Frame drops?

posted on May 18th, 2013, 7:48 am

Got frame drops every time a vessel or station is build the first time.
This problem occurs after pressing ESC and resuming the game, too.
It seem like objects are not loaded and need to be loaded in game before getting displayed.

Someone knows what this could be?

For detailed information please ask me, I don't know what vital informations are in this problem.
(If some one is able to talk in German to me I could explain more, my English is still limited... >_> )

posted on May 18th, 2013, 11:28 am

Yes, textures do not get loaded until the first time a vessel is being build. The same applies when you have entered the escape menu. Armada unloads all textures when you do that.
I have been working on an asynchronous texture loading mechanism, but it still has flaws. Armada just wasn't designed with that in mind.

posted on May 18th, 2013, 11:42 am

There must be a way to load all textures first.

I can't remember that the original Armada II had those frame drops...

posted on May 18th, 2013, 12:39 pm

textures are handled the same way in stock armada. however there are lot less textures in stock armada 2 with much smaller file sizes.
we have the preloadUnits command in Fleet Operations. It might or might not help with that issue.

posted on May 18th, 2013, 2:20 pm

I'm not a programmer so I don't know if that would work.

1# If I get it right, that the first starbase is a fake and it has no build list until an avatar is chosen...
What if it is given every texture that is needed as a preload?

2# If possible, modify the maps with a file that includes to load all the textures. (like someone placed every ship on the map)

posted on May 18th, 2013, 4:13 pm

Unfortunately DOCa forgot that preloadunits does not affect texture loading, so this can't be helped at the moment

With regard to your questions, yes, the first starbase is fake and is replaced immediately. Preloadunits only affects the models (hardpoints, size, etc), but not the textures.