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[Sappho]

Well this is a new one for me.  I used to always have several instances of DF on my computer at once, each with different mods and such installed.  Since I got this new laptop a few months ago, however, I've been too busy to play much and had only one install going (the latest version of course).  But I just tried to get a second install going for a mod and it won't work.

I've tried installing in nested directories, completely separate directories, etc.  I've tried a few different versions.  I've tried hiding the original install.  Nothing works.

What happens is that the new install gives me 0 FPS, jumping up to 4-6 FPS whenever I hit a button.  It's completely unplayable by any standard.  The original install works fine, just like always.  I get my 100 or so FPS on all but crowded forts.

Has anyone else had this problem?  It's like my computer knows I already have DF installed somewhere and it doesn't want me to have a second copy to play with.  I don't try to run them at the same time or anything, and I've even tried closing everything down, rebooting the computer, and unzipping and running the new instance of DF without opening anything else, and it still won't work.

I apologize if this is a known issue, but I don't get online very often where I'm currently living and don't have time to scour the forums for it.  Any ideas, or should I bring this to the bugs forum?

Thanks guys!

[Tormy]

This sounds pretty weird to be honest...especially since you do not even "install" DF to your HDD basically...the whole process is a simple decompression method.
What OS do you have?

[chaoticag]

I would say try to maximize your frame rates.
That is all the advice I can give, as this has not happened to me yet.

I play DF on a Vista laptop whenever I have time.

[Jay]

...This is a technical impossibility.
DF is completely self-contained.
There's no registry keys.
Nothing written to Program Files, My Documents, or anywhere else.
Only to the folder you unzipped the game into.
There is no way it could possibly be interfering with another copy of itself.
Or anything after it's closed, for that matter.
But uh, you should only need to unzip the game once for each separate instance.
Not even called an install, because it doesn't..  install.

[Xgamer4]

jaybud basically hit the nail on the head.
Are the init files the same between the versions?
...Are you trying to run them at the same time?

[Sappho]

Yeah, I know that DF isn't actually installed and it shouldn't matter how many times I have unzipped it and to whichever folders, but I can't get it to work.  I haven't tried removing my original folder and trying to re-'install' it because I'm afraid it won't work at all and then I'd be DF-less.

I am not trying to run them at the same time.  I simply cannot get any other instances of DF to work under any circumstances.  I have also tried using the original init file or copying and pasting my revised init file, but it makes no difference.

I'm running on a Vista laptop, unfortunately.  I've tried things like running as an administrator or running in compatability mode and it's not working.  I've never had any FPS problems before and I really have no idea what could be wrong here.  But I really want to try this mod without messing with my original game...

Any ideas at all?  Maybe I should post in the bug forum?

[Exponent]

Two things I would try doing, just to see what happens:

1)  Copy the original folder to a new folder, so that it is identical in all respects other than name/location.  The init file isn't the only relevant file to consider; there may be other files that are making your primary copy work while all the rest are failing.  If it indeed is the case that an exact copy works fine, try a fresh unzip, and then start copying files from the primary installation to this fresh installation a few at a time, until you find which files allow it to run quickly again.  Then the problem might possibly become more obvious.

2)  Rename the folder of the primary copy to something else.  I can't imagine how this would change anything, but when everything else is acting funky, you turn to less likely hypotheses.  If the original installation is fine, and everything else fails, then one variable that is different between them is the precise name/location of the copies.

3)  Another thought:  You don't happen to have any non-standard DLLs in the original program folder, do you?  Such as the OpenGL wrapper DLL that was created by Baughn to optimize OpenGL calls?

[chaoticag]

Upload the save, or tell us which mods you are using, I'll see if I can fix it.

[Tormy]

Try to make a new user account in Vista with admin rights. Login to that account decompress DF into ~3 different directories, and tell me that it's working or not.

[G-Flex]

Have you unpacked each instance to folders in different areas of the filesystem (for instance, one to C:\Program Files\whatever and another to C:\Stuff\Whatever)? Vista has some issues with certain directories. I would check to see, in addition, what other differences there might be between the way the OS itself is handling the directories/files, such as filesystem-based compression.

[Sappho]

Alrighty, I don't know why it didn't occur to be before to copy and paste the folder, but I tried that and it works fine.  So there must be another file in there causing the problems.  For now I'll use a copy for the mod (it's the zombie mod by the way) and when I have some more time I'll try figuring out which file it is.  I do have the 3Dwarf program in there but I didn't think that should change anything with my FPS...  I'll see what I can figure out.

Thanks a lot for the help, guys, I appreciate it!