Choosing a scenario before the game box loads

[PRchrdsn]

Please, Please, PLEASE! Allow the user to choose a scenario to be loaded when selecting the game from the library. I have an ancient laptop, with low RAM. It takes the Afrika II module somewhere around 25 - 30 minutes to load! Once loaded, there is no problem manipulating the screen, counters, etc., but it is FRUSTRATING to have to go through all that before I can choose a scenario that is NOT the startup scenario. Yes, I could edit the game_box.xml file each time to set up the scenario I want to play, but it should be easier than that. The other annoying thing is that, when I have selected a new scenario, I have to wait the entire 25 - 30 minutes AGAIN, as it retains nothing from the previous load, even tho' the map and the counter sheet files are EXACTLY the same, the only difference is the counter locations.

I know that I should have a better laptop, but I just don't have the funds. I love the scrolling and zooming, along with the stack display and several other features. I am willing to launch it and do something else for the half hour or so it takes to load. But it seems to me that just a little modification could be SO much more user-friendly in these circumstances.

Paul

[Jerome]

Please, Please, PLEASE! Allow the user to choose a scenario to be loaded when selecting the game from the library. I have an ancient laptop, with low RAM. It takes the Afrika II module somewhere around 25 - 30 minutes to load!

Hi Paul,

I see your point, but I don't understand how it is relevant to Africa II: there's only one scenario in this game box!
So I'm assuming you're trying to load one of your saved game.

After having launched ZunTzu, instead of opening Africa II from the library you should use the "Open file" menu option, then select your saved game file. ZunTzu will recognize that it's a Africa II game, and will load your game directly.

Now, Africa II is certainly a huge game box. My laptop takes about 10 minutes to open it, so it makes me think your laptop doesn't have enough memory.
Make sure texture compression is enabled in the Display properties of ZunTzu. It decreases the memory requirement eight fold.

Even with texture compression enabled, ZunTzu meets a peek of memory usage during the loading of the map. With the next update of ZunTzu, authors will be able to break down huge maps into smaller fragments. The loading time will improve significantly for well designed game boxes. In the meantime, It's best to have 512 MB RAM for games such as Africa II.

[PRchrdsn]

Hi Paul,

I see your point, but I don't understand how it is relevant to Africa II: there's only one scenario in this game box!
So I'm assuming you're trying to load one of your saved game.
...
Make sure texture compression is enabled in the Display properties of ZunTzu. It decreases the memory requirement eight fold.
...
In the meantime, It's best to have 512 MB RAM for games such as Africa II.

Thanks for the tip, Jerome! I will be sure to set that and see if it makes a difference. I have modified the game box to include two of the scenarios up to this point (8.3 and 8.4), so I was trying to load a scenario, not a saved game. At this point in time, I have an Inspiron 2650 with 256 MB RAM (It was my daughter's when she went to college in Fall 2002). We upgraded her for her grad school this summer, so I inherited this anachronism! LOL! Anyway, I am looking in to seeing how much memory I can boost, but I am not sure that it will max at 512 or not. Might not be worth the expense, even at that. Oh well, slow is better than nothing! Thanks again for your work here. Please look into some form of being able to select a gamebox, then presenting a scenario choice if there is more than one scenario present in the gamebox. This would be a good feature, IMHO anyway!


Paul

[Jerome]

Please look into some form of being able to select a gamebox, then presenting a scenario choice if there is more than one scenario present in the gamebox. This would be a good feature, IMHO anyway!

I agree. I'll add it to my roadmap.