frail schooner
My java game is loading many images and sounds, so i was wondering if you guys can recommend me a simple to use profiler or just have some basic trouble shoot ideas. this is my resources directory, its a lot. I am loading in the files one by one, it would be better if i did a spritesheet wouldnt it
sweet lintelBOT
<@&987246399047479336> please have a look, thanks.
frail schooner
(the app has used up to 820 MB)
final sedge
Keep in mind that those images are a compressed format. If you load those images into a bitmap, they'll take up a lot more RAM. Games have to do image/texture/model juggling tricks all the time to manage this.
frail schooner
Keep in mind that those images are a compressed format. If you load those images...
So what can i do to save RAM?
this is the information about one of the files. only a couple hundred bytes. does it... decompress when loaded as a bufferedimage?
wise sandal
820Mb of RAM usage you're saying?
frail schooner
appearantly
wise sandal
Bruh I wish lol.
final sedge
What's the resolution of that image?
quartz ice
If you want to optimise your ram usage, you first need to figure out what's using up the ram. The best way is to take a heapdump of your app and open it in VisualVM
wise sandal
VisualVM is a great tool.
You can do a lot with it.
Some paid stuff out there too, but VisualVM is one of the best free options fs.
final sedge
So that image is ~4KB for the pixels in RAM. And then you have any object overhead as well (each object has several bytes of overhead and each buffered-image probably has several objects internally). Larger images probably have even more impact (since some of that 529 bytes in the PNG is just image container overhead and not the image itself).
You can dynamically load and unload images (reading them in a background thread). This requires that the game have some prediction as to which image-sets are required when, and that the need for them is known early enough to pre-load them.
frail schooner
You can dynamically load and unload images (reading them in a background thread)...
well a lot of stuff is random in this game, ill see. thanks anyway, i just started deleting some unused sfx and images
final sedge
Otherwise reducing colour-depth, dropping alpha and reducing resolution are options.
If the images are the same size (tiles), it can be cheaper to load a tile-set as a single image and then paint/copy parts of it at a time.
wise sandal
I think you might benefit from only loading assets that are going to be used in the player's game environment. Like loading zones basically. You enter a dungeon, or level, or whatever, and only load the assets that are used in that area. Once an asset is no longer being used, you can unload it. Same for the items. Only load items the character is holding in their inv, or are on the drop tables or whatever for the enemies, or that will be found in that zone.
hallow spindle
(the app has used up to 820 MB)
That's nothing
hallow spindle
if anyone knows it, it's this guy
?
frail schooner
im lowkey scared of you sometimes
hallow spindle
well you always know the answer like this wise turtle
You are trying to save ram when you don't have a ram problem at the first place
hallow spindle
I think you might benefit from only loading assets that are going to be used in ...
Also note that this solution trade ram usage for loading time/worse performance
You either use less ram or have better performance
frail schooner
that makes sense
hallow spindle
You always want better perfs
frail schooner
especially with videogames
hallow spindle
Unless you are already using too much ram
wise sandal
Not necessarily, especially if he's doing zoning. Plus depending on the FPS he's already getting, no one needs 1k fps. That much overhead is useless (as an example).
hallow spindle
Not necessarily, especially if he's doing zoning. Plus depending on the FPS he's...
the thing is that loading stuff dynamically would not reduce fps but rather introduce fps spikes or frame drops
wise sandal
Just fade to black or something if you hit a loading zone. Like a splash title in the new area to mask it. It wouldn't take long. Could just be an effect.
Unless the new area has tons of different assets, I don't see it being an issue.
It shouldn't affect performance very much. And if it does you could just keep all the common items/tiles/enemies/npcs loaded constantly.
hallow spindle
Just fade to black or something if you hit a loading zone. Like a splash title i...
That's static loading, and it still affect them, because it would decide how long loading screens can take
wise sandal
Looking at the game as it stands now, and just some educated guess work on where it'll be when it's finished; I don't think any of these approaches are going to tank the performance or be particularly jarring. He's not making anything 3D, it's 2D sprites that are all relatively light and small. I've loaded 4K+ assets before, and that takes time. This is not that.
If we were talking 1000s of assets, higher resolution, 3D models; that'd be different.
hallow spindle
Looking at the game as it stands now, and just some educated guess work on where...
the same argument could be made for the ram used by those sprites, it doesn't matter, so nothing should be done
