Curse

Mr_eX · Sep 24, 2006, 05:52 PM // 17:52

There's no way this'll be a permanent change. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

For the record: I log onto GW either from my home connection (10mbps cable) or on my college's fiber-optic network and I still lag sometimes. Stop complaining.

Aerian_Skybane · Sep 24, 2006, 06:39 PM // 18:39

Like someone said before me.. anyone consider that this is a beta, and that it is probably something they are working on relating to the template saving? In fact, I am QUITE sure it just has to do with the Beta, not a feature or even neccesarily a bug. Remember, although the templating hasnt been issued to us for the weekend, its coding still probably exists interweaving with the skills loading.

During previous betas, things of this nature have been commmon place. Think Under Construction dudes

. I remember from the first GW beta that half the skills, when activated, and loading, the hard hat dude would appear instead of the real icon.

So, give the rumour mill a break, all this screaming of "OMG anet is trying to nerf intterupts!!!11!" is really premature if not immature. I'm quite sure they would have mentioned it in the update notes if it were a interface change.

tomcruisejr · Sep 25, 2006, 02:28 AM // 02:28

for the second time, this "feature" should be removed coz it sucks.

Warrior1986 · Sep 25, 2006, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomcruisejr

for the second time, this "feature" should be removed coz it sucks.

Quoted for emphasis. Does ANet really think that by not pre-loading tiny little skill icons that must be no more than 10KB in size, that will improve people's gameplay experience?

Nathan the Skank · Sep 25, 2006, 03:32 AM // 03:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warrior1986

Quoted for emphasis. Does ANet really think that by not pre-loading tiny little skill icons that must be no more than 10KB in size, that will improve people's gameplay experience?

I was just about to mention how I can noticed my areas load faster now, whether or not it's because of this idk.

tomcruisejr · Sep 25, 2006, 03:35 AM // 03:35

i'd rather wait a lil time for my maps to load (but not like forever) than seeing gray skill icons from the time i load until the match is over.

Lex Talionis · Sep 25, 2006, 03:56 AM // 03:56

It is likely due to high server load and wonderful lag that causing this glitch issue. Should be taken care of soon as the event ends. Least I hope it does.

Hephaestus Ram · Sep 25, 2006, 04:48 AM // 04:48

I read this thread earlier today and couldn't figure out what
y'all were talking about, I hadn't seen any hour glasses.

I was in the other room a while ago talking to my wife while
she was playing.... son of a gun, little hour glass icons
where skills should be for a second.

The only differance between her system and mine is the
amount of memory, mine has twice as much as hers.

//RogueNine · Sep 25, 2006, 05:58 AM // 05:58

well I have over 2 gigs of PC6400 ram and im getting the hourglasses so its probably not that..

Kook~NBK~ · Sep 25, 2006, 06:37 AM // 06:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerian_Skybane

So, give the rumour mill a break, all this screaming of "OMG anet is trying to nerf intterupts!!!11!" is really premature if not immature. I'm quite sure they would have mentioned it in the update notes if it were a interface change.

The comments on the hour-glass thingie causing problems for interrupts in this thread are not "screaming of 'OMG anet is trying to nerf intterupts!!!11!" Everyone's just pointing out one of the problems that has arisen with the hour-glass thing showing up.

Whether it be an intentional program update or a bug, this beta weekend is set up so A-net can get feedback on POTENTIAL game changes and identify PROBLEMS. Either way, this thread covers both bases: A. If this is a planned change, people don't like it. or B. if it's a bug, "A-Net we have a problem."

I don't like the hourglass thing one bit. I get it where ever I play and it makes interrupting extremely difficult (especially for us old coots with slow reation times in the first place

) The sooner an interrupter knows what kind of skill is being used, the faster he/she can get to the correct interrupt.

