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[KilgoreTrout]

My laptop specs are as follows:

2.2Ghz Dual Core
1 GB DDR2 RAM
Onboard ATI Radeon 3100
etc.

So anyways, this isn't a topic about how to improve my performance, just a discussion of how people get around their hardware's limitations.

My rule of thumb is if there's a river and a magma pipe, 3x3.

If there's just a magma pipe, 4x4.

I tend to get 30-60 FPS on a 100+ fort.

And you all?

[Thexor]

I've got similar specs (2GB RAM, 2.4GHz dual core), and I follow a simple rule: 50 dwarves is the max. Lets me embark in almost any (reasonable) area, with any map features and all the options turned on, and I hold a frame rate over 80 FPS.

You don't even need to set a pop cap - refrain from building traps, and defend yourself with the spillover from migrant waves. I guarantee, you'll never end up with too many dwarves. 

[Eduren]

Oh god, i wish i had yours!

1.53 ghz athalon
512 MB ram
Radeon 9550 128MB
EDIT: Linux (with crappy video drivers)

I can get about 20 fps on embark with 3x4 yet i haven't tried turning weather off.

So basically i can only Dwarf it up on my Family computer.

[inaluct]

Kilgore, you're a FOOOOOOOOOOOLLL

Or something.

Anyway, I get like 20 FPS with 30 dwarves on a site without much water or magma. 6 is basically my cap for any amount of dwarves above 70. This is with partial print set to 9001.

[Jiri Petru]

2.2Ghz Dual Core is low end? What? Am I really so old? 

I play on 2 Ghz single-core laptop with 900 MB RAM, and I've never actually limited the population, turned off weather, etc. Guess I'm just patient.

I even played on my other laptop, which is 1 Ghz, 350 MB RAM, and had a lot of fun with a small fortress and about 25 FPS.

[Tormy]

2.2Ghz Dual Core is low end? What? Am I really so old? 

I play on 2 Ghz single-core laptop with 900 MB RAM, and I've never actually limited the population, turned off weather, etc. Guess I'm just patient.

I even played on my other laptop, which is 1 Ghz, 350 MB RAM, and had a lot of fun with a small fortress and about 25 FPS.

Nop, the OP's laptop is "average". However Jiri...your laptop is low end. 

[JimiD]

1.3ghz intel single core, 786 RAM

similarly 3x3 with magma and river + 50 dwarf cap. - runs about 35 FPS.

If I want more dwarves or larger maps, I skip the water and magma (and weather too).

Last fort had 110 dwarves, no water, weather or temp, and was down to 15-20 FPS.

Basically I pick and chosse which features I want, and have to do without the others.

[azrael4h]

2.3ghz, 2gb of RAM laptop here. I usually embark on a 6x6. I compensate by building a death trap. I've discussed my migrant management solutions.

However, I just dumped the Vista virus off my computer for XP. Since CPU load at idle dropped from 45-50% down to 0-2%, I expect I could get away with more complex and populated fortresses. In fact, right now with Firefox, Winamp, and the Task Manager, my spikes are 6%, and it hovers 1-2%.

If that violated my warranty, I may upgrade to 4GB of RAM too, though that really isn't as much an issue with DF.

[Keiseth]

Getting rid of the Vista virus is a goal for me for several reasons, but I have to take the time to slipstream my drivers into an XP installation or it won't recognize the hard drive. EERG. I wonder how DF runs in Wine these days...

Anywho, my old computer was an Intel P4 1.4ghz, 512MB PC133 SDRAM, and a GeForce FX 5500 (BFG Tech's OC version.) The fans were shot and it got really hot, smelled like burning maple syrup for some reason, and the case had to be open at all times. Gameplay was pretty much intolerable as the version number went up, but I never got to try the improved OpenGL edits.

I replaced it with a Toshiba laptop, Intel Dual-Core 1.6ghz, 2GB RAM, Intel GMA 965. The integrated graphics made me take a hit but the processor improves the speed admirably. It plays like crap in the old versions but it plays excellently in the OpenGL-improved ones.

I am of the opinion that if your computer is dual-core *anything*, you don't have an outdated computer. Yet.

[Jay]

I wonder how DF runs in Wine these days...

Why would you do that?  There's a Linux build, it'd be silly to use Wine.

[KilgoreTrout]

Oh, also. This is with 40d11.

The only difference is that it's more consistent. Instead of my FPS fluctuating from 60-5 it's now only about 50-40.

Not as fast, but hey, the change in pace was all that bothered me.

Oh, also guys, I have a question. Many things on my computer run fine, but other things, while running fine on the whole, will slow down at intervals for no reason.

Like when I play TF2, everything and I mean everything on low, I'll get 40 FPS but suddenly everything slows to a crawl independent of what's happening around me.

[kg333]

Oh, also guys, I have a question. Many things on my computer run fine, but other things, while running fine on the whole, will slow down at intervals for no reason.

Like when I play TF2, everything and I mean everything on low, I'll get 40 FPS but suddenly everything slows to a crawl independent of what's happening around me.

Considering you're on a laptop, I suspect your CPU is throttling back from getting too hot.  I'd recommend downloading Speedfan to check your temps.  If your computer is peaking above 90C when you're running a game, that's probably the culprit.

KG

[jaked122]

add [SPEED:1] to the dwarf section of standard_creatures.txt

[Erk]

THAT's low end??? I play on an eeepc 901. 1.6ghz and 1gb of RAM if I remember right. Disable temperature and weather and just 'pretend' things melt, drop g_fps to 5-15 depending on how much typing I need to do (ie. job orders; when I don't have job orders it can be much lower), limit population to ~50, keep pets in cages, and don't use a waterfall unless it's important.  I don't even embark on a small site, though some time soon I might go for a 2x2 map just to see what framerates I get. I'm comfortable with anything over 10 though; I prefer the game to run in the background, so slow speeds suit my needs.

[Deon]

Athlon 3200+ (2.01 GHz single core), 1Gb RAM.

~120 dwarves, 4x4, all options on. ~35-40 fps, quite acceptable for me.