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[Batgirl1]

My little laptop isn't the newest computer on the block, but it isn't exactly the ENIAC either.  Still, I can't help but notice that the newest versions of DF positively *drag*, and sometimes choke the computer completely so that nothing runs and I have to reboot.  Is this the result of bugs, or is the game just *that big* now? 

For the record, System Information says I have 384 MB of RAM (please refrain from laughing). 

[Need_More_War!]

My laptop top runs flawlessly with 2gb, 1gb should be good, anything under will be to slow, Don't worry this computer im using now is a 516mb ram, Won't run DF.

[Fourdots]

Currently, my fortress in 0.31.03 is using about 300MB, give or take a bit, with a 2x2 map, 20 dwarfs, and at least 60 cattle. Personally, I would call 500MB a minimum to run it, so that there's space left over for the operating system and whatever else you want to run. Admittedly, I am using linux and wine, so you windows people may need more (or less).

384MB is definitely not enough. You're probably swapping extensively to run it (using the hard drive to store memory, which is extremely slow and in general something to be avoided), so some slowness might be partially from that. If at all possible, you should look into upgrading your ram, or getting a new computer - netbooks are fairly cheap, and generally come with at least a gig of ram, as well as a processor which can manage DF (~40FPS in the fortress I mentioned earlier, which I am running on a 1.6GHz netbook; FPS appear to decrease linearly with the addition of each dwarf, at least up to 40 dwarfs, though there are probably other factors affecting it). If upgrading isn't an option, my sincerest condolences go out to you.

[Eidako]

My 630MHz/1GB RAM netbook ran 40d at a very playable framerate. On the other hand, my current 2010 fort has issues on my 2.2GHz quad-core, 6GB desktop. It depends largely on how complex the region you're playing in is. If you play a 2x2 region, set the population cap to a few dozen, kill cats on sight, don't dig into the underground caverns, and don't try to drain the ocean, it might be playable.

[madrain]

I'd look up nanofort, set a low pop cap with no children, turn off temperature and weather...

[FuzzyDoom]

Don't feel bad. I play this game and my computer is worse than yours (look at sig). I get a blazing 30 FPS on Embark, and 20 with 14 dwarves and a couple of cats and dogs. I play with the settings on 2D but with nothing turned off.

[rodya_mirov]

384 megs of ram is ... really low.

The RAM requirement for DF is between 500 megs and 1 gig.  I've never seen it use more than 700 megs but I have seen it that high.

The bottleneck for most people is the processor though; it needs high clockspeed but can only use one core.  So if you've got the right kind of old laptop (P4 ) then you'll be set on that.

[Kohmelo]

About the choking: When it does it does not mean that your computer had crashed as I have noticed. DF Freezed couple of day ago and computer did not respond and I got out to smoke. When I came back DF was running smoothly... Nowadays I just wait for couple of minutes when it freezes and it usually start to work.

[Urist McPenguin]

The 3x4 fort I'm running right now (had to be that big for what I wanted, a volcano and running water on the same map) was doing between 140-180 fps on embark, and held steady at the 120 mark until I hit 72 dwarves, where the first slowdown occurred. Now I'm at 90 dwarves with no more then a dozen idle at once, cavern breached, brook channelled to keep my well full, and a hell of a lot of stone. I'm running at an average of 70 fps, with DF using 700 megs of ram.

I'm running DF 31.03, 1280x640 and using the Phoebus 1.7.3 graphics pack on a laptop with an Intel P8400 (2.26ghz), 4gb of 800mhz ddr3 ram, and Windows 7 x64. I think the RAM speed makes a pretty big difference, my desktop with a faster processor (win xp, single core AMD 64 4000) but only 400mhz ddr2 ram doesn't run DF as quickly.

[Batgirl1]

Aha! Thanks, guys.

Luckily, I'm looking into getting a new desktop fairly soon, and it's good to know that the problems aren't intrinsic to the game and will thus go away. (I'd been reading about various bugs and crashes, and was worried that there might be some kind of memory leak/infinite loop/I haven't a clue.)  I admit I'm surprised at the 500MB minimum; I think I was under the assumption that any game that didn't have intense 3D graphics, etc., etc., could probably run on a Tandy.  But I guess it's not the graphics, is it?  Toady gets into some pretty minute calculations, doesn't he?  Is that what drives the RAM usage up so high, or am I wrong and ASCII art eats more than I thought? =/

[Eidako]

For the most part it's pathfinding; hundreds of "How do I get over there from here?" calculations every second, trying to figure out how to navigate large, intricate three-dimensional mazes that are constantly changing. Liquid flows are also a difficult problem.

The slow parts are the ones which take place in abstract mathematical space. Actually displaying it all is straight-forward and minor by comparison.

[Skorpion]

How much have you got? I have 2 gigs, and it'll eat the lot plus an entire processor core.

[Grendus]

It's a common misconception that DF isn't multithreaded. They split the graphics into a separate thread in 2010. It's not much, but it does help, which is a lifesaver with all the stuff Toady added in 2010.

[dakenho]

I have seen df use over 1gb of memory, it uses as much as it will need and if you ever get to 200 dwarfs/pets, it will use as much as it needs to keep track of that all