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How I cut GTA Online loading times by 70%

(nee.lv)
3883 points kuroguro | 9 comments | 28 Feb 21 19:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.703s | source | bottom
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breakingcups ◴[28 Feb 21 20:25 UTC] No.26296724[source]▶
It is absolutely unbelievable (and unforgivable) that a cash cow such as GTA V has a problem like this present for over 6 years and it turns out to be something so absolutely simple.

I do not agree with the sibling comment saying that this problem only looks simple and that we are missing context.

This online gamemode alone made $1 billion in 2017 alone.

Tweaking two functions to go from a load time of 6 minutes to less than two minutes is something any developer worth their salt should be able to do in a codebase like this equipped with a good profiler.

Instead, someone with no source code managed to do this to an obfuscated executable loaded with anti-cheat measures.

The fact that this problem is caused by Rockstar's excessive microtransaction policy (the 10MB of JSON causing this bottleneck are all available microtransaction items) is the cherry on top.

(And yes, I might also still be salty because their parent company unjustly DMCA'd re3 (https://github.com/GTAmodding/re3), the reverse engineered version of GTA III and Vice City. A twenty-year-old game. Which wasn't even playable without purchasing the original game.)

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xyst ◴[28 Feb 21 20:35 UTC] No.26296812[source]▶
is it really unbelievable? companies this big tend to prioritize hiring a shit ton of middlemen (VPs, project managers, developer managers, offshore managers) in order to avoid paying out for talent to build and constantly maintain the project. I guess paying a shit ton of money to 1 person to manage 10+ poorly paid contractors works out for them, accounting wise.

If one really examined the accounting for GTAO, I would bet that most of the billions of dollars that were earned in micro transactions went to marketing, product research, and to middle management in the form of bonuses.

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1. xyzelement ◴[28 Feb 21 20:52 UTC] No.26296958[source]▶
I am always amused by comments like this. You have no idea what development practices they follow (neither do I) but it's hilarious to read your tone.

GTA has achieved tremendous success both as an entertaining game and as a business. It's enjoyed by millions of people and generates billions in revenue. As per this article, it has startup problems (which don't seem to actually really hurt the overall product but I agree sound annoying) but the bigger picture is: it's a huge success.

So - Rockstar has nailed it. What exactly is your platform for analyzing/criticizing their processes or even having a shot of understanding what they are? What have you build that anyone uses? (not saying you haven't, but.. have you been involved with anything remotely close to that scale?)

And if not, whence he high horse?

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2. brokencode ◴[28 Feb 21 22:42 UTC] No.26297807[source]▶
Successful people and businesses can be wrong. You are not making a case for why those development practices are okay, but are simply appealing to authority.

I and most other customers would argue that 6 minute loading times are atrocious, and if there is an easy fix like this, it makes me lose a lot of respect for the developer who doesn’t fix it. It maybe would even make me avoid them in the future.

A reputation is built over years, but can be lost pretty much instantly. Companies have to continue serving their customers to enjoy ongoing success.

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3. saagarjha ◴[28 Feb 21 23:04 UTC] No.26297944[source]▶
You can be right in many places and still wrong in some, and enjoy enormous success as a result of all you have done well. That does not mean nobody can criticize you for something that you have clearly done wrong.
4. ant6n ◴[28 Feb 21 23:06 UTC] No.26297957[source]▶
GTA is fine ... but the storytelling is meh. Missions keep repeating, and there's little to draw you in. You drive somewhere, somebody gets whacked, you drive back. Rinse and repeat. The makers try compensate with shocking and crass violence and humor, but at some point it just feels kind of juvenile.

Maybe it got better in recent releases, I kind of stopped following after GTA4.

5. djmips ◴[01 Mar 21 00:45 UTC] No.26298568[source]▶
Why is this getting voted down, are there that many cynical people out there?
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6. Aeolun ◴[01 Mar 21 00:54 UTC] No.26298634[source]▶
I don’t need to be successful to have a platform to be outraged. It doesn’t matter that it’s Rockstar, if anything, the fact that they’re so successful and couldn’t be bothered to save so many people literal hours of their lives in loading time makes it worse.
7. hombre_fatal ◴[01 Mar 21 00:54 UTC] No.26298636[source]▶
They didn’t make an appeal to authority but an appeal to commercial success, and they’re right on.

The fact that GTAO is so popular should make most HNers rethink what they know about the commercial necessity of optimization vs building a compelling product.

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8. incrudible ◴[01 Mar 21 10:24 UTC] No.26301350{3}[source]▶
The loading times were not initially that long and then the slow CPU makes a big difference.

This really only goes to show how much you can get away with if you have an outstandingly popular product that has no direct competition. Chances are that your product is not that compelling, if it performs poorly, that will hurt adoption. It will never become outstandingly popular in the first place.

9. Sohcahtoa82 ◴[01 Mar 21 22:46 UTC] No.26309528[source]▶
They're getting voted down because they're making a ridiculous argument.

They're basically saying that GTAV's massive commercial success should grant it immunity to criticism.