Do "Late Activation" units use RAM?

[wizav]

Do Late Activation units that appear on certain Trigger use RAM from the start?

 

I am asking cause I want to create large battlefield, and I want to optimize my map for performance and 16 GB RAM if possible.

[Worrazen]

If they used RAM before activation it would probably be a bug yes, I haven't thoguht of that one myself previously so I never tested it.

[Dunx]

Late activated objects are loaded into RAM when the mission loads. This is normal practice and avoids expensive Disk IO operations during the "Loop".

 

This is the test I performed...

 

• Created new mission
  
• Added aircraft group, single aircraft, set to late activation, added two waypoints and two transmit message commands
  
• Named all possible parameters with "Late 001" prefix (e.g. Late 001 Group, Late 001 Pilot, Late 001 Message 001 Subtitle 001, etc.)
  
• Added "Once" trigger, "Time More" condition, "Group Activate" action, 6000 seconds
  
• Closed and opened DCS (to clear memory)
  
• Loaded Mission
  
• Searched RAM used by DCS
  

I found all my "Late 001" prefixed parameters in RAM.

 

Please note that I did not test to see if external Sound files were loaded during mission load, but assume they would be load-on-demand.