Real-time loading of models?

[Sharsnik]

So, I have the basic set-ups for a 3D engine pretty much laid out. But, one major thing that's confusing me is how to load models in real-time.

Pre-loading everything works fine, but it takes a good 15-20s, and, as the world expands more and more data will be required.

Currently I'm only using mostly sprites (Loaded as ~2000x2000 textures), and to even load one, the application freezes for a good 2-3s.

So, what I'm curious about is; when I switch to 3D mapping, how big of map chunks should I be working in? I was thinking of about 40x40 vertex chunks...

Also, and more importantly, how can I load these without bogging down the application? Will I have to load them in a second thread, or something?

[Zachm]

Will I have to load them in a second thread, or something?

Good Idea :) ! - you can monitor other threads activities and load your data on the background when other threads are "quiet".

Two more word of advice - whenever not needing multi-high texture resolution, use smaller textures - as small as possible.

Don't get discouraged by the long load times, I would gladly play any state-of-the-art game that takes ~10-20 seconds to load a level - if it's justifiable.
Sadly it sometimes take much more than that, and without a just cause.

Regards,
Zachm

[Sharsnik]

Yeah, I'll probably have to look into texture splatting a bit more.

The bigger issue I see, is that I want the world to be seamless. And, since you'll be constantly encountering new models and maps, etc, they NEED to be able to pre-load int he background. Loading up the whole world at start up would be insane.

So.. I guess I'll try the multi-threads idea, I haven't really looked into threads much though :p