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[TheXLine]

I recently started Really playing DF for the first time, and I've noticed that whenever I embark to an area with any kind of a river, I experience massive drops in fps. I embark in a 4x3 square, my specs are:
CPU: I5 4670k@3.4ghz
RAM: 8Gb G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3
GPU: Nvidia GTX 650ti
And my Mobo is a generic hundred dollar ASUS consumer board. I'm not sure of the exact model, but if needed I can try to figure that out.
FPS loss is as follows, all 4x3 embarks:
No river: 100 fps constant
Brook: 70-80 fps
Stream: 50-60 fps
Minor river: 25-35 fps
Major river: 10-20 fps
Anyone have any ideas as to a solution, or am I doomed to play without rivers?

[NW_Kohaku]

What sort of features are in the river?

Rivers don't normally cause significant FPS drain unless you are either tapping it and moving a lot of the water around, or else you are embarking on a waterfall, where water moves constantly, anyway. 

But the basic problem is that moving water is one of the major eaters of FPS. If it's a dark blue 7, it is tested only fairly infrequently, but if it's a light blue number, it's "moving water", which is tested frequently for whether nearby space has a lower water number than itself. 

DF does not treat bodies of water as a whole body of water. (Although I've suggested as much in the past.) DF treats each tile of water as its own separate body, and each tile of water will be checked for motion. 

Hence, oceans are well-known for completely making your CPU cry blood if you try to drain water out of the ocean, as it results in hundreds or thousands of tiles of water constantly moving.

Also, your GPU is utterly irrelevant to Dwarf Fortress, and CPU only really matters so far as the speed of one core and the size and speed of its cache.  RAM size is irrelevant over 2GB (as DF cannot use more than that), but RAM speed is crucial.

Also, just so you know, anyone making megaprojects is probably playing with an FPS of 1 to 5, so FPS of 50 is nothing to complain about at all.

[TheXLine]

Rivers don't normally cause significant FPS drain unless you are either tapping it and moving a lot of the water around, or else you are embarking on a waterfall, where water moves constantly, anyway.

But the basic problem is that moving water is one of the major eaters of FPS. If it's a dark blue 7, it is tested only fairly infrequently, but if it's a light blue number, it's "moving water", which is tested frequently for whether nearby space has a lower water number than itself. 

Thanks for the information. I hadn't done anything with the rivers in those test embarks, but I can certainly see why larger rivers, such as major rivers, would cause such major fps difference.Playing on a map with a stream for a little while, I agree that 50 FPS isn't bad at all. I've also noticed that once I shift my view to a layer or two beneath the bottom of the stream, my FPS comes back up to around ~90.

Also, your GPU is utterly irrelevant to Dwarf Fortress, and CPU only really matters so far as the speed of one core and the size and speed of its cache.  RAM size is irrelevant over 2GB (as DF cannot use more than that), but RAM speed is crucial.

I'll keep that in mind.

Also, just so you know, anyone making megaprojects is probably playing with an FPS of 1 to 5, so FPS of 50 is nothing to complain about at all.

Playing on a map with a stream for a little while, I agree that 50 FPS isn't bad at all. I've also noticed that once I shift my view to a layer or two beneath the bottom of the stream, my FPS comes back up to around ~90.
Thanks for the response!

[TheXLine]

I just noticed I said "Playing on a map with a stream for a little while, I agree that 50 FPS isn't bad at all. I've also noticed that once I shift my view to a layer or two beneath the bottom of the stream, my FPS comes back up to around ~90." twice. I meant to cut, not copy 

[NW_Kohaku]

For future reference, you can use the "modify" button at the top right of your post, it just has a "last modified" thingy added to the bottom of your post.  (I use it all the time since I always think of something else to add on just two minutes after I posted...)

[TheXLine]

Awesome! I thought there was something like that, but I couldn't find it.