Incredibly long map load times UT2004

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

Is anyone else experiencing incredibly long load times when loading a
map on UT2004? It seems like when I'm online and after downloading a
map, it takes at least 60 seconds for the map to load. Meanwhile, I'm
looking at my hard drive light and it is constantly on during the
load.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how to work around that?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

On 7 May 2004 06:53:32 -0700, tommynospam@yahoo.com (tommy) wrote:

>Is anyone else experiencing incredibly long load times when loading a
>map on UT2004? It seems like when I'm online and after downloading a
>map, it takes at least 60 seconds for the map to load. Meanwhile, I'm
>looking at my hard drive light and it is constantly on during the
>load.
>
>Does anyone know why this is happening and how to work around that?

I'm sure this is already in the FAQ, but turn off that Cache Skins
setting if you already haven't. Even with a 2600+, sata drive, and
1GB of the good stuff, the first node is almost completed before my
computer would pop me into a level. Turned it off, I'm now waiting
for others to join

-s-

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

I turned all the cache stuff to False. Although that lets me in to
the game quicker, i still can't play until it's finished loading.
When I'm finally in, several power nodes are already built so I can't
imagine everyone having this problem. Would I start looking at
computer performance issues next or is there something else I could
try?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

>tommynospam@yahoo.com (tommy) wrote in
>news:4f0df91b.0405070553.59ff74ef@posting.google.com:
>
>> Is anyone else experiencing incredibly long load times when loading a
>> map on UT2004? It seems like when I'm online and after downloading a
>> map, it takes at least 60 seconds for the map to load. Meanwhile, I'm
>> looking at my hard drive light and it is constantly on during the
>> load.
>>
>> Does anyone know why this is happening and how to work around that?
>
>In the UT2004.ini file, change all UsePrecaching=True to
>UsePrecaching=False and UsePrecache=True to UsePrecache=False.


There are a bunch of them. Hope this works!


-pw
remove astericks (*) from e-mail address
(use paulwilliamson at spamcop dot net)


----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000 Newsgroups
---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

 

[Spinner]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

I'm having the same problem.
It does not seem to make any difference if I log in to my dedicated server
on another machine, or play a single player game on my own machine.
By the time I finally get in, the match is half over.

"tommy" <tommynospam@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4f0df91b.0405091803.1242f731@posting.google.com...
> I turned all the cache stuff to False. Although that lets me in to
> the game quicker, i still can't play until it's finished loading.
> When I'm finally in, several power nodes are already built so I can't
> imagine everyone having this problem. Would I start looking at
> computer performance issues next or is there something else I could
> try?

 

[Pluvious]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

On Sun, 9 May 2004 22:18:51 -0400, "Spinner" <spinner@web.cor> wrote:

||I'm having the same problem.
||It does not seem to make any difference if I log in to my dedicated server
||on another machine, or play a single player game on my own machine.
||By the time I finally get in, the match is half over.
||

You and Tommy might want to consider getting more RAM then.
1 gig is getting pretty common with serious gamers.

Pluvious


||"tommy" <tommynospam@yahoo.com> wrote in message
||news:4f0df91b.0405091803.1242f731@posting.google.com...
||> I turned all the cache stuff to False. Although that lets me in to
||> the game quicker, i still can't play until it's finished loading.
||> When I'm finally in, several power nodes are already built so I can't
||> imagine everyone having this problem. Would I start looking at
||> computer performance issues next or is there something else I could
||> try?
||

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

hAiNeSy <jesusisevil@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<Xns94E387C70806jesusisevil@130.133.1.4>...
<snip>
> In the UT2004.ini file, change all UsePrecaching=True to
> UsePrecaching=False and UsePrecache=True to UsePrecache=False.

Thank you. Load time went from two minutes to 20-30 seconds.

Regards,
J.D. Spangler

 

[Spinner]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

"Pluvious" <Pluvious@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:i4cv90hukh065hk8frp24h9geikv6e0dik@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 9 May 2004 22:18:51 -0400, "Spinner" <spinner@web.cor> wrote:
>
> ||I'm having the same problem.
> ||It does not seem to make any difference if I log in to my dedicated
server
> ||on another machine, or play a single player game on my own machine.
> ||By the time I finally get in, the match is half over.
> ||
>
> You and Tommy might want to consider getting more RAM then.
> 1 gig is getting pretty common with serious gamers.

I would, except I see no reason to go over the 2.5 I'm already using.

