Topic: Insane OP loding times at startup.

[IrishKlingon]

Im runing a Windows XP on a  P4 2.8Ghz with 512K ram, and a 128meg ATI video card (Direct X 9). Normal softwares loaded at executable time are Zone Alarm Pro and possibly an IE browser or two. I have shut down most background services as possible.

Now when I click on the OP icon, I get the movie, which I then ESC from. After that I get the "loading" splash screen. Before the OP+ pack this took at least 45 sec to a minute to load. Now after the OP+ pack it takes from 1 to 1.5 minutes. Once it loads, everything runs normal. No crashes to the desktop, no graphics issues, nothing. Runs like a champ.

Am I just forgetting how games used to load in the old days? Is it because the age of the software? Does anyone else have this issue? Are there any known fixes or tweaks?

Irish Klingon.

[jimmi7769]

first off you have to stop with the movie loading exe.

Change your shortcut from SFCOP.exe to starfleetop.exe  too many wierd problems come from starting with the sfcop.exe.

After that your load times should be better though it still takes a while to load the thing up.

[FPF_TraceyG]

I've got a P4 2.8GHz with 1GB of RAM, ATA100 HDD, with WinXP Pro. OP loads in about 5 to 10 seconds after a reboot, if its the second time or more of running it, it loads in under 5 seconds. This is with OP+ and everything else installed. This is also with a pile of junk running in the background as well. I'm running it using the StarfleetOP.exe of course, though, so no movie.

[Mysterio]

I think I know your problem. You probably need to upgrade from 512K of RAM to 512 M  . In all seriousness though, I have almost the exact same system and since I inspalled the OP 3.2+ it takes awhile for me too. It did improve a bit when I changed the shortcut as mentioned. I never timed it but I would say it takes close to a minute. I know that my SFC3 with the Dominion Wars mod takes over a minute to load and its because of the much larger ship list that the computer has to look through before loading. This might be the same reason. Not sure.  

[Rod O'neal]

Your loading time is too long. I have a similar system to yours (not as good of a processor though) and mine loads in about 20 seconds with vurtually every spec file modded, and all are much larger than the stock files.

Try changing the shortcut. I'm surprised that you don't have any game issues using that one, most people do. Then do some routine maintanence. Defrag, disk cleanup, get an antispyware pgm and remove tracking cookies etc..., and a good registry cleaner. Be carefull with the last two though.

Just some suggestions. This can speed things up dramatically, depending on how much clutter your system has.  

[Pestalence]

If you delete the desktop short cut and go into your

C:\Program Files\Taldren Software Inc\Starfleet Command Orion Pirates

and right click on StarfleetOP.exe and select copy then right click on your desktop and select "Paste Shortcut" You will reduce some loading time and correct several related problems caused by the SFCOP.exe

Also to reduce loading time.. you will need to reduce how wnt AI the game creates..

By default SFC op creates 400 AI when the game launches the first time (these star resident in virutal memory if you close the game, that way they winn not need to be recreated a second time)

if you go into

C:\Program Files\Taldren Software Inc\Starfleet Command Orion Pirates\MetaAssets\ServerProfiles\SinglePlayer

and open the firle

MetaMap.gf

with notepad and find the line

InitalAILevel                  =400 // How many AI's to create before game starts

and change it to

InitalAILevel                  =50 // How many AI's to create before game starts

the game will load much faster... dramatically increasing the first launch load time of SFC OP.

I hope that this helps.
 

[Kestrel]

Pestalence,

Modding the initial AI count is an awesome suggestion.  I am definitely going to try that.

[Age]

   It is nice to see your sig. is back up agian  

[FireSoul]

Note: when OP starts up, it registers all the mission scripts. They are more or less like DLLs that need to be registered and checked. The more scripts you have, the more of a slowdown you will feel.

-- Luc

[FFZ]

  Hmm, it starts within 20 seconds or less for me, and I have the latest patch, but no mods or add-ons.

I also don't have any shortcuts or the like, I just click autoron on the CD in the drive if it doesn't start right up.  

[Pestalence]

FFZ.. the SFC OP game does not need the CD in drive to play.. and the game should be launched from the StarfleetOP.exe found in the main OP game directory to prevent game errors.. any other method of launching game will cause keyboard errors, loss of graphics for shuttles and fighters, or CTD fo game..

Also, you need to be patched to v2552 which is the current OFFICIAL version of the game and finally most people add on the Fan made Missions which brings out gmae play and also add on the OP + Shiplist which adds over 2500 ships to the game... making challenges much more enjoyable...
 

