Streaming Levels

[ds3]

Hello anyone.
I'm working with Streaming Levels in UE3 at the moment.
I've got some questions. Any answers welcome!

1 - There is the way to Stream levels w\o Kismet? Or using other methods like distance from it? -SOLVED-
2 - I need to change anything to make Steaming work in multiplayer?
I know it could work(as in GOW) but I'm not sure there to start.
3 - How long will it take to load map and how it loads? I'm working with tech demo maps with cubes now so I'm not sure if it will be smooth in game with big maps with detailed environment. :D
Does it loads terrain\BSP first? Or its shows the whole map ONLY then fully loaded?

Thank you.

[Jetfire]

Streaming is server-side. In multiplayer if a map streams in for one player, it streams in for all.

Load time will depend on user's machine and complexity of the level. It was certainly noticable for me when i played GOW by 1/2 second hitches as I moved between areas. Hardly a deal breaker in singleplayer but that would be life-or-death in multiplayer. Really MP streaming is mainly for content creation, allowing different ppl to work on different aspects simultaneously, then load all sub maps in at the same time on level startup.

You set when the map is made visible yourself somewhere in the options (not at my dev machine atm).

[ds3]

Streaming is server-side. In multiplayer if a map streams in for one player, it streams in for all.

Load time will depend on user's machine and complexity of the level. It was certainly noticable for me when i played GOW by 1/2 second hitches as I moved between areas. Hardly a deal breaker in singleplayer but that would be life-or-death in multiplayer. Really MP streaming is mainly for content creation, allowing different ppl to work on different aspects simultaneously, then load all sub maps in at the same time on level startup.

You set when the map is made visible yourself somewhere in the options (not at my dev machine atm).
Thank you very much for your reply.
I've found a way to load\unload level w\o Kismet by adding them with "distance" parameter. And now they work as expected. Loading map then I'm near.
Its sad that its server-side(though I'm not sure about "distance" method).
I'll test it soon on my server with some players and see that happens.

[willhaven]

1 - Use streaming volumes for levels with meshes and BSP. I prefer to use Kismet to load/unload levels that are mostly Kismet and script.

2 - I'm not sure if UT3 will properly support streaming.

3 - The whole thing will load and then become visible when it is loaded. I believe Gears 1 shipped with large streaming volumes that load but do not make visible, then when you near the corner that will allow you to see the new area, we had streaming volumes that make visible and block on load. Block on load will pause the game and bring up a "loading" screen until the level has loaded. Ideally this block on load volume would only act as a visibility toggle.

[ds3]

I'm going to install GOW tomorrow and see how its done. Cos I'm really into creating some multiplayer adventure action.

[_Lynx]

3 - The whole thing will load and then become visible when it is loaded. I believe Gears 1 shipped with large streaming volumes that load but do not make visible, then when you near the corner that will allow you to see the new area, we had streaming volumes that make visible and block on load. Block on load will pause the game and bring up a "loading" screen until the level has loaded. Ideally this block on load volume would only act as a visibility toggle.

Well the red "Loading" screen would pop-up only when you die or load the save game. Otherwise the next level will load during the bink video (i.e. one with helicopter crash right before player first time takes on Berserker ) otherwise it's just a small "Loading" notification in the corner of the screen.