Executive Summary

• The x86 emulator team encounters poorly written code that significantly slows down game loading times.
• The team discovers the issue is due to incorrect usage of the fread function, resulting in 65k reads of 1 byte for several MB files.
• The team fixes the issue by swapping the arguments for certain calls and implementing an internal cache to account for these cases.

The Buzz Score

The Internet’s Verdict: 70% Hyped, 30% Skeptical

Forum Discussion

Developers share their experiences with poorly written code and the challenges of fixing it.

This reminds me of a story from 15 years ago, where I was developing a technology to download games on demand by hooking into the OS calls. There was a particular game that was superslow when this tech was applied.

One developer notes that some games may have intentionally written code to slow down loading times.

I’m guessing developers did this on purpose so that games seemed like they were loading a lot of stuff, although you never know.

Implications and Solutions

The x86 emulator team’s fix has significant implications for game development and performance.

Other developers share their own experiences with poorly written code and the importance of optimization.

SimCity had a read-after-free bug that Microsoft patched in Windows 95. That was a lot easier for customers than having Maxis fix it, which could have required exchanging copies of the game.

Focus Keyword: x86 emulator