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[Fossaman]

So I'm trying to complete an epic project. Unfortunately, said project involves digging out the better part of a 3x3 embark tile square over 20 z-levels. At first I thought that the FPS drops I was experiencing were due to the large quantities of stone produced, but I've managed to keep that number below 20,000 by using atom smashers.

But my FPS has dropped from 150 to 50, while my dwarfs are idle. The end result of this project is supposed to be a big huge waterfall tower, but that's looking overly optimistic; I'm only about halfway through the excavatory phase, and I don't like to think what flowing water will do to my CPU.

So what's causing this? It's not excess items. It drops further with every level I dig out. My guess is un-revealed tiles being loaded into memory; if so, is there any way to fix it?

[Ubern00b]

Not a clue, but what sort of computer are you running?

I was thinking of doing this on my 6x6 map, now im not too sure if it'll lag or not.

[darkflagrance]

Alas...could this be another memory issue that will need fixing?

It might also be that atom-smashing does not actually eliminate all of the effects of mined out stone.

[Overspeculated]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that covered tiles do not strain CPU?

So... uncovering those tiles would make them strain CPU?
There you have it.
There.
Right there.

[Retro]

Collapse the floors. I've been doing something similar; 25z collapsed down to a large open space. Admittedly I was also having FPS issues from rocks, but I solves that seperately. You'll get insane drain until you collapse the levels, thereby removing them.

[smjjames]

If you're using ramps, those kill FPS pretty quick.

In my current fort, I am having somewhat more lag than usual, I usually have FPS around 50-40, but its been in the 20s and 30s. It may be the way I have built my fort.

This is one of those times where a tool that shows where pathing is heavy or something is useful, but such a program does not exist. At least not for general use I don't think.

[Derakon]

I believe it's actually the digging designations that are hurting you here. Each accessible designation tries to make a job, after all.

[Hyndis]

Digging ramps is the quickest way to excavate huge areas, but it will destroy your FPS. It will only destroy your FPS while digging however, once you're done your FPS will go back to normal.

I think this has to do with continually recalculating the pathing for multiple levels. If its just regular mining there is almost no FPS hit, but doing ramps which clears out two Z levels at once, your FPS is gonna die.

[Fossaman]

Hm. This is a problem. I have been using ramps, and yes, I do see a larger FPS drop while the designations are active. But a lesser drop remains in place after each level is dug out.

And there are no floors to collapse, Retro. When I say excavation, I mean a big huge open pit quarry, not tunnels.

[hitto]

I believe it's actually the digging designations that are hurting you here. Each accessible designation tries to make a job, after all.

That. Remove just half of the designations and you will see a huge fps boost.

[Fossaman]

Nnnnnope. I'm talking about after all the active designations are gone, dug out, mined, destroyed. As in, there aren't any active designations on the map whatsoever. It is an ex-designation!

[Firnagzen]

It may be the pathfinding. The algorithm searches every tile on the way to its destination, while looking for the shortest path, right? (Not sure. Not a computing sciences person.) So big, empty rooms would take up more computing power, because, well, all of it would be searched.

[Fossaman]

Hm. I don't think that's it, either. I've been doing excavations like so:

Code: [Select]

O_________O
OOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOO Stage 1

O_________O
OO_______OO
OOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOO Stage 2

O_________O
OO_______OO
OOO_____OOO
OOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOO Stage 3
[code]

Removing one level at a time, but keeping the overall number of walkable tiles the same. So unless it's something strange with z-level pathfinding...but that doesn't make much sense either. I've seen mountains with more ramps on them than I'm digging here.

[Doomshifter]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that covered tiles do not strain CPU?

So... uncovering those tiles would make them strain CPU?
There you have it.
There.
Right there.

It says in the wiki it's the other way around. Uncovered tiles strain less, probably due to the fact that it's a bit more strain to remember what is hidden there without telling you.

[Retro]

Ah, thought you were doing the regular-dig-then-collapse method. You can check if it's pathfinding by getting a lot of idle dwarves on one side of the quarry and designating an insane amount of no-talent jobs on the other; if there's a noticeable stall when you unpause that's your issue. Otherwise, that much stone shouldn't prove a problem at all; not sure what the issue would be then. Let us know what you find.