GameSalad 0.9.80 Beta: Loading, Performance, & In-App Browser

1356710

Comments

  • dmilinovichiiidmilinovichiii Member Posts: 620
    Discussion is already here:
    http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=32765&page=1

    Someone should merge this.
  • LiquidGameworksLiquidGameworks Anchorage, AKMember, Sous Chef Posts: 956
    I've found that a very simple game which usually ran at about 20mb now stacks memory every time a level is changed. In three levels I got the ram up to 50mb. This is new as of this update (as it passed extensive testing prior).
  • azimpactazimpact Member Posts: 112
    Pretty disappointed in the way the memory problem was addressed.

    Releasing memory when it’s ready to run out is not the way to go because by that point the game will have become too unstable to play.

    It still doesn’t release memory when resetting the scene or even the game for that matter.

    I don’t understand why Gamesalad has such a problem with releasing memory when actors are destroyed when other’s don’t have that problem.
  • COBGamesCOBGames Member Posts: 114
    seems like certain sounds of mine aren't working now. i even removed them and added them back and still not playing.
  • BlackbirdStudiosBlackbirdStudios Member Posts: 493
    Oh god, it sounds like the GS team is going to have a busy day tomorrow :)
  • COBGamesCOBGames Member Posts: 114
    here is the problem with my sound. so upon an actor colliding with another actor i have it play a sound and cut to a pause screen. well on the previous version of game salad the sound would run to completion even with the pause screen. now with the new version it goes to the pause screen and does not play that sound or that sound is not carried over to the pause screen.

    why has this changed? it is very annoying!

    i mean i guess my way around it now is to play the sound on my next screen since its a game over one instead of on the collision, but still curious why it changed.
  • QVTQVT Member, Chef Emeritus Posts: 3
    tshirtbooth said:
    if you already use the change attribute trick then this will not help you other then animations.
    this new feature is basically the same as the change image trick. Just an easier way to do it.

    That is correct - the Preload Art setting enables you to defer asset loading for behaviors like Animate and Change Image rather than using Change Attribute + Timer.
    azimpact said:
    Releasing memory when it’s ready to run out is not the way to go because by that point the game will have become too unstable to play.

    It still doesn’t release memory when resetting the scene or even the game for that matter.

    We release memory at a level 1 memory warning, rather than at the point where the app is about to crash.

    We don't release memory when resetting the scene because all the assets that the scene was using will still be used when the scene restarts.
  • azimpactazimpact Member Posts: 112
    QVT said:
    That is correct - the Preload Art setting enables you to defer asset loading for behaviors like Animate and Change Image rather than using Change Attribute + Timer.

    We release memory at a level 1 memory warning, rather than at the point where the app is about to crash.

    We don't release memory when resetting the scene because all the assets that the scene was using will still be used when the scene restarts.

    Now that I've done about 6 adhoc builds and tests, I'm liking what I see. After unticking some preloads, the game starts quicker and goes quicker from scene to scene.

    On a 2g, it's ok but on anything above that it seems to run pretty stable.

    How much memory is released on the 1st warning?
  • baboybaboy Member, PRO Posts: 93
    So now, is it best practice to UNTICK the Preload Art attribute on all actors with images & animations?

    And another question ...

    In what instances is it best to TICK the Preload Art attribute?
  • gamedivisiongamedivision Member Posts: 807
    So if that's the case why after 4 levels of game play and 3 scene changes does the ram keep adding and adding starting at 40mb going all the way up to 100mb where I switched it off. Ipad2
    QVT said:
    That is correct - the Preload Art setting enables you to defer asset loading for behaviors like Animate and Change Image rather than using Change Attribute + Timer.

    We release memory at a level 1 memory warning, rather than at the point where the app is about to crash.

    We don't release memory when resetting the scene because all the assets that the scene was using will still be used when the scene restarts.

  • capitalcarnagecapitalcarnage Member Posts: 371
    Im a little confused this morning.

    Just go with me a minute...

    If i was happy with my load times and felt that there were the right balance(of course they could be better), has this update changed anything?, do i need to turn this pre load off/on or anything
  • creativeappscreativeapps Member Posts: 1,770
    tshirt we need your short video tutorial on this new feature preload art. Will you please do that for us?
  • pixel_knightspixel_knights Member Posts: 50
    Did anyone else experience the weirdness that UtopianGames had with that attribute problem? I'm in 2 minds about installing this "upgrade" as I have a load of attributes in use, so tracking down if some of them weren't being read correct would be a pain in the rear for sure.

