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3883 points kuroguro | 4 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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breakingcups ◴[] 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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thrwyoilarticle ◴[] No.26297961[source]
The popular view is that companies who write software know how to prioritise, so if a problem like this isn't fixed, it's because they've done the calculations and decided it's not worthwhile.

I disagree. If there are no internal incentives for the people who know how to fix this to fix it, or if there's no path from them thinking fixing it could improve revenues to being assigned the ticket, things like this won't get fixed. I can fully believe the load times will result in fewer users and lower expenditure.

I think we'll see this happen with Facebook Messenger. Both the apps and the website have become slow and painful to use and get worse every month. I think we'll start to see engagement numbers dropping because of this.

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1. rsj_hn ◴[] No.26298890[source]
That the process breaks down in some cases doesn't mean they don't know how to prioritize. They clearly know how to prioritize well enough to make a wildly successful and enjoyable game. That doesn't mean no bad decisions were made over the last decade or so of development.

Like anything else, things will be as bad as the market allows. So I'd expect monopolies to do a worse and worse job of making good decisions and companies in competitive fields to do a better and better job over time. Thus the difference between TakeTwo and Facebook, and the need for lower cost of entry and greater competition in all economic endaevors where efficiency or good decision making is important.

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2. AshWolfy ◴[] No.26299314[source]
Does it? Just because something is good or successful doesnt mean it was made well. Thats why we are seeing stories of crunch, failures of management compensated by extreme overwork.
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3. rsj_hn ◴[] No.26299362[source]
Now you are moving the goalposts to a philosophical discussion as to what types of business you like or don't like, and I'm not sure any progress can be made with that approach. Some will share your values, others will find them repugnant, and in any case it doesn't have much bearing on rockstar load times.
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4. AshWolfy ◴[] No.26311382{3}[source]
I dont think anyone likes excessive loading times or crunch. You might argue about the importance of optimization or the necessity of crunch, but i dont think anyone can argue this isnt a failure of management and communication