I have a weak computer bought more than 3 years ago, so loads in BM take as long as 30 seconds for me, while in HL2 they are faster (about 10 seconds). I’ve heard that BM load times are quite long even on beast computers - is that true?
Well, I think they said that each map in BM is very close to reaching Source’s entity limit per map and I think some maps even go over it, so yeah, each BM map has more stuff to load than any HL2 map.
It depends on how large the map is, the number of files used in said map, and what HDD you stuck the game on (SSDs as well). The second map of Highway 17 on HL2 took forever to load on my old system (up to maybe a minute to two).
Beyond that, Maxey hit the nail on the head.
In Half-Life for example, loadings take less than a second for me, two at most for some larger maps. But in Source, is there a minimum load time dependent on the engine itself that even a beast computer can’t overcome?
Well, I suppose it’s forced to draw the loading screen seeing as it’s part of the level transition code. I guess even for a split second there has to be an interruption when the game loads the next level.
You’re comparing two completely separate engines, although they’re based off of the same code (roughly), they load levels completely differently.
One’s 10 years old if not older, the other’s more modern (1 year old by now, if you’re running 2013). HL2 also has more entities to deal with, such as physics and Dynamic Lights (HL doesn’t unless it’s a mod, I think). There’s just more things for the newer engine to load and initiate.
While I can’t be sure, I don’t really think there’s any sort of “time requirement” or anything when it comes to loading maps. Half-Life 1’s load times were quite formidable back in the day. Your ~1 sec load time is the product of your hardware kicking GoldSrc’s ass. I think it’s just a matter of whether/when tech will be so powerful that Source’s load times will be practically non-existent.
For me now, many Source maps load in under 15 seconds (including some of BM’s), yet a few years ago when I was on significantly lower-end hardware, I could be waiting nearly a minute or so.
Mine takes a long time on start up (about a minute and a half or so) but picks up to about 20 second load times after that for most of my source games.
When I first played Half-Life, it took a while to load each area, now takes at most a few seconds
When I first played Half-Life 2, it took a while to load each area, now takes at most a few seconds
When I first played Black Mesa, it took a while to load each area…
Invariable both the map size and complexity a long with the engine are going to have an impact on how long a map takes to load.
Just taking the first level you can see the difference in this as time passes.
Half-life: c0a0a \ 2.12mb (1999)
Half-life Source : c0a0a \ 3.13mb
Black Mesa: bm_c0a0a \ 37.7mb (2012, 2007 sdk version)
With Black Mesa a lot of the original levels have been merged together to create larger versions. Inbound goes from c0a0, c0a0a, c0a0b, c0a0c, c0a0d, c0a0e to c0a0a, c0a0b & c0a0c.
Compiling maps for both LDR & HDR and the lightmap density are going to have an impact on the overall file size and impact load times. For example, bm_c0a0a with only a HDR compile is 26.7mb (down from 37.7mb) So given the size difference its possible to consider it better to only compile for HDR.
Compiling for both affords compatibility with older hardware incase they want to turn it off for better performance (though at this point I suspect the vast majority of people have it enabled) but also increasing the file size. Trying to compile with both lighting styles with complex maps can cause the maps themselves to not compile which is never great.
It’s possible we may only compile with HDR for later releases since hardware specs increase and the maps themselves do look far better in HDR than in LDR. Valve’s newer titles I believe only have HDR compiles so perhaps thats something to take note off (though I could be wrong on that).
Half-life 2: d1_trainstation_01 \ 9.28mb (2004)
Half-life 2: EP1: ep1_citadel_00 \ 32.7mb (2006)
Half-life 2: EP2: ep2_outland_01 \ 33.9mb (2007)
Back when half-life and even half-life 2 first came out the level of detail in the maps is considerable lower than their later sequels due to both the hardware available and taking into consideration wanting to make something that is going to run well for as many people as possible.
Well that post was longer than I expected it to be :zip:
Don’t you mean 2013 SDK version?
Nope, the currently released version is running on the source sdk base 2007.
Oh right, my bad.
The longest load-time for me in BMS on my FX-6300 was 12 seconds.