Longest loading times

[SharkusMaximus]

Hey all,


I'm hoping some knowledgeable person might be able to help me out here.


I'm fairly certain that Sultan's Maze had a horrendously long loading time of 17 minutes, but does anyone know of any other CPC games which compared to this? I don't recall anything quite so bad, but this might just be blind luck that I never played them!


Sharky

[mahlemiut]

I distinctly remember Spellbound taking something like 20 minutes to load from tape.

[||C|-|E||]

I clearly remember Operation Wolf. I you load the tape in a 6128 it uses all the RAM and all the levels are loaded in one go. It takes eons  Another one that takes an incredibly long time for a floppy disc game is Hero Quest. You cannot compare with a tape but still, it is crazy 

[SharkusMaximus]

20 minutes for Spellbound? Crikey! And I thought Sultans's Maze was bad!


Thanks for the replies, guys.

[Bryce]

Hey all,


I'm hoping some knowledgeable person might be able to help me out here.


I'm fairly certain that Sultan's Maze had a horrendously long loading time of 17 minutes, but does anyone know of any other CPC games which compared to this? I don't recall anything quite so bad, but this might just be blind luck that I never played them!


Sharky

Any time I got fed up with the long CPC loading times, I just went around to my friends house. After an entire afternoon waiting for his C64 games to load, my CPC seemed lightening fast in comparison.

Bryce.

[Carnivius]

Any time I got fed up with the long CPC loading times, I just went around to my friends house. After an entire afternoon waiting for his C64 games to load, my CPC seemed lightening fast in comparison.

Bryce.

I feel like the CPC was generally more reliable at successfully loading games too. My friend's C64 failed a lot, whether it was dodgy tapes or a dodgy tape deck i dunno.  Never had much issue with my CPC at loading.

And yeah Sultan's Maze... 17 minutes of loading for crap.

[AMSDOS]

The AA52 Christmas Covertape with The Untouchables "demo" was a shocker because it had to Load a Tune which got loaded in the upper 64k region, so you got this buzzing sound on the 64k 464, as well as the main game and all using Speed Write 0 AMSOFT standard.  It was made worse when I'd realised it was only a demo, so I was terribly disappointed with it, made worse when I had to wait for it to load and actually go out before loading was completed! 

[mahlemiut]

I had plenty of issues with my 464's tape deck, kept going out of alignment.  Yet had a friend that had a 464 with a perfectly fine tape deck.  I was happier when I eventually a 6128, 3" disks much faster and more reliable.

(Except for a few games with copy protection that just wouldn't work...  Two different copies of Double Dragon II, and neither would boot.  Both were returned.)

[scruss]

I seem to remember Harvey Headbanger being unbearably slow. The loading tune didn't make up for it.

[zeropolis79]

I can't remember the exact loading times but wasn't Dr Dooms Revenge and Beyond the Ice Palace particually long loaders - especially block loaders. ;Added to the fact Dr Dooms Revenge was multi-load!

[GUNHED]

In 1997 a friend did lend me his C64 with tape and USV (needed!) ... well, still loading ... 

[Gryzor]

Was Commando a slow loader for anyone else or was it my, ahem, backup copy? I remember it being written on one side of a 46min tape, and every time I wanted to play it I'd go out on some chores before it finished loading!

[zeropolis79]

Don't recall it being that bad but then again, it was one of Elite's block loaders.

[mr_lou]

I feel like the CPC was generally more reliable at successfully loading games too. My friend's C64 failed a lot, whether it was dodgy tapes or a dodgy tape deck i dunno.  Never had much issue with my CPC at loading.

After experiencing the C64 disk loading time at a mate, I remember thinking it was the equivalent of the CPC 1000 baud tape loading time. I think CPC tape loading time could even be faster than the C64 disk loading time, when using 2800 baud.

[Urusergi]

Don't recall it being that bad but then again, it was one of Elite's block loaders.

I had the original Space Harrier game with standard block loading at 1000 baud. A real torture 

[zeropolis79]

I had the original Space Harrier game with standard block loading at 1000 baud. A real torture 

Might time some of  them over the weekend. I recall Thundercats on tape being a long loader.

