Super Fast Loading Screen Magic!

[PTNLemay]

What's Squad's secret? Despite the fact that they added tons of new parts and biomes and new features in the latest version, it loads faster than ever. Usually I have time to go get a glass of water, now I've barely left the room and it finishes loading.

Does anyone know what exactly they changed?

[Xavven]

Textures were compressed to a smaller format

[Alshain]

Not a smaller format (often they are bigger), they have been changed to the native format.

As I understand it, the game would basically take PNG's or TARGAs and convert them to a Direct Draw Surface for rendering in the game when the game loaded, they added support for reading the DDS file directly so no conversion. Even if the files end up bigger (on disk), they load faster and at least take the same amount of RAM, sometimes less.

I'm not an expert on this, but that is how the a few of the modelers explained it to me.

[MK3424]

This forum thread will explain a bit better about DDS textures:http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/98672-WIN-KSP-to-DDS-texture-converter

[Rithsom]

I don't understand how such a simple change to the textures reduced the loading time so much.

Anyway, all we need now is faster loading times for the in-game loading screens (when launching a new ship, entering and exiting the VAB, etc.).

Edited May 24, 2015 by Rthsom

[dryer_lint]

Huh. My loading times are still pretty long... what am I missing out on!?

[RocketPilot573]

Huh. My loading times are still pretty long... what am I missing out on!?

Hmm, has anyone tested if SSDs now make a difference? Just wondering.

[basic.syntax]

Before 1.0:

Read PNG format image > use CPU to compress/convert > DDS format image loaded into memory

1.0:

Read DDS images into memory

They also did some optimization so that the SPH and VAB use the same code now, so switching ships and scenes should be a bit faster.

Edit:

I'm loading KSP 1.0.2 with No parts mods, No extra textures. The only thing I am currently loading more than a vanilla install, is Claw's patch fixes.

Windows 8.1, i5 -3570K, 16GB ram, Crucial M4 128gb SSD

It takes from clicking on the shortcut I use, to seeing the load screen: 10 seconds. From the beginning of the loading screen, to seeing the "Start Game" option: 25 seconds. Note that I had just exited KSP, this was a restart, so that is the fastest my system can possibly start KSP.

Edited May 24, 2015 by basic.syntax

[Alshain]

Hmm, has anyone tested if SSDs now make a difference? Just wondering.

I use an SSD, but don't think I've ever played the game on an HDD.

[problemecium]

^ Same here. My loading times have always been under a minute, even with mods, but 1.0 did introduce a noticeable boost in loading speed, which is good considering how often I break Physics and have to restart xD

[mrclucks]

I've noticed the greatly enhanced load time too. For who ever is saying that files take more space, that is incorrect. Vanilla .90 took about 3 gigs of space while 1.x takes 1.5 gigs or less

[maceemiller]

Since 1.0.2 my loading times have increased dramatically! However, I have never had the game crash on me at @all (only once when I tried to install KSPRC).

[Alshain]

I've noticed the greatly enhanced load time too. For who ever is saying that files take more space, that is incorrect. Vanilla .90 took about 3 gigs of space while 1.x takes 1.5 gigs or less

You are looking at the total, I meant per-file. I've seen some files increased in size, but overall they mostly decreased.

[Two]

I have not played any previous version, but I feel that the loading times are horribly slow compared to other games, and in many cases especially unnecessary. For example: why do I have to wait several seconds each time I switch from one building to another? My PC could handle to keep all that data in memory easily, yet it seems like it has to throw it all away all the time, then reload it a click later.

Some smart caching would for sure decrease loading time significantly for stronger gaming setups.

[Fleb]

What's Squad's secret? Despite the fact that they added tons of new parts and biomes and new features in the latest version, it loads faster than ever. Usually I have time to go get a glass of water, now I've barely left the room and it finishes loading.

Does anyone know what exactly they changed?

This. I have been using it for some time with the same effect.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/96729-0-25-DDSLoader-1-7-%28Nov-19%29-Loads-DDS-Texture-Boringly-fast-edition

I used this to convert the textures.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/98672-WIN-KSP-to-DDS-texture-converter

Edited May 24, 2015 by Fleb

[PTNLemay]

Hmm, has anyone tested if SSDs now make a difference? Just wondering.

Well, I'm on an SSD, for the record. Maybe I should have made a poll...

[Starwhip]

I'm on HDD, but loading times have gone from the five to ten minutes of v0.25 to the three minutes or less of v1.0.2 on my super old laptop.