Three dimensional array causing repeating pause in movie

[ryoaska]

I'm creating what is essentially a 3 dimensional array. It's an array of objects, and each of those objects (a map) contains a few properties, one of which is a two dimensional array of tile objects. The strange thing is that the act of pusing each of these map objects on the array causes my movie to run with a periodic (about once a second) pause. The more map objects are pushed onto the array, the longer the pause. In between the pause, the movie runs at what seems like normal speed.

Does this sound normal? I can see the movie slowing down while building the 3 dimensional array, but once the array is built (and i've verified that it builds corrently- no endless loops or anything), even if I do absolutely NOTHING wtih it I still get the pause for as long as my movie runs...

that's the part that really seems strange to me- the repeating pause is directly related to my pushing of the map objects onto an array... Even if I build all the map objects and don't push them onto an array, the movie plays fine...

Any ideas or help would be appreciated. For anyone who is interested, the associated actionscript is attached. Thanks!

[ryoaska]

anyone? I don't need a direct solution... if anything the biggest problem I'd like to understand is that if all my objects are already created (i.e. already stored in memory), and my array is already created- how can simply pushing the objects onto the array cause a recurring pause/performance hit- even if I don't use the objects (including the array) at all (? All the memory is allocated already- all i'm doing is pushing a reference to the object onto the array, right? If anything I would think there could be a performance hit WHILE pushing objects onto the array, but what the heck is creating the pause/performance issue the rest of the time?

I would really appreciate any help, I don't know any flash experts in person, and I've been racking my brain on this one!