I don't think it's a lag issue, because it happens with me if I'm experienceing lag or not. (I don't experience much)

N E D M · Sep 25, 2006, 07:39 AM // 07:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyan The Archer

No lag for me. Check your internet, it's not Anets fault.

oh it's a-nets fault alright

QoH · Sep 25, 2006, 08:11 AM // 08:11

in my opinion, reason of this happening is the high server load(i am pretty sure this was implemented way before the event). Will everything go back to normal after the event? Probably yes.

supaet · Sep 25, 2006, 09:15 AM // 09:15

I thought it was due to lag, too many people playing on gw server

Rusty Deth · Sep 25, 2006, 11:01 AM // 11:01

I normally get lag. My character while running will slow down, speed up. Its rather annoying.

But Friday. Oh Friday!!! The game was running so smooth. No stuttering, no lagging, no frame skipping. and I didn't do anythng different on my end. Gw was running so smooth for me that day after months of my normal lag.

Then saturday i noticed the hourglasses. Yeah everything went back to what it is. Skills taking a little longer. Character slowing down, speeding up while running.

As many times as I hear its lag on my end, too many times do I see radical changes that make me think otherwise.

Also I' trying to figure out what happened on Friday. The game ran great for me, but my DL times for the event took longer than normal. Suspicious!!

But Saturday and the rest of the weekend DL's were fast but my gameplay suffered.

Blackhawk · Sep 25, 2006, 11:58 AM // 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cacheelma

"....this person is casting something....hmmm...(The icon finally appears) OH MY! I have to interrupt that!" oops....too late.

We've started taking bets on what skill it will be first before it actually appears

MelechRic · Sep 25, 2006, 02:09 PM // 14:09

It's obviously un-optimized code.

Example:

I'm farming Shiro'ken and I have the Sympathetic Visage icon on my skill bar. I get my mob of Shiro'ken all grouped together and run in to kill. I click Sympathetic Visage and see an hourglass icon on my enchant/condition bar.

So you obviously have the SV icon on your bar and it is loaded somewhere by the client. Unfortunately, it's not being cached by the client. So when the client needs it again it has to reload it. Hence the hourglass.

I have a feeling that ANet developed a new icon-on-demand library to ease memory usage by the client. With more and more skills there's probably considerable memory allocated when all the icons (and their mini versions) are loaded. So with this new library you have an abstraction that grabs the icons dynamically as the client needs to display them. This replaces older code that would grab everything at once. Unfortunately it's not fast enough (at this point in time). I'm sure that ANet will fine tune this. They could:

1. Pre-fetch icons for an instance. All monster and player icons in an isntance would be pre-loaded.

2. Improve the fetching code so that it has priority.

3. Revert back to the old way and lower the quality of the icons to conserve memory.

....

I think we should all be patient. I realize it's frustrating, but ANet has a track record of fixing things that have a large impact on the community.

Chewbacca Defense · Sep 25, 2006, 03:02 PM // 15:02

Most likely they will be implementing some kind of caching code in Nightfall. The idea of caching all 900 skills at load time does have the several problems:

Not every user has a super computer
Memory management
Optimization

So they might be implementing a cache system that will only load the skill icons and skill code that users within a party are using.

For debug purposes, it makes sense to see the hourglass loading in real time to judge the ramifications of network and/or graphics lag.

For example, if you are in a battle and no character in the entire map uses the skill "Gaze of Contempt", then why bother loading the skill, it's icon, and any associated code into memory?

It may have been loading 600 skills with their associated icons was acceptable with a 512 MB computer, but with 900 skills and all upgrades in Nightfall, it may be a bit too taxing on an average or below average system.

I'm sure when Nightfall does release, all this caching will be done prior to map/mission load. It may result in a slightly longer load time.

Sir Skullcrasher · Sep 25, 2006, 05:03 PM // 17:03

I still see the hourglass loading for all the skills i have.

Alleji · Sep 25, 2006, 05:29 PM // 17:29

I think anet wants us to play like henches and:
a) Use an available interrupt on the first skill you see
b) Have godlike reflexes and interrupt those prot spirits... er, I mean hourglasses like the ghostly hero

deathy · Sep 25, 2006, 06:40 PM // 18:40

If its a 'feature', then i want an option to turn it off, its so bloody annoying.

If its server lag(my connection is fine), then upgrade your dam servers(sort out err7's while your at it as well please)