About the GCFs

[Mr-Fusion]

Are the hl2 gcfs compressed? Because if not we're in need of over 1gig more of extra preloads to reach the 3.5gig size Gabe said on hl2fallout, maps will only be about 100mg. What's in the rest of the preload? Hl2mpfiles.gcf?? :dozey:

http://www.hl2fallout.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=299&hl=

Spoiler

On another note, there's an interesting file in the gcf called v_hands.mdl. Now either Valve have decided to have hand models for driving vehicles, opening ..valves etc or their simply seperating the hand models from weapons to make it easier for some reason. I say this because in the beta there is no sign of v_hands.mdl.

 

[Adminslimited]

GCFScape is the key. However it is encrypted, the program will just let you see what type of files and how big they are you have in it.
Do you think that they keep all the sounds and images in a map file?
Hell no.

 

[hi_ted]

In the Ravenholm movie, the player lifts a barrel but you do not see hands. Could it be referring to a part of a model? Is there a v_head, v_foot?
We have 2.5Gb on our machines, which will be HL2 and CS: Source.
If we have uncompressed, we still have a Gb which is maps, executable and CS Source.
If it's compressed, maps will only be 100mb, some executables and the stuff over 2Gb is CS Source.

LOL, I just read this. In that same thread, ZEROArmy said "There is now way in hell Valve's servers are going to be able to upload 3.5 gigs to millions of gamers at once. "

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

Maps will only be 100mb? Are you insane?
Given that de_dust from the CS:S beta is over 10mb, and is a relatively small map, I'd say 100mb is a tad unrealistic.

 

[oldagerocker]

So if the maps are huge, can we expect long load up times when we start the game? I got a gig of ram and fast (though 32-bit) processor... and Dust takes long enough to load up. HL2 could be even worse, even thought it'll do it in small chunks like in HL.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Maps will only be 100mb? Are you insane?
Given that de_dust from the CS:S beta is over 10mb, and is a relatively small map, I'd say 100mb is a tad unrealistic.

You're right!!

Spoiler

I was only looking at the size of the E3 maps in the beta, the rest of them are about 700mg in size altogether. How silly of me.

So if the maps are huge, can we expect long load up times when we start the game? I got a gig of ram and fast (though 32-bit) processor... and Dust takes long enough to load up. HL2 could be even worse, even thought it'll do it in small chunks like in HL.

The load times are apparently huge, bigger than Far Cry's.

 

[Brian Damage]

According to one guy at HL2w.o.r.l.d.

According to others, including some magazine previews, they're shorter. One preview had mention of a load time bug, which VALVe said would be fixed, IIRC...

 

[iamaelephant]

Well considering the size of de_dust and the load times for that map, I'm going to assume the loads times will be on par, if not longer, than Far Cry.

 

[Brian Damage]

I was extremely happy to get this reply. I loved the fast loading times in Half-Life...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 10:44:19 -0700
From: "Rick Ellis" <[email protected]> Add To Address Book
Subject: RE: loading times
To: <[email protected]>


Hi Dxxx,

Level load times should be on par with Half-Life 1. We will continue to
optimize our game up until the time we go gold -- there's always
something that can be polished.

Thanks,
Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2004 8:41 PM
To: Rick Ellis
Subject: loading times

Hi Rick,

Just another hl2.net forum freak with a question for ya.
Anyway, I was wondering how the loading times are shaping up for levels
in Half-Life 2? I loved the way levels were loaded so quick in the first
game, and am wondering how long the "huge looking" levels in the sequel
take to load in general.

As a secondary question, has optimisations for something like level
loading been completed, or is that something that just gradually
improves as the game nears completion?

Thanks for your time, and thanks in advance for the game!

Cheers

Although I have not played CS:S, I have played the HL2 Alpha. From what I've played, the Source engine is absolutely fine. The physics are good. The textures are nice. And the load times are minimal.

I'd ask Shmozy (hope I spelled that right), too. He's one of the ones who's played it, isn't he?

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Schmozy and merc yep, they were both there.

 

[jameth]

The first map load will be the longest, then it will be very small, map to map, because it's only loading maps after that. Not all the models/sounds again. The load times will probably be minimal

 

[Wildhound]

The load time for de_dust in CS:S is extremely short for me. No more than 5 to 10 seconds. Perhaps it's just my hard drive.

 

[poseyjmac]

The load time for de_dust in CS:S is extremely short for me. No more than 5 to 10 seconds. Perhaps it's just my hard drive.

aha, your sig is so ironic in an instance such as this, because i was wondering how much ram, and what HD you have, to get that load time.

 

[Wildhound]

aha, your sig is so ironic in an instance such as this, because i was wondering how much ram, and what HD you have, to get that load time.

Heh, that's pretty damned ironic all right.

1GB PC3200 and a 200GB S-ATA Seagate Barracuda.

 

[Subatomic]

Don't forget they still have to preload the whole source engine

 

[BetaMaster]

what happened to my post? It disappeared!

 

[Feath]

what happened to my post? It disappeared!

It's as if a mod deleted it because it contain information taken from the leak or something.

 

[Bluechair]

The source engine won't be very large at all compared to the textures...

 

[BetaMaster]

oh. that makes sense. I wasn't sure if that was against the rules here or not. I won't do it again.

-BM

 

[Ecthe|ioN]

!!! IF !!! the RC goes to vivendi on the 15. and gets approved we might see another preload in the end of the week. My guess is that they plan to wait on releasing the critical files (.exe .dll's etc) until the game is planned to be released (since somebody out there is likely to crack the game if everything is preloaded long before release). I bet there's not much left to preload, though I wouldn't mind the game being 10Gigs. The bigger the better right ? Or maybe size doesn't matter..

 

[KagePrototype]

!!! IF !!! the RC goes to vivendi on the 15. and gets approved we might see another preload in the end of the week. My guess is that they plan to wait on releasing the critical files (.exe .dll's etc) until the game is planned to be released (since somebody out there is likely to crack the game if everything is preloaded long before release).

Those with CS:S already have the critical Source files i.e. the .exes and .dlls, so Valve aren't exactly sitting on them at the moment.

I bet there's not much left to preload, though I wouldn't mind the game being 10Gigs. The bigger the better right ? Or maybe size doesn't matter..

Gabe said that HL2 is 3.5GB uncompressed, and so far we have around 2.4GB of that, so expect maybe one or two more preloads.