[SharkusMaximus]

@zeropolis79: I'd be very interested in your findings! I'm looking for some definite numbers.

[zeropolis79]

I'm going to do them in the morning - got a bit sidetracked by a very lengthy Zelda Ocarina of Time stream..

[zeropolis79]

OK - Research #1 - Games by Elite Systems.
All Elite games are unprotected block loaders but a few do switch to tape loading, others have BASIC loaders which can be modded in the event of transfer to disc. This is a selection of games by Elite.

1942 - 10:16.19

First part of loading screen loads then appears. Then rest loads in like typical block loader screen. 61 individuaal loading blocks.

Airwolf - 10:26.46   (Amsoft)

Loading screen same as 1942. 53 individual loading blocks. Despite having 8 less loading blocks, it took an extra 10 minutes to load. Encore version the same.

Beyond the Ice Palace - 7:08.38 (to get to intro), 17:51.11 in total.

Has 89 individual loading blocks. No loading screen. Title screen. Stops at block 35 for Intro screen and plot telling. Timer stopped as soon as this seqeunce was in action. Loading timer resumed straight after. Blue screen all throughout loading.

Bomb Jack - 11:25.20

Does not show loading screen build up, only appearing after loading screen finishes loading. 55 individual loading blocks.

Buggy Boy - 19:41.57

Game has two loading screens. Block 73, scrren goes blank. 89 indivudiual loading blocks.

Commando - 11:27.20

Tape file used did not have loading screen. 53 individual loading blocks.

Ghosts N Goblins  - 9:08.16

Loading screen scheme same as 1942. 55 individual blocks.

Thundercats - 8:48.76 (64k) 16;24.72 (128k)

Four block opening file. Loading screen part of this file. 101 individual loading blocks. 64k version finishes loading at Block 55 - screen goes blank two blocks before. 128k version also goes blank at Block 53 and remains blank until 101.

[SharkusMaximus]

@zeropolis79 This is awesome stuff! Thanks for your dedication and hard work.

[zeropolis79]

@zeropolis79 This is awesome stuff! Thanks for your dedication and hard work.

No problems.. I got a load of abuse on Facebook for posting there - mostly asking me what was the point!
Going to compare Dizzy loading times next..

[Cholo]

Was Commando a slow loader for anyone else or was it my, ahem, backup copy? I remember it being written on one side of a 46min tape, and every time I wanted to play it I'd go out on some chores before it finished loading!

Auch yes, I had the original Commando tape back in the day & it at least felt like ages loading. However Commando also is just a Completely Black screen for the entire loading time, so for a kid that is mentally like staring at a wall for 10 mins straight Of cause in reality it isnt that bad & in most cases i recall loading incredible fast & reliable.


Multi level games like Altered Beast & Karnov was a bit of a chore of cause. Then there is games like Prince of Persia that has litterally everthing on the tape like cutscenes with music & even though its loading fast with amstrad single records, you still gotta wonder if anyone actually managed to finish the game on tape.


Heroes of the Lance however probably "takes the cake" as the longest loading tape game i know of. The game starts by loading a intro picture & music (& pauses waiting for input), then it loads a picture/description of all 8 heroes .. each with a pause "press any key" after each picture .. untill it gets to the copyprotection question. Hopefully you had your manual ready & dont have to dig for it (hehe). Then it loads some more untill it finally pause for the swap to side 2 (about 200kb later im guessing). And then it loads some more untill .. it pauses for loading map1, When that has loaded you are finally in the game. Yay!.
To be hornest it does load all that data pretty fast with some kinda speedloading. Still i doubt you can get past all that in less than 17 mins.

[zeropolis79]

Gryzor - check my posting..
Might give Heroes of the Lance the timing treatment - I recall it took an age to load from tape - I had it on the Kixx label back in the day. now I have it on disc so that helps.

[jockavelli]

No problems.. I got a load of abuse on Facebook for posting there - mostly asking me what was the point!
Going to compare Dizzy loading times next..

Ah Dizzy, one of my favs from way back when, would be interested to see the load times, would check myself if my 464 was working
Really need to sort it out soon.

[ComSoft6128]

Amusing Pie chart:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-07-how-amstrad-action-changed-my-life