    I already have blank images for my actors and then change image attribute so can't see preload helping me out so don't need to upgrade for that.
  • UtopianGamesUtopianGames Member Posts: 5,692
    Just worked out if you hit preview straight after project has loaded it causes the bug but if you click on a scene then play the game it's fine.

    Darren.
  • micksolomicksolo Member Posts: 264
    Anyone else have a problem with having to use a "null" image to get this to work properly? In best practices they tell us to use a blank transparent image, then set a change image to the original actors image when the image is loaded.

    Problem with doing that is that its going to be impossible to make any future level design changes without a lot of pain.

    Surely there was a better way to implement this, surely it could have been hardcoded that if pre-loaded was turned off it would change the base image to a transparent blank image which ran in the background.

    I mean looking at my project now with over 100 actors, its going to take me 5 minutes to find any actor i need.
  • MarkOnTheIronMarkOnTheIron Member Posts: 1,447
    Thanks for the update.

    However it would have been useful if you also added a PreloadSound attribute along with the art one.
  • BBEnkBBEnk Member Posts: 1,764
    So is there a place to see what the new expressions do or can be used for, I don't see them in support area on forms ?

    padint
    padreal
    precision
  • SingleSparqSingleSparq Member Posts: 1,339
    @micksolo I think its best to do this at the end of your development and if you need to go back to move thing, open the actor and drop the art back on the art icon to 're-show' the actor image - put the blank one back when your done.
  • johnson_tarajohnson_tara Member Posts: 6
    Thanks GS team!
    Really nice job - The in app browser is also a master stroke!
  • Rob2Rob2 Member Posts: 2,402
    Anyone got the new Anchor attributes to work ?
  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    Rob2 said:
    Anyone got the new Anchor attributes to work ?

    Nope My tests I can get the Actor size to not affect the image size but it still is always in the center no matter what the anchors are set to.
  • ChunkypixelsChunkypixels Member Posts: 1,114
    Since the update, is anyone having any issues with "otherwise" not working correctly, and over-riding the main part of the rule?

    Ive had it with a number of rules Ive set up, where its a pretty basic rule, but it always does the "otherwise" portion, regardless of what conditions are met.

    All my other rules containing otherwise, that are in my project, that were added pre-update work seem to work correctly, but new ones are consistently doing the "otherwise" portion of the rule instead of the main part...

    Ive had to strip out the otherwise, and add an extra rule into my actors to get around it.
  • JamieOneilJamieOneil Member Posts: 877
    So i take it the new openURL is for pro users ?
  • LaurenSaladLaurenSalad Inactive, Chef Emeritus Posts: 650
    Hey guys,

    Just as a reminder, if you are experiencing any bugs or issues related to 0.9.8 please submit them via the contact form. These issues are a priority and we will be investigating them. As always, we will continue to monitor this thread for general feedback.

    Thank you!
  • chaleychaley Member, PRO Posts: 226
    Am I understanding this correctly the the "preload" function makes the "change image" and "animate" features work optimally? If so... That's a HUGE step forward.
  • azimpactazimpact Member Posts: 112
    Having sound issues after upgrade.

    I have a particle explosion that uses a blast sound when it explodes. If you load the game and start playing, it works fine. However, if you die and the scene resets, then ALL the sounds no longer work. The only sound that does work is the music. It works if you use the viewer, but when you build an adhoc and load it to a device the problem starts.

    I have a attribute to play sound if true, but I've placed a blank actor showing that attribute and it is still showing true when the sound stops working.

    This was all working fine prior to the upgrade.

    This is great. I waited to release the game for the upgrade thinking it would improve performance. Instead, it's made the game un-releasable.
  • COBGamesCOBGames Member Posts: 114
    yeah i had posted about that one azimpact. it seems that sounds do not play completely anymore and they are tied to the scene, so if the scene ends, pauses or resets the sound stops or doesn't play.
  • azimpactazimpact Member Posts: 112
    "yeah i had posted about that one azimpact. it seems that sounds do not play completely anymore and they are tied to the scene, so if the scene ends, pauses or resets the sound stops or doesn't play."

    That's a nasty bug. It's taken a game that was ready to launch and made it so now it can't be launched because it don't function correctly. There is no way to work around it at this point. I knew I should of published it on Tuesday. That's what I get for waiting.
  • COBGamesCOBGames Member Posts: 114
    i just had a game published yesterday but noticed i needed to update something and well thats when i noticed the sound bug. so my work around was to have the sound play on the game over scene.
This discussion has been closed.