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[Vazgen]

Dear readers,

I've just discovered about Dwarf Fortress this tuesday. After watching some tutorial videus i now know for sure i like this game. However, the ASCI version is too indistinguishible to me, so i downloaded some graphically enhanced versions, one of which being the version recommended by captain_duck.

The trouble, however lies in the fact that whenever i open this version, it never starts up, it keeps running in the background and using substantial CPU power (100% of one of my cores).

I, now as a humble newbie, plead for your expertise in solving this puzzle, since i'd really love to play Dwarf Fortress.

Thanks in advance,
Vazgen

[Jack_Bread]

It does that.
You'll just have to get used to it.(I did.)

[Vazgen]

I fear you don't quite understand my point. the game doesnt startup, it merely runs in the background.

[Supercharazad]

First, please talk casually around here, we wouldn't be dwarves if we didn't use questionable swears, carp jokes and generally acting like rude, drunken tunellers would we? 

Second, I can think of two possible reasons for this, you either installed it wrong or your computer doesn't like the graphics sets you're using.

[dorf]

Does the original DF work for you?
If not, try the 40d17 version with the 2D mode.

Did you try any other (pre-packaged or otherwise) graphic sets?

[rdwulfe]

We could def. use more info. The version of the DF you downloaded, especially, and possibly what video card you're running. My roomate can't use D16 on his system currently, it does *exactly* what you describe. I got him set up on D17 and he's able to run it, and have fun once again, trying to keep his insane little buggers alive.

I believe it's a combination of his flat screen LCD drivers, his onboard Intel graphics, and something in D16. I had to use specific settings on D17 (new to that version) to make it work for him.

[TKTom]

 I presume that you are using windows, otherwise there could be loads of problems you are getting.


 Try doing it this way:
1. Click this link:

 Click ok on any dialogues that come up, this will download a zip of the dwarf fortress game.

2. Create a folder somewhere called "Dwarf Fortress". Copy the contents of the zip downloaded in step 1 into this new folder.

3. Open //Dwarf Fortress\data\init\init.txt

 copy and paste the following in over the contents:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Change this to turn sound off.

[SOUND:OFF]

The sound volume runs from 0 (off) to 255 (full).  You can set the volume from the ESC options menu as well.

[VOLUME:255]

Change this to skip the wonderful intro movies.

[INTRO:OFF]

This lets you set the starting windowed/fullscreen setting.  Can be YES, NO or PROMPT.

[WINDOWED:YES]

This is the size and font for windowed mode.  Changing to 800x600 and the 800x600 font might make you happier.

[WINDOWEDX:640]
[WINDOWEDY:300]
[FONT:curses_640x300.png]

Full screen info.  The 0s below mean that the game will choose a resolution for you, but you can set it yourself as well.

[FULLSCREENX:1280]
[FULLSCREENY:1024]
[FULLFONT:curses_640x300.png]

If this is set to NO, tiles will be stretched to fit the screen if there is a resolution mismatch.
If this is set to YES, the tiles will not be stretched, but rather the game view will be centralized, surrounded by black space.  Tiles that are too large will always be compressed rather than running off the screen.

[BLACK_SPACE:YES]

Graphics info, most of it as above.  Set GRAPHICS to YES to turn it all on.  This will use the "raw/graphics" folder for tile information.  Currently this is limited to whatever creature graphics you have downloaded.  The game comes with a few pictures to demonstrate.  As of September 2008, the Dwarf Fortress Wiki has graphical tilesets available at http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/List_of_user_graphics_sets.

[GRAPHICS:YES]
[GRAPHICS_WINDOWEDX:1280]
[GRAPHICS_WINDOWEDY:400]
[GRAPHICS_FONT:lemunde.png]
[GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENX:1680]
[GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENY:1050]
[GRAPHICS_FULLFONT:lemunde.png]
[GRAPHICS_BLACK_SPACE:YES]

These settings can have a significant impact on frame rate, especially for people that have slow frame rates on the title screen.  Available modes are STANDARD, PARTIAL:<number>, ACCUM_BUFFER, FRAME_BUFFER and VBO.  The number after PARTIAL refers to how many frames it will redo a printed tile before skipping it, so you might try increasing it a bit if you have flickering when PARTIAL is set.  Please note that any of these combinations might cause frame rates to drop significantly or cause unpleasant side effects like flickering.

