Long Initial Load time fixes.

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xomnus

Guest
Hi I'm using GM Studio 1 to make a very large metroidvania game. My art does take up a decent amount of space. I'm not sure if that is main issue but generally when compiling TPAGE takes a few minutes Here is the game http://www.deathsgambit.com/

I'm trying to see what the best solution is so asking here on the forums to see what is possible.

Here are my main questions
-Can Gamemaker Studio have load art while the game is running? Like a load screen?
-What can be done to improve load times? Compress art? Maybe compress sounds? Anything else?
 

YellowAfterlife

ᴏɴʟɪɴᴇ ᴍᴜʟᴛɪᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ
Forum Staff
Moderator
-Can Gamemaker Studio have load art while the game is running? Like a load screen?
You can load artwork via sprite_add or background_add if needed.
-What can be done to improve load times? Compress art? Maybe compress sounds? Anything else?
There's a "Create textures on demand" checkbox in Global Game Settings - Windows - Graphics, intended to speed up loading times in large games. For some games, it is audio rather than artwork that takes longer to load, in which case splitting audio into audio groups (which are then loaded when needed) helps.
 
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xomnus

Guest
Thanks! Will try sprite_add and background_add. I did have "Create textures on demand" checked. Will also try splitting audio better.
 

CMAllen

Member
I'm confused. Are you talking about load times or are you talking about compiles times from inside Game Maker? Because compiling takes a long time to create texture pages because GM is actually creating them by running complex sorting logic to fit all the various images into as little space as possible. Until you finalize a game build, texture pages are continually rebuilt (anything that alters images assets requires all texture pages be rebuilt). This process is not done on a finished and compiled game. Texture pages have already been created. All the game has to do is load them.
 
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xomnus

Guest
I am talking about load time after a player installs the game with an installer and runs the game. Once the game is "run" it takes about 1-2 minutes for the game to actually appear. I'm trying to lower that time.
 
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