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[ChairmanPoo]

Because really, it hogs down resources to the point of being nigh-unplayable.

Sure, they added new stuff since last time I played, but I dont think it is enough to justify this kind of inefficiency.

So, am I doing it wrong, does it require tweaking? Are there any hopes of code cleanups that might speed it up in the near future?

[Frumple]

There's hope of optimization in the future, yes, but that's in the future. There's been issues with graphical junk causing slowdowns in the past, and while stuff's getting fixed, it takes time, et al. But yeah, T4 is actually pretty resource heavy, so you're probably not doing anything wrong, especially if your comp's specs aren't freakishly powerful. If you do have a killer rig, though, something else is probably going on and more info will be needed.

My suggestion is thus: Go into the options and turn off everything that'll turn off and still allow the game to run. Set the particle number to 0. Then see if the game's still wrecking your comp. T4 plays fine without all the fancy graphical shenanigans

I've found that cutting the particle count to 0 or 1 basically halved CPU consumption on my computer, in most situations.

E: Also, try asking over on the T4 forum or IRC channel if you have specific areas or situations where slowdown is bad. T4's dev is pretty open and tries to help when he can, and the rest of the community tends to be pretty non-hostile. It might be that whatever problem you're having just needs to be brought to Darkgod's attention.

[ChairmanPoo]

Argh, no use.

My computer is far from high end (in fact, it's a sad, lousy netbook), but it used to run previous versions of tome (as in, the one that was released 6 months ago). I reinstalled the new one because the updates (and new setting) seemed interesting, but apparently cant play it at all, even at particle 0 :/

In particular, the game map runs well enough, but the level up screen to assign the starting points is killing me.

[Frumple]

Remembered the secondary thing you can try: In one of the options (video or graphics, I think. Somewhere in there.) there's an option to set desired FPS. Set it to something like 5, then give it another go.

With a netbook, I imagine what's killing you more than anything is the graphics card; most of T4's CPU consumption (barring some pathing stuff when there's a bazillion critters on the screen) is graphics-related. I've got similar problems with a crappy integrated one on my laptop.

E: Golems have laser eyes now. Damn, I wish I had noticed 19 earlier.

[freeformschooler]

Actually, the last version was a lot faster. This one had lots of "improvements" and "bugfixes" that cut the engine and the game's speed in half. I feel your pain -- it's nearly unplayable here and I wanna try the new classes

[Robsoie]

ToME4 would be an average or a mediocre game, it would not be that annoying, but considering how amazing the gameplay system is and how much fun i have with ToME4, it is frustrating to have regularly those heavy stuttering and slowdown on what is a turn based game.

The most annoying to me is that they seem to be very random, during most of a game it plays very smoothly, the interface very responsive, then suddenly the engine begins to crawl (even when a level is nearly completely cleared of monsters making it difficult to understand why) and the interface has huge delays (dropping a single item can take several seconds) when it starts to stutter.

The problem has been reported in the ToME4 forum and noticed by the developer fortunately, the game system is really good and i hope he will manage to get those heavy engine slowdowns fixed in future updates.

[Tilla]

Calling this a beta is really a mistake by the dev, since regular updates make it pretty clear it is far from feature-complete. Give it time, this is still early in dev.

[freeformschooler]

TBH right now without the slowdown and a few major bugs I would say ToME4 has enough polish to be considered beta-stage, but you're right, it's not even close. Honestly, I've stopped calling it a roguelike because the gameplay is just so much different from any other roguelike I've played. It's more like an action oriented turn-based RPG that runs on a tilemap with roguelike-esque keyboard commands and other elements.

[Frumple]

'Roguelike' is considerably less words

Still accurate, too. There's not really anything in T4 that's not in other RLs, it's just that T4's one of the first to pull as many together into such a polished package, performance issues and bugs aside. Despite being one of the oldest of game types, it still feels like RL development and expansion outside of the big names (NetHack, Angband, Crawl, ADOM) is only just now kicking off. The next three-five years promise to have some seriously interesting things go down in the RL scene, and T4's continuing development is only one of many. Good times.

[Tilla]

'Roguelike' is considerably less words

Still accurate, too. There's not really anything in T4 that's not in other RLs, it's just that T4's one of the first to pull as many together into such a polished package, performance issues and bugs aside. Despite being one of the oldest of game types, it still feels like RL development and expansion outside of the big names (NetHack, Angband, Crawl, ADOM) is only just now kicking off. The next three-five years promise to have some seriously interesting things go down in the RL scene, and T4's continuing development is only one of many. Good times.

Yah, the every-growing 7DRL is proof of that. Every year it's getting bigger and more people are successfully completing games. 2010 had 87 entries and 49 of them finished their games in time!

On related note, 7DRL 2011 is set for March 3! Woohooo

[ChairmanPoo]

Then I'm holding up for the non-slowed down update, I guess....

(I lost interest in the 6 months ago version, despite having played it for a while, mostly because of annoying unlock conditions, in particular those of undead. But my interest was picked again when I read that they had added a lot to the game, that they had moved from Tolkien to their own setting, and that several of the old annoying unlock conditions had been switched).

[Frumple]

Th'FPS thing's my best suggestion, but there's occasionally slowdowns even with that. Low tier graphics cards just don't interact with T4 very well

I generally play with something else open in another window (either another game, or something to read, etc.) to pass time while it's chugging along.

As an aside, there's a way to just bypass all that unlocking nonsense if you're willing to edit a file. I can PM you th'info if you're interested, or just spoiler it on this thread. So much less time wasted, so much more time spent enjoying content. I wouldn't be playing T4 at all if it weren't so easy to do that.

[Robsoie]

Playing an Undead Ghoul can be fun.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You have a very different starting location in comparison to a normal human game and must escape the underground dungeon of the necromancer that animated you by climbing up to the surface for several floor levels.

I suggest that you don't just blindy run for the stairs but take time to make experience, as if you wish to destroy the best experiment of the necromancer in the last pre-surface floor, you'll have to be strong (or just play a stair tactic a la Dungeon Crawl , monsters are not following you through stairs making it a good resting location, but don't rest too much, as monsters can heal with time too).

Fortunately, you don't have to destroy it, but it's good to get the experience early for the kill.
During your exploration, it can be tempting to open those closed vaults that tell you if you wish to open the doors, but beware, the enemies in there are very strong, sometime too strong for the level you are.
So it's always a good idea to have a phase door rune when you're opening vaults.

But whatever you find, you'll be able to identify only after you're out of the dungeon.

[ChairmanPoo]

Th'FPS thing's my best suggestion, but there's occasionally slowdowns even with that. Low tier graphics cards just don't interact with T4 very well

I generally play with something else open in another window (either another game, or something to read, etc.) to pass time while it's chugging along.

As an aside, there's a way to just bypass all that unlocking nonsense if you're willing to edit a file. I can PM you th'info if you're interested, or just spoiler it on this thread. So much less time wasted, so much more time spent enjoying content. I wouldn't be playing T4 at all if it weren't so easy to do that.

I did the file editing thing already back then. That's how I got to play the reaver character early on.

As for playing it in alt tab to accept its chug-along... my idea was to use Tome4 as the alt-tab game for something else :p