[PRINT_MODE:STANDARD]
[SINGLE_BUFFER:NO]

Change this to YES to keep the DF window on top of your other windows.

[TOPMOST:NO]

Change this to YES if you want to see an FPS counter at the top left.

[FPS:YES]

Use this to set the maximum frame rate during play.  The movies are always capped at 100.  A frame in this case is not graphical but related to the movement speed of a creature.  A healthy, unencumbered dwarven peasant takes one step every 10 frames.

[FPS_CAP:100]

Use this to set the maximum graphical frame refresh rate during play.

[G_FPS_CAP:20]

This sets the applications vertical synchronization behavior.  Changing this to ON can impact your FPS if your G_FPS is high.  The other options are ON and DEFAULT.  DEFAULT uses whatever settings you have your system at in general.

[VSYNC:OFF]

Change this to NEAREST if you want the texture values to use the nearest pixel without averaging.
Change this to LINEAR if you want the texture values to be averaged over the adjacent pixels.

[TEXTURE_PARAM:NEAREST]

Change this to make the dwarfort.exe process have a different priority.  From highest to lowest, the options are REALTIME, HIGH, ABOVE_NORMAL, NORMAL, BELOW_NORMAL and IDLE.

[PRIORITY:REALTIME]

Use this to set how fast the game zooms.  The default corresponds to multiplying by a factor of 1.1 each time the zoom action occurs.  You can set it anywhere from 1.001 to 1.999.

[ZOOM_FACTOR:1.999]

Change this to NO if you don't want to have the mouse involved at all.

[MOUSE:YES]

Change this to YES if you'd like to use a BMP for the mouse cursor.  The image currently lags when the game is lagging however.

[MOUSE_PICTURE:NO]

Use these to control the automatic saving behavior in the dwarf fortress mode of game.  AUTOSAVE can be set to NONE, SEASONAL or YEARLY.  This updates your save at these intervals, so that some of your progress will be saved in case of system instability.  You can set AUTOBACKUP to YES if you want the updated save to be copied to another folder so that you'll have several copies of your world at different times.  Set AUTOSAVE_PAUSE to YES if you want the game to pause every time it autosaves.

[AUTOSAVE:SEASONAL]
[AUTOBACKUP:YES]
[AUTOSAVE_PAUSE:NO]

Set this to YES if you want it to save the game when you start a new fortress.  If AUTOBACKUP above is set to YES, it will also create a copy of this new save.

[INITIAL_SAVE:YES]

Set this to YES to make Dwarf Fortress start paused whenever you load an active game.

[PAUSE_ON_LOAD:YES]

Set this to YES if you want Dwarf Fortress to show the warning window on embark as a confirmation even if there are no issues.

[EMBARK_WARNING_ALWAYS:YES]

You can change these to ALWAYS and NO.  More restrictive world parameter settings override these.  ALWAYS lets you see the features in the Local view during embark, and NO stops you from looking for features in the site finder (though if you really want to stop the finder, it might be better for you to generate worlds that restrict the use of this feature completely, in which case you don't need to change the settings here).

[SHOW_EMBARK_RIVER:ALWAYS]
[SHOW_EMBARK_POOL:ALWAYS]
[SHOW_EMBARK_M_PIPE:ALWAYS]
[SHOW_EMBARK_M_POOL:ALWAYS]
[SHOW_EMBARK_CHASM:ALWAYS]
[SHOW_EMBARK_PIT:ALWAYS]
[SHOW_EMBARK_OTHER:ALWAYS]
[SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:ALWAYS]

Use these options to remove features from the game.  Permitted values are YES and NO.  Removal might speed the game up in the case of temperature and weather.

