In Elder Scrolls III on Xbox, there was a memory leak that they couldn’t fix, so sometimes when the game is loading a new area, it actually reboots the Xbox. Apparently there’s a way the developer can keep a freeze frame loading screen up while the console completely reboots.
Fixing a memory leak takes essentially looking at random data that got there somehow and try to figure out the source. You know what approximately it is by analysing a memory dump but it’s most likely a common structure that is all over the app. Best case it’s easy worst case it’s looking for a needle in a haystack.
On the other hand, checking if memory is blowing up, then using already built save and load functions is pretty straight forward. Especially since Elder Scrolls saves the entire state and reloads it.
In Elder Scrolls III on Xbox, there was a memory leak that they couldn’t fix, so sometimes when the game is loading a new area, it actually reboots the Xbox. Apparently there’s a way the developer can keep a freeze frame loading screen up while the console completely reboots.
I still can’t fathom how implementing that “solution” is easier than fixing a memory leak. Like what the hell?
Fixing a memory leak takes essentially looking at random data that got there somehow and try to figure out the source. You know what approximately it is by analysing a memory dump but it’s most likely a common structure that is all over the app. Best case it’s easy worst case it’s looking for a needle in a haystack.
On the other hand, checking if memory is blowing up, then using already built save and load functions is pretty straight forward. Especially since Elder Scrolls saves the entire state and reloads it.