Frozen on Loading Objects
by Scott Oconnell · in Torque Game Engine · 02/06/2008 (2:59 am) · 9 replies
I just got a copy of the Torque engine and started playing around with it. On all the demos and the stuff I'm working with, I notice that while it's loading characters, and objects and maps etc, a lot of times I notice that the program basically freezes all together and won't respond. I totally understand it's loading a lot of data and it takes time, but it looks bad in terms of distribution wise if our game freezes while it loads. I have a quad core system with 4gb ram and a 10k rpm drive, it's a beast of a machine, so if it's freezing on here, I know it'll freeze on most other systems and I vaguely remember having the same issues a couple years ago when I played with the demo for Torque. I searched but didn't see anything directly related to this, I don't know if there is a quick fix or what. I'm planning on having all the maps preloaded on the user's system, so I'm not sure if it would be possible to have it load everything in the background while it's booting up and they log in, or if it has to be done after it specifically logs them in, but I'd really appreciate if anyone had any ideas or if they know how to overcome this issue. Thanks
#2
02/09/2008 (9:56 pm)
Lee, I'd agree with you, except for the fact that I'm talking about the out of the box, compiled demo without me making any modifications to the source, just compiling it. I recalled it from a game years ago written in Torque with the same problem, where it hangs and freezes the window while it loads the data blocks and such (was a different pc). Windows reports the program as "Not responding", so there isn't really any way that I'd be able to look at the console except afterwards, but it's the base engine and nothing more, absolutely ZERO changes.
#3
Except that you recompiled it. Is there anything else I can do for you today? :-)
Seriously though, you don't seem to have checked the console.log file, or I suppose you'd have posted what you found.
02/09/2008 (10:09 pm)
absolutely ZERO changes.Except that you recompiled it. Is there anything else I can do for you today? :-)
Seriously though, you don't seem to have checked the console.log file, or I suppose you'd have posted what you found.
#4
02/09/2008 (10:12 pm)
I'm out of town right now so I don't have my compiler pc in front of me, but I brought it up because I've seen it on other Torque apps. Compiling it out of the box, on gcc, with no change in options or anything, should have the exact same result as anything else. I'm not new to software or compiling, I use Linux 90% of the time and I run large servers for clients for a living, so I know what I'm doing here, but compiling the software without making any changes, should have the same exact result no matter what pc you're on, especially when i've seen multiple Torque clients that do the same thing for me.
#5
"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
No one answered your post for several days, so I just thought I'd give it a whack.
02/09/2008 (10:21 pm)
LOL hey man I'm just telling you:"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
No one answered your post for several days, so I just thought I'd give it a whack.
#6
All progress bars go smooth here, the cursor never stops, etc.
02/10/2008 (2:00 am)
Honestly, I haven't seen this behaviour in any of our previous prototypes or our current game, ever. Haven't even seen it in ThinkTanks, LORE or Tribes either. I don't know what that tells you, but it tells me something's fishy with your equipment or I'm misreading your post.All progress bars go smooth here, the cursor never stops, etc.
#7
Now that I think about it, a syntax error in the mission file will do it every time.
02/10/2008 (1:48 pm)
@Stefan: I have. But usually it works fine the next time I try it, or there is an obvious message in the log. Now that I think about it, a syntax error in the mission file will do it every time.
#8
02/10/2008 (2:35 pm)
Huh? A syntax error in your mission file will prevent the mission from starting altogether. In his description he says the loading is slowed down or "hanged" but when it's done the missions starts, so it can't be that.
#9
02/10/2008 (5:49 pm)
I dunno, I'm not sure we know that the mission starts from his post. 
Torque Owner Lee Latham
Default Studio Name
But Torque can load a lot of data fast--that's not your problem.
Next time it hangs, hit tilde and take a look at the last part.
If it's _really_ locked up and you can't even do that, take a look at console.log in the install directory. But odds are you'll be able to pull it down with ~.