1315 replies to this topic

[JsARCLIGHT]

I have a fairly old 360 (pre HDMI model) and I encounter the texture pop in quite a bit. It's not as bad as what I've heard it can be and most of the time mine is the pop between a low res texture and the high res texture. It's most noticeable for me during the "talky" bits, when you press the action button to have a talk with someone or something the transition has a lot of texture pop in but once it does it "once" it's done and it doesn't do it again for a little while. I have never noticed any texture pop in during the actual gameplay action sequences, only during cutscenes and talky bits.

And just a hypothetical... how do you think they will handle the whole "bring your ME1 guy into ME2" thing? I mean, won't it kind of "spoil" ME2 if you bring in a level 60 tank character from ME1 with level ten or eleven spectre gear and just mop the floor with the game? I mean, I'm on my second play through on insane and the game is just far too easy now with a super high level character with super high level weapons and armor. I win most fights quickly and easily now it seems... at level 50 I waltzed through Eden Prime like it wasn't even there. I'd hate to buy into ME2 only to wade through the game with a level 60 barnstormer. They are going to have to have some sort of built in "reset" button in the sequel that shoves you back to square one somehow.

[CoryHolmes]

Using TexMod, you can actually see what loads, and when. For the PC at least. But here's some interesting things:

First it seems to load about 1400 "generic" textures---as in, at the title screen. Many of these seem to never be used, but are required simply as part of the UT3 engine startup. Then it loads "environment and minor NPC's". Including some not used---for instance, it seems to ALWAYS load Liara and Benezia---even when they're not even on that planet, and haven't been onscreen yet at that point in the game.

And the very last thing? Shepard and your other 2 companions--their gun textures just before their armor textures.

IMHO it's what I suspected from the start with the 360---it simply loads the party last, which makes the loading so blatantly obvious. If it did Shep first, you wouldn't notice if some random rock off in the corner was missing the texture for a sec or two.

Hunh. This makes me wonder if Silicon Knights isn't totally off their rockers when they say UE3 has issues.


And Bioware had orginally planned for Mass Effect to be a trilogy, complete and unto itself. It seems like EA wants to extend the IP beyond the third game and continue to milk that cash cow until it's bone dry (and, this being EA, to milk it some more after that).

[eugimon]

I have a fairly old 360 (pre HDMI model) and I encounter the texture pop in quite a bit. It's not as bad as what I've heard it can be and most of the time mine is the pop between a low res texture and the high res texture. It's most noticeable for me during the "talky" bits, when you press the action button to have a talk with someone or something the transition has a lot of texture pop in but once it does it "once" it's done and it doesn't do it again for a little while. I have never noticed any texture pop in during the actual gameplay action sequences, only during cutscenes and talky bits.

And just a hypothetical... how do you think they will handle the whole "bring your ME1 guy into ME2" thing? I mean, won't it kind of "spoil" ME2 if you bring in a level 60 tank character from ME1 with level ten or eleven spectre gear and just mop the floor with the game? I mean, I'm on my second play through on insane and the game is just far too easy now with a super high level character with super high level weapons and armor. I win most fights quickly and easily now it seems... at level 50 I waltzed through Eden Prime like it wasn't even there. I'd hate to buy into ME2 only to wade through the game with a level 60 barnstormer. They are going to have to have some sort of built in "reset" button in the sequel that shoves you back to square one somehow.

I really hope they don't go with a reset and just make it so the baddies are tougher or new powers/skills. And I REALLY hope they don't go the route of making Shepard into a General O'Neil type character and just have him/her pop in every now and then to give exposition and the player play some new character...

[JsARCLIGHT]

Can you say Raiden?

I think the point of building your own Shepard with all the background and stuff is key and they would not abandon it so readily. To me the allure of the Bioware games is that you shape your guy to be what you want them to be and not some set in stone predestined archetype... even though you kind of are doing that anyway.

[eugimon]

Can you say Raiden?

I think the point of building your own Shepard with all the background and stuff is key and they would not abandon it so readily. To me the allure of the Bioware games is that you shape your guy to be what you want them to be and not some set in stone predestined archetype... even though you kind of are doing that anyway.

Well, i just have that fear because a lot of the decisions you make as Shepard have big implications.. stuff like whether the bugs live or die and setting up the political climate of the galaxy... that stuff doesn't seem like you really need to have Shepard in the next game (or make shepard the player) in order to capitalize on them.

I hope my fears are unfounded and we get to play Shepard as is and not some reset version in the next game.

[Macross007]

Its a trilogy, if that is what you mean.

