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So a week ago or so i asked this question: A few queries about my Map Data (& ideas of improvement, seconded opinion required)

And the advice in the comment was to ask them as 3 separate questions. So I' going to focus on map loading, and my concerns. So recently i have been working on a new map editor, mainly creating some form of an entity system so that i can easily edit and manage any entities i have (animated tiles, enemies etc.). And i currently have animated tiles done.

But now I'm coming to the point were I'm going to-do the saving and loading in the editor. And I'm just curious to know if i should be worried about loading quite a-lot of data in some cases.

So this might be an example of things that would be in my map files;

  • Map Data, the number of layers, the width & height of the map and finally then all the map tile data. (Currently in my old map format, this is all the data the map's contain!)

  • Then having any Animated Tile data, their position, what animation file they use.

  • Enemy Data, the enemy type, positions of the enemies, the starting enemy state.

  • Level Exit Data, the position of the exit node, the destination of were the exit will take the player.

In terms of scale, i don't think a level will contain more than 20 enemies, in terms of Level Exit data, perhaps 3-4 max. Animation tiles, perhaps 20-40 max depending on the size of the level.

I'm just worried in that by loading up all this data it's going to take quite the hit on performance. So my question is purely, should i be worried? Or am i just being overly sensitive to loading this much data? In-fact in comparison to other games, is that a-lot of data to be loaded in with a map (that would be an interesting comparison to settle me, to see another games map and perhaps compare the amounts of data stored).

Thanks in advance for any help :)

Community
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dan369
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    Probably not something to worry about. Just code it, and once (if?) you have a problem, you can easily triage and fix it. – ashes999 Jan 29 '12 at 17:07
  • So how long is the loading time ingame? – Maik Semder Jan 29 '12 at 17:48
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    StarCraft II maps will be loading at least 10 times the data you are talking about: scripts, unit customizations, doodads, and not to mention the complex terrain! You have absolutely nothing to worry about. – John McDonald Jan 29 '12 at 17:53
  • Right now it works very well, couldn't give you an exact figure just right now. But there is no sort of any noticeable load up time. – dan369 Jan 29 '12 at 17:56
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    If you can't notice a load time, why do you think there is a problem? You won't gain anything from optimizing it untill you actually face a problem with it. – Peter Ølsted Jan 29 '12 at 19:34
  • Let me clarify what i said, right now, with the current, older map files, which just contain the map data, there is no noticeable load time. However, my worry was that when i start to add in all this extra info, then it would start to see a hit. – dan369 Jan 29 '12 at 19:47

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No.

Unless you are doing something very naive or brute force, the sorts of numbers you're talking about here will barely be noticeable. Even if your map format was some sort of ugly ASCII file or XML file that needed parsing, I'd be very surprised that loading would even show up as a blip in the profile.

You most likely won't even notice loading time until you get up into the hundreds/thousands of tiles.

MrCranky
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