Hopefully this is a notable improvement. It is a bit annoying how long they are, especially since it's not consistent as to what constitutes a loading screen and what will result in it just switching over. It definitely kills your "momentum" when you just want to cruise around using stuff.
December Wii U firmware update to address application load times [Up: Incorrect]
- Thread starter EatChildren
- Start date
Steve Youngblood
Member
I really feel like we are meandering about in semantic spin. Whether or not other devices ship with just as many problems as the Wii U's OS seems to me to be beside the more important point: that each and every time it happens it is worthy of condemnation.
yeah, and the original post is kinda ironic, since a good portion of software/games ARE actually shipped pretty broken, with several patches/fixes coming later. It is basically the norm now. And to imply nothing ships broken is completely asinine. But the wiiu definitely doesn't fall into the category. It works.
This is becoming a riddle session more than anything.
In my opinion, everything works fine, and the OS slowness is not something that fundamentally breaks the system. It is something that can be improved upon, but everything works the way it should even if it remains slow. On the other hand, hardware locks can definitely be considered broken software.
AndyMoogle
Member
Everything will always have at least one flaw. I hope no one expects the PS4 and the next Xbox to have a perfect OS on day 1.
Iacobellis
Junior Member
Okay, I agree to an extent. Game Center WAS present in iOS 4 betas, so it was weird to see it missing in June. Maybe Apple wanted to time it with the iPod Touch release and iPad update? Who knows.
But, we all know Nintendo is not very competent in software. They put up a good fight against Sony and Microsoft, but anyone who owned a 3DS before June 2011 should know what I am talking about. No game patching functionality, I THINK the Friends List couldn't be accessed during a game, and you didn't even have the eShop! The PSP and iDevices had some kind of store for 3-4 years before the 3DS launched.
Steve Youngblood
Member
You're not making anything that even vaguely resembles a point, here. Yes. Nothing is perfect, but flaws that hinder one's enjoyment of a product that was purchased merit critique. Not disingenuous spin that distracts by alluding to other products that also have problems that are arguably comparable.
Theoretically this should make it blazingly fast...
I'll take a improvement for sure I don't find myself switching between apps a ton and having to wait so I'm not totally pissed at this point. Glad to see they are listening to fans and addressing some things that are being talked about. It's a positive direction for the big N.
Haunted
Member
Well, everyone should be a vocal critic, it's really slow.
But yes, I agree, even if it's an improvement, it won't be much. I just can't imagine it would be that easy to fix this to an acceptable level within a month of the launch. Of course we'll see a lot more updates in the future, each one chipping away at the load times, and in 2014 or so, will look back towards the OS performance at launch and collectively shake our heads.
I went into my options on my TV and there was an overscan option that was on I turned it off and it fixed it for me.
JordanLMiller
Member
I don't think this firmware is the one coming tomorrow, right?
Edit: I see someone pointed out it will not be.
Edit: I see someone pointed out it will not be.
AndyMoogle
Member
I think that the problems with load times are exaggerated. Yes, they should definitely be shorter, but it's far from the biggest problem with the OS. People should complain more about other stuff, such as the NNID being locked to one console, or the fact that there isn't any cross game voice chat. I'd say that the load times isn't even among the five biggest problems with the Wii U.
Complaining about something that Nintendo already promised to improve is kind of pointless now.
Iacobellis
Junior Member
Why wait almost two years for the OS to get better? The 360 didn't have speed problems at launch, PS3 didn't, and the Wii didn't. Why should the Wii U be the odd one out? The time it took me to leave Nintendo Land and go back to the Home menu was horrendous when I tried the console at the Nintendo World Store. I can see this being a smaller issue if this was on 6th generation consoles, ones that didnt even have the option to quit unless you removed the disc or restarted the system!
Perhaps but if all the apps are seperate executables (as has been reported) and they are unoptimised and bloated having huge memory requirements each, loading would be slower than if they were optimised with less data to load, no?
That's my guess. I truly hope they are able to optimize it better than they have, with as much memory as the console is packing, it should be able to handle a couple of processes with no problem. I am no expert though that's for sure.
ChosenPredator
Banned
you're absolutely right i remember all the changes that went on with the 360 and it's dashboard and I think even to this day some people still prefer the blades lol.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I don't think it quite works that way; it's really more about which information the OS keeps in memory at one time, regardless of how big the OS footprint is.
The thing about the slowness in the OS right now, is once you're inside an app nothing is bad. Speed inside individual apps ranges from decent/expected to really great (the browser). So it's not like the hardware is chugging trying to run the actual OS.
Rather, the "slowness" is in switching apps. Waiting for an app to close and get back to the dashboard and warawara. Waiting for certain seemingly small apps to open and initialize. Based on my understanding, that stuff seems like a combination of two things:
1. Unnecessary flushing of memory for the dashboard stuff given how much memory is available.
2. Certain applications are less optimized than others, and are bloated.
If this update actually is about improving speed, I'd assume they're re-writing parts of bloated apps and adjusting the OS's loading scheme to keep more necessary assets in ram while the dashboard is pushed into the background. Given how late they were in getting much of the OS ready for launch, I wouldn't be surprised if the day 1 update contained an old, but usable build of the OS and core apps. While a newer build of them was still under development.
What you said essentially backs up what I said, I just never explained what I meant.. At all really. It is essentially the optimization that is the problem, like you've said. However, with the amount of memory available, theoretically it shouldn't be a problem if they can background certain apps or not completely shut them down and restart them when accessed. I fully expect the OS footprint to be streamlined in the future and more optimized code be run to fix these app switching issues. I'm not completely surprised that they're having these smaller issues however, especially coming from the very simplistic Wii OS.
You're asking Nintendo to produce a firmware update for your shonky old TV? Yeah, good luck with that.
Meesh
Member
Any positive news via his cream is better than no creamy news at all
As an owner of a launch 3DS I can say for sure that you were able to access it mid-game, but either way the functionality of the 3DS was still limited back then compared to now, so I don't disagree.
WiCkEd_Co
Member
This is what I want
ultrazilla
Gold Member
Good to hear. We just got around to playing Nintendoland
and the initial update coupled with the long load times kinda
sucked.
Hopefully Nintendo is looking into the hard locks as well.
and the initial update coupled with the long load times kinda
sucked.
Hopefully Nintendo is looking into the hard locks as well.
And it does sound like the scaling chip inside can easily handle it as a universal thing, not like the NES or SNES where you'd just have to deal. Combine that with the eShop/Miiverse having options for this, and what the hell Nintendo?
Hmzl I watched this nintendo direct on my Wii U and didn't think Iwata said anything about a patch? He only acknowledged the complaints about load times and update times at the start and promised that they take these seriously and will work to improve them. Nothing about at a ETA of a patch.
After that it's only DQ talk.
After that it's only DQ talk.
Cheesemeister
Member
It isnt that slow imho, time a 360 from app to app etc and youd be surprised at the speed. I havent had any issue with the speed tbh so if they make it fast all the better.
Yep, shut it down.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Sorry, WiiU owners. It sucks, I know...
Mizzou Gaming
Member
I have a feeling these long load times fixes will turn into the party chat feature that was rumoured to be in every PS3 update only to find out later down the road it wasn't realistically possible to happen in the first place.
One thing I know that will definately happen is that following every Wii U update a small percentage of the Wii U Community will swear up and down it improved their load times drastically.
One thing I know that will definately happen is that following every Wii U update a small percentage of the Wii U Community will swear up and down it improved their load times drastically.
Already started. DAT placebo.