[TEMPERATURE:YES]
[WEATHER:YES]
[ECONOMY:YES]
[INVADERS:YES]
[CAVEINS:YES]
[ARTIFACTS:YES]
[ZERO_RENT:YES]

Change this to YES to output the reasons for world map rejection into a file.

[LOG_MAP_REJECTS:YES]

Change these numbers to make the embark rectangle start at a different size.  The format is (EMBARK_RECTANGLE:<width>:<height>).  Numbers may run from 2 to 16.  The map size warning message will go by these numbers.

[EMBARK_RECTANGLE:6:6]

Change these numbers to set the default weights for traffic designations.  If you make the last numbers too large, pathfinding might lag.
The format is (PATH_COST:<high>:<normal>:<low>:<restricted>).

[PATH_COST:1:2:5:25]

Alter these options to control how aggressively your dwarves place objects in a container with like items (rather than an empty container).  The default options are very aggressive.  STORE_DIST_ITEM_DECREASE controls the cap on objects it will consider -- for each object it finds in a container, one tile is removed from its apparent distance to the dwarf, up to this cap.  The others control how many tiles are removed for each combination type for any match at all.  For instance, if ITEM_DECREASE is set to 20, and SEED_COMBINE is set to 100, a dwarf carrying seeds will see a seed bag with 15 seeds as 115 tiles closer than it actually is (and thus pass up any empties within that distance), whereas a seed bag with 30 seeds would be treated as 120 tiles closer (because it hits the ITEM_DECREASE cap).  Values from 2 to 1000 are permitted.  Before these init options, the behavior was roughly ITEM_DECREASE 2, SEED_COMBINE 2 and the rest at 1000.

[STORE_DIST_ITEM_DECREASE:20]
[STORE_DIST_SEED_COMBINE:1000]
[STORE_DIST_BUCKET_COMBINE:1000]
[STORE_DIST_BARREL_COMBINE:1000]
[STORE_DIST_BIN_COMBINE:1000]

Change this to YES to disallow pets from coffin burial as the default option.

[COFFIN_NO_PETS_DEFAULT:YES]

This controls the display of areas that are far below outside.  The format is SKY:<character>:<foreground color>:<background color>:<brightness>.  The <character> can be either an ASCII tile number or a character in quotes, like '#'.

[SKY:178:3:0:0]

As above, for inside/subterranean areas.

[CHASM:250:0:0:1]

This controls the "IDLERS: <number>" that is displayed in dwarf mode.  You can set it to TOP, BOTTOM or OFF.

[IDLERS:TOP]

You can set the maximum population of your fortress here.  Keep in mind that your population must be at least 80 to get a king and 100 to obtain the current game features.

[POPULATION_CAP:200]

This allows you to control the number of babies+children in your fortress.  The first number is an absolute cap on the number of babies+children.  The second is a percentage of the current number of adults in your fortress (the default is the essentially meaningless 1000% here).  The lower number is used as the cap.  The cap only prevents further pregancies, so migrant children, multiple births and existing pregnancies from old saves can still push you over the cap.  Setting either number to zero will disallow pregnancies in the fortress.

[BABY_CHILD_CAP:100:1000]

If you don't like the ,.`' ground, try setting this to NO.  The ground will turn into periods only.

[VARIED_GROUND_TILES:YES]

If you'd like your engravings to start off looking the same (you can toggle them on individual later), set this to YES.

[ENGRAVINGS_START_OBSCURED:YES]

If you get annoyed by seeing items like *<*sword*>* you can
get rid of the outside ** by setting this to NO.

[SHOW_IMP_QUALITY:YES]

Set this to YES to display fluids as numbers indicating depth.

[SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS:NO]

If you'd prefer to have it show the history behind every engraving you view in dwarf mode, etc., then set this to YES.

[SHOW_ALL_HISTORY_IN_DWARF_MODE:YES]

This controls the number of milliseconds that must pass before a held key sends an initial repeat press to the game.  You might need to adjust this.

[KEY_HOLD_MS:150]

This controls the number of milliseconds that must pass before a held key sends a repeat press to the game after the repeat process has begun.

[KEY_REPEAT_MS:150]

This controls the number of milliseconds between macro instructions.

