Two Questions: Saves and RAM

[SilasMortimer]

I'm not really having any issues running the game, but these are technical questions and I'm using the Linux port, so this seemed the most likely subforum to post under.

1. Saves

I am baffled regarding how saving the game works. This might actually be an issue, but it might just be the way it's supposed to go. I don't mind when I load up the game and it puts me a little before where I ended my last session, but when I load up to find that it puts me only halfway through the progress I made in the entire last session, it's disconcerting and disappointing.

The most recent example of this: When I had last done a "save and exit", I had just gotten inside of Omicron, the main building. When I hit "continue" the next time, it loads up me up in the crawlspace in Theta after losing the DUNBAT and before finding the ARK prototype.

Was that supposed to happen? Was there no point further along where it could have loaded me?

2. RAM

I love the seamless transitions between scenes with no loading screens. I'm guessing this is why SOMA takes up so much RAM. Still, it's a little surprising to me how much it takes up. Have other Linux users noticed this? Does anyone know if it does the same in Windows and Mac? It's not really that big of a deal, but I'm curious.

[Mudbill]

The game should load you right back to where you ended it when you used Save and Exit. It's definitely an issue if that doesn't happen. Have you tried using the Load menu instead of Continue?

As for RAM, how much is 'much'?

[SilasMortimer]

Thanks for the answer. I should have tried using "load game" before. That does seem to work better. It just surprises me that "continue" didn't use the last save at least a couple of times. It *was* working correctly at first.

As for the RAM, I'll have to take a look at the process to get a more exact answer, but I can say this: It's the only game I have to shut down a couple of programs (mainly Chrome) to run. I have 8 gigs of physical RAM and my swap is also 8 gigs. Not ideal, but should be sufficient. If I have Chrome running (usually with a few to several tabs), it definitely starts a lot of swap activity. As I said, this is the only game I have that does this. It's not a big deal, but I'm curious why it's taking so much.

But I'll get back to you on an exact number.

[Mudbill]

Chrome can be a huge memory hog itself. I've seen it use over 2 GB alone in task manager. SOMA is set to use, I believe, 4 GB so if you only have 2 GB spare, which Windows itself uses at LEAST 1 of, you won't have much to go on. SOMA is a rather RAM heavy game, but 8 GB should be sufficient unless you have lots of other stuff running.

[SilasMortimer]

Well, I'm using Linux, but you make a good point. Nonetheless, it's that RAM-heaviness that I'm interested in. Is that due to preloading so much of the 'world' or levels? If so, any idea how much it loads? Those two questions are mainly for curiosity's sake.

[Mudbill]

Right, my bad. I imagine both Chrome and SOMA run similarly on Linux as on Windows though.

I presume it is because of the preloading but I can't be sure. Maybe one of the devs can answer that.