Archive vs Loose files difference?

I was wondering, Do loose files load on demand? Do archives Preload?
If it's anything like TES or Fallout, too many loose files will harm performance with lower Frames and even stuttering.
I am wondering if it's like that on Starbound as well?

Edit: (sorry i posted in the wrong category originally)

 

It is more like minecraft in a way. Far as I know.

World files are only loaded when you orbit them and/visit them. I think it doesn't even save unless you go down to the planet. So an untouched planet is easiest to put in memory, since it goes by an algorithm.

On world though only a portion at a time is loaded, just like minecraft in that respects. Even the universe in a way does this; when you look at the universe map. The only thing is the universe will not put worlds in memory, just the generated layout of the stars.

So unsure what you mean by loose files...

I may not be the best in this field, but that above is what I do know roughly.

 

Loose files regarding elder scrolls and fallout wise, are files that are not packed in an archive file like .pak or .bsa
Im just wondering if putting loose files into a .pak would help with performance?

 

oh... To some extent it does, but not by much in some cases. As the one pack file there is may be one file loading... Really it depends on computer configuration, since each computer is different.

Reason I say that is that sometimes the opposite is true, so that there would not be such a large file loaded. It will vary. This game is more CPU intensive then those 2 game series. Those worlds are for the most part static. As in hand crafted usually; minus Daggerfall. Daggerfall may still be somewhat hand crafted, but is a lot of empty space, visually. Since this game is in a way in constant change or chance there of, it can cause a load greater than any of those games that have an environment that doesn't change.

What I am referring to is the landscape, as that is the one thing that can be modified. So it might be best having it unpacked in certain instances, so that it can only load what is needed rather than just loading the individual file.

If you are talking about putting world, character, and ship files into a pak file... That would cause problems down the line, since that means that file would be ever growing in size. I don't think there is a system out that could handle that much data saved and loaded at one instance. Just think of the size of world files, and how many would have to be created from even just a slight modification would add up after a while. I mean there are 4 quintillion planets to explore; which in essence would take more than a lifetime.

However by default the assets are already in a pak file, and the rest separate for that very reason, or similar. Is my guess anyway. Now all the main files being pak I have no clue if it would work or not to reduce, even a little, the load or impact it could/would have.

It is all based upon how much can be held in memory, and that is simply not the problem, it is how fast it can process things within said memory; hence some systems working better than others.

I also don't know if this game does multithreading, which I am going to assume no; which means you would have to have a single core that is fast enough to handle the processes it would put forth.

I may not know exactly how the game operates, as there are better qualified people to explain better, however it is to my understanding the way it works from what was mentioned, and observation. Assuming that I am correct in how the game handles files that is.

 

The oak files are not compressed. It's more like all the assets are just wrapped up. So in this case, starbound will see little to no difference between loose or packed. You would see better results from an ssd over hdd instead.