Re: [Algorithms] In-place loaded data structures.

[Alen L. <ale...@cr...>]

> More and more, though, games /need/ to stream assets during
> gameplay.  About the only games that don't need to stream
> anymore are arena fighting games, but even they would be able
> to stream cool things in during the battles, I would think.  If
> you want to stream data, if you want to have memory changing
> while you play the game, you really should (IMO) investigate
> means to allow you to do this stuff non-deterministically.
> Fragmentation /will/ kill you if you allow it to occur.

This is also an interesting side-topic that loading goes hand-to-hand with.
I have a feeling that Doug Lea's allocator is doing an excellent job in
preventing any serious fragmentation problems (unless your usage patterns
are absolutely insane). On a recent console project, it allowed us to be
relatively care-free regarding fragmentation. (The only problem was in the
physical memory allocations that had to go straight from the non-remappable
pool, allocated by the system, and it is a bit difficult to get two
allocators to cooperate. But that can be solved.)

In general, I believe it would be much easier to do streaming if one would
relax regarding fragmentation. Do you think it is not possible?

Cheers,
Alen