[TaloS]

Does using the same entry name for a unit in both the rulesmd and the artmd(rather that using the image= tag) as well as using a vxl that corresponds to that entry,optimize the game in terms of speed?

Wether you can answer from personnal experience or coding knowledge it will do. Thanks in advance

[Death3464]

i havent really seen much difference, but if there is, it isnt that noticable.

[pd]

Errr... no.
The game always uses the Image tag, it's default to the unit ID declared in the lists.

From the Image tag, it gets the art section to use and the filename using the makepath API, which's speed is always the same.

[Marshall7a]

Presumably, one has to be slightly faster, as:

If UnitID.Image != <empty string>
Then GetArtwork(UnitID.Image)
Else GetArtwork(UnitID)

In which case, using Image= would be more efficient (by a few instructions)
Or the other way around.

Maybe not worth the hassle, but one still has to be more efficient than the other, even if it is only by one instruction.

[AlliedG]

well it technically saves some kb as your not typing in Image=

[DCoder]

Actually, Marshall, according to Pd's docs Image= flag value is calculated at parsing time, like this:

object.Image = object.Image == '' ? Object.ID : Object.Image;

Object.ID is (I assume) the first element in the data structure holding this object.
Object.Image is stored at offset 0x24.

That converts to asm (loose translation) like

<read Image into the 0x24 offset>
<compare that string at 0x24 offset to an empty str>
jne DEFINED_IMAGE; jump straight to label DEFINED_IMAGE if it is not an empty string

mov $object_storage_start_point+0x24 , $object_storage_start_point+0 ; copy data from ID field into Image field

DONE_LOADING_IMAGE:
<continued code>

as you see, in case you omit Image=, the game wastes some cycles to move the data and calculate the source/target offsets (unless they used static memory allocation, which, while not advisable and not likely, would explain the 102 unit bug - they could have statically allocated memory for 101 data structure, and the later ones override something else). However, a waste of a few cycles on machines that can do over 1E9 (Pentium III 1GHz) cycles per second, is negligible. Not to mention, unavoidable.

[TaloS]

That's exactly what i needed to know,I see Coding turns you on mate

[CannisRabidus]

Originally Posted by DCoder";p=&quot

Actually, Marshall, according to Pd's docs Image= flag value is calculated at parsing time, like this:

[snip]

In short, what you're saying is that with no Image= tags, the game will take some tiny amount of time longer to load initially, but while playing the game, there is no effect...?

[DCoder]

From my understanding, yes, albeit very tiny. I do remember a note about an IE caused by HARV having an Image= defined, though.

[pd]

ingame, there's no speed effect at all.
it loads the voxel data / shp data when you see the loading screen (well, that's it purpose).

in the game, it doesn't matter what tag has been loaded or what filename used or whatever