No, nothing like that : "Mass Effect was originally conceived as a trilogy, but EA has confirmed that Mass Effect "will be a franchise for [EA] for a very long time" indicating that the franchise may extend beyond the planned trilogy."

Link : http://en.wikipedia...._Effect#Sequels

Don't screw this up EA, don't screw this up.

Edited by Macross007, 01 August 2008 - 10:23 AM.

[JB0]

how old is your 360? I wonder if the hardware revision has anything to do with it? I rarely had terrain issues and texture popup doesn't really start happening (once or twice when I first start the game) until after I've played for 2~3 hours at a time or until I've visited a few worlds.

Manufacture date of August 2006.


I never had model issues like KingNor, though. Guess I should count my blessings.

[eugimon]

Manufacture date of August 2006.


I never had model issues like KingNor, though. Guess I should count my blessings.

mine is just about a year younger than yours. I wonder if people's differing game performance has anything to do with which hardware revision it's running on.

[JB0]

It'd make more sense than people claiming that the 360 ran out of RAM because it can't delete stuff.

Now pegging down WHICH changes, ummm, changed things... THAT would be interesting.

[eugimon]

well, still... the bioware forums has people claiming that mass effect runs better after forcing the HDD to do a maintenance cycle and I can definitely verify (at least on mine) that doing a reboot resolves the texture load issue for a couple of hours.

So I tend to believe the talk that the 360 has a hard time managing it's texture memory.

[JB0]

well, still... the bioware forums has people claiming that mass effect runs better after forcing the HDD to do a maintenance cycle and I can definitely verify (at least on mine) that doing a reboot resolves the texture load issue for a couple of hours.

So I tend to believe the talk that the 360 has a hard time managing it's texture memory.

But the 360 doesn't HAVE texture memory.
Remember, it's a unified memory architecture. It's up to the programmer to decide what to do with it.

And no other games have this issue. If it's the 360's fault, then we should see it in at least SOME other games.


I'm more inclined to believe it's a Mass Effect bug. Perhaps a subtle and complex one, but...

[eugimon]

But the 360 doesn't HAVE texture memory.
Remember, it's a unified memory architecture. It's up to the programmer to decide what to do with it.

And no other games have this issue. If it's the 360's fault, then we should see it in at least SOME other games.


I'm more inclined to believe it's a Mass Effect bug. Perhaps a subtle and complex one, but...

true...

[Smiley424]

so I just got this for PC and I'm really enjoying it. One question though, is there a lot of texture pop in in the PC version? It's nothing major, just noticed a couple times when I go into dialogue, I'll notice background objects pop in. Just a couple seconds and there it will be. I haven't noticed missing textures or anything, just some pop in. Otherwise, a fantastic game, Bioware has done it again.

[mikeszekely]

so I just got this for PC and I'm really enjoying it. One question though, is there a lot of texture pop in in the PC version? It's nothing major, just noticed a couple times when I go into dialogue, I'll notice background objects pop in. Just a couple seconds and there it will be. I haven't noticed missing textures or anything, just some pop in. Otherwise, a fantastic game, Bioware has done it again.

The texture pop-in doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as the 360 version, but yeah, it's there.

I'm definitely liking it better on PC.

[Macross007]

The texture pop-in doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as the 360 version, but yeah, it's there.

I'm definitely liking it better on PC.

The texture pop-in will be a problem of the past since Microsoft is going to release a new dashboard allowing the user to install his or her games on the Xbox 360 hard drive this upcoming fall.

Take a look by yourself : New Xbox Experience Game Installation Process

Can't wait.

[Duke Togo]

The texture pop-in will be a problem of the past since Microsoft is going to release a new dashboard allowing the user to install his or her games on the Xbox 360 hard drive this upcoming fall.

Take a look by yourself : New Xbox Experience Game Installation Process

Can't wait.

Well, if its on the PC version, I am going to assume part of it is a coding problem/decision, and I don't think 360 owners of ME should expect this to fix the issue.

[CoryHolmes]

I don't think 360 owners of ME should expect this to fix the issue.

We can hope, can't we? Will this do any good for those slow-assed elevators, though?

[mikeszekely]

We can hope, can't we? Will this do any good for those slow-assed elevators, though?

The elevators, yes. The texture pop-in, probably not. Like I said, it's not as bad on the PC, but it's definitely there.

[Macross007]

The elevators, yes. The texture pop-in, probably not. Like I said, it's not as bad on the PC, but it's definitely there.

poo ... Unreal Engine 3 ... But at least, it will reduce it. I hope so ...

Edited by Macross007, 22 August 2008 - 10:24 PM.

