Shadow computation

[rdanner3]

Simply put, why does even a relatively simple track take close to an hour to compute the default shadows on an Intel i3-based laptop? Something complex I could see taking a while to do the shadows, but of the six tracks I've saved out, none of which were over 1:00 total race-time, only one was under 45 minutes for shadow computation. This is a serious issue, and (IMO) Nadeo needs to address it by saving checkpoint files during shadow computation. (Checkpoint files are files saved during a lengthy operation so that if the operation fails, the program can read the most-recent checkpoint file and resume from there rather than starting over.) Very useful technique, used for many years now, especially by things like BOINC and the like.

[mistAken]

How many background tasks do you also have running??

I have i5 2.7hz 4GB sheeps with 2 8gb Rboost and i can compute a Display Cost of 6000 with shadows computed Very High ! in just over 30 mins.

[rdanner3]

How many background tasks do you also have running??

I have i5 2.7hz 4GB sheeps with 2 8gb Rboost and i can compute a Display Cost of 6000 with shadows computed Very High ! in just over 30 mins.

The ReadyBoost might be the key there. I don't use (and have never seen a program that benefited from) ReadyBoost before. With too many programs, ReadyBoost is a waste of a flash drive's usable time, in my experience.

I've actually tried it with a stripped (nothing auto-launched) Win7, and it really didn't affect time that much. And no, we're not exactly comparing apples to apples, since the i5 is faster (and newer) than the i3.

My i3 is the M330 with 4 virtual cores @ 2.15Ghz each, if that helps. Machine has 4Gb RAM, about 368Gb HDD with roughly 10% free. Win7 Home Premium x64 SP1 with all updates.

[TMarc]

Please upload the track, and indicate which settings you used exactly (e.g. with screenshots, of the launcher advanced video configuration) and which menu entry you used in the shadow calculation dialog.

The i3 is not that powerful, you know?
Besides this, lightmap calculation is done using the GPU.
Most probably, with a i3 CPU, you have a Intel HD3000 or HD4000 chip in your laptop, by chance perhaps also a additional GPU in your system.

For what I know (but luckyboy is the magician who knows all the secrets here ), it's the gpu that computes the lightmap.

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