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SilenceFailed t1_j27xfj3 wrote

Here's the game development side of it. Not every game handles memory the same. Closing a game while it's running, in theory, is supposed to free all of your memory back up. This is not always the case. By going through the menus, it's freeing up the memory by destructing (removing) the objects in the game. Some games handle them in certain menus. Meaning, if you quit, to the main menu first, the game will destruct all of the objects in the world. When you quit the main menu to the desktop, it will destruct all of the UI and any remaining used memory blocks. Now you have whatever RAM the game used, back. You usually notice this when you use alt+f4 causing system hangups for a second or two.

As for the saving part, again, this is a memory constraint. Most games use a checkpoint type system. In open world games, there is typically a draw distance around the player with chunk loading points scattered around the map. As you travel, every now and again it makes a quick save by distance or at a chunk point. On the flip side, manual saves stutter the game because it's stopping everything to save before continuing. The more RAM you have (and higher core count CPU), the less stutter you get. Older hardware is notorious for this. In mmos, it's a clock based sync with the server.

So, yes, you're right it's not hard. The hardware itself makes it that way.

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arsehead_54 t1_j27y58w wrote

While that sounds like a good description of what happens when you close a game, it doesn't account for why you can't have a single button from the pause menu which does all that for you in one fell swoop.

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SilenceFailed t1_j283505 wrote

Memory. How many objects do you think are rendered in every frame? Given most frames fill in under 20ms, yeah, that's a lot. Serializable data classes have to get moved to RAM before that occurs. Since most modern OS', outside of Linux, have no swap buffers, your memory is already clogged with the games data. Long save on quit, or go through the menus. Your call. We ditched long load screens in favor of efficiency.

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arsehead_54 t1_j286xqg wrote

And I'm saying fine take the 2 seconds to close properly, rather than make me manually wait through the studio logo and menu animations before I can hit exit for a third time

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cj122 t1_j28w9zp wrote

I mean it would be black for the section of the logo and such. A few games do it that way actually but I always think they are busted when they hang on a black screen for over ten seconds when the rest of it doesn't have much to any loading.

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SilenceFailed t1_j296oh0 wrote

Ok, now I see what you're saying. You don't want to go through the title and splash screens again. Well, that is an engine thing. Think Unity splash screens. You don't have the option to avoid those because it's free. For some developers, it's a loading system. It's what loads all of the main menu UI. Again, you're missing the issue that I'm making you aware of. Memory makes that constraint. Currently. Unless we get a new OS or devs start switching to Linux, it's not going to happen.

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DomusLudus t1_j29qyii wrote

If that seems like a problem, you could open an empty map and exit.

And on consoles, I don't understand what you're saying about TRCs. On consoles, the option to exit does not exist.

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SilenceFailed t1_j29stb6 wrote

The way games work doesn't change. It's hardware. Like I've said over and over. Manufacturers set these limitations. Until you can produce a FOSS game system, you cannot realistically expect us to make this happen.

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