Pre-Alpha gameplay for KlangM. Running on both PC and mobile platforms.

Hi. So I've been playing around with using the browser reload action combined with manual loading of big assets from URL to improve memory management. I've had success with this in all browsers, even with NWjs preview. However the only instance it doesn't work is NWjs export. Here the OS memory stacks on each reload, making the 32-bit game crash after loading 10-20 times. This seems like fixable problem, but is it? Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks

oosyrag While I get the sentiment. I've already made and shipped one big game relying on sprites and the built-in systems for loading, and no, even an empty layout within that project takes a long, long time to boot. It's to the point where you can't work efficiently anymore, if at all. I'm never making a game that way ever again. The extra time spent making tools to take advantage of manual URL loading to keep the boot/iteration time low pales in comparrison to lost time just waiting for that loading bar again and again. I will give global and persist a try though.

Edit: Yeah seems like the plugin only works like a layout switch. I guess I should've read the description more carefully. Which means the curse of C2 memory management continues... I'm so moving on from this engine soon.

oosyrag I tried it. You're right about the ImageMemoryUse only reporting the memory use on the given layout. However the boot time was still slowed down by having the images in a sprite object. So my point about improving iteration time still stands.

Also just to test browser memory use. I saw that having the images in the sprites folder still bloated memory use even when on another layout. In images it didn't raise memory use. However you're right that once they're loaded in they won't unload ever... Guess I need to get a hold on this wonderful plugin after all:

https://www.scirra.com/store/construct2 ... emory-3812

newt That was only for easily replicating the issue in an example. Yes I don't have that many 1080p images in the game. I am mostly planning on using this feature for dynamic graphics options. The default sprites will be mobile friendly, and a second set of assets' designed to look good all the way up to 4k monitors. However loading an entire game with assets of this magnitude is just unsustainable. I think it's finally time to try that plugin out. If the unloader works then I should have total control over loading and unloading assets.

newt No actually it's not. Try making a blank project and put 20-50 1080p images in the files folder. Notice how previews boots instantly, and there's no increase in image memory use. Now place those same images in a sprite. Boom got yourself several seconds of loading, and that memory use's pretty big. Also done tests on HTML exports, and you can clearly tell the images from files needs to be loaded from the server. They're not loaded in the same way as sprites. Also if you have a text object print the image memory use, you will see it rise considerably once you use the "load from url" action. Restarting the layout makes it disappear, and the memory use is reset.

This is the solution to making projects scaleble. This way you don't have load your entire game just to playtest that one level giving you trouble.

Problem with that is it'll affect boot time and bloat the project. Avoiding that is the sole reason I'm turning to this feature to begin with.

Hi. So I've finally cracked the code on how to work with massive animated assets without bloating boot and iteration times. I wish I knew about the potential of the "load image from URL" functionality sooner. After I made my own image point system I could work with images in the files folder as if they were sprites. However I have one slight issue with it. Whenever I restart the layout, the sprites needs to be loaded in again. While this is mostly a very good thing for memory, it's a bit cumbersome since there's about 150 frames of main-character animation that needs to be loaded in at all times. Reloading them for every level feels a bit unnecessary. Is there any way to make the loaded sprites not unload on level restart/change?

Thanks

CreativeMind Thank you! Yes I have been considering doing a video series on the most crucial pitfalls I've encountered with my time using Construct. I feel I possess a lot of wisdom now that I could've killed for back when I was starting out. No promises when or if I'll make it though.

So I've tried out some of the recommended ways of determening which browser the game's being played in, but both Firefox and Chrome returns the same names and values. I do for instance get both Netscape and Gecko with both Firefox and Chrome. Anyone got a foolproof solution lying around?

Starting an encounter in KlangM. A lot of work just to get past that silly tap to start music restriction...

Environment art:

Ashley Yes that seems to have fixed it. I'm unable to recreate the issue now. I'm glad it turned out to be an easy fix! Thank you very much!

Gonna need a statement on this issue soon. Thanks Ashley