[FFZ]

 Are there missions for the other races besides the Pirate cartels?
OP only seems to have missions for the Pirates, nothing for the races, like EAW had.

I suppose they can be added, were are these missions found, and how can they be added?    

[Pestalence]

If you go to Firesoul's web site you can get the EAW to OP Storyline Campaign mission scripts.. he took EAW stock scripts and converted them to OP...

these are also available in the OP Enhancement Package v1.03 listed on this forum.. just search for the posting using the search link at the top of this thread...


For Firesoul's web site.. look at his OP + links stickied at the top of this forum.

My OP Enhancement package adds a lot, and i mean a lot to OP including Fam made custom missions, eaw to Op missions, over 112 single player campaigns... OP + shiplist v3.2 and a host of other things.. or if you wait Until tomorrow.. I will be posting OP Enhancement Pack 1.04 link

Hope that this helps

 

[Pestalence]

Quote:
 Are there missions for the other races besides the Pirate cartels?
OP only seems to have missions for the Pirates, nothing for the races, like EAW had.

I suppose they can be added, were are these missions found, and how can they be added?    

OP was designed speciffically for Orions and as such, the stock missions reflect that... OP was designed as a stand alone expansion of EAW.. so Empire missions would be in the base game of SFC EAW.. however fans like both cartels and Empire races.. and currently the Empire races are ruling the day.. see posting above from me for info leading to the EAW to OP Single Player Empire Storyline Campaigns.. thanks.
 

[FFZ]

  I can certainly wait a day, thanks.

Is it complicated to add mission scripts to the game?  

[Pestalence]

Actually it is easy..

You just DL the script (if not in an installer) and place it in your Assets/Scripts folder

if the script is for Single Player Skirmish (not Campaign) mode, or Multiplayer campaign mode then the game will register them automatically and display them in the mission selection list

if the mission of designed for Dynaverse 2 or Campaign mode .. then for Single player Campaign mode, you go into the Race *.MCT file located in assets\scripts\campaigns folder and look at the mission list...

(add the next munber)="Full name of script"

example.. list has 46 scripts.. you want to add

Met_AstroidDeathTrap.scr

to your campaign.. go into your races *.MCT file (open with Notepad) that corresponds to the campaign you are playing (decernable by comparing the description of the campaign in game with description in the *.mct file)

to add the script just  go with the next number in the format :

47="Met_AstroidDeathTrap.scr"

the next time you launch the campaign (preferrably on a new campaign as it may cause saved games to crash system) the mission will now show up periodically...

as for making scripts (if you are asking that).. then you need knowledge in C++ Programming and Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Sp 5

Hope that this helps..

BTW My first package contains everything for High end systems and weighs in at 181 MB.. however I am working on trying to squash that file size down some before uploading it...

then I will be doing that with all my other installer kits they progressively get smaller and smaller depending on which setup you desire....

Hope that this info helps..
 

[FFZ]

 181 MB?  That could take years to DL!

A good idea might be to try and break the DL into managable bits of no more then 20MB each, it would help the DL server, as well as the people doing the DL.

I have some large DLs on my site, they eat  server space like crazy.

The info certainly helps, I'm sure I can figure out what goes where, won't be simple, but I will give it a shot!

I never even opened the OP files on  my system till about an hour ago, I had no idea there was SFB advertizing in it, nor what the program files looked like.      

[FFZ]

 OK, DL the missions from the Firesoul site, and installed them, they seem to work fine, so thanks!      

[Pestalence]

Quote:
 181 MB?  That could take years to DL!

A good idea might be to try and break the DL into managable bits of no more then 20MB each, it would help the DL server, as well as the people doing the DL.

I have some large DLs on my site, they eat  server space like crazy.

The info certainly helps, I'm sure I can figure out what goes where, won't be simple, but I will give it a shot!

I never even opened the OP files on  my system till about an hour ago, I had no idea there was SFB advertizing in it, nor what the program files looked like.      

You may want to consider a DL manager like Getright.. it allows you to Dl multiple instances of the same file (it will segment file and in effect DL 2 separate parts of the file simultaneously then recombine them into the original file) and it allows you to pause or stop a DL in progress.. come back a week later and continue DL from where you left off (that is if Link is still active

just check a search engine for it...

 

[Age]

   Just save it to My Documents and when you want to download it agian then resume the download .That is how I downloaded FireSouls Shiplist OP+3.2with models I was haveing problems in my sinlge player camp. so I had to uninstall it.but it works when you save to MY Documents even if takes a week.When you are fineshed the download in My Docs. just go in there and left click on it and it will install

  I hope this helps.