Dynamic loading question

1

I am using dynamic loading for sprites (Sirisian’s TextureManager) …

I load when I start the game so I think I will need some loading screen and force people to wait… but I am wondering if it’s better to load one large file or many files.

ie, does the number of files matter when cumulative(?) image size will stay the same?

thanks.

2

[quote=misterooga;2334480]I am using dynamic loading for sprites (Sirisian’s TextureManager) …

I load when I start the game so I think I will need some loading screen and force people to wait… but I am wondering if it’s better to load one large file or many files.

ie, does the number of files matter when cumulative(?) image size will stay the same?

thanks.[/quote]

The main reason why I posted this question was this: I was using–probably outdated version of–sirisian’s texture manager and every other time, the loader will go into infinite loop. This happens when I try to load up front.

In case anyone is interested, I post the code with a part I added to fix the issue.


package engine.texture {
	import flash.display.BitmapData;
	public class Texture {
		public var loaded:Boolean;
		public var ID:String;
		public var bitmap:BitmapData;
		public function Texture(ID_:String) {
			loaded = false;
			ID = ID_;
		}
	}
}

package engine.texture {
	import flash.display.*;
	import flash.events.*;
	import flash.net.URLRequest;
	public class TextureManager {
		//All the textures.
		public var textures:Array;
		//Array for textures waiting to be loaded.
		public var textureLoadQueue:Array;
		public var readyToLoadImage:Boolean;
		public var URLpath:String;
		public var textureTemp:Texture;
		
		// JK added
		public var numItems:Number = 0;
		public var numItemsLoaded:Number = 0;
		public var loadDelayCounter:Number = 0;
		
		public function TextureManager(URLpath_:String) {
			URLpath = URLpath_;
			textures = new Array();
			textureLoadQueue = new Array();
			readyToLoadImage = true;
			
			
			// Loading graphics
			
			numItems = 3; // hardcoded value
			//this.Load("Game_Ending");
			//this.Load("CharacterSheet1");			
			//this.Load("CharacterSheet2");			
			
			
		}
		public function Load(imageID_:String):void {
			//Allocate a spot to identify if the texture is loaded
			textures[imageID_] = new Texture(imageID_);
			//Add to the load queue to download the image file
			textureLoadQueue.push(textures[imageID_]);
		}
		
		public function allLoaded():Boolean { return (numItems == numItemsLoaded); }
		
		public function LoadQueue():void {
			if (textureLoadQueue.length>0) {
				if (readyToLoadImage) {
					loadDelayCounter = 0;
					textureTemp = textureLoadQueue.shift();
					trace("Loading: "+textureTemp.ID);
					readyToLoadImage = false;
					var loader:Loader = new Loader();
					var urlReq:URLRequest = new URLRequest(URLpath+textureTemp.ID+".png");
					loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.INIT,completedLoading);
					loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.IO_ERROR, errorLoading);
					loader.load(urlReq);
				} else {
					loadDelayCounter++;
					trace("Texture Loading...");
					
					// JK _ if it keeps repeating for 5 times or more, try force reloading 
					if (loadDelayCounter > 5 ) {
						//loader.contentLoaderInfo.removeEventListener(Event.INIT,completedLoading);
						//loader.contentLoaderInfo.removeEventListener(IOErrorEvent.IO_ERROR, errorLoading);
						textureLoadQueue.unshift(textureTemp);
						readyToLoadImage = true;						
					}
				}
			}
		}
		public function completedLoading(eventObj:Object):void{
			trace("Done Loading: " + textureTemp.ID);
			var loader:Loader = eventObj.target.loader;
            var info:LoaderInfo = loader.contentLoaderInfo;
			textureTemp.bitmap = Bitmap(loader.content).bitmapData;	
			textureTemp.loaded = true;
			readyToLoadImage = true;
			numItemsLoaded ++;
		}
		public function errorLoading(eventObj:Object):void{
			trace("Error Loading Image: " + eventObj);
			//An error occured. By default the next image will load: NOTE: if needed you may want to uncomment the lines that follow given what you want to do:
			//textureLoadQueue.unshift(textureTemp);//This will try to load the image again.
			//textureLoadQueue.push(textureTemp);//This will try to load the image again after the rest of the images.
			readyToLoadImage = true;
		}
		//Does not check if the image is actually loaded or exists, just returns the texture if found
		public function GetTexture(ID_:String):Texture {
			return textures[ID_];
		}
		
	}
}

All I added to fix is the little part in LoadQueue(). I also added allLoaded() check function.

Note that this works if and only if you are loading all the files up front; we did it this way for our game since we didn’t have too much graphics AND we got lazy and didn’t want to bother loading at various other places… heh.