[.net] Assembly reference problems

You can specify the location(s) to search for referenced assemblies. In your app.Config add the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>     <configuration>          <runtime>               <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" >                    <probing privatePath="PathHere" />               </assemblyBinding>          </runtime></configuration>

MSDN link.

That will certainly work but I would be worried about two things. 1. The inability under .NET to programatically unload an assembly; 2. The duplication of assemblies in memory.

What you're probably looking to do involves the creation of a separate AppDomain and the loading and unloading of that AppDomain based on your application requirements. Basically you'd want to create an AppDomain upon first execution of your application, load your primary assembly into the deafult domain, and then load the required map assemblies into new AppDomains. Depending upon the architecture of your game you may want to create a new AppDomain for each map in order to ensure you can unload resources as necessary, however, crossing the AppDomain boundaries can cause a fairly significant performance hit. As well, calling Unload on the AppDomain will only remove the assemblies from memory if no other references exist to them.

You might check out the AppDomain FAQ for more mind numbing details.

Disclaimer: I've not yet had to deal with AppDomains outside the context of ASP.NET and COM interop, so I may be incorrect in my suggestions. I don't think I am, but.. take it with a grain of salt.

yeah thanks, your link helped me pretty much.

this is how i do it now:
i use the AppDomain.AssemblyResolve event to return the library assembly when needed. so there should be no duplication in memory or something like that.

problem is of course, that i cant unload it right now, but i dont really need to. the maps just consist of code to place objects in the scene and maybe some logic. no more than a few kilobytes.