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Devnote Tuesday: Getting Ever Closer


SQUAD

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The load time for KSP itself has also been decreased to about 12 seconds,

Talking about which... I don't *know* what' going on there, but by all appearances it seems as if it was very CPU-intensive. Apparently something gets converted into a format that is easier to deal with once the game is running. I wonder if it is really necessary to alway process the same data in the same way every time the game is launched?

Would it be possible to convert once and store the binary-friendly format alongside the original data? It would probably be necessary to keep track of the original file size/creation date so things can be re-processed when the "source file" is changed (e.g. when a mod has been updated). So, not a small thing and it would still be necessary to stat every file. Still, stat is a lot faster than read and at least on my system, load time is constrained by CPU, not disk access (and I don't even have a SSD).

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All map nodes can be made sticky now, we just have to decide which. Ascending/Descending nodes should definitely be stickiable.

Please do make the closest approach markers stickiable as well. :) It would make setting up rendezvous a lot easier so you don't have to keep moving your mouse back and fourth over the closest approach marker and the maneuver node you're trying to set up.

The Unity 5 upgrade is taking a while but I totally don't mind the wait - like you guys have said, there's not a lot you can say when all you've been doing is fixing bugs that have been brought on by using an updated engine (which is still a big task! there's just not a lot to talk about), but I appreciate the news nonetheless. :) Take as long as it needs to take so you guys can make it extra awesome.

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Dude... 0.6GHz... I wish I trusted my machine enough to do that!

That isn't uncommon for Intel. They are overclocking masters at this point. I have an old 3.3Ghz 2500k and it's running at 4Ghz with air cooling (granted, it's a Hyper 212 EVO with dual fans in a HAF 922).

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That isn't uncommon for Intel. They are overclocking masters at this point. I have an old 3.3Ghz 2500k and it's running at 4Ghz with air cooling (granted, it's a Hyper 212 EVO with dual fans in a HAF 922).

Eh. I'm using AMD which is known for better pricing and worse overclock. Still impressive to me :). And yeah my cooling could be better...

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Eh. I'm using AMD which is known for better pricing and worse overclock. Still impressive to me :). And yeah my cooling could be better...

Yeah, they are more expensive, but the way I see it I would have to buy an equally priced AMD to match performance anyway. There is certainly nothing wrong with AMD, they do fill the budget niche.

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And like Kasper said, 12 seconds to load skipping every texture and audio asset. But still, I'm very pleased with the speeds I'm getting now. It's a quality-of-life thing if you consider our work hinges entirely on our workstation performance.

This leads to another interesting question, before DDS texture loading was implemented in stock, it spent ~30x as long laboriously converting the textures during load into DDS (DXT1/DXT5) for use, so is there a similarly functioning audio format which can be directly loaded (skipping the conversion step) like DDS now is on the graphics side?

Essentially can you pre-compute the audio loading so it can be dropped right in (i.e. what format does Unity hold the audio in internally)?

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Yeah, they are more expensive, but the way I see it I would have to buy an equally priced AMD to match performance anyway. There is certainly nothing wrong with AMD, they do fill the budget niche.

Yeah my next build will most likely have intel. Depends on my budget and compatibility though ;).

Anyways back on topic, with a twelve second load time on a test build I'm taking a guess that the average load time could be brought below 20 seconds in the future. An amazing thought!

I wonder how alien KSP will feel when it's all updated and optimized.

I imagine it will be like hopping in a sports car after driving a van for three years.

:'D

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This leads to another interesting question, before DDS texture loading was implemented in stock, it spent ~30x as long laboriously converting the textures during load into DDS (DXT1/DXT5) for use, so is there a similarly functioning audio format which can be directly loaded (skipping the conversion step) like DDS now is on the graphics side?

Essentially can you pre-compute the audio loading so it can be dropped right in (i.e. what format does Unity hold the audio in internally)?

IIRC, audio assets are already loaded in parallel. I recently added (dev) controls here to bypass loading every type of asset, even parts, so audio assets can also be bypassed, mostly for the sake of completion. I don't think audio asset loading takes up a very significant chunk of time in any case.

Cheers

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The only audio formats that would mirror the DDS conversion would be uncompressed formats like WAV or PCM. In this case it would probably have the opposite effect as these are larger. Uncompressing audio for playback isn't as CPU heavy as PNG to DDS conversions anyway.

(I'm not really sure what format KSP uses, TBH) EDIT: Oh, went and looked, it already is WAV. You probably can't get any better than that.

Edited by Alshain
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IIRC, audio assets are already loaded in parallel. I recently added (dev) controls here to bypass loading every type of asset, even parts, so audio assets can also be bypassed, mostly for the sake of completion. I don't think audio asset loading takes up a very significant chunk of time in any case.

Cheers

Cool, thanks Harvester!

Come to think of it, with parallel asset loading happening already, did the new native MTJS in Unity 5 also improve the performance of asset loading, or even offer deeper parallelization opportunities?

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Is 1.1 going to allow more room for mods?

Absolutely. They might release U5 alone or with other features, but it will definitely be included in the next update. U5 will allow more than 4GBs of RAM, which will help most people with mods.

Edited by NFUN
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I really hope that TriggerAU being now in dev team also means that Kerbal Alarm Clock is now added to stock game which is really really missing! Once you start to go to other planets it's a must have.

I beg to differ. KAC changes the way the game gets played (ie, running multiple missions), but it's not a must have. I honestly don't expect KAC to become stock, as the Squad development seems to be on single mission at a time play.

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Thanks for the Congrats and well wishes all, tis very humbling. Like Alshain said don't jump to conclusions or read in extra info

You deserve it.

He said "jump to conclusions." As in "jump to next maneuver node." And "extra info" obviously hints that he's putting "extra info" in the game. So obviously we're getting a stock KAC.

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