Unreal Engine Texture Pop Ins

I'm playing Mass Effect for the first time, really enjoying it, though I keep making dumb mistakes. "No, I meant to save the game, not load it!!!" 
 
Anyway, one of the things that are really annoying me are the constant and abusive amounts of texture pop ins that the Unreal Engine has become famous for. This game is littered with them, I don't even remember Gears of War having pop ins so often. There's pop ins every time I open the character menu, every time I switch menus, every time I leave the menu, every time I enter a new area, every time I leave or enter my ship. It's annoying as hell, and it takes me out of the game each time. 
 
We all know and "love" them...so I think we're all on the same page. So, I've just been wondering, why do we put up with this? Do you think this problem will be addressed with the upcoming Unreal Engine 4? What do ya'll have to say?

im hoping that the problem has been almost eliminated :P
i don't think we will have to wait for unreal 4 for it to be eliminated....hopefully.

I think it must be noted that Mass Effect is likely based on very early versions of UE3.  The PC version, probably due to having more RAM to play with, didn't often give me texture pop in annoyance but it certainly did happen.
 
I would guess that it's fixed in current UE3 revisions and likely for UE4 which probably will use a different texture streaming technique to deal with DX11 features.

It doesn't bother me too much but i can understand why everyone gets so annoyed by it. The thing to remember is that U3 was designed for multiplayer originally so it gets you into the game as fast as possible and then the assets start coming up after.

texture pop ins are from the game streaming off a disc.Its not a ut3 engine problem.Pc version of mass effects runs on your hard drive and not your dvd drive so don't get pop ins.

i hate the unreal engine.  
 
dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines. 

Who cares about texture pop in, as long as it only takes a few seconds to pop it should be fine. Id much rather have the creators of Mass Effect 2 focus on the story, atmosphere, fiction, gamplay, side missions, and many other things rather than take the time to make an engine of their own. 
 
Dont get me wrong I would love a perfect visual experience but id gladly sacrifice some visual things for a great game play and story experience.

" i hate the unreal engine.   dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines.  "

" @DRE7777: I'm talking about the engine the games are running on, not the games themselves. Different groups work on different aspects of a single game, the people who write stories are not the same people who do the coding... "

" @TwoOneFive said:

" i hate the unreal engine.   dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines.  "

You must be slow or something because you think that all it takes is talent to make an in house engine. You forget that it takes money, resources, time, and manpower as well. Not all developers have the ability to make an engine from the ground up.   So you hate the most successful engine of this generation because it allows developers with less backing to make a game that even if it has some pop in, looks and runs great? "

" @Atramentous said:

" @TwoOneFive said:

" i hate the unreal engine.   dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines.  "

You must be slow or something because you think that all it takes is talent to make an in house engine. You forget that it takes money, resources, time, and manpower as well. Not all developers have the ability to make an engine from the ground up.   So you hate the most successful engine of this generation because it allows developers with less backing to make a game that even if it has some pop in, looks and runs great? "

It killed Midway "

" @HypoXenophobia said:

" @Atramentous said:

" @TwoOneFive said:

" i hate the unreal engine.   dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines.  "

You must be slow or something because you think that all it takes is talent to make an in house engine. You forget that it takes money, resources, time, and manpower as well. Not all developers have the ability to make an engine from the ground up.   So you hate the most successful engine of this generation because it allows developers with less backing to make a game that even if it has some pop in, looks and runs great? "

It killed Midway "

Midway killed Midway.  "

" @Atramentous said:

" @HypoXenophobia said:

" @Atramentous said:

" @TwoOneFive said:

" i hate the unreal engine.   dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines.  "

You must be slow or something because you think that all it takes is talent to make an in house engine. You forget that it takes money, resources, time, and manpower as well. Not all developers have the ability to make an engine from the ground up.   So you hate the most successful engine of this generation because it allows developers with less backing to make a game that even if it has some pop in, looks and runs great? "

It killed Midway "

Midway killed Midway.  "

Midway + NBA Ballers + Chuck D + Stranglehold + UE3 = Midway being bankrupt "

"@TwoOneFive said:

" i hate the unreal engine.   dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines.  "

You must be slow or something because you think that all it takes is talent to make an in house engine. You forget that it takes money, resources, time, and manpower as well. Not all developers have the ability to make an engine from the ground up.   So you hate the most successful engine of this generation because it allows developers with less backing to make a game that, even if it has some pop in, looks and runs great? "

" @Atramentous said:

" @HypoXenophobia said:

" @Atramentous said:

" @TwoOneFive said:

" i hate the unreal engine.   dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines.  "

You must be slow or something because you think that all it takes is talent to make an in house engine. You forget that it takes money, resources, time, and manpower as well. Not all developers have the ability to make an engine from the ground up.   So you hate the most successful engine of this generation because it allows developers with less backing to make a game that even if it has some pop in, looks and runs great? "

It killed Midway "

Midway killed Midway.  "

Midway + NBA Ballers + Chuck D + Stranglehold + UE3 = Midway being bankrupt "

It's more a problem with the xbox360 than the pc for these texture pop ups, it has to do with texture streaming and it's faster on he pc because the entire game is installed on the hardrive. You can't say that's true of the engine because that's the way you see it on a console. However that's sort of how the engine was built, otherwise you wouldn't have such high resolution textures.

