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[Graven]

In the interest of science, I decided to test how exactly would the newest version of DF affect the elusive and oft-forgotten grandparent of the netbook species - the Eee 701. After a few thorough and re-tested professionally evaluated experiments, I have reached the following conclusions, but first : the setup.

Eee pc, second-hand, undamaged (perhaps with the exception of the fan, which was, supposedly, fixed by the company that sold it to the original owner), black.

Dwarf Fortress, ASCII variant, 40d13

Init.txt edit in the following way :
- temperature : off
- weather : off
- fps limit : 100
- graphical fps limit : 30
- population limit : 200
- embark area : 3x3

There were 3 sub-stages of the study. The results, as follow :
3x3 embark, magma pit, river.

- eeepc unplugged, 400 mhz. Result - an average of 9 fps with the original 7 dwarves, no job designations, no activity at all. Unplayable
- eeepc plugged, 600 mhz. Result - an average of 12 fps with the original 7 dwarves, one digging designation. Unplayable, but 30% improvement.
- eeepc plugged, overclocked to 900 mhz via Eeectl. Result - an average of 15 fps with the original 7 dwarves, one digging designation, one tree-cutting designation, one refuse stockpile. Unplayable, but 25% improvement over 600 mhz.

Ultimate conclusion : dwarf fortress is, sadly, completely and fully unplayable on the Eee 701. All who state otherwise are madmen, driven insane by the inability to obtain their daily dose of DF.


And yeah, I had a lot of free time to write this

[Divinebeing]

Your efforts will be remembered eternally in the most loved pieces of Dwarfistory.

[DeathOfRats]

Result - an average of 15 fps with the original 7 dwarves, one digging designation, one tree-cutting designation, one refuse stockpile. Unplayable, but 25% improvement over 600 mhz.

*winces* What happens if you drop GFPS to 8 or so? I usually play with 15 (not on an eee, of course ), but people have reported DF being playable at 8, and it might get you a few extra FPS.

It would still seem totally unsuitable for anything but the hermit challenge (and then only if you don't use water/magma), but it might work slightly better.

[Martin]

Morul is running in the neighborhood of 15FPS and it's pretty awful. Temperature on but draining the magma pipe is what's killing the framerate, but it's going to be a LONG time before that project is over, so I just have to suck it up.

[Romtos]

Eee 1000HE, 2gb ram (I mention that since it's customized). Laptop is plugged in. (This should not have any effect on cpu though)
Mine is less scientific.

4x4 area
Weather and temp off
Mayday graphic set
200fps limit
1st test: 7 dwarves without job designation
2nd test: 56 dwarves (old game I had)

1st test: 150-200 fps while not moving. 80-100 fps while frantically moving over the map.
2nd test: Mostly in the range of 30-50 in underground areas. 25-50 in above ground area with the whole human trade caravan at the fortress.

Unless I'm wrong, that would be quite playable. (I'm quit a noob)
I'm no expert in this areas, so is this information useful?

[DeathOfRats]

Laptop is plugged in. (This should not have any effect on cpu though)

Actually, unless you've disabled power management, it probably does. You see, running the CPU at full power drains batteries like crazy, so practically all laptops lower CPU speed when they're running on batteries. Not %100 sure about your particular model, since I've never tried it out, but it's likely the same.

[Romtos]

Laptop is plugged in. (This should not have any effect on cpu though)

Actually, unless you've disabled power management, it probably does. You see, running the CPU at full power drains batteries like crazy, so practically all laptops lower CPU speed when they're running on batteries. Not %100 sure about your particular model, since I've never tried it out, but it's likely the same.

You're right. Around 10 fps difference. 20-40 fps in the 56 dwarf fortress unplugged.

[Beanchubbs]

What's wrong with 15fps? My first real fortress was in a human city and I only had 20fps max. I ran on 15-20 fps for 6 game years. Then I got a few huge migrant waves and some water projects going on bringing it down to 5-10. I played like that for 5 more game years. Then I finally said "This is too slow, screw it" and abandoned.

[sunshaker]

Was the Eee 701 running Linux or Windows? I have the 701 running Linux but have not tried running DF on it.

[SwiftAusterity]

My horrible Dell, running in "Dwarf (safe) Mode" which means nothing AT ALL except DF 40d12 running. (Vista Business 32 bit, whatever they call this version) At around 180 dwarves the thing is running around 7 fps with no magma or running water. (no rivers/brooks/anything)

1g Ram, Sempron 3500 (1.8ghz)

Yeah I shouldn't be running vista at all on 1 gig of ram, but it runs ok

[ChairmanPoo]

I have an asus EEE 1000H  1GB ram and its definitedly playable. I get 100fps with the starting dwarves, and manage to keep around 60fps with 50 population. Heck, even when I reach 100 population I usually manage to keep it stable around 20-24 fps (barring sieges, which tend to cause a drop to 15-17). I keep all weather options and that kind of stuff on. I do try to use aquifers instead of rivers, because I do notice an increase in speed in those (and I favor aquifers as a water source anyway), but even maps with rivers can be pretty playable

[Romtos]

I have an asus EEE 1000H  1GB ram and its definitedly playable. I get 100fps with the starting dwarves, and manage to keep around 60fps with 50 population. Heck, even when I reach 100 population I usually manage to keep it stable around 20-24 fps (barring sieges, which tend to cause a drop to 15-17). I keep all weather options and that kind of stuff on. I do try to use aquifers instead of rivers, because I do notice an increase in speed in those (and I favor aquifers as a water source anyway), but even maps with rivers can be pretty playable

That's a high fps in 50 dwarf fortress. I don't manage that. How large are your maps and do you use a tileset? (Does the tileset even matter?)

[SimRobert2001]

yes, the tile set matters. its usually 2-5 fps. (assuming i'm right.)