[MACRO_MS:1]

This controls the number of milliseconds that must pass before input works again after the view recenters on an event in dwarf mode.

[RECENTER_INTERFACE_SHUTDOWN_MS:0]

This controls "more" in adventure mode.  If MORE is set to NO, all announcements will be skipped.  DISPLAY_LENGTH controls how many lines are printed before it gives you the "more" prompt.

[MORE:YES]
[DISPLAY_LENGTH:23]

Set this to YES if you want traps to affect you in adventure mode.  This is not recommended -- there are lockup issues with cage traps, and you cannot disarm any of the traps yet, so they effectively stops you from exploring your old fortresses.

[ADVENTURER_TRAPS:NO]

Set this to NO if you want the game to recenter on your adventurer only when you've gotten close to the edge of the view.

[ADVENTURER_ALWAYS_CENTER:YES]

This controls the up/down views in adventure mode.  The first parameter can be OFF, UNHIDDEN, CREATURE or ON.  UNHIDDEN makes the view appear when it contains any unhidden square.  CREATURE makes the view appear when it contains a creature.  The second parameter is the size of the view.  It can be 3, 5, 7 or 9.  A smaller view lets it stack more of them in the column (3 at size 5, and 5 at size 3).

[ADVENTURER_Z_VIEWS:UNHIDDEN:9]

You can use these to say how nicknames are displayed in each mode
Options are REPLACE_FIRST, CENTRALIZE (between first and last), REPLACE_ALL
[NICKNAME_DWARF:REPLACE_FIRST]
[NICKNAME_ADVENTURE:REPLACE_FIRST]
[NICKNAME_LEGENDS:REPLACE_FIRST]

These are the display colors in RGB.  The game is actually displaying extended ASCII characters in OpenGL, so you can modify the colors.

[BLACK_R:0]
[BLACK_G:0]
[BLACK_B:0]

[BLUE_R:30]
[BLUE_G:50]
[BLUE_B:168]

[GREEN_R:60]
[GREEN_G:128]
[GREEN_B:0]

[CYAN_R:0]
[CYAN_G:128]
[CYAN_B:140]

[RED_R:200]
[RED_G:20]
[RED_B:0]

[MAGENTA_R:128]
[MAGENTA_G:50]
[MAGENTA_B:200]

[BROWN_R:140]
[BROWN_G:98]
[BROWN_B:56]

[LGRAY_R:192]
[LGRAY_G:192]
[LGRAY_B:192]

[DGRAY_R:128]
[DGRAY_G:128]
[DGRAY_B:128]

[LBLUE_R:0]
[LBLUE_G:120]
[LBLUE_B:255]

[LGREEN_R:170]
[LGREEN_G:255]
[LGREEN_B:0]

[LCYAN_R:0]
[LCYAN_G:200]
[LCYAN_B:255]

[LRED_R:255]
[LRED_G:50]
[LRED_B:0]

[LMAGENTA_R:210]
[LMAGENTA_G:10]
[LMAGENTA_B:255]

[YELLOW_R:255]
[YELLOW_G:232]
[YELLOW_B:76]

[WHITE_R:255]
[WHITE_G:250]
[WHITE_B:230]

 4. Right click on this picture and click "save image as..."



 Change the name to "lemunde.png" and save it in "Dwarf Fortress\data\art\" .

 5. Download this:

http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=1202

 It's a zip of creature graphics. Extract all the contents to: "Dwarf Fortress\raw\graphics\"

 6. Double Click on "dwarfort.exe" in the main "Dwarf Fortress" folder, this will run the game.

 If it still doesn't work, then I don't know what's going on. : )

 If you do get playing, you'll want to take a look into using this, it makes running forts of large numbers of dwarfs far easier.

[Grimlocke]

Ok, after reading previous posts (and snickering at the 2nd and 3rd one) I feel I should add some more general advice.

