Half Life Question

Nico0020 · Post by **Nico0020** » Fri Apr 11, 2003 3:42 pm

I remember seeing this in another post, but I cant seem to find it anymore. but Why in halflife does the size of my save file change so much? sometimes it will be 12 blocks and another time it will be up to 80 blocks.

mankrip · Post by **mankrip** » Sat Apr 12, 2003 11:51 am

The saves in Half Life are instant saves like the saves in QuakeDC. All entities, monsters, items, etc. on the maps are saved, so the size of the saves depends on the amount of entities on the map.

Plus the Half-Life DC maps are splitted in several parts due to RAM restrictions, so each time you enter in another section of a map more entities will be added to the game, increasing the size of the saves. I got a 105 blocks save at the end of the first level.

Also you can't overwrite a save if the VMU doesn't have enough space to store both saves. You have to delete a save before you can save. It becomes a pain as the menus are too damn slow.

The save system is surely not finished. Valve would have to work a lot on it before releasing the game.

The best you can do is to save right before entering another section of the map.

BlackAura · Post by **BlackAura** » Sat Apr 12, 2003 12:21 pm

Wouldn't it have been a better idea to do a quicksave to RAM, and then do a VMU save at the end of a section. Then again, there are only about 6 sections in Half-Life, so you'd have to play a long time without turning off the console.

Nico0020 · Post by **Nico0020** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 8:17 pm

I use my 4X card, so I have a entire card devoted to it. I always save after each loading time. btw has anyone noticed the command menu that comes down when push the ` button on the keyboard?

EverStoned · Post by **EverStoned** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 9:48 pm

Nico0020 wrote:I use my 4X card, so I have a entire card devoted to it. I always save after each loading time. btw has anyone noticed the command menu that comes down when push the ` button on the keyboard?

console.

butters · Post by **butters** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 12:08 am

EverStoned, there is a Dreamcast keyboard remember?

Oh, and the Halflife game is nice and warezish. Why is talk being allowed to continue?

mankrip · Post by **mankrip** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 12:52 am

Nico0020 wrote:I always save after each loading time.

It's better to save before loading a new section because the size of the saves are smaller when you're at the end of the section.

Mask of Destiny · Post by **Mask of Destiny** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 2:03 am

I saved whenever I felt like it and it seemed to me that the save's got bigger as I went through a section and only got small again when I entered a new section. I assumed this was because there's no point in saving information about things that are in their default location which in a new section they'd almost all be whereas at the end of the section. Many things have been killed, moved, or collected so there's more to save.

XDelusion · Post by **XDelusion** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 2:51 am

Butters: Oh, that's because we're all beta testers for the company see...

ace · Post by **ace** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 4:15 pm

It would be cool to see a small save mod like those for QuakeDC eh? What is the biggest size save anyone has encountered?

-Keith

EverStoned · Post by **EverStoned** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 7:13 pm

butters wrote:EverStoned, there is a Dreamcast keyboard remember?

Uh, yeah..that's why I told him it was the console...he should know if he's got legal HL.

console is what that menu's called.

mankrip · Post by **mankrip** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 3:09 am

Mask of Destiny wrote:I saved whenever I felt like it and it seemed to me that the save's got bigger as I went through a section and only got small again when I entered a new section.

No way! Each section adds a lot of entities to the game. The saves will always be increased when you enter in a new section.

The saves only get smaller when you enter in a new level, because each level has a different table of entities. When you enter in a new level only the entities of the first section are added to the game.

When I was at the last section of the "Anomalous Materials" level my save was 105 blocks, but when I entered the "Unforseen Consequences" level my save became 33 blocks, because the entities of the first level were replaced by the entities of the first section of the second level.

Mask of Destiny wrote:I assumed this was because there's no point in saving information about things that are in their default location which in a new section they'd almost all be whereas at the end of the section. Many things have been killed, moved, or collected so there's more to save.

Unfortunately it doesn't work this way. The game does not remove any entities when you enter in another section.

What happens is that the items are removed from the game when you pick them up, and also a few other entities that works only once are removed when they are activated.

That's why I said that the save is smaller at the end of the sections, because when you get to the end of the section you have eliminated a few entities. But it's really only a few entities that are eliminated, since the saves I got at the end of some sections where only 1-3 blocks smaller than when I saved at the start of those sections.

They surely would have to do a lot of things in the save system before releasing the game. I pretty much guess that if you open a HL-DC save in a hex editor you'll see that it's 99% equal to the save of Half-Life for PC.

Mask of Destiny · Post by **Mask of Destiny** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 8:57 pm

I thought when you said sections you meant things like Anomylous Materials, Unforseen Consequences etc. This appears to be a communication problem. Oh well. I'm now guessing that what you mean by section is the space between two load points inthe game.

mankrip · Post by **mankrip** » Mon Apr 21, 2003 12:00 am

Exactly.