Blank Top View

[Ian Wells]

Sage, you are aptly named.

I have looked back over the course files and I am still at a loss.
I discovered the increase in file revision 090903 so I reviewed the previous save revision 090902 which was saved 37 minutes earlier. Revision 090902 is, I believe, the save I made after completing the planting for Hole 9. This has the start-up time of 1min:8sec, or so.
Obviously in the 37 minutes I must have made further changes, of which I can only remember one, which was adding a tree. (I have again added the tree and there is no change in the time.)
Going back I checked the shadow file size for the two revisions:
revision 090902 25182KB
revision 090903 91047KB

It is therefore certain that I added something, but I have no idea what. (I refer you to Dan's post viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1271).
I have no idea what I could add that would increase the shadow file 2.5 times. (In the first 9 holes I have planted approx. 3000000 objects and I could not possibly have add another 7500000 - could I?)

I think it is time for me to continue with the back 9 while I can remember there is on.
Ian

[Adelade]

The "startup time" you're talking about is all about the shadow file for the course being created (a file with the extension .SHA which you can normally find in Links' COURSES folder). When next opening the exact same course file in Links, the shadow file already exists and doesnt need to be built again, therefore it goes faster to load up 1st tee.

The shadow file is supposed to depend on how many objects on the course have top views assigned, but I have found that even objects without a top view affect how large the shadow file becomes, so it is more a measure on how many planted objects there are on the course file in total - even grasses without top views count. Individual file size per object and top view probably has an affect on it too.

Most courses have shadow files between 0 and 15 to 20 MB, which I would say is sort of "normal", but there are some courses with up to 40 MB shadow files (perhaps there are some with even more), and while that is over the top in my opinion, it isnt really necessarily a problem... You just have to accept an annoying load time once the first time, but after that it doesnt matter at all unless disc space on your computer is a concern.

Ian, if you told us how large the shadow file is for the course(s), that would tell us a lot more than how long it takes for your computer to load it, since different computers will have different speeds at creating the shadow file. Im guessing that the speed of your HDD/SDD could be a major factor (but Im no expert about that). [Edit: I see now that you did post the file sizes in the last post, my bad, somehow didnt see it before]

[Ian Wells]

Adelade,
I am in the middle of my review and I will then post the result.
IAn

[Ian Wells]

Gentlemen,
After spending more hours that I intended to I am still at a complete and utter loss.

The original reason for this post has long since been overtake and is now about the increase in LINKS start-up time versus number of 2D objects with top views, i.e. shadows.

As a precis to what started this post, after completing the planting of the first nine holes of Victoria National I noticed a large increase in the start-up time after I planted hole 9. I attempted to see if there was anything obvious I had planted or revised that would cause such an increase and found nothing.

I made a check of the planting for each hole to see if there was something that may give an answer. Again I found nothing. I then decided to plant hole 9 anew with slightly less grass objects. This reduced the start-up time significantly and was inline with the other hole planting. As the increased time with hole 9 had in excess of 3000000 object and the new planting less, I planted hole 10. Firstly with grasses and then added the trees, and finally made modifications to the terrain.

Below are the start-up details per hole:

Start_up times.jpg (56.17 KiB) Viewed 2836 times

All the grasses have no top view, all trees and bushes have top view.

As you can see the start-up time increases more or less in accordance with the number of 2D objects with the exception of the final.

As I mentioned at the top of this post, I have no idea why there was a problem on hole 9 planting, and have spent 2 days proving what everyone knows, the more 2D objects the longer the start-up. However the final line in the table contradicts everything that I have just said.

As the only answer to the the hole 9 planting problem is an error by yours truly of another bug in APCD, I hope that you will forgive me for blaming APCD. It frustrates us all but it just can't be bettered.

Unless anyone can enlighten us further about this topic I will attempt to erase this episode from my memory.

Ian

[braden1308]

Ian, going out on a limb, your computer wasn't updating or doing something in the back round, was it? I have had more issues lately with microsoft updates and little patches coming through and at times making my laptop almost non responsive (Win 10) by the way

[Adelade]

About the inconsitency of your last 2 listed files:
Yeah, what Glenn said, start-up time will depend on how fast your computer works at that specific time, which can vary from time to time based on factors outside Links/APCD. Im thinking that comparing shadow file sizes would have given more consistent results in relation to number of 2D objects (except for the file that took 4 minutes to load), but who knows, maybe APCD or Links is just slightly inconsistent too, I've noticed that happening with insignificant-but-also-inexplicable changes in CRZ file sizes for example, perhaps something similar could happen with shadow files.

About the 4 minute one:
Seems quite weird yes, but I wouldnt write off APCD being to blame. Im thinking it probably had something to do with you changing the top view files and altering your object library, but then I dont understand why the problem fixed itself for subsequent saves unless you went back to an earlier APCD state too (not just an earlier course state). If it was me, I personally would have been very hesistant to change object settings for any objects that are already planted, I really dont like taking chances with that, but obviously since I've never tried anything like that I have no experience of it, so I cant tell whether it normally ought to be fine.

Unless the main problem returns, I too think you're better off disregarding and moving on.

[Ian Wells]

Glen,

going out on a limb, your computer wasn't updating or doing something in the back round, was it?

Your guess is as good as mine

Adelade,

Unless the main problem returns, I too think you're better off disregarding and moving on.

Disregard what?
(As for the shadow files the present file size is 25495 KB and the shadow file when I had problems on 9 was 76558KB.)

Thanks to all who commented, now I will return to some constructive work, - the back 9 holes.

Ian
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