Saved files take long to load in SMACV 4

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Author Topic:   Saved files take long to load in SMACV 4

Balistic posted 07-09-99 05:35 AM ET
Since I installed the version 4 update the saved files take a long time to load. Why is that?
tfs99 posted 07-09-99 03:54 PM ET
Same here. An annoyance for me. Others with slower machines though ...
SMAC n ... Ted S.
Sheitan posted 07-10-99 07:08 PM ET
No idea why....
It's pretty annoying eh?
I used to have almost zero load time, and now it takes 4-5 seconds.
- Sheitan
asenaw posted 07-10-99 09:57 PM ET
i have the same problem as well as when i start up the game......i forget exactly where but there is a screen that shows up just befor the intro videos show up where it hangs longer than it used to and i have a p2 333 w/64megs of ram

Wanessa Forever
Zardoz posted 07-11-99 03:37 AM ET
I have a P5-233 with 96 MB and loading the game is takes a noticably longer period of time, maybe somewhere between 10 to 20 seconds longer. Several of the game I play take longer, game play doesn't seem to be affected. When I sit down to play it is usually for several hours, so it is not a problem for me. For the many that PBEM is can see it being an issue.
Balistic posted 07-11-99 07:45 AM ET
Thanks for the reply to you all.
I do have a P II 233 with 64 megs of ram.
The real problem is in the way I like to play
SMAC. If I encounter a data pod and it contains alien life forms I load the save file to get something better. And that is where the problem start. It took about 20 to 30 seconds to reload the save game in ver. 4 where in almost load instantly in ver 3. Maybe we must contact the developers and tell them of this problem.
Beta1 posted 07-11-99 10:31 AM ET
I was feeling all symapthetic until that last post. If your really fed up with the load times try playing ironman instead.
Beta1 posted 07-11-99 10:31 AM ET
I was feeling all symapthetic until that last post. If your really fed up with the load times try playing ironman instead.
Wank posted 07-11-99 03:24 PM ET
I have to agree Beta. That's pretty f-ed up Balistic. I have only played the game for 3 weeks, and ONLY reload occasionally when I see that I could have captured a city or defended one with less casualties. And even that only maybe once or twice throughout a whole game.
Wank
PS: I have not yet gotten v4, mostly because of all these complaints.
OldWarrior_42 posted 07-11-99 03:32 PM ET
Balistic....so what you are saying is that version four interferes with your cheat habits eh. Tsk,tsk. :P
asenaw posted 07-12-99 01:14 AM ET
i dont think ive ever reloaded a game...... i might as well play ironman for all i care.... if u ever played baldurs gate (which is an absoulutly amazing game) the unintentional(of the developers) ability to constantly quicksave and reload if things dont work perfect totally takes away form the way AD&D actually is
Balistic posted 07-12-99 05:59 AM ET
Uh-Oh....
Now I think I upset a few people. But really,
what is cheat? At last the big red cheat letters do not come up in my score chart.
Thanks.
master k posted 07-12-99 08:18 AM ET
balistic,
is it really satisfying to look at your score, if you always reload to maximize your benefit of pod popping? is it really fun to play that way?
master k
p.s.: balistic: what goes up must come down?
Johnny V posted 07-12-99 08:33 AM ET
Balistic I agree with you. The new patch annoys me for the same reason. I doubt I would ever want to play ironman, it would really being annoying having to restart the game whenever I got alien life from a pod;-). And I still like to see my score and see if I got higher than I did last time. I enjoy the game even if I don't play the way the purist's play.
master k posted 07-12-99 09:18 AM ET
johnny v,
and what do you say at the end of the game?
these morons, instead of reloading, my opponents had to fight with mindworms and fungus, i *discovered* tons of artifacts!
and then you got a higher score, but where is the challenge? CHALLENGE is the key.
master k
Johnny V posted 07-12-99 09:44 AM ET
I understand your point. I do not play mulitplayer or compare my scores to other players just to myself. I'm not sure what I enjoy about the game, challenge may be part of it, it's no fun on the easiet level. I guess I find the game on thinker level challenging enough without pods with mindworms. I'm not suggesting that anyone else would enjoy playing that way.
ErisDiscordia5 posted 07-12-99 12:22 PM ET
I used to be a big "selective hut popper" back in Civ II, but I gradually weaned myself from it as I a) heard that SMAC would have an Ironman Feature and decided I might as well get used to it; b) felt a bit ashamed. Actually, in SMAC as in Civ, getting smushed by a bad pod result doesn't mean the game is mean, it means you weren't prepared. See the thread I'm about to create...
Series II posted 07-12-99 01:54 PM ET
I do the seletcive restore when I move my units wrong. Is it just me or is it hard moving around some of the SMAC terrain. I do play with weak erosion, so there are a lot of mountains.
