Hi Frontier Development,
While I know nothing of how Elite Dangerous' code is actually implemented with respect to many of the following, I'm hoping these suggestions are, at least, somewhat relevant to the existing implementations
Improving When the game Saves:
so, based on purely observation and the two times my save file has been corrupted by the game, I think that saving is a blocking action that can prevent subsequent actions from taking place. I would recommend this be changed to an asynchronous action that does not block. For example, when I've requested to leave a station, I've had the request stall out such that the docking clamps do not release and I sit on the platform with no control or ability to do anything other than look around (the ship's controls aren't enabled). This, I believe, is due to the network save process that happens when you leave a station, but instead, this process should operate asynchronously such that undocking continues and you can leave the station even if the save operation fails. In a worst case scenario, you don't save and if blown up outside the station you will start back from the previous save point (which is likely when you docked or completed some mission transaction or outfitting operation). The other time a save operation seems to be a blocking action is before a hyperspace jump takes place. This should also be an asynchronous save such that if it fails and you quit the game (or it crashes) in the middle of your jump you will end up back at the previous save (which could be when you docked at a station or landed on a planet, etc.). I've had several instances where the network save operation meant that the FSD wouldn't start the countdown because the network operation hadn't completed and the game just forces you to remain held in position, pointing at the target star until the network communication completed (this is not to be confused with the FSD charge up process or an issue of not being throttled up as those prevent Hyperspace jump countdown too, but are completely different and expected issues). Might also be a good idea to put a save indicator icon on the screen during saving operations just to make it more obvious when saves are happening so that people don't quit during a save causing local save file corruption and so that failed save operations will be known / understood by the user allowing them to possibly perform a manual save & exit.
Improving the Hyperspace Jump loading screen time:
I've no idea if the skybox that is generated for each system is created for each user independently on each jump or if they're cached and reused, but I would assume they are generated and all assets for planets, stars, etc. in a system are loaded during the hyperspace jump (this is also why supercruising between stars results in unloaded assets at the target star). If the skybox is not currently being cached, maybe doing so would improve performance and lower the computation requirements on generating a system during the jump which may allow for decreases in the time spent in the hyperspace jump loading screen? Additionally, I'm assuming the BGS knows where all objects are located within a system without the need to perform the calculations during the hyperspace jump loading screen so I don't see that as a factor in the time that the jump takes, but I noticed, when on an unstable network, that the jump times are much increased so there must be some network traffic that is happening during this time such as streaming in of textures and / or objects and sounds. Maybe it would be possible to begin streaming of these items before the jump if the user has targeted an external system so as to cut down the jump loading screen time?
I think that improving the above two areas would help reduce time spent waiting on the game and help reduce potential for errors or lost / broken saves (especially for those on less ideal network connections). If I had to pick just one of them I'd probably ask for improvements to the Hyperspace jump loading times (similar to how the route planner was drastically improved in recent updates) as this is one of the areas where most time is spent in the game when traversing the bubble and / or the galaxy as a whole
While I know nothing of how Elite Dangerous' code is actually implemented with respect to many of the following, I'm hoping these suggestions are, at least, somewhat relevant to the existing implementations
Improving When the game Saves:
so, based on purely observation and the two times my save file has been corrupted by the game, I think that saving is a blocking action that can prevent subsequent actions from taking place. I would recommend this be changed to an asynchronous action that does not block. For example, when I've requested to leave a station, I've had the request stall out such that the docking clamps do not release and I sit on the platform with no control or ability to do anything other than look around (the ship's controls aren't enabled). This, I believe, is due to the network save process that happens when you leave a station, but instead, this process should operate asynchronously such that undocking continues and you can leave the station even if the save operation fails. In a worst case scenario, you don't save and if blown up outside the station you will start back from the previous save point (which is likely when you docked or completed some mission transaction or outfitting operation). The other time a save operation seems to be a blocking action is before a hyperspace jump takes place. This should also be an asynchronous save such that if it fails and you quit the game (or it crashes) in the middle of your jump you will end up back at the previous save (which could be when you docked at a station or landed on a planet, etc.). I've had several instances where the network save operation meant that the FSD wouldn't start the countdown because the network operation hadn't completed and the game just forces you to remain held in position, pointing at the target star until the network communication completed (this is not to be confused with the FSD charge up process or an issue of not being throttled up as those prevent Hyperspace jump countdown too, but are completely different and expected issues). Might also be a good idea to put a save indicator icon on the screen during saving operations just to make it more obvious when saves are happening so that people don't quit during a save causing local save file corruption and so that failed save operations will be known / understood by the user allowing them to possibly perform a manual save & exit.
Improving the Hyperspace Jump loading screen time:
I've no idea if the skybox that is generated for each system is created for each user independently on each jump or if they're cached and reused, but I would assume they are generated and all assets for planets, stars, etc. in a system are loaded during the hyperspace jump (this is also why supercruising between stars results in unloaded assets at the target star). If the skybox is not currently being cached, maybe doing so would improve performance and lower the computation requirements on generating a system during the jump which may allow for decreases in the time spent in the hyperspace jump loading screen? Additionally, I'm assuming the BGS knows where all objects are located within a system without the need to perform the calculations during the hyperspace jump loading screen so I don't see that as a factor in the time that the jump takes, but I noticed, when on an unstable network, that the jump times are much increased so there must be some network traffic that is happening during this time such as streaming in of textures and / or objects and sounds. Maybe it would be possible to begin streaming of these items before the jump if the user has targeted an external system so as to cut down the jump loading screen time?
I think that improving the above two areas would help reduce time spent waiting on the game and help reduce potential for errors or lost / broken saves (especially for those on less ideal network connections). If I had to pick just one of them I'd probably ask for improvements to the Hyperspace jump loading times (similar to how the route planner was drastically improved in recent updates) as this is one of the areas where most time is spent in the game when traversing the bubble and / or the galaxy as a whole