Rock Band Blitz – Rumors and Facts

[Pankrazzo]

Damn (? I'm guessing this was due to being on the list, but not really 2000's era so I should have went with this link), we need some more Black Keys (something off their latest 2 albums seems perfect for this game like Gold on the Ceiling or Tighten Up) and Strokes. We are also lacking The Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party which bums me out.

Agreed on all accounts, but none of them were in the last Blitz leak.

[Dangimarocker]

Oh mighty Harmonixian,
Shine thy light of the blitz setlist upon us.
Pierce it into your hearts, braid it in your minds.
You hold the key to our survival, save us?

[Pankrazzo]

Amen, bruther.

[Blasteroids]

There is no way to 'fix it' via patch. It's a system RAM limit. They cannot patch RB3 to put more RAM into an Xbox.

I'll say this again in the hope that you will stop with that half truth. Ram limit means absolutely nothing, it's an implementation fault. The question is whether it's a MS imposed fault or a design error on HMX's part. It's only a ram limit if you honestly think that the whole of RDR fits into 512mb with all the current world states. Pro-Tip: It's not possible

Since I don't have the time to explain all the different methods currently used... a quick google brings up this article which explains some basic, easy to read, methods of streaming data to get around such hardware limitations : http://gamearchitect.net/Articles/St...gBestiary.html

It could be possible to fix it with a patch, but it would probably involve a huge rewrite for that part of the engine that would require a lot of testing with virtually no monetary return that will currently only benefit a very small amount of people. So I would go with... not financially viable rather than impossible.

[LoopyChew]

Ram limit means absolutely nothing, it's an implementation fault. The question is whether it's a MS imposed fault or a design error on HMX's part. It's only a ram limit if you honestly think that the whole of RDR fits into 512mb with all the current world states.

The thing is, RDR really only has to deal with loading specific geometry--its engine isn't trying to keep track of everything everywhere at any given time--just the local map, the people on that map, and how much further Marston has to go until it needs to load the next segment of the map. For the RB3 song index, however, it needs to keep track of every song, plus--if nothing else--the sorting variables of that song (all the options on the select screen, basically). Presumably it accesses the song samples and cover art at the time of highlighting, since those take a second to load when you get to them.

Maybe if they had a dedicated index optimizer they'd be able to cram in a few more songs for the next game, but you can't load a RB song library as if it were a level in a game because it's something that cannot be streamed the way levels in an open-world game are.

[samjjones]

Damn (? I'm guessing this was due to being on the list, but not really 2000's era so I should have went with this link), we need some more Black Keys (something off their latest 2 albums seems perfect for this game like Gold on the Ceiling or Tighten Up) and Strokes. We are also lacking The Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party which bums me out.

Just remember. Tonight. We are young.

[Blasteroids]

The thing is, RDR really only has to deal with loading specific geometry--its engine isn't trying to keep track of everything everywhere at any given time--just the local map, the people on that map, and how much further Marston has to go until it needs to load the next segment of the map.

Ok, so you agree with me on that.

For the RB3 song index, however, it needs to keep track of every song,

And then you wander into some magical land of not making sense. Why does it need to keep track of every song? For what purpose? You can only see a small fraction on the screen at any one time, just like the small piece of map that you see at any one time in RDR.

plus--if nothing else--the sorting variables of that song (all the options on the select screen, basically).

plus? You did not give an initial reason, so not sure how you can add to it. But anyway, your concerns about sorting are covered by a well known programming topic called tree sorting. It's not a new thing

but you can't load a RB song library as if it were a level in a game because it's something that cannot be streamed the way levels in an open-world game are.

Again, why do you think this? Do you really believe it is some magical data that is outside the realms of current data handling techniques? What exactly prevents this data from being streamed as required?

One of my small database projects that I did many years ago has a dataset of numerous gigabytes running on a machine with only a few megabytes of memory. This dataset is hundreds of times the size of a small RB song library with a most likely greater memory footprint per record, but what you are telling me is that the project is impossible because of ram limitations and yet it exists.

Now remember... I am saying it's not a ram limitation since it is technically possible but I do not know if there is any further limitation imposed by MS/Sony which creates a problem.

[metalkorn]

I imagine this data could be streamed or loaded as required, but that can lead to slow down when navigating much like what you would see when cycling through the leader boards or the Rockband store.

I for one would hate that to happen when i'm scrolling looking for songs to play. Essentially doing a DLC check everytime you scrolled past X amount of songs, it would be brutal. It sucks enough that the DLC check is there to begin with but it's a necessity.

[Blasteroids]

I imagine this data could be streamed or loaded as required, but that can lead to slow down when navigating much like what you would see when cycling through the leader boards or the Rockband store.

A valid concern. You can limit the read lag by some interesting caching techniques, but there will become a small tradeoff between cache-lag and file size. However the lag would hardly be noticible in RB due to the very limited amount of data displayed. You could adjust song scroll speed (which is slow anyway, IMHO) to compensate and I highly doubt you would notice

[SirDavidTLynch]

From what I can tell, you'd have to completely throw out everything about how Rock Band handles its library and rebuild it from the ground up, which would be out of the question for a patch. I can't even say if it would be worth doing for the next game, considering how few people are affected.