Improved performance, faster startup loader, improved gamepad support(v1.32.7.0)
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2. (v1.32.7.0) This update improves particle and rendering performance, has a new sound loader, improves startup loading time, and upgrades from DirectInput 7 to 8.
Improvements made to particle thread workload balancing can improve performance by up to 1%-10%, depending on the number of particles being processed and the number of CPU cores in the system. Performance gains will be closer to 1-2% in heavier load areas. Optimizations have also been made to draw call batching. This means when there are many objects on screen, such as bullets or enemies, performance will be increased by up to 5%.
A new sound loader has been built internal to the game engine, it no longer uses the “alut.dll” external library and it has been removed Also, the game startup loading time has been reduced by up to 87%. This was done by taking the heaviest area of loading, hundreds of enemy behavior script files, and loading them in the background once the main menu starts. The most important data will be ready by the time mission mode starts, so this won’t affect gameplay at all.
The DirectInput upgrade from 7 to 8 has no effect on XInput gamepads, but improves support for some devices.
Here are the full release notes for v1.32.7.0:
As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.32.7.0” or higher. Enjoy!
Improvements made to particle thread workload balancing can improve performance by up to 1%-10%, depending on the number of particles being processed and the number of CPU cores in the system. Performance gains will be closer to 1-2% in heavier load areas. Optimizations have also been made to draw call batching. This means when there are many objects on screen, such as bullets or enemies, performance will be increased by up to 5%.
A new sound loader has been built internal to the game engine, it no longer uses the “alut.dll” external library and it has been removed Also, the game startup loading time has been reduced by up to 87%. This was done by taking the heaviest area of loading, hundreds of enemy behavior script files, and loading them in the background once the main menu starts. The most important data will be ready by the time mission mode starts, so this won’t affect gameplay at all.
The DirectInput upgrade from 7 to 8 has no effect on XInput gamepads, but improves support for some devices.
Here are the full release notes for v1.32.7.0:
- Improved particle system update performance by up to 1-10%
-This was done by more evenly distributing the workload across CPU cores
-The amount of performance gained depends on the number of particles on screen and number of CPU cores/threads
--Performance gain is increased when there are more CPU cores/threads available
--Performance gain has less of an impact when there are a greater number of particles on screen
--For example, having a 10 core CPU running 10,000 particles, will result in up to a 1% performance gain
---The same CPU running 1,000 particles will reach up to a 10% performance gain
-The amount of performance gained varies frame-to-frame, but results in more consistent performance overall
--The lowest performance points received the greatest boost in performance, bringing them closer to the higher performance points - Built a new in-engine sound loader that eliminates dependencies on alut.dll
-Removed the alut.dll file from the game
-This slightly reduces game installation size, and uses slightly less memory
-General performance of the loader is similar to the old system it replaces - Much faster game startup loading time
-Startup loading time has been cut by up to 87%
--Internal testing has shown loading times reduce from 8 seconds down to 1 second
-Enemy behavior scripts are now loaded in the background during the main menu
--By the time gameplay starts, the enemy data will be ready for use - Improved overall rendering performance by up to 5%
-This was done by improving draw call batching
-This performance boost has the greatest impact when there are many objects on screen, such as bullets or enemies - Migrated from DirectInput7 to DirectInput8 for non-XInput gamepads
-This doesn't affect XInput gamepads at all
-This improves general support for DirectInput devices, fixing potential bugs and compatibility issues - Increased the deadzone area for DirectInput devices to fix drifting issues on some gamepads
-This doesn't affect XInput gamepads - Added a limit of 33 messages to the command console
-Prevents using excessive memory in some circumstances
-Prevents drawing offscreen messages
As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.32.7.0” or higher. Enjoy!