DFN Speed?

[Mindless Automaton]

Would it make a difference to make DFNs like this:

Code: Select all

// SWORDS

[0x1440]
{ facing West
get=base_item
name=cutlass
id=0x1440
weight=800
value=26,13
layer=1
lodamage=16
hidamage=18
hp=70
spd=44
str=25
restock=10
movable=1
decay=1
}

[0x1441]
{ facing North
get=base_item
name=cutlass
id=0x1441
weight=800
value=26,13
layer=1
lodamage=16
hidamage=18
hp=70
spd=44
str=25
restock=10
decay=1
}

into something more like:

Code: Select all

// SWORDS

[0x1440]
{ facing West
get=base_item
name=cutlass
id=0x1440
weight=800
value=26,13
layer=1
lodamage=16
hidamage=18
hp=70
spd=44
str=25
restock=10
movable=1
decay=1
}

[0x1441]
{ facing North
get=0x1440
id=0x1441
}

Or maybe that wouldn't work at all? I haven't tried any tests.

Or:

Code: Select all

[sword]
{ facing West
get=base_item
name=
id=
weight=
value=
layer=1
lodamage=
hidamage=
hp=
spd=
str=
restock=10
movable=1
decay=1
}

[0x1440]
{ facing West
get=sword
name=cutlass
id=0x1440
weight=800
value=26,13
lodamage=16
hidamage=18
hp=70
spd=44
str=25
}

Perhaps a better example would be clothes.dfn because a lot more of the fields are the same.

[Xuri]

You're spot on with this one:

Code: Select all

// SWORDS 

[0x1440] 
{ facing West 
get=base_item 
name=cutlass 
id=0x1440 
weight=800 
value=26,13 
layer=1 
lodamage=16 
hidamage=18 
hp=70 
spd=44 
str=25 
restock=10 
movable=1 
decay=1 
} 

[0x1441] 
{ facing North 
get=0x1440 
id=0x1441 
}

The only thing different between 0x1441 and 0x1440 is the ID, all other values are the same. Thus you can use get=0x1440 to get all values from that, and then override the id with id=0x1441 - since that's the only thing you need to be different.

Those weapon-dfns should've been changed to this format long ago. =P Not sure how much "speed" you gain by doing it, but it certainly makes the files themselves more manageable.

[Maarc]

More manageable, but not really any quicker. It's no extra file IO (dfns in memory), just an extra function call/return. So incredibly marginally slower, but you'd need to be doing it thousands or millions of times for it to become a real issue. Call/returns are quick Though then you get into the argument that it consumes less memory, therefore is more cache friendly, etc etc, so it might end up quicker.

[giwo]

The main benefit is management of the scripts.

I sing the praises of GET when I need to change things like the weight of a piece of armor. In that scenario without the tag I'd be changing a value on possibly hundreds of script entries (and hoping I got them all). If all those entries are pulling their weight from some base entry, then I change it once and I'm done.

Also makes for a smaller file, which means (slightly)less waste when UOX3 slurps all of the scripts into memory.