Deleting affects game performance?

Elfizm

I started reading that @FryingBaconStudio said that deleting affects the game performance. Can that be explained a bit more on how it works and exactly what's happening. Because I have concerns that I have added attributes and then later deleted them because they aren't needed as well as code. Is that what is meant by deleting.
Should I finish the game then recreate it exactly but without deleting?

Thanks

LiquidGameworks

Can you link the thread/article you are referring to?

gamesfua

Perhaps i'm wrong here but i have a feeling he meant DESTROYING affects game performance. Constant spawning and destroying does in fact affect game performance. In that case recycling is the better option. For instance instead of constantly having a cloud pass by the screen via spawn (and then destroy when it goes off screen- and then spawn another cloud, etc.)- you can help performance by just using a wrap or recycle. Recycle meaning instead of destroying, simply move the cloud back to the starting point after its gone off screen. This would help the device from having to keep creating and destroying something. Perhaps i'm wrong but i think thats what he probably meant.

gamesfua

@elfizm ignore my previous comment. I think i saw the comment you were referring to in another topic. I just asked the same question as you did and am awaiting an answer. In that comment i said that i've deleted attributes and have had no problems. But i'm no pro. So i'm curious to the answer myself.

Elfizm

@LiquidGameworks and @anatomyofdreams

Here is the thread but I see anatomyofdreams has already seen it.

http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/52117/resetting-memory#latest

I may have misinterpret it but it sounded to me that he was saying was deleting code affects performance. I know about the spawning and destroying and I am aware of a lot of other issues in regards to performance but I hadnt heard of this before so decided to ask before rather then later. It may not be anything but wanted a second opinion

LiquidGameworks

@elfizm I read through it, and it looks like what he's saying is that leaving bits and pieces will be detrimental, not the act of deleting. So, if you have a bunch of "half" rules which just sit around in there, they may be interfering with the game, and or draw extra memory usage. This is why I usually completely rebuild a game from scratch at least once, for the clean slate. Its not the deleting, its the leaving "chunks". Does that make sense?

Elfizm

@LiquidGameworks

I have rebuilt my game from scratch as well to keep it clean and fresh but I think he mentioned he had a mate give him his project and he tried mending it and got rid of the extra stuff. He said it didn't work and has to redo and stated that it had something to do with deleting.

I don't have any problem either way bit it was something I wanted to understand in general. So yes it does make sense but I thought he was talking about deleting ect. Good to hear.

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Excessive deleting I've found can leave loose ends like @liquidgames described. If your constantly deleting attributes and removing art from the image palette it can cause dead links that screw up the file. I've had this happen to me and have seen it in others. What I can say, is that by keeping experimentation to prototype projects I have kept my current project running a solid 60FPS and fast loading on opening it in creator. I can tell you the early signs of file corruption are very slow loading when you open the file.

Elfizm

So just to be clear, when you say deleting you mean for example:
I add a rule that says if this happens change image to pig. Then I delete the image pig and the rule. Is this what you mean? I don't think I quite understand fully. Assuming the above example had been repeated throughout the game progress, that will cause performance issues?

The_Gamesalad_Guru

No I mean like deleting lots of image or sound files, overtime, out of the game completely or deleting lots of game level attributes. @elfizm no need to get paranoid...lol. In other words your final game file should not be a place where you heavily experiment with stuff until you get it right. The best way to avoid this is to version save. When a corruption event happens you will know right away as the next time you open the file it will be slow to open and most likely the FPS will drop.

Socks

Constant spawning and destroying does in fact affect game performance. In that case recycling is the better option.

There is no evidence to support this idea - and I've really looked for some, I've spawned nearly half a million actors in various test situations but was never able to effect performance (or memory use) by spawning and destroying.

This issue used to exist apparently, but now only lives on as a GS myth.

http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/52067/recycling-vs-spawndestroy#latest

RP

Yeah, the destroy behavior works waaay better than it did in the past (several builds ago), even when spawning and destroying many actors.

gamesfua

@socks thanks for the update. I stand corrected. Good thing too, because my game has a ton of spawners and destroyers

tharbk01@yahoo.com

No I mean like deleting lots of image or sound files, overtime, out of the game completely or deleting lots of game level attributes. @elfizm no need to get paranoid...lol. In other words your final game file should not be a place where you heavily experiment with stuff until you get it right. The best way to avoid this is to version save. When a corruption event happens you will know right away as the next time you open the file it will be slow to open and most likely the FPS will drop.

I have been working a 2d side scroller platformer game for several months now and there is tons of rules, behaviours,actors,and attributes in the game. And i recently just started adding in alot of new art to playtest it to children. Its been slowing down alot and crashing. any solution to this other than going to back to a version where i didn't add in a ton of new art?