[Smiley424]

good to hear, cuz it's a minor annoyance and never takes more than 5 seconds to appear anyway. back to killing aliens and saving the galaxy

[CoryHolmes]

good to hear, cuz it's a minor annoyance and never takes more than 5 seconds to appear anyway. back to killing aliens and saving the galaxy

Except for those elevators. They take the "killing" out of "killing aliens and saving the galaxy".

[Duke Togo]

So I finally returned from vacation, and installed BDtS. I rather enjoyed it, tons of action. Is it just me, or did they introduce some new textures in the base on X57? I don't recall seeing those mirror finish walls anywhere else in the game.

[David Hingtgen]

Posting this here as well:

I made an updated purple version of medium Phoenix armor for females----same as the one I did earlier but now includes textures for "far" distances.
Pic:

Download: http://home.mchsi.co.../PhxMpurple.tpf



Scorpion light armor, in a sort of "Air Force blue" tone----works very well with Liara IMHO.
Pic:

Download: http://home.mchsi.co.../ScorpLblue.tpf

And I'm still open to a recoloring request or two. I can't turn leather into chainmail, but I can make red or blue into green or yellow, etc.

[CoryHolmes]

Mmm... Ashley

[Duke Togo]

Mmm... Ashley

aka "Virmire Worm Food"

[VF-19]

Finally, after owning the game since it came out, I re-installed my system (long story...) and fixed the pixilated depth of field effect (Not a hard fix but required some mucking around with the shader files). Wow. Such a pretty game. I think I'm gonna like this...

[CoryHolmes]

aka "Virmire Worm Food"

Bah, I wanted to leave Tali behind. Instead, I left that useless dupe Carth Onasi Kaiden behind.

Edited by CoryHolmes, 01 September 2008 - 03:53 AM.

[David Hingtgen]

If anyone wants a very short summary of the "important to the game" bits of the 2nd ME book, look here:

The Quarian fleet will not last much longer. Maybe a few decades. They are running out of food/parts/ships. They *must* find a new planet. Also, Cerberus is a MUCH bigger and more powerful organization than you think. Operatives everywhere--military, government, labs, etc. Huge budget, and quite literally wants to rule the galaxy. Their leader is "The Illusive Man". And if a slightly autistic yet very powerful biotic girl shows up in the game, she's from the book.

[eugimon]

If anyone wants a very short summary of the "important to the game" bits of the 2nd ME book, look here:

The Quarian fleet will not last much longer. Maybe a few decades. They are running out of food/parts/ships. They *must* find a new planet. Also, Cerberus is a MUCH bigger and more powerful organization than you think. Operatives everywhere--military, government, labs, etc. Huge budget, and quite literally wants to rule the galaxy. Their leader is "The Illusive Man". And if a slightly autistic yet very powerful biotic girl shows up in the game, she's from the book.

nice! looking forward to the next game.

[David Hingtgen]

Tried to post this yesterday but MW was down or something when I clicked:

There will be no more DLC, the next thing to come out will be ME2, whenever that is. Short version is--the company making the ME statues have cancelled all future releases for that reason.

(the exact wording makes me think there may possibly be more DLC *just* before ME2 comes out, to hype up interest--but there won't be the "filling the gap" stuff like was promised)

[mikeszekely]

Tried to post this yesterday but MW was down or something when I clicked:

There will be no more DLC, the next thing to come out will be ME2, whenever that is. Short version is--the company making the ME statues have cancelled all future releases for that reason.

(the exact wording makes me think there may possibly be more DLC *just* before ME2 comes out, to hype up interest--but there won't be the "filling the gap" stuff like was promised)

I guess all the "filling in the gap" we're going to get is the novel.

DLC's a mixed thing for me. I like it, especially when it's free, but I also like finished sequels. In this case, especially so long after the PC release and the BDtS DLC, I'd rather hear that Bioware is working on the sequel instead of more DLC.

[CoryHolmes]

While I sadly didn't come up with this picture, it seems appropriate given the day. Happy New Year, all

Attached Files

•  Hanar_is_on_the_sauce_by_Kasz.jpg   55.11KB   35 downloads

[macrossnake]

My masseffect photoshop holiday card. enjoy.
Happy new year!

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•  masseffect_holiday.jpg   379.23KB   49 downloads

[CoryHolmes]

That's great, but one of the options should be "Ashley Williams"

[dominion]

But the 360 doesn't HAVE texture memory.
Remember, it's a unified memory architecture. It's up to the programmer to decide what to do with it.

And no other games have this issue. If it's the 360's fault, then we should see it in at least SOME other games.


I'm more inclined to believe it's a Mass Effect bug. Perhaps a subtle and complex one, but...

Actually, HALO has this same problem. You can notice it the most during the in-engine cutscenes when the level is loading.