MakeGlobal()

[phordicus]

does it bloat the GAM file? if so, is that a concern anymore re:memory? any other issues?

[berelinde]

Does recruiting any party NPC consume game resources? All of them are added to the saved game.

 

Theoretically, any variable, global action, or even the StorePartyLocation()s used in cutscenes, add to the saved game size and have the potential to add imperceptibly to your load screen time, but unless you're sitting there with a chronometer that measures in milliseconds and have the reflexes of the gods to accurately capture the start and end of the loading process, you'll never know.

 

The size of your override directory, portraits directory, sound directory, music directory, and the length of game scripts has more of an impact on gameplay.

 

If you are a modder debating whether to use MakeGlobal() or find a workaround, you might as well go ahead and use it. You can economize elsewhere, perhaps by including less abundant voicing or incrementing the same variable rather than creating a new one.

[Avenger]

Does recruiting any party NPC consume game resources? All of them are added to the saved game.

 

Theoretically, any variable, global action, or even the StorePartyLocation()s used in cutscenes, add to the saved game size and have the potential to add imperceptibly to your load screen time, but unless you're sitting there with a chronometer that measures in milliseconds and have the reflexes of the gods to accurately capture the start and end of the loading process, you'll never know.

 

The size of your override directory, portraits directory, sound directory, music directory, and the length of game scripts has more of an impact on gameplay.

 

If you are a modder debating whether to use MakeGlobal() or find a workaround, you might as well go ahead and use it. You can economize elsewhere, perhaps by including less abundant voicing or incrementing the same variable rather than creating a new one.

 

This is not entirely correct. MakeGlobal adds a creature to the .gam structure, recruiting an npc just moves it from one .gam list to another. A .cre file isn't that big, so using MakeGlobal once in a while, won't cause any visible difference. Using it without restraint will soon crash the engine

 

I agree though, that a single npc mod or 10 of them doing a MakeGlobal with their favourite npc won't cause any visible slowdown, while their files in the override folder will cause more impact

 

Actually, it is a good practice to do MakeGlobal only when the npc first joins and leave it out from the .gam file until then.