>
> Pluvious
>
>
> ||"tommy" <tommynospam@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> ||news:4f0df91b.0405091803.1242f731@posting.google.com...
> ||> I turned all the cache stuff to False. Although that lets me in to
> ||> the game quicker, i still can't play until it's finished loading.
> ||> When I'm finally in, several power nodes are already built so I can't
> ||> imagine everyone having this problem. Would I start looking at
> ||> computer performance issues next or is there something else I could
> ||> try?
> ||
>

 

[Spinner]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

"J.D. Spangler" <ayrsayle@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:96dad081.0405101805.79033dcd@posting.google.com...
> hAiNeSy <jesusisevil@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:<Xns94E387C70806jesusisevil@130.133.1.4>...
> <snip>
> > In the UT2004.ini file, change all UsePrecaching=True to
> > UsePrecaching=False and UsePrecache=True to UsePrecache=False.
>
> Thank you. Load time went from two minutes to 20-30 seconds.

Same here! That was the answer.
Thank you, thank you thank you!!!


>
> Regards,
> J.D. Spangler

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

If someone in this thread is NOT having the long load time problem AND
when you enter the game, you are immediately playing without having to
wait for additional things to load, if you could post your system
specs to see what we might be missing, I, for one, would certainly
appreciate it.

I can only imagine a good ram drive would good in this instance.

Thanks, guys.

 

[Pluvious]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

On Mon, 10 May 2004 22:51:27 -0400, "Spinner" <spinner@web.cor> wrote:

||
||"Pluvious" <Pluvious@nowhere.com> wrote in message
||news:i4cv90hukh065hk8frp24h9geikv6e0dik@4ax.com...
||> On Sun, 9 May 2004 22:18:51 -0400, "Spinner" <spinner@web.cor> wrote:
||>
||> ||I'm having the same problem.
||> ||It does not seem to make any difference if I log in to my dedicated
||server
||> ||on another machine, or play a single player game on my own machine.
||> ||By the time I finally get in, the match is half over.
||> ||
||>
||> You and Tommy might want to consider getting more RAM then.
||> 1 gig is getting pretty common with serious gamers.
||
||I would, except I see no reason to go over the 2.5 I'm already using.
||

Nice...
||>
||> Pluvious
||>
||>
||> ||"tommy" <tommynospam@yahoo.com> wrote in message
||> ||news:4f0df91b.0405091803.1242f731@posting.google.com...
||> ||> I turned all the cache stuff to False. Although that lets me in to
||> ||> the game quicker, i still can't play until it's finished loading.
||> ||> When I'm finally in, several power nodes are already built so I can't
||> ||> imagine everyone having this problem. Would I start looking at
||> ||> computer performance issues next or is there something else I could
||> ||> try?
||> ||
||>
||

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

tommy wrote:

> If someone in this thread is NOT having the long load time problem AND
> when you enter the game, you are immediately playing without having to
> wait for additional things to load, if you could post your system
> specs to see what we might be missing, I, for one, would certainly
> appreciate it.
>

My current setup is a 1.5ghz Athlon with a GeForce2 card, but I've found
that map loading times are much lower with 2K4 than they were with 2K3.

What I've done differently this time is put the entire Maps folder on a
different hard disk, on my secondary IDE chain. Having both drives
operate in parallel when loading UT2K4 definitely improves performance.

You can add new search paths in the UT2004.ini file, under the section
labelled [Core.System], as so:

Paths=H:/UT2004Maps/*.ut2

 

[steve]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

tommy wrote:
> If someone in this thread is NOT having the long load time problem AND
> when you enter the game, you are immediately playing without having to
> wait for additional things to load, if you could post your system
> specs to see what we might be missing, I, for one, would certainly
> appreciate it.
>
> I can only imagine a good ram drive would good in this instance.
>
> Thanks, guys.

MSI K7N2 Delta L mobo
512mb Crucial PC2700 memory
PowerColor ATi Radeon 9600xt
Maxtor 120mb HD with 8mb cache
1mb cable connection via cable modem
Comfy leather swivel chair
Fondue set
Fluffy toy
etc

I've noticed that I'm usually one of the first to start a new game, if
not *the* first. In Torlan for example, I've sometimes almost completed
the first node before another player arrives. I am often, but not quite
always, the first to the Manta. I'm also usually first to the first node
in RedPlanet.
HTH.

 

[Meltdown]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

tommy enlightened us with:
> I can only imagine a good ram drive would good in this instance.

In order to use that, you'd need about 6 GB of RAM...

MeltDown
--
!For all your UT99/2k3/2k4 questions visit UnrealTower's FAQ section:
! http://www.unrealtower.org/faq
!Home of the FAQs for agut and agut2003.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

Damnit! I knew I should have kept that fondue set I threw away last year.

> Maxtor 120mb HD with 8mb cache

Is this SATA, SCSI, IDE, or an external drive connected to 300 baud serial port?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

Yes, you are right if someone where to load the entire game. But
since it appears that my excess load time is caused by my hard disk,
as indicated by my HD light when I load a level, I was thinking of
just putting the maps on the ram drive. More specifically, the
Onslaught maps and would just need to update the UT2004.ini path for
the maps.

