[FIXED B998.2] Slow down in latest beta....

[Lowlaner2012]

Hi...

When I click on an airbase with a lot of aircraft in it, there is a quite a pause, then it opens with the air weapon load open... even after you close the plane load out drop down menu and click it again there is another pause even although its already been open...

Has anybody else noticed this?

[Dimitris]

Hi,

Can you post a an example save? It would help us check if there is any situation-specific bottleneck. Thanks!

[morphin]

Yes same here

[ComDev]

Bump! Savegame needed. Thanks [8D]

[Dimitris]

Fixed for the next release.

[Lowlaner2012]

Hi guys, just tried the latest beta 998.2 and the aircraft load out screens is loading incrementally 1 aircraft at a time until all the aircraft are shown...

Thanks

[Dimitris]

Yes....?

The list appears immediately without delay, yes?

[Lowlaner2012]

Hi...

No the list drops down one aircraft at a time until the list is finished so something (on my PC) is still not right, I may try a fresh install to see if that fixes it...

Thanks

[Dimitris]

Your original report was that there was a delay in showing the list of aircraft.

We investigated and found that it was indeed possible to have this delay if there are tons and tons of aircraft of the same exact type in the base.

We tweaked it so that the list displays immediately, and the time-lengthy part (populating the list with the 3000 aircraft in the base) is done more gradually, an aircraft at the time. Note that the UI is immediately responsive even from the first AC added, so you can begin doing stuff (arming & launching aircraft etc.) even as the list is still being populated.

If that's not good enough then we're sorry.

[thewood1]

3000 aircraft on one base! Is that even possible in the real world?

[Lowlaner2012]

I meant no offense Dimitris and I am always grateful for the work you and the other devs do to fix and add to Command...

I am trying a fresh install to see if that fixes it, it might as I have had an issue or 2 in the past that have been resolved by re-installs..

Cheers

[Lowlaner2012]

The reinstall didn't fix it...

Its really weird because I have had Command for years and in past versions when I clicked on a airbase it came up almost instantaneously, its only doing the pause and then 1 aircraft at a time thing with the latest patch...

Thanks

[Raptorx7_slith]

I'm experiencing this with the latest patch as well, even at airfields without a large number of aircraft they're being listed one at a time whereas before it was instantaneous.

[Dimitris]

OK, let's backtrack. I'll explain what has changed and why.

Until recently, when you brought up a typical AirOps window at a base or carrier with lots of aircraft, you would see something like this:



Nice and fast, right?

EXCEPT, we had multiple reports from users that, facing this screen, they were not realizing that they actually had to click on the "+" icons to get the detailed list per aircraft type. So they were literally stuck at this point.

So we recently (B998.1) changed the default view to this:



....which, from what we hear, makes it clearer.

The problem? Actually populating the detailed list is CPU-expensive and can take a while (anything from a few tenths of a second to a few seconds, depending on a number of things). This delay has always been there; if you have an older functional build lying around, mark the time between clicking on the "+" on, say, a 300-aircraft grouping and actually seeing the list. The difference from a user's POV is that now (B998.1) this delay is "right in his face" when the AirOps window is brought up, instead of manifesting only when manually expanding any AC type grouping.

So what we tweaked between B998.1 and B988.2 is that, once the AirOps window is brought up, the "populate the 300-aircraft grouping list" task is spun off to a separate thread (so that the UI controls of the window become immediately accessible, instead of having to wait a few seconds), and the detailed list is populated one at a time.

So, three choices:

1) Go Back To The Way We Were (TM): Exactly like the first screenshot. The AirOps window gets shown instantly, and the player must actively click on the "+" to see the detailed list. And someone will have to stick around to explain to newbies what to do. Any volunteers?

2) The B998.1 implementation: Exactly like the second screenshot. There is a delay in showing the AirOps window if the first aircraft grouping is large, because the detailed list is being put together.

3) The B998.2 implementation: The AirOps window itself is shown instantly, and the UI controls are immediately available, but if the first type-grouping is large, the detailed list takes a few seconds to fully populate.

Let's hear it.

[Phoenix100]

All are fine. But I'm a newbie and I find it hard to believe novices would not know what the plus sign meant (though it's true my stupidity often surprises me). So I would have thought it was fine in the first place.

[Lowlaner2012]

I would be happy with either 1 or 2, in the end its up to the devs....

Dimitris putting this post up was not a criticism of the new feature, I honestly thought it was a bug, I had no idea some newbies didn't know what to do to open the aircraft load out drop down menu.....

Cheers

[Grazyn]

Keep in mind that CMANO playerbase is very diverse, there are a lot of elderly players and others coming straight from tabletop wargames who are not familiar with computers and UIs. Just look at some old help requests and you'll find people having trouble understanding folders and basic operations like copy and paste.

[Lowlaner2012]

Fair enough Grazyn,

For me the second option sounds best..

Cheers

[Raptorx7_slith]

I think the best option is to go back to the way it was, its not that hard to explain to a newbie and it just makes more sense in my opinion.

[AlphaSierra]

I like it, works great on 998.2 and I have a slow PC