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Why Games Still Have Bad Loading Times

Demon_Skeith

Demon_Skeith

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An interesting article I read here explains it somewhat. Seems like consoles need a SSD (solid state drive) in them to hopefully boost loading times or better yet eliminate them. Hopefully this is a strong focus in the next gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
 
The current consoles are a lot better than the previous ones. I remember the GTA loading screens for Xbox 360 being a massive pain. I mean the GTA loading screens are still annoying but for a game of its size you would expect that. Most other games are fine to be honest, the loading screens for Driveclub are extremely short.
 
Remember how the GC loaded faster than the PS2 due to its mini discs? I was listening to a podcast recently and they explained that the laser in the GC stayed in the same place and the disk tilted and spun so it could be read.
 
benoit489 said:
Remember how the GC loaded faster than the PS2 due to its mini discs? I was listening to a podcast recently and they explained that the laser in the GC stayed in the same place and the disk tilted and spun so it could be read.
Click to expand...

huh, interesting. Doesn't seem like there is enough room for that to happen though.
 
Something to think about, some games like Deus EX and Tomb Raider use large files and if those files are not stored all in one block on your harddrive then it would make the loading time longer because it need to search for all the bits to put together.

Not to say that some games are not written all that well from a performance point of view.
 
I hated some of the load times for some of the games in the past, however, the load times don't seem like they're that bad with recent consoles. Of course, I haven't really paid much attention to load times in recent times.
 
It's staggering, the difference that an SSD makes in terms of load times. Take for example Kerbal Space Program. The initial load up would take quite a while especially if you have mods running, so it would often be that I'd run the game and then literally leave the room to go get drinks or a snack in hopes that by the time I'm back the game would be running.

Then I decided to reinstall it on my laptop's SSD, and the game loads in a fraction of the time it did on my HDD. When I play Skyrim the text during loading screens doesn't even have time to render because I'm already playing.
 
For games on mobile devices, it really depends whether or not they are high or low end devices. Basically, for low end devices, developers have to find ways to make the app work without forging to much the device, hence the bigger loading times. We do test the loading times, but it's up to the producers to say what loading time is considered acceptable for the different types of devices.
 
I think it just depends on your system. I have a good gaming PC and load times are minimal, to the point where I can barely read the hints and tips that games usually show in loading screens. I don't know about consoles since I use PC, so I can't really judge. I have heard lots of complaints though especially in PS4 users, where graphics aren't that great and the loading times are insane. Maybe switching to a decent PC gaming system would fix your issues, and the controls provided by a keyboard and mouse would definitely be an upgrade compared to a controller.
 
I remember old CD based consoles like some Sega CD and Neo Geo CD had games with atrocious load times. Luckily we’ve progressed passed 1x drive speeds
 
There are already SSDs in consoles but not in all. And the games have gone up in size and graphics as well so it takes longer to load things up.
 
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