First, tilesets themselves cannot crash the game or do what it does on your computer. It are the init settings that most oftenly do that, these are the settings in the init.txt files in data/init. Assuming your pre-packaged DF has no errors in its tilesets, it can only be the graphics settings. Some pre-packaged games have been set to work optimally on one type of system, but fail utterly on others. DFs opengl engine is far from complete and needs some custom tailoring done on most systems to reach its full potential (or work at all).

Hence a number of updated graphic engines were released, which are numbered as d14, d15, d16, etc. The init files often do not work between these versions, some old parameters are remove and new one are added. The thing I recommand is to simply get the stock init file for the DF version you are running, read the comments on the parameters, and expiriment untill the game runs properly.

Also note that tilesets of any kind work on all d-versions. I recommend choosing a tileset that you like best as tastes differ quite a bit in that area (I for instance abhor the tileset in the post above), but it can be helpful to play the game with an ACSCII tileset at first (doesnt have to be a default one).

[Vermadus]

I've had that trouble before too, i had been messing about with the init and the game would only eat CPU, but not work.

The simplest solution is to download dwarf fortress which includes a tileset, like Mayday's set.

It can be acquired here: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=1840

[Noble Digger]

It does that.
You'll just have to get used to it.(I did.)

[threetoe edits: insult removed]

Check it out bro, just today I upgraded to a very mighty computer by the grace of the hand-me-down gods and I was having your same problem. The game burned all my CPU time and never got enough worthwhile calculations in edgewise to start the game. I did get to see my fort once but it ran at "0" frames per second and needless to say, wasn't playable.

To spare you agonizing details, I did these things in DF's init file:

[PRINT_MODE:PARTIAL:5]
[SINGLE_BUFFER:NO]
[FPS_CAP:60]
[G_FPS_CAP:30]
[PATH_COST:1:1:2:10]

Using df40d16 and that fixed the problem. I went from 7-20 FPS on my old computer to 0 on the new computer and now it gets 24-36

[uberubert]

I've had some problems with tilesets before, resulting in various visual glitches (missing visuals, all black visuals etc)
It all boiled down to me choosing the wrong values for the x/y pixels.

I'm running windowed mode, with 1280x1024 desktop-resolution. These are my settings:

[WINDOWEDX:1280]
[WINDOWEDY:900]
[FONT:Markvii.png] <-the tileset-thingy I'm using. Yours would ofcourse be different..

Oh, and I almost forgot, carp ate your welcome-to-the-forums-cookie :/

[ThreeToe]

I'm happy to see everyone helping out.  We need new people to keep this show on the road.  Please refrain from snide comments and fighting.

[spokehedz]

What you might want to do is just download the game and not change anything before trying to start it. If that works, then you know it is something that was changed.

Give Mike Mayday's pack a try. It is located here on the DFFD (Dwarf Fortress File Dump) http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=1840

[lokis]

Hello, I had this problem, I started dwarfort.exe and appears it isn't opened, but the process was running.

I solve this problem by creating a .bat, simply do this:
Create a file named dwarfort.bat and edit it
Put this in the file: dwarfort.exe 1

Save the file, and now run dwarfort.bat... This makes the game open normally for me, I don't know why, it appears there must be a parameter to the .exe file

[Noble Digger]

I'm happy to see everyone helping out.  We need new people to keep this show on the road.  Please refrain from snide comments and fighting.

While I can't remember what I posted that you edited, I think I was yelling at the 2nd poster whose post boiled down to "too bad, deal with it" ... not so constructive. There's lots that can be done to help DF with compatibility and tons of us here have ways to help...

Two other things that have helped me since starting to play DF in windows 7: Run the app as an administrator, make sure it's not attempting to run on multiple cores if you have a multi-core CPU (right-click the process in task manager and click on "see processes from all users" and then right-click dwarfort.exe and select "affinity" and uncheck all except "core 0".

I also had to disable Aero and run in windows classic theme, Aero was lowering my FPS by another 10 frames, keeping me in the single-digits with 30 idle dwarves. I also find that I get much better FPS in older builds--for example, keeping 20-30 FPS in DF40D16, I reload a much larger and more complicated fort in DF40D11 and get 60 fps (which was my cap) with a ton of dwarves working all over the map. Good luck.