EB loading time?

Hmmm just wondering, anyone tried to analyze why EB always takes forever to load?


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Just made a test, the second-time loading of EB is about 1 minutes and 20 seconds. The test is made after entire EB files are put into cache (no disk access during the loading)

My hardware spec: AMD Sempron 2400, 2GB DDR-RAM, nVIDIA 6200/256MB, on Windows Server 2003.


I'm going to make more tests and trace the files loaded....

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I used filemon and noted the following facts:
- animation packs take about 3 sec to load, while the engine-related stuff takes almost 0
- various packs take almost 0
- text\export_units.txt takes 12 sec (between first reading and close of the file)
- text\export_buildings.txt takes 30 sec
- ui\{CULTURE}\buildings.... take about 20 sec
- text\export_VnVs.txt takes about 4 sec
- ancillaries\* take about 2 sec
- settlement plans\* take about 5 sec
- sound & music take about 7 sec
- show_me scripts take about 5 sec

filemon does slow down the whole process by a lot - but reading on one file (text\*) isn't impacted that much and timing should be close enough.

I'll hack the text files now and try to see if it can be improved

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AqD

Hmmm just wondering, anyone tried to analyze why EB always takes forever to load?

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big script i would guess......there's another thread about this quite recently.

or wait, do you mean between turns, or the game itself?

I mean the game loading time - not between turns.

The script file isn't loaded until you enter the campaign, so it should not have large impact I think.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AqD

I mean the game loading time - not between turns.

The script file isn't loaded until you enter the campaign, so it should not have large impact I think.

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of course - normally one gets the script going once the campaign map opens.

entering the game, i have no idea - mine loads reasonably quick.

If I haven't misunderstood badly, it its because of EB has so big descriptions for every faction + all the pictures and other stuff at menu. Loading those takes for a while. But try EB with ALX exe. It made game to load faster - at least for me ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Paganist

If I haven't misunderstood badly, it its because of EB has so big descriptions for every faction + all the pictures and other stuff at menu. Loading those takes for a while.

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But not much more models or units - there are hardcoded limits and several other mods use up to the limits as well. So I'm wondering what's really making EB slow?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Paganist

But try EB with ALX exe. It made game to load faster - at least for me ;)

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Yeah much faster, especially the graphics. That's why I only ask for loading time now :)

Quote:

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But not much more models or units

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Are you serious?
We are quite close to the limit.

Its more of a guess but I would say around 5 times the number of original RTW.

I know but RTR and RTR-based mods are close to the limit too, and probably some others such as RS. So it proves the units/models alone can't slow down loading time a lot.

Takes about 4 minutes to load here.

Specs are:

-nVidia 7600+6600 Crossfire 256 MB each
-Pentium IV processor
-2 GB RAM

Use filemon. It reads lots and lots of files.

From what I remember campaign Faction descriptions somehow have quite significant impact on loading time.
They where shorten to speed things up. Try delete them and check the difference.

Are you talking about loading at the beginning of the game or how long it takes to end a turn? If the latter, removing the Client Ruler portion of the script reduced my turn wait time by about 1 min..,.

I will just add that ALX.exe has DMB cap on 500 models (and by now we use about 300 models which is 50 models more than RTW.exe DMB cap)

So even with those +50 models the game is much faster on ALX.exe (and I wont measure time coz I got very nice PC and it takes me less time for anything = sometimes 10-15 seconds to roll a turn or even faster sometimes if I play small battle)


:shrug:

Sorry but from a nasty CTD experience with the internal build (one or two version before 1.0) I learned that script, traits, building code and all other stuff which isn't really used until campaign time is loaded into cache anyway.

Or at least, if there is an error within the script your mod will still CTD before even reaching the main menu. Same for the traits & ancilliaries files. Same for the recruitment code. (Which incidentally is not just big, but insanely vast and hughe.)

When the game initially loads, it reads all of the game files (which I know, because I have had many a crash at opening due to a tiny typo in one of these files). EB's game files are huge compared to vanilla. For an example, these are the...

export_descr_buildings:
Vanilla: 136,984 bytes
EB: 12,761,782 bytes

export_descr_character_traits:
Vanilla: 257,054 bytes
EB: 6,802,935 bytes

export_model_battle:
Vanilla: 189,717 bytes
EB: 691,852 bytes

I can´t believe how many oppurtunites to brag about my computer presents themselves to me here, this must be like the 5th time this week.
My loading times take about 5 seconds!! Wohoo!!!!
I could post my specs, but unless there´s a public uproar I believe I`ll just keep them to myself, those numbers doesn´t mean to much to me anyway, it´s the result that counts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maksimus

I will just add that ALX.exe :shrug:

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Erm, whats the ALX.exe?

I noticed that load times vary depending on (1)the speed of the processor and (2)the hard disk, provided you have (3)enough memory.
I have two systems both with 2gb of ram. One is an Athlon 3000+ with a standard Seagate 7200rpm Barracuda and the other is Phenom 9600 with a 15000rpm u320 Cheetah. I must say that the load times vary a lot between the two. On the older Athlon system, it takes a little over a minute to load. On the Phenom with scsi it takes around 20 seconds more or less.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Starance Quintus

Erm, whats the ALX.exe?

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The Alexander.exe, basically, you install EB in the Alexander folder and then start the game through there. Gives you some minor changes, though I can´t quite remember them now.

And I agree Ebak, I too have played EB on two different computers, and the one with more hard disk and memory runs much smoother.

I am in the process of testing EB on both BI and Alexander. I read in several posts that both improve AI, stability and speed. Honestly though, I think that 1-2 minutes between turns is ok. I have been playing using my laptop in the office and it takes me around 3-4 minutes between turns. Considering that it can take me 10 minutes or longer to micromanage my empire depending on its size, anything below 5 should be playable. Just learn to relax or do something else in the background. :P