Please tell me the truth... - by King Ronald
ZylonBane on 29/12/2003 at 21:36
They can't. GTA/Vice City use a dynamic level load system, whereby level data is only loaded as it's needed. The engine was written from the ground up to support this.
DX:IW, on the other hand, loads its levels in monolithic chunks (like most FPSs). And since ISA saw fit to overload every level with tons of irrelevant detail and normal mapping and shine mapping, it chewed up the X-Box's 64MB of RAM pretty darn quick.
Tiny-but-dense environments are fine for puzzle/adventure games, but RPGs and FPSs need room to breathe. Massive-but-sparse environments are the way to go.
scglass on 30/12/2003 at 00:28
Quote:
Originally posted by madphilb It is a DESIGN problem, pure and simple... the FAULT lies with ION STORM, not with the Xbox...
Got to agree... Morrowind is a good example of how to do progressive loading on a fixed memory console.
What would be good is if they could get the PC version of DXIW to pre-load all sections in an area into the additional memory to speed up the transitions.
Also, WTF gives with it exiting the game executable and loading new instance on every map transition? Is this another aspect of console-itis?
madphilb on 30/12/2003 at 19:11
Quote:
Originally posted by scglass Also, WTF gives with it exiting the game executable and loading new instance on every map transition? Is this another aspect of console-itis?
Possible.... the more these discussions go on, the more I feel that Ion Storm should have gotten someone experienced with consoles to hand-hold them through the development process (or do it for them).
sigh guess there are a lot of things that IS should or should not have done.... hopefully they're paying attention and fix some of the biggest complaints about the engine before they release Theif 3.
Cheers
PHIL
Keeper_Andrus on 2/1/2004 at 03:16
just looking at the screenshots of splinter cell, the lighting and physics dont look nearly as complicated as DX2. I will get that game though~ looks good.
The patch v1.1 improved the fps A LOT for me, even though i was getting used to the crappy framerate ;p. Anyway, its definatly worth getting especially after the v1.1 patch.
As far as the one size for all inventory, this kinda annoyed me, but would have annoyed me much less had grenades and mines been the same as they were in the first game. I absolutely loved the versatility of the LAM, etc. in my opninion, they should have kept grenades and mines as one, and allowed us to set the mine to either be trip or timed, and set to be impact explosion or timed when thrown.
One ammo type was kinda weird at first, but hey maybe the nanites make the ammo into whatever size the gun needs. majikal nanites!
Bigger maps would have been nice, but whatever, its a good game, i'm happy.
