Precache textures?

[GreatEmerald]

Is there a setting that precaches HD level textures on load in UT3, so you wouldn't get the texture replacement effect after the game loads, that is, when you start, you need to wait some time before textures are replaced with normal resolution ones? This is really annoying, because lowest resolution textures are very different from the high resolution ones...
EDIT: Oh, and while I'm at it, is there a way to enable General Protection Fault messages instead of those old Microsoft "Please report" messages?

 

[Dark Pulse]

Is there a setting that precaches HD level textures on load in UT3, so you wouldn't get the texture replacement effect after the game loads, that is, when you start, you need to wait some time before textures are replaced with normal resolution ones? This is really annoying, because lowest resolution textures are very different from the high resolution ones...
EDIT: Oh, and while I'm at it, is there a way to enable General Protection Fault messages instead of those old Microsoft "Please report" messages?

1. No, texture streaming is by design. The only time you'll really experience streaming is with your first game launch. You can greatly reduce the time it takes by having 2 GB of RAM at least, although 4 GB is better (especially for Vista.)
2. I don't really think so. I know there's a way to change the "Please Report" dialogues to "This app has encountered a problem and will close" ones, but the game will only GPF if it actually GPFs.

 

[GreatEmerald]

I have 2GB RAM, and it doesn't seem all that fast... MapMixer helps with maps that are not the first in line, as it goes to the score screen to precache player skins, and thus takes enough time to precache level textures, but the first level is always annoying...

Yea, I already changed Please Report to Encountered a Problem But it still annoys me. It does GPF, but outputs it in a log instead of showing it visually. What was the point to remove GPF dialogues anyway?

 

[Alhanalem]

Also known as "texture pop-in" and you can see it in any UE3 game. The xbox version of The Last Remnant was notorious for this; but on the PC where most people have access to more RAM, the issue is greatly reduced.

Frankly I think anything that keeps the wait time before you can take control of the game is good, even textue pop-in as I like to call it.

 

[Dark Pulse]

I have 2GB RAM, and it doesn't seem all that fast... MapMixer helps with maps that are not the first in line, as it goes to the score screen to precache player skins, and thus takes enough time to precache level textures, but the first level is always annoying...

Yea, I already changed Please Report to Encountered a Problem But it still annoys me. It does GPF, but outputs it in a log instead of showing it visually. What was the point to remove GPF dialogues anyway?

Not sure.

As for your lengthy streaming issue, I never had it take above 15-20 seconds to stream in a fresh level's textures fully on 2 GB, and that's at maximum detail. Have you defragmented your drives lately? That can help *GREATLY* with load times.

 

[GreatEmerald]

Uh, 20 seconds? It takes at max 5 seconds here, but it's still annoying, I don't want to see fake textures...

 

[Alhanalem]

for me it normally only takes like 2 seconds. It doesn't bother me at all.

 

[WaitForTheRain]

I'd say that it's usually about 2 seconds or so for me and I'm not even running UT3 on the most up to date of rigs, but you can see that Epic have tried to hide the low res textures slightly until the hi res ones appear by blurring your view momentarily when you spawn.

 

[Sjosz]

Uh, 20 seconds? It takes at max 5 seconds here, but it's still annoying, I don't want to see fake textures...

This is the way the engine running the game works. The textures are not fake, they're just lower res and lower detail for memory purposes. Take the annoyance in stride. Even Gears of War 2 has this problem, even though they cleverly made it blend in instead of pop.