gets fixed.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1939925:date=May 30 2012, 04:03 AM:name=hapro)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (hapro @ May 30 2012, 04:03 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1939925"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Hmm, I literally always die at least once a game due to lag when I switch out the rifle for the pistol.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Exctly what I mean!

Smasher

I have it too:/ It's better now than a few builds ago though, for some reason. But I still always need to equip/draw all my weapons first time I enter a game, so I don't get that freeze in combat (getting me killed).

Deadzone

Yep, I get that, too. Usually it's on weapon switch, but occasionally you see it upon loading new scenery. The WORST is when you stutter loading a skulk model, since they're usually munching your face by the time your screen moves.

Kouji_San

Known issue and since I'm on the slowest PT machine. Well Max's machine is of the same era with a faster stock speed CPU, but is running while these stock speeds within the FSB/mem bandwidth gap. I have more memory bandwidth and my Oc is more then his stock speeds. Anyway, I've mentioned this plenty of times :P


It's basically the material and shader systems that do not precache for props and faces that are outside of the 40m render distance. Once the stuff is loaded into memory (having it spawn in for structurers/player models or moving throughout the map) the hitching usually goes away.

Similar to what DJPenguin said about having to pull out his pistol and tomahawk. Faster HDDs (SSDs?) or current computers in general should have less of an issue with this...

ScardyBob

The best workaround is to cycle through your weapons/attacks and run around the map to cache shaders/effects/rooms before you encounter them in combat.

MurphyIdiot

A lot of assets are currently preloaded. That isn't to say there are no problems. But if we didn't preload ANY assets there would be a bunch of load pauses throughout the game.

I fixed a few issues today regarding loading some shader effects. The pistol and axe actually are preloaded. But for some reason something is still loading the first time you equip them. Not sure what is going on there but we will try to fix it for 1.0.

weezl

<!--quoteo(post=1940231:date=May 31 2012, 12:46 AM:name=MurphyIdiot)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MurphyIdiot @ May 31 2012, 12:46 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1940231"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->A lot of assets are currently preloaded. That isn't to say there are no problems. But if we didn't preload ANY assets there would be a bunch of load pauses throughout the game.

I fixed a few issues today regarding loading some shader effects. The pistol and axe actually are preloaded. But for some reason something is still loading the first time you equip them. Not sure what is going on there but we will try to fix it for 1.0.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds great!