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Author Topic: Anyone running DF on a netbook?  (Read 531 times)

trav

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Anyone running DF on a netbook?
« on: July 30, 2009, 12:58:03 am »
I'm looking at trading my trusty XPS M1530 in for a desktop and a netbook. 
An important part of my research is to decide which netbook can run DF the longest and the best while I'm traveling away from power.

Anyone got any experiences?  I saw another thread that had some basic discussion but is anyone playing a significant amount of time on one?
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Graven

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Re: Anyone running DF on a netbook?
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2009, 01:36:07 am »
Well, my Eee701 most certainly won't be able to play it, so I can only give you some theoretical advice :)

First off, since all netbooks sport nearly the same specs, get one with the newer Atom processor - N280, it's slightly faster - like the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 ( http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5177&review=lenovo+ideapad+s12 ) or the Eee1005HA ( http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5122 ) if you are desperate to get one now, but I'd suggest you wait if possible, as the next-gen Atom (which will come out Armok knows when) will be able to encode HD content, which means it'll probably fare a lot better than the current one in DF.

With that said, however, you'd still need to limit the game itself. Turn off temperature and weather, limit population and play in a smaller embark area. Hell, even on my Asus with its Turion TL60 at 2 ghz, which, if not very powerful, is still better than the ULVs in netbooks has severe difficulties with more than 100 dwarves at a 4x4 area. It will be playble, it'll just be different from what you're used to :)
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kaypy

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Re: Anyone running DF on a netbook?
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2009, 02:43:23 am »
Quote from: Graven on July 30, 2009, 01:36:07 am
Well, my Eee701 most certainly won't be able to play it, so I can only give you some theoretical advice :)
DF will run on a 701- I may only get 4fps, but it technically it still runs 8-)
And I used to get a more sensible amount back when I had a sensible fortress...
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The Grackle

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Re: Anyone running DF on a netbook?
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2009, 03:00:48 am »
Netbooks throttle back the power when they A> get hot or B> are running off battery power.  I sometime use mine to play around with the RAWS, gen new worlds (slowly), or do a quick embark; but the FPS drops to like 20 with the first wave of immigrants. Adventure Mode maybe?
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