HL2 loading between levels.

[Lanthanide]

I wonder if they could make completely seamless loading without any pause at all? Should be do-able, instead of simply having a line, that once reached, loads the next level and then bumps you into it (in the correct space), they could have a whole room which is the loading area (may need to be quite large).

So for example, when you first cross the boundary, it starts to load the next level, then when you hit the other side of the boundary, it flips to the next one which it has just loaded into the memory. I guess this would require them to be able to store 2 maps in memory at once, however, rather than just 1.

You'd also still get a slight pause when hitting the 2nd boundary if your computer hadn't quite loaded the level yet (slow HD or ram or CPU or whatever) or if you went super-fast through the loading area (ie you were bugged or gauss-jumping or on a vehicle).

Seems feasible to me, anyway.

 

[BetaMaster]

mistake..

Eh, guess not. He hasn't directly replied to that post.

 

[Icarus]

Then I will simply run super-speed across that thin line so I don't fall through it.

Oh no, the moderators going to get me. I don't think so, I'm wearing the Gravity Suit.

Take you super-speed and Gravity Suit somewhere else.

*Banned*

 

[Viperidae]

Praise be to thy lord Icarus, for smiting the offender with great fury by the hand of the Ban button.

 

[Danimal]

If Half-life 2 takes as long to load as it does Resident Evil then Steam should advertise on it like 'PRELOAD HALF-LIFE 3 TODAY!' in the middle of the loading screens :|

 

[Danimal]

Take you super-speed and Gravity Suit somewhere else.

*Banned*

thank god he is banned, I really thought s/he made irrelavant posts...

he or she could come back as Samus_001 or something like that

 

[Eon Blue]

I love that yellow "Loading" text. Well, blue. Or was it yellow? Lol

 

[ne0_shiny]

why cant steam have the "loading..." on the screen while steam is loading the level in the background where you cant see it
or they can have a little box in the lower right corner with the loading bar and cancel and all that

 

[disruptioN_]

I love that yellow "Loading" text. Well, blue. Or was it yellow? Lol

I thought it was white.

It's been a while.

 

[Varsity]

CSS had a loading screen in the same style as the autohelp and speech menus.

 

[Danimal]

I love that yellow "Loading" text. Well, blue. Or was it yellow? Lol

I think it was orange or yellow... one or the other

 

[we11er]

HL2 will have the standard "Loading..." text.

I thought this was well known.

 

[Wildhound]

Since we are going to be using Steam to play HL2, I assume the loading screens are going to be similar to that of Steam versions of HL1 and OF meaning, between loads, there will be a blank screen and a steam popup that says like, "Precaching Resources" or something to that effect.

Do you think this would take you out of the "experience" when you are playing? In the original HL (without steam) there would be a simple yellow "Loading.." in the middle the screen without any changes to the interface. This made it feel a bit more seamless than totally stopping you and remind you that you are using Steam.

I personally think it would be kind of annoying. :x

The loading screen is still the same for me when I play through Steam. It's only as you describe it when playing mods.

 

[KagePrototype]

The loading screen is still the same for me when I play through Steam. It's only as you describe it when playing mods.

I never understood this problem. For me, it happens with every map loaded in any game, SP or MP. You'd think there'd be a way around it.

 

[bodhi]

this loading message...i dont see why they should make it any different to the way steam does it now with hl1 etc...but theyve kept the yellow text coming up in the centre of the screen saying 'Saved..." (was in a screenshot) so maybe they will have the old style loading screen. we'll just have to wait really and see...not that i actually care which one it is, as long the parts between loads are great

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Sorry to tell you this, but i read in the PC Zone review that the loading screens are between 5-10 minutes between each level. I don't know the pc they were using, or how exaggerated that is, i'm simply telling you what they said. If you think the loading screen will ruin it, thats the least of our problems, at least it gives us time for toilet breaks huh?

 

[KagePrototype]

Sorry to tell you this, but i read in the PC Zone review that the loading screens are between 5-10 minutes between each level. I don't know the pc they were using, or how exaggerated that is, i'm simply telling you what they said. If you think the loading screen will ruin it, thats the least of our problems, at least it gives us time for toilet breaks huh?

5-10 seconds. He was being sarcastic, seeing there weren't that many bad aspects to the game.

 

[Patten]

When playing through Half-Life again recently, it still used to old "Loading..." thing and isn't very intrusive.

I think it should be fine if they use this method, and hopefully they do.(Why change something that still work fine?)

 

[Hectic Glenn]

My bad mistake, i gotta say im relieved, thank you Kage. I guess its going to be back to the 'i'll just finish this bit then have a rest' But seriously loading screens dont mean that much? I honestly couldn't care less, its such a small insignificant part of this whole production.

 

[PvtRyan]

HL1 and Op4 on Steam have the exact same system as non-Steam HL1 and Op4 (ie "Loading") so why wouldn't HL2 have this?

 

[KagePrototype]

HL1 and Op4 on Steam have the exact same system as non-Steam HL1 and Op4 (ie "Loading") so why wouldn't HL2 have this?

Because for some people (like myself), HL1 and OpForce on Steam use the Steam loading bar each time a map is loaded. What's stopping this from happening in HL2?

 

[we11er]

Something strange here - my halflife uses the standard "Loading" text, but then when I copied the valve folder and started modifying the code, it started using the vgui loading dialog.

So it looks like it could be a bug in the way steam delivers the map contents to the game. Perhaps someone should post this at steampowered.com?

 

[Methias]

Someone tell me just exactly what MrMetroid did to deserve to get banned. I read the entire text of this post and I can't see a single thing that would have made that warranted.

Edit: I've now looked over his posting history and yeah, he was a bit of a troll. Considering that I don't think I'll miss him.

 

[Orgonomist]

Do you really want him around, anyway?

 

[Mess]

He was funny - looked like Icarus just did the ban to make some people like him more.

Wouldn't this idea of loading the next map whilst playing the previous one be horribly RAM intensive - as in it would require twice as much RAM than the standard method?

-- Mess

 

[exoeight]

Steam won't exist once you start half life 2, I know this for a fact, and you can find out yourself if you get on DC++ and look for Half Life 2, that will be all the proof you need.

 

[Z|insane]

I think some of his spam was deleted Methias.

 

[Methias]

ahh, i see. my bad folks. hehe