Ridiculously long loading times

JackHiggins · Post #1by **JackHiggins** » 23.12.2002, 20:14

Ok this is probably just my computer because its a heap of *ahem*.. But maybe someone else has experienced this problem as well- yesterday I downloaded and installed the expaned star database 2C (2,102,323) stars from http://perso.wanadoo.fr/celestia.stars/index.html .

This may seem unbelieveable but when I tried to open Celestia afterwards it took 35 minutes to load...!!! :roll:

seriously! This is probably a problem unique to me but someone must have had something like this happen to them...?!!

My computer:
Windows98se, TNT2pro 32MB graphics card, 96MB ram, pentium III 533 MHz.

Thanx!!!

JackHiggins · Post #2by **JackHiggins** » 23.12.2002, 20:20

oya should have said as well I have Celestia version 1.2.5pre7

Post #3by **selden** » 23.12.2002, 21:56

Jack,

Taking that long to load implies that your system is paging itself to death. In other words, your system needs more main memory. V2C of the stars database is more than 50MB. Add to that all the textures you're using. They add up more quickly than you'd expect. You might want to consider upgrading to 512MB or even 1GB if your system can handle that much.

A short-term workaround for when you want to fly among the stars might be to eliminate all of your medium and hires textures by renaming their directories. The lores textures are small and load quickly.

Alternatively, you might consider having Celestia installed in several different directories, each optimized for a particular type of viewing. You don't have to go through the full installation procedure. Just copy your current Celestia directory, creating another directory tree with a different name, and then right-drag the new executable's icon to your desktop and create a shortcut to it.

I hope this helps a little.

JackHiggins · Post #4by **JackHiggins** » 23.12.2002, 23:09

Aww damn... I knew someone was going to say that!!! I suppose ill just stick to the original stars.dat for the moment until I get a better machine... No point adding anything to this one- its had its day but times have moved on!!!

Thanx anyway though... :cry:

Post #5by **selden** » 23.12.2002, 23:13

Jack,

Depending on the model of system you have, though, memory can be really inexpensive as such things go. $50 can produce a lot of enjoyment

Of course, you have to be careful to get memory modules that work with what you have...

JackHiggins · Post #6by **JackHiggins** » 23.12.2002, 23:25

Ah yeah I know that- I know exactly what I want & how much it'll cost, its just that this thing has so many problems already- :roll:

I'll get a new computer & start from scratch again!! (It would cost me less to get a new one then it would to improve & fix this anyway)