Blight Client 386.25

Optimization:
•Make texture cache save and load faster

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I don't normally comment on Blight releases, unless there is something bad or something worth pointing out. Today, I actually want to post because I'm am in awe about the speed increase, that tech team pulled off. This is easily 10x faster.

I don't want you to clear your cache just to test this, this really should only be done when it's needed.

But today I cleared my world cache. I then teleported to Dalimond. There are about 25 NPC's within "range" upon arrival.

I immediately get about 25 "Sorry for the bump, preparing cache for NPC Name so it will load faster next time.

Normally I get about a 1-2 second freeze on the screen when this occurs. This is 1-2 seconds per bump. So this could have been a 20 second freeze, normally. If I am running while the "bump" messages occur, then I usually freeze for a moment. Or don't have to be running, can just be rotating the camera around, same thing.

I was able to run FULL SPEED, the entire time the bump messages was occurring. I was even getting a few more messages as I around town. The entire time, I didn't really even notice any pause or freeze.

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Also want to comment on 387.24
•Animation Khutit to Dragon pops

This fixes a long time bug I've noticed. When you go from Dragon to Khutit form, it's a pretty smooth animation. When going from Khutit back to dragon, there was this quick flash. It was like the full sized dragon flashed on screen, that quickly disappeared, then the animation continue normally. This "quick flash" of being full-sized dragon for a moment is gone now.

•Allow binary effect files (rtm files) to be located in resources override now

The .rtm files (effect binary files) that are located in /resources/defintions/effectsbin folder were previously hard coded. Which meant the client didn't recognize any .rtm files that were placed in the resources_override folder. This is good for testing things for one. Lets say you want to change certain effect to another one, this can now be done more easily by simply copying an existing .rtm file to the override folder and renaming it to an effect you want instead.

Want to have some fun with the loot corpse effect, for example?

The current loot indicator (swirling white light) is called effect_unlooted.rtm

This screenshot shows me where I changed it to the effect_acid_spray.rtm effect.
I did this by copying effect_acid_spray.rtm to the resources_override folder. I then renamed it to effect_unlooted.rtm (restart game).

http://istariareference.com/screensh...ect_unloot.png

But seriously, I've seen a post on forums that the current unlooted indicator effect could potentially lag players. It doesn't me, but at least this gives options. I'm going to create blank.rtm on an upcoming client release that does no effects. So it will be possible to just "undo" certain effects, such as the loot indicator from occurring. This would be done by copying blank.rtm to resources_override folder and renaming it to effect_unlooted.rtm , for example.

Happy Hunting!

Actually the new blank effect (next client patch) will be called blank_effect.rtm, not blank.rtm, since the source file for this already exists, with this file name. It seems the source file for a blank effect already existed, but no one ever converted it to a .rtm file and patched it.

Just a note on the name-change to the ResourceMeta.def file...

If a patch fail message is being reported on the server when our client-side file is read-only, it may be because we are using the Map Pack and have set it to read-only ourselves, since it redirects the path to the map files and would have to be redone every time we patch otherwise.

Might I also suggest an option to turn off the "bump" messages?

Just to be clear, the "bump" messages doesn't cause any lag, at all. It's simply describing when something is happening. No different than when you mine ore and you see the "Gathered 5 Iron Ore, "Gathered 8 Iron Ore", etc etc. Simple text messages, like this don't cause lag.

The bump message, is a way to tell you that you don't have a nearby NPC in cache and it is now creating a cache file, so the next time, it won't need to do this. The next visit, the client will use the cached file of the npc, instead of downloading it (thus no lag and no bump message).

This slight lag, while it downloads, is the reason for the lag. Client has to wait for it to download, before it can be displayed. Think of Sorry for the bump, means "I'm about to begin downloading this NPC's cache file, standby", there will be a slight freeze until it finishes and loads. If the bump messages were removed, you'd still have a slight pause regardless.

The messages are actually a good tool (at least I think) to tell you why your game has suddenly lagged for a few milliseconds. You can time those lags, perfectly with the bump messages.

That message also helped another player to figure out why the game lagged so bad in Kion, that it was almost a certain crash.

With the new optimization, it read/writes the cache file much faster. It should be noticeable whether you have a cache file of an npc yet or not. Either way, it's going to be much faster whether or not you get a bump message.

Example of how the feedback messages were helpful: http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...y-for-the-Bump

Heh, I wasn't worried about the lag, as when I have to clear my cache I know with 100% certainty that I will get "bumps", especially with all my load/render ranges maxed. I was just suggesting the option to mute the messages as they can get a bit spammy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Drevar

Heh, I wasn't worried about the lag, as when I have to clear my cache I know with 100% certainty that I will get "bumps", especially with all my load/render ranges maxed. I was just suggesting the option to mute the messages as they can get a bit spammy.

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100% support, I would love for a way for these messsages to get muted.

The most recent client update will only print the message if it would actually result in a frame rate skip. This is a tough one because the messages exist to provide information about why a skip occurs, but once a person knows, they want the messages removed. I've let the devs know that a preference is desired so that the message will no longer print.