Loading times, what are we looking at next genereation?

J

jimbo

Banned
Alright, so I'm playing KOTOR 2, huge fan, and aside from all the freaking glitches that I keep running into, the thing that erks me the most, are the loading times. Which got me to thinking about loading times in general. It's been who knows how long since they were first introduced with CD gaming, and here we are in 2005 still having to worry about these frustrating seconds that can really ruin a gaming experience. Especially when you get to a part of a game where you keep dying or screwing up. I couldn't help but think how much more fun Knights would have been had they eliminated the loading times. I think at least 5 of those 35 hours I put into it so far was just loading, and realoading over and over again.

So what's everyone's take this next generation. With games and graphics getting bigger and bigger, are we still looking at the same old problem? Are any of the three manufacturers actually adressing this problem or do they not even care anymore? Is everyone just used to it? Because I'd rather die 10 times and be playing the game than look at another loading screen. It's becoming a total turn off.

P.S. Sorry about the welcome post, didn't think it was a big deal.
 
Loading times are the forgotten bane of the videogame industry, dont expect them to get any shorter next gen.

I totally agree they are a turn off, two contrasting experiences spring to mind

The first, James Bond: Everything or nothing where you go through a great action packed level and really get into it, then reach the end of the level, the menu loads (which takes a supprisingly long time), then it forces you to save (which also takes an age), then the level select screen loads, then the briefing loads, then the mission loads, 5 minutes later you are finally back in the game.

Contrasting with Halo 2, one load time, no other pauses till you reach the credits, totally makes the difference in terms of immersion when you just go straight from one level to the next with no interuptions or anything to pull you out of the experience.


And dont even get me started on HL2.
 
For the PS3 ~ 1 - 3 minutes.
For the Xenon ~ >30 seconds
For the Revolution ~ Instantaneous gyration, holograms and heterogeneous goods.

For my kickass PC, X800xt, 3500+ A64, 512mb Dual Channel, Half-Life takes a few seconds to load. Far Cry about ten seconds a level. UT2k4 a few seconds.
 
Logic states that the more information any organized system can retain, the more information will be placed onto it. So yeah, stupid people should just learn to become patient. Damned A.D.D. generation.
 
Half Life 2 was ruined by loadtimes. I loved the game in my first play-through but I started it again recently and can't stand the annoying load times.

Devs should learn a few things from naughty dog and their amazing no loading jak engine :D
 
That's one thing that really dissapointed me about the Xbox. When the hard drive was first announced, so many people and developers talked about how they would use it to eliminate loading times. Well I think maybe one or two games really used it. And if you have to do it, I would much rather have it like Halo, where it loads a huge portion up front, and then you play for an hour uninterrupted.
 
Chony said:
For my kickass PC, X800xt, 3500+ A64, 512mb Dual Channel, Half-Life takes a few seconds to load. Far Cry about ten seconds a level. UT2k4 a few seconds.
Click to expand...

As a completely offtopic sidenote, I really recommend that you add 512MB more RAM to that system for optimum performance, you'll really notice it.
 
Metroid Prime & Zelda were pretty good in the loading department. Along with most NGC-developed games.



Loading is one of the reasons why I think carts > optical discs. Shame they cost so damn much
 
Jak is a good looking game, but it's really dedication on part of the developer. The problem relies on the hardware.

"Logic states that the more information any organized system can retain, the more information will be placed onto it. So yeah, stupid people should just learn to become patient. Damned A.D.D. generation."

I'd like to believe I think pretty logically that's why I didn't ask for a breakdown of why we have loading times and rather if anyone's trying to do something about it.
 
If they can get them do to 30 secs at the beginning of a level, with brief pauses throughout, like Halo, i'll be statisfied. Granted if the game is good enough, HL2 i'm looking in your direction, I really don't care.
 
Holographic memory on teh PS3 will actually spew extra time back into the universe and the game will finish loading before you turn your console on.

Although GTA 4 will still take 30 seconds between indoor and outdoor locales.
 
Stinkles said:
Holographic memory on teh PS3 will actually spew extra time back into the universe and the game will finish loading before you turn your console on.

Although GTA 4 will still take 30 seconds between indoor and outdoor locales.
Click to expand...

Dawg! That's because GTA is so awesome, it goes all the way round to the end of time and comes back from the other side in the next cycle of the universe! It'll just take 30 seconds to catch up to the present again!
 
Rhindle said:
If anything, load times are going to be quite a bit worse next gen.
Click to expand...
I don't know about that. More and more devs are jumping on the Jak-introduced streaming bandwagon. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if example code of some of that stuff is included in all the new devkits.

I hate it too, though. Like I love the Ratchet & Clank series, but the fact that you first have to make your way to your ship and then have to wait for a moderately long time, just to go to some other planet and do this thing for like 40 seconds... I dunno, it's definitely devoid of fun, that's for sure. Sure, at least R&C2 had a quickskip that let you skip the trip back to your ship to switch planets, but you had to unlock that function. So it was only given to you once you were finally used to the waits.

Loading was an even bigger downer for me in the otherwise brilliant Riddick. I have no idea why such obviously talented dudes couldn't get in on the streaming thing. It even had lots of big doors and corridors that could've been checkpoints for the streaming (you know, rinse the room right before the corridor, while opening the new one).
 
I still haven't played Riddick, along with many other games I just haven't had the time to try. Would you recommend it, considering I really only have time to play the cream of the crop type games?
 
tahrikmili said:
As a completely offtopic sidenote, I really recommend that you add 512MB more RAM to that system for optimum performance, you'll really notice it.
Click to expand...

Actually I do have 1 gb of ram, I just posted wrongly :)

On a side note, PC's have had harddrives for ages. There has been load time on PC games for ages. Why did people think Xbox would have no load times? Retardation?
 
jimbo said:
I still haven't played Riddick, along with many other games I just haven't had the time to try. Would you recommend it, considering I really only have time to play the cream of the crop type games?
Click to expand...
Most definitely. Hurry up and play it before it becomes less cool and all FPS' try to do head motions and stuff.
 
I figure that stuff like sandbox games will be the only titles left with visible loading screens, but only at the startup screen. Everything else will stream in, albeit more smoothly than what we see now
 
I might be really off, but I thought that load times were heavily dependant on the media used and the read speed of the drive. Going from cd -> dvd loading times for the average game seemed to decrease, like 2d fighters for example.

I have no clue how fast HD-DVD or Blue Ray transfer data or how fast the drives are, but if the increase is as much as it was from cd->dvd, I would guess load times will drop.
 
Doom_Bringer said:
Half Life 2 was ruined by loadtimes. I loved the game in my first play-through but I started it again recently and can't stand the annoying load times.
Click to expand...

It truly was ruined by the loading times. Even on my rig (x800xt, raptor 74gb, 1GB ram, A64 4000) it took way too long to load, constantly.
 
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