I think it would be a nice option if the you could turn off alien life in the pods. It would create a different type game, but I would like to see a lot more of these type options. Turning on/off some random events, selecting which opponents you want to play against (maybe even the same faction - the Hive against 4 other Hive computer players).
Oleg Leschoff posted 07-17-99 03:16 PM ET
About SL cheating -- it's an interesting topic, I think.
I usually reloading when I realize that I have just made a VERY stupet thing. It happens in most cases because I have forgot some planning I've made a few turns ago, or just forgot something very important to do... Ah, maybe I just have to do something to cure my memory?
OK, _sometimes_ when the SP that is about to finish in 3 turns and that took all my money is being completed in two turns by another darn faction I reload last turn, sell something and make it up... I just realize that I'll loose more nerve cells than if I don't get it in just time.
On Ironman. As I said, I reload if I forgot something very important, including sometimes buying SP. The interesting thing is that I reload not my own saved games, but autosaves from up to 5 (I think) turns ago, which are stored in 'auto' folder. Funny thing is that Ironman loads game freely, so you may play that way on autosave, too. In addition, you don't really required to save game before investigating pod or attacking something to use SL cheat, you can just use autosave1.sav file. I think that Ironman option must forbid loading option as well.
By the way, on huge maps Unity pods are very abundant, and you may make some type of hypnotic scouts to hunt for artifacts. AI factions doesn't ever use this strategy, so you may get a huge tech advantage relatively simply, which is somewhat unbalancing, so I am used to disable pods at all.
Zoetrope posted 07-20-99 04:12 AM ET
Scoring is bad in most TBS games. It would be better if score were as in golf: the lowest score wins, and every shot counts.
So, if you transcend in 20 turns, by popping pods and reloading to "discover" every tech, then you don't get an amazing score of 20, because every time you reloaded counts as another point. Hence you get a score of 200 instead. Too bad for you.
That way, reloading, or dragging the game on, will _minimise_ your score! Thus encouraging quick, efficient, skilled play.
Coki posted 07-20-99 05:21 AM ET
Hi,
You're all lucky if it takes only 10-30 seconds to load... For myself I used to load a game in 2-3 sec before now since I've updated to v4 I've to wait for 5-6 minutes to have the game started then an extra 3-4 minutes to have the game loaded. More than just annoying... When I select my game to load It's the ok-cancel pop up windows that I've to wait for 3-4 minutes after it's has it used to be...
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Author	Topic: Saved files take long to load in SMACV 4
Balistic	posted 07-09-99 05:35 AM ET Since I installed the version 4 update the saved files take a long time to load. Why is that?
tfs99	posted 07-09-99 03:54 PM ET Same here. An annoyance for me. Others with slower machines though ... SMAC n ... Ted S.
Sheitan	posted 07-10-99 07:08 PM ET No idea why.... It's pretty annoying eh? I used to have almost zero load time, and now it takes 4-5 seconds. - Sheitan
asenaw	posted 07-10-99 09:57 PM ET i have the same problem as well as when i start up the game......i forget exactly where but there is a screen that shows up just befor the intro videos show up where it hangs longer than it used to and i have a p2 333 w/64megs of ram Wanessa Forever
Zardoz	posted 07-11-99 03:37 AM ET I have a P5-233 with 96 MB and loading the game is takes a noticably longer period of time, maybe somewhere between 10 to 20 seconds longer. Several of the game I play take longer, game play doesn't seem to be affected. When I sit down to play it is usually for several hours, so it is not a problem for me. For the many that PBEM is can see it being an issue.
Balistic	posted 07-11-99 07:45 AM ET Thanks for the reply to you all. I do have a P II 233 with 64 megs of ram. The real problem is in the way I like to play SMAC. If I encounter a data pod and it contains alien life forms I load the save file to get something better. And that is where the problem start. It took about 20 to 30 seconds to reload the save game in ver. 4 where in almost load instantly in ver 3. Maybe we must contact the developers and tell them of this problem.
Beta1	posted 07-11-99 10:31 AM ET I was feeling all symapthetic until that last post. If your really fed up with the load times try playing ironman instead.
Beta1	posted 07-11-99 10:31 AM ET I was feeling all symapthetic until that last post. If your really fed up with the load times try playing ironman instead.
Wank	posted 07-11-99 03:24 PM ET I have to agree Beta. That's pretty f-ed up Balistic. I have only played the game for 3 weeks, and ONLY reload occasionally when I see that I could have captured a city or defended one with less casualties. And even that only maybe once or twice throughout a whole game. Wank PS: I have not yet gotten v4, mostly because of all these complaints.