Popping in, popping out.
 
Sounds like a chronic case of Hokey Cokey to me.

I'm hoping for most developers (who don't develop and use their own technology) to switch to CryEngine 3, which definitly is the more impressive technology. Once Crytek proves that the engine is well optimized for PS3 and 360 with Crysis 2, it should finally take off. Rightfully so.

" @Bones8677 said:

" @DRE7777: I'm talking about the engine the games are running on, not the games themselves. Different groups work on different aspects of a single game, the people who write stories are not the same people who do the coding... "

No shit Sherlock, but there is something called a budget, and another thing called man hours. Why waste the time and money to get people to make an engine when those resources and man hours could be spent to hire people to make the actual game better. Obviously you don't really grasp the concept that video games are a business in a world in which time and resources aren't unlimited. "

@ ontopic
 
I began gaming on the C64 system and early PCs. I know no pain. Texture pop-ins? Ha ha ha ha! Doesn't even tickle my tolerance for technological shortcomings.
 
All you babies crying over screen tearing and jaggies. HAHAHA! You're pussies! Enjoy Mass Effect - it's incredibly awesome and all the technological shortcomings are irrelevant (at least if it can't be helped).
 
Pampered and spoiled and no idea of what games were way back when. They were PAIN. TORTURE. UGLY. SLOW. SPASMIC. CLUNKY. SIMPLE MINDED. MONOCHROME. MONOTONE. HELL.

I actually agree with the OP.  The pop in UE3 was despicable and all excuses regarding slower access of data from non hard drive sources are frankly not good enough.  If MS and Epic had been working together so closely and Epic were utterly focusing on the XBOX 360 as their lead platform then their engine should damn well perform best on that lead platform.  Instead it performed best on PC, looked slightly better (Unreal Tournament III) on the PS3 and popped in like a mofo on their first commercially licensed outing on the supposed lead platform for the engine.  Yammering about game budgets is bollocks.  If the lead platform for an engine can't make the most of it then there's something rotten in the state of Denmark.

" @HypoXenophobia said:

" @Atramentous said:

" @HypoXenophobia said:

" @Atramentous said:

" @TwoOneFive said:

" i hate the unreal engine.   dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines.  "

You must be slow or something because you think that all it takes is talent to make an in house engine. You forget that it takes money, resources, time, and manpower as well. Not all developers have the ability to make an engine from the ground up.   So you hate the most successful engine of this generation because it allows developers with less backing to make a game that even if it has some pop in, looks and runs great? "

It killed Midway "

Midway killed Midway.  "

Midway + NBA Ballers + Chuck D + Stranglehold + UE3 = Midway being bankrupt "

If Midway had a sizable amount of money tied up in U3 then Epic would have gone under as well. Epic was its own entity and they are thriving now that they have been cut free. Hell even U2 is still being used to this day. Your statement should be as follows.  " Midway + NBA Ballers + Chuck D + Stranglehold + other bad property's = Midway being bankrupt"  "

" @TwoOneFive said:

" i hate the unreal engine.   dev's with the talent to make their own graphics are so much better, even if they fail at delivering better graphics. look at the ps3 exclusives man, killzone 2, mgs4, uncharted 2...all custom graphics engines.  "

You must be slow or something because you think that all it takes is talent to make an in house engine. You forget that it takes money, resources, time, and manpower as well. Not all developers have the ability to make an engine from the ground up.   So you hate the most successful engine of this generation because it allows developers with less backing to make a game that, even if it has some pop in, looks and runs great? "

No need to be an asshole, dude...    Let's take Mass Effect out of this equation, and talk about games as a whole.  It's all well and good to have a good allocation of funds for a game, but if a game is unstable and doesn't work, then the story and gameplay don't matter at all.   Take Darkest of Days, that game is broken and ugly, but hey, it has a neat concept so you can't fault it too much can you? No, if there is a problem with the game that affects a player's enjoyment of a game, then there is a huge problem. Games are for entertainment, and if the player isn't entertained because of breaks of immersion or instability then the game has failed. No amount of story or art can fix that.   Bottom line, the basic stability of the game comes first, gameplay comes second, story and art comes third. "

Doesn't bother me really, usually last 2 seconds then everything is fine. My problem with the UE3 is how bad the frame rate gets in a lot of games on the 360 when to much is going on. Mass Effect is the biggest culprit but Gears 2 for example has its moments.

But if there weren't pop-ins how would I know its the Unreal Engine. I suppose I could just see if the world is dark and grimy.

Not really a problem on PC - more VRAM helps.

Everyone in this thread who's pissed for some reason that they didnt create a new engine for the game (for whatever reason i dont know), add 2 years to the game dev cycle and buy Mass Effect 2 in 2012. Enjoy.  
And texture pop-in is not an exclusive feature/problem to UE3. Every "next gen" engine these days has dynamically loading textures (a necessity since VRAM is so limited on consoles). I've had pop-ins throughout my play-through of uncharted 2 on my 60GB PS3, 256mb of texture memory = not cool.