With the Onslaught maps I have now, I would only need about 500 meg.

 

[Meltdown]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

tommy enlightened us with:
> I was thinking of just putting the maps on the ram drive.

It might help a bit, but be aware that the models, textures and sounds
also need to be loaded.

> With the Onslaught maps I have now, I would only need about 500 meg.

Give it a try and tell us how things work out!

MeltDown
--
!For all your UT99/2k3/2k4 questions visit UnrealTower's FAQ section:
! http://www.unrealtower.org/faq
!Home of the FAQs for agut and agut2003.

 

[steve]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

tommy wrote:
> Damnit! I knew I should have kept that fondue set I threw away last year.
>
>
>>Maxtor 120mb HD with 8mb cache
>
>
> Is this SATA, SCSI, IDE, or an external drive connected to 300 baud serial port?

Its a boring IDE drive I'm afraid.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

Boring or not, that is actually good news! That tells me that an
expensive hardware upgrade isn't necessary since IDE is what I have.

So, Steve, who would I "have to kill" in order to get a copy of your
c:\ut2004\ut2004.ini and c:\ut2004\ut2004.log file after you've played
a round of Severence? Maybe comparing files would render some clues.

(if you wouldn't have any problem doing this, you can e-mail it to the
e-mail address associated with this post if you don't feel comfortable
posting it here)

 

[Meltdown]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

tommy enlightened us with:
> Well, the demo Ram disk program could only make me a 100Meg drive

Try it on Linux - you can have a ram disk any size you want.

> but I did copy the Severence map to it and change the paths in
> UT2004.ini file accordingly but to no avail. Still long load time.

Probably due to swapping, and loading of textures, etc.

> (actually, when I was copying the map file from disk to ram drive
> (actually 5 of them), it went almost instantly which told me that it
> probably wasn't the maps loading from disk.)

Weird.

> Unfortuneatly, i don't know what else it has to load in order to bring
> a level up for play. I thought that maybe a log file is generated so
> I saw a UT2004.log (included below) and started browsing around and
> found some interesting stuff. One line actually says that is took
> 69.691000 seconds to bring the level up for play. Even the system
> knows how long it took but it gave me no indication as to what it
> needs to load for the Severence map.

You can remove all textures to start with, and place back only the ones
it whines about when playing that map.

> One other thing of interest are the lines between the two "..." below.
> These two lines occured "a million times" when shutting down. Anyone
> know why?

I know what an Octree is, but I don't know what that has to do with the
ramdrive experiment...

> Bottom line, I don't know where to go from here.

Get Linux, install a ramdisk. Use 'cp -s' to copy the entire game onto
the harddisk as symbolic links - that way they won't take up space on
the ramdisk, but you can already run the game from the ramdisk
directory. Then remove some of the symlinks and replace them with actual
files.

Or send me a gig of DDR Ram and I'll try it myself ;-)


MeltDown
--
!For all your UT99/2k3/2k4 questions visit UnrealTower's FAQ section:
! http://www.unrealtower.org/faq
!Home of the FAQs for agut and agut2003.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

On Thu, 13 May 2004 09:05:09 +0200, MeltDown
<meltdownUSE@YOURunrealtower.imagination.org> wrote:

>tommy enlightened us with:
>> Well, the demo Ram disk program could only make me a 100Meg drive
>
>Try it on Linux - you can have a ram disk any size you want.

I don't know what app the original poster is using, but I've made a
500mb ram disk for a windows box in the recent past. Don't recall
what tool I used (it wasn't windows-native) but it was freeware and
AFAIK had no size limitation. Will look for a bookmark when I get
home.

-s-

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

# Spinner

>

> Same here! That was the answer.
> Thank you, thank you thank you!!!
>
>
>>
>> Regards,
>> J.D. Spangler
>
>
>

Don't you find it glitches during play now though?

--
Toby
asktoby.com
BSOD VST & ME

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

> Don't you find it glitches during play now though?

That's what I experienced and it was actucally less acceptable than
the long load times so I switched it back.

 

[steve]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

tommy wrote:
> Boring or not, that is actually good news! That tells me that an
> expensive hardware upgrade isn't necessary since IDE is what I have.
>
> So, Steve, who would I "have to kill" in order to get a copy of your
> c:\ut2004\ut2004.ini and c:\ut2004\ut2004.log file after you've played
> a round of Severence? Maybe comparing files would render some clues.
>
> (if you wouldn't have any problem doing this, you can e-mail it to the
> e-mail address associated with this post if you don't feel comfortable
> posting it here)

I can email them to you, but I don't know how they could help you.
What's the significance of sending them after a round of Severence?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.unreal.tournament2003 (More info?)

> What's the significance of sending them after a round of Severence?

Mostly this is for the UT2004.ini. I would like to see the steps it
took and how long everything took according to your system. Thanks.