OldWarrior_42	posted 07-11-99 03:32 PM ET Balistic....so what you are saying is that version four interferes with your cheat habits eh. Tsk,tsk. :P
asenaw	posted 07-12-99 01:14 AM ET i dont think ive ever reloaded a game...... i might as well play ironman for all i care.... if u ever played baldurs gate (which is an absoulutly amazing game) the unintentional(of the developers) ability to constantly quicksave and reload if things dont work perfect totally takes away form the way AD&D actually is
Balistic	posted 07-12-99 05:59 AM ET Uh-Oh.... Now I think I upset a few people. But really, what is cheat? At last the big red cheat letters do not come up in my score chart. Thanks.
master k	posted 07-12-99 08:18 AM ET balistic, is it really satisfying to look at your score, if you always reload to maximize your benefit of pod popping? is it really fun to play that way? master k p.s.: balistic: what goes up must come down?
Johnny V	posted 07-12-99 08:33 AM ET Balistic I agree with you. The new patch annoys me for the same reason. I doubt I would ever want to play ironman, it would really being annoying having to restart the game whenever I got alien life from a pod;-). And I still like to see my score and see if I got higher than I did last time. I enjoy the game even if I don't play the way the purist's play.
master k	posted 07-12-99 09:18 AM ET johnny v, and what do you say at the end of the game? these morons, instead of reloading, my opponents had to fight with mindworms and fungus, i discovered tons of artifacts! and then you got a higher score, but where is the challenge? CHALLENGE is the key. master k
Johnny V	posted 07-12-99 09:44 AM ET I understand your point. I do not play mulitplayer or compare my scores to other players just to myself. I'm not sure what I enjoy about the game, challenge may be part of it, it's no fun on the easiet level. I guess I find the game on thinker level challenging enough without pods with mindworms. I'm not suggesting that anyone else would enjoy playing that way.
ErisDiscordia5	posted 07-12-99 12:22 PM ET I used to be a big "selective hut popper" back in Civ II, but I gradually weaned myself from it as I a) heard that SMAC would have an Ironman Feature and decided I might as well get used to it; b) felt a bit ashamed. Actually, in SMAC as in Civ, getting smushed by a bad pod result doesn't mean the game is mean, it means you weren't prepared. See the thread I'm about to create...
Series II	posted 07-12-99 01:54 PM ET I do the seletcive restore when I move my units wrong. Is it just me or is it hard moving around some of the SMAC terrain. I do play with weak erosion, so there are a lot of mountains. I think it would be a nice option if the you could turn off alien life in the pods. It would create a different type game, but I would like to see a lot more of these type options. Turning on/off some random events, selecting which opponents you want to play against (maybe even the same faction - the Hive against 4 other Hive computer players).
Oleg Leschoff	posted 07-17-99 03:16 PM ET About SL cheating -- it's an interesting topic, I think. I usually reloading when I realize that I have just made a VERY stupet thing. It happens in most cases because I have forgot some planning I've made a few turns ago, or just forgot something very important to do... Ah, maybe I just have to do something to cure my memory? OK, _sometimes_ when the SP that is about to finish in 3 turns and that took all my money is being completed in two turns by another darn faction I reload last turn, sell something and make it up... I just realize that I'll loose more nerve cells than if I don't get it in just time. On Ironman. As I said, I reload if I forgot something very important, including sometimes buying SP. The interesting thing is that I reload not my own saved games, but autosaves from up to 5 (I think) turns ago, which are stored in 'auto' folder. Funny thing is that Ironman loads game freely, so you may play that way on autosave, too. In addition, you don't really required to save game before investigating pod or attacking something to use SL cheat, you can just use autosave1.sav file. I think that Ironman option must forbid loading option as well. By the way, on huge maps Unity pods are very abundant, and you may make some type of hypnotic scouts to hunt for artifacts. AI factions doesn't ever use this strategy, so you may get a huge tech advantage relatively simply, which is somewhat unbalancing, so I am used to disable pods at all.
Zoetrope	posted 07-20-99 04:12 AM ET Scoring is bad in most TBS games. It would be better if score were as in golf: the lowest score wins, and every shot counts. So, if you transcend in 20 turns, by popping pods and reloading to "discover" every tech, then you don't get an amazing score of 20, because every time you reloaded counts as another point. Hence you get a score of 200 instead. Too bad for you. That way, reloading, or dragging the game on, will _minimise_ your score! Thus encouraging quick, efficient, skilled play.
Coki	posted 07-20-99 05:21 AM ET Hi, You're all lucky if it takes only 10-30 seconds to load... For myself I used to load a game in 2-3 sec before now since I've updated to v4 I've to wait for 5-6 minutes to have the game started then an extra 3-4 minutes to have the game loaded. More than just annoying... When I select my game to load It's the ok-cancel pop up windows that I've to wait for 3-4 minutes after it's has it used to be...