Skyrim loading screens

[Mr.Wizard]

So I'm loving Skyrim but Ihave a question (and it's a question that bugged me about Oblivion too).

Why is it that the engine can load the entire exterior world so that I can walk from one side of the map to the other without hitting a loading screen, but I can't walk into a basement without having to sit at a loading screen for 10 seconds?

Don't get me wrong, it never really takes a long time to load (although I have had one or two freeze ups) but I just can't understand why, technically, this was neccesary.

So Escapees, enlighten me. Why have Bethesda done this, and does it annoy you as much as it does me?

 

[Culinus]

Several reasons. First of all houses tend to be a lot bigger on the inside than on the outside. If they made it so that you could walk in and out of houses without hitting loading screens they'd have to make all the houses a lot bigger (on the outside). Secondly; there's usually a lot more stuff inside houses than there are out in the world, by that I mean there's a lot more items laying around per square meter. So if the inside and outside world was all the same world your computer would have to render a lot more objects (or polygons) when standing in the center of a town than say out on a mountain. And thirdly: it's usually a bit more comfortable to build a game world when you can split areas up into different "worlds".

 

[Jandau]

Because as you walk it's constantly loading stuff just outside your field of view, little by little. When you enter a new location it suddenly needs to load a whole bunch of new stuff at once so it needs a bit to do it, not to mention that the interior of the dungeon you are entering might use a different set of resources and textures than the forest you were just walking through, so they need to be loaded from scratch.

And no, loading screens don't bother me too much. After playing Mark of Chaos, spending a few seconds on a loading screen is barely noticable...

 

[Mr.Wizard]

Several reasons. First of all houses tend to be a lot bigger on the inside than on the outside. If they made it so that you could walk in and out of houses without hitting loading screens they'd have to make all the houses a lot bigger (on the outside). Secondly; there's usually a lot more stuff inside houses than there are out in the world, by that I mean there's a lot more items laying around per square meter. So if the inside and outside world was all the same world your computer would have to render a lot more objects (or polygons) when standing in the center of a town than say out on a mountain. And thirdly: it's usually a bit more comfortable to build a game world when you can split areas up into different "worlds".

I can definately understand having a loading screen to get into a house. What I don't get is having a loading screen to go from the ground floor to the top.

The one that got me was while I was doing the thieves guild quests. I had to walk down into the inn basement, talk to someone and then walk out again. Sure, there were some items laying around (food etc) but nothing of note happened there that really required that little room to be completely seperated from the rest of the inn.

I giess I can understand that items are a lot more densely packed in dungeons, but I really think houses and inns should only need 1 loading screen to get inside and not several to go up and down stairs.

Maybe its just specific loading screens that are going to annoy me, like the one mentioned above.

 

[Necabo]

So I'm loving Skyrim but Ihave a question (and it's a question that bugged me about Oblivion too).

Why is it that the engine can load the entire exterior world so that I can walk from one side of the map to the other without hitting a loading screen, but I can't walk into a basement without having to sit at a loading screen for 10 seconds?

Don't get me wrong, it never really takes a long time to load (although I have had one or two freeze ups) but I just can't understand why, technically, this was neccesary.

So Escapees, enlighten me. Why have Bethesda done this, and does it annoy you as much as it does me?

Because on my PC loading rarely takes longer that a few seconds (mostly not even enough to read the tekst

 

[Private Custard]

I haven't spent more than two seconds on a loading screen so far....even when loading from the main menu.

4.8Ghz i7 + 16gb or RAM = Awesome!

 

[Vicarious Reality]

I remember when waiting 15 minutes for a Far Cry level to load was normal

 

[ThePuzzldPirate]

I haven't spent more than two seconds on a loading screen so far....even when loading from the main menu.

4.8Ghz i7 + 16gb or RAM = Awesome!

That is total over kill, I'm at 3.2 and 8 and it only takes seconds, XD

 

[Loop Stricken]

I haven't spent more than two seconds on a loading screen so far....even when loading from the main menu.

4.8Ghz i7 + 16gb or RAM = Awesome!

I've got a 2Ghz, 2GB RAM, not even put the game onto my SSD, and it still loads everything in like, four seconds.
Truly it is witchcraft.

 

[Rossmallo]

I played Deus Ex HR on the Xbox while waiting for Skyrim. Apart from the first loading screen in Skyrim, I can BARELY notice them now.

 

[Private Custard]

I haven't spent more than two seconds on a loading screen so far....even when loading from the main menu.

4.8Ghz i7 + 16gb of RAM = Awesome!

That is total over kill, I'm at 3.2 and 8 and it only takes seconds, XD

RAM's just so cheap at the moment. 8Gb of Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600 for £40, I had to double up!

I built my rig for FSX (hence the massive overclock). Seems it's pretty good at other stuff as well!

I haven't spent more than two seconds on a loading screen so far....even when loading from the main menu.

4.8Ghz i7 + 16gb of RAM = Awesome!

I've got a 2Ghz, 2GB RAM, not even put the game onto my SSD, and it still loads everything in like, four seconds.
Truly it is witchcraft.

I don't understand it.......I just enjoy it