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[Random832]

There is no reason it should use an entire core while I am A) paused or B) on the menu screen; that's ridiculous. Also, lowering the FPS cap should also reduce CPU usage (as it does _nothing_ for the time that it could have been cranking out more frames than I want). You'd almost think it's doing a busy loop waiting for input instead of giving control to the operating system for even the tiniest fraction of a second.

[Idiom]

It's busy cracking your passwords under your nose.

There's probably a good reason why such a simple fix has not been done yet. Also: keep your screen size at the minimum, turn off cave-ins, and try partial print.

[Random832]

It's busy cracking your passwords under your nose.

There's probably a good reason why such a simple fix has not been done yet. Also: keep your screen size at the minimum, turn off cave-ins, and try partial print.

Absolutely nothing will make DF use less CPU - I can make it run faster, but I don't want it to run faster. I want it to use less CPU. I can get 99FPS, I want to use a third of that much CPU to get 33FPS. And I want it to use no CPU (or little enough not to matter) when paused.

[Random832]

If I or someone do this for Kobold Quest, will it help?

[Capntastic]

I dunno if you can make a program limit itself to a certain amount of CPU, but if it's possible I imagine Toady would be able to do it.   Getting around to it is another matter, unless it's trivial to implement...

[Random832]

I dunno if you can make a program limit itself to a certain amount of CPU, but if it's possible I imagine Toady would be able to do it.   Getting around to it is another matter, unless it's trivial to implement...

That's not really what I'm asking for - what I'm asking for is basically for it to not use the CPU when it's not doing anything - there are almost no other programs that use an entire core at full-blast while doing absolutely nothing but waiting for keyboard input.

[Footkerchief]

On my laptop (P4 2Ghz) DF hovers around 25% when paused, and drops to 1% on the Esc menu.  Don't know what to tell you.

It sounds like you're on a dual core?  Maybe it's something with how processor affinity works?  Regardless, if it's a problem, lowering the process priority to "Below Normal" should keep DF from murdering your other apps CPU-wise.

[Align]

10% or so at main menu for me, with a dual core. But that's still a bit odd - what could it possibly be doing at the main menu except idle?

[Random832]

It sounds like you're on a dual core?  Maybe it's something with how process affinity works?  Regardless, if it's a problem, lowering the process priority to "Below Normal" should keep DF from murdering your other apps CPU-wise.

Right, but it won't stop it from murdering my CPU fan.

[Footkerchief]

Are you on a dual core?  Have you set processor affinity?

[Random832]

Are you on a dual core?  Have you set processor affinity?

How do I do that? Why should it matter considering I don't have to do it for any other program

[Footkerchief]

Dude, are you on dual core or not?  <= not a rhetorical question

I wasn't TELLING you to set processor affinity, I was asking if you already had.  Sounds like the answer is no.  It's worth experimenting with, though.  This is how you can turn processor affinity on or off: http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6168870.html

[Random832]

Dude, are you on dual core or not?  <= not a rhetorical question

yes.

[Granite26]

I think that DF is a big program, using a lot of extremely memory intensive functions.

Given that it it not multi-threaded and that it is designed to compile on both Windows and Linux, I think that it is probably written in C or C++ (doesn't matter which) using very few external libraries, and certainly none of the OS optimizations.

The fact that it isn't multithreaded also says to me that there are a lot of deeper optimizations that aren't being done.  (That means things like OS sleeps and whatnot).

Basically, it's written by a game design genius (duh) and math professor(The low level stuff like flows is pretty phenominal), just not a computer scientist.

[Random832]

I think that DF is a big program, using a lot of extremely memory intensive functions.

Given that it it not multi-threaded and that it is designed to compile on both Windows and Linux, I think that it is probably written in C or C++ (doesn't matter which) using very few external libraries, and certainly none of the OS optimizations.

The fact that it isn't multithreaded also says to me that there are a lot of deeper optimizations that aren't being done.  (That means things like OS sleeps and whatnot).

Basically, it's written by a game design genius (duh) and math professor(The low level stuff like flows is pretty phenominal), just not a computer scientist.

I don't think that it's a "deeper optimization" to stop using the cpu when it's not doing anything. I think it's very basic. No other program that I've ever used gets this wrong (there are plenty that use an entire core or the whole CPU at a stretch, but only while they're actually doing something)

(Incidentally, it is presumably written in C++ based on the fact that he's said Kobold Quest uses the same basic engine and that's C++, and there is no Linux version)