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[infinity]

I love this game.   However, it's essentially unplayable (10-15 fps) once my population gets around 40+. I play on 2x2 maps, and it still gets bogged down...   I think it would be welcome to a lot of folks if effort went specifically toward making the game more computationally efficient.    

I've read in other threads/interviews from Toady that the code isn't exactly optimal. I wonder if there are a few "low hanging" code issues that could easily be addressed, adding 5-10 fps? to the game.   I put my vote in the "optimize" category rather than "adding new things" category for now (although the Army Arc  sounds awesome, so I could wait until after that   ).

FYI, I'm running a P4 3.0 HT, with 1 gig of ram.  ATI X300 video card.  I realize my video card is junk, but I'm "a married gamer", so... hard to explain to the wife why a "perfectly good"  video card needs to be replaced (or anything else for that matter).

Cheers

[Align]

Have you checked background processes? I get better FPS with a less powerful CPU.

[Mechanoid]

quote:Originally posted by infinity:
ATI X300 video card.  I realize my video card is junk

The only thing Dwarf Fortress needs from a video card is OpenGL compatability, which everything maufactured since the mid 90's has.

Look, if DF is running slowly, there's very little you can do.
Open the data/init/init.txt file for dwarf fortress and turn off weather by changing the field [WEATHER:YES] to [WEATHER:NO] (making sure it's not [WEATHER:no] because that wont work)
If you still lag like shit, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up task manager, and go through all the non-system, non-network/local service programs and end their processes. The ONLY things that should EVER be running in the processes are:
1. Explorer.exe (Windows)
2. Taskmgr.exe (Task Manager)
3. Dwarf Fortress.exe
4. Anti-virus programs

...
And if for some reason you see an oddly-named process or something you dont realise as something you normally run, google the .exe name and look at the top websites that are displayed there (look for "Process information" or "What is it?" for details on the google'd .exe file)
Just dont download anything from the sites that claim to 'fix it' because it'll probably do the opposite.

I have a P4 3Ghz w/ 1GB of RAM just like you, and i get a steady 25-30 FPS with 80 dwarves. (15-20 when the fuckers decide to suddenly do 50 hauling jobs)

[ March 03, 2008: Message edited by: Mechanoid ]

[Capntastic]

It's better to get stuff done before you optimize it, generally- leaves less loose ends that end up needing to be tied again and again.   But Toady's been sneaking in optimizations when he can.   I have a semi old PC and I can run DF at good speeds.

[The-Moon]

Now with the new improvements to the way we can gen maps, gen a 17x17 map and play with that. Ive found that this has given me a much needed speed increase.

I always get a good 50fps on my 1400mhz amd with only 512 ram.

Thats with 80 something dwarves as well.

also check out http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

He has list of all the windows services, and which ones can be shut off and which ones cant.

Right now when i load up windows i only have 13 processes running.

Much better from the 50+ i see on most peoples systems with xp  

Theres so much crap windows xp runs which you don't need running, its not even funny....

[DJ]

Well, Toady does sneak in some optimization every release. For example, on my current fort I had 12FPS in the previous version, and I'm getting 25FPS in the current version. Mind you, this is very good for a 50 dwarf fort in a 3x7 location running on a 1.5GHz CPU and 512Mb of RAM.

So I'd say that Toady is picking up all the low-hanging fruit that pops up. Only way to optimize it more would be some heavy-duty optimization that would likely go to waste when some features get an overhaul.

[DaveLawson]

quote:Originally posted by The-Moon:
<STRONG>Now with the new improvements to the way we can gen maps, gen a 17x17 map and play with that. Ive found that this has given me a much needed speed increase.
</STRONG>

That's a damn fine idea.  Didn't realise we could do this.  Maybe I'll finally be able to stomach the population needed to attract a king!

[Jreengus]

turn tempreture of and GFPS down to about 10, that helps quite a bit

[Crafty Barnardo]

Don't forget to cage or slaughter all of your stray animals so that they don't have to do any pathfinding.

[Deon]

quote: The ONLY things that should EVER be running in the processes are:
1. Explorer.exe (Windows)
2. Taskmgr.exe (Task Manager)
3. Dwarf Fortress.exe
4. Anti-virus programs

You made me laugh =)))
What about winlogon, system and services? And why explorer? I killed this shit long time ago. =)

[ March 03, 2008: Message edited by: Deon ]

EDIT: and if you mean NON_SYSTEM processes, not "EVER be running in the processes", then explorer is still unnecessary/

[ March 03, 2008: Message edited by: Deon ]

[Unguided]

I haven't had any performance problems on the Fortress mode, but Adventure mode lags like crazy.

[Capntastic]

quote:Originally posted by Unguided:
<STRONG>I haven't had any performance problems on the Fortress mode, but Adventure mode lags like crazy.</STRONG>

Most of that is all the line of sight stuff adventurers now do because it's 3D.   It'll most likely be cut down/fixed soon.

[BurnedToast]

quote:Originally posted by Unguided:
<STRONG>I haven't had any performance problems on the Fortress mode, but Adventure mode lags like crazy.</STRONG>

The newest version (well I think v0.27.176.38a is still the newest) lags much much less for me in adventure mode - unless I'm in the middle of a town with tons of people around it's almost as good as the 2d version was.

Try upgrading version if you have not already - adventure mode was almost unplayable for me a few versions back and now it's fine.

[Fedor]

quote:Originally posted by infinity:
<STRONG>I love this game.   However, it's essentially unplayable (10-15 fps) once my population gets around 40+. I play on 2x2 maps, and it still gets bogged down...</STRONG>

Throughout the development of the 3D version, despite a fair bit of play I have never had the king, never been able to combine magma and a topographically interesting map, never been able to allow myself more than 80 dwarves, never successfully ran a map larger than 3x3, never played in maps with large rivers or numerous monsters, and never experienced the coolness of temperature.

The reason for all of this is the same:  The lag monster.  I just don't have access to much of this game's coolness.

quote:Originally posted by infinity:
<STRONG>I think it would be welcome to a lot of folks if effort went specifically toward making the game more computationally efficient.  </STRONG>

Now is an excellent time to thank ToadyOne for the framerate boost in the most recent version.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Someday, Armok willing, I will be able to make a Mountainhome.  That's my dream.

 

quote:Originally posted by infinity:
<STRONG>FYI, I'm running a P4 3.0 HT, with 1 gig of ram.  ATI X300 video card.  I realize my video card is junk, but I'm "a married gamer", so... hard to explain to the wife why a "perfectly good"  video card needs to be replaced (or anything else for that matter).</STRONG>

With that computer, assuming it's running efficiently (and not bogged down with startup fluff or background processes), you should easily be able to run an 80-dwarf fortress on an interesting map.

See The Wiki Page for how to do this.

To the previous posters:  
Please give a link to the wiki page when people ask about framerate!  It's the repository of what we currently know about getting DF to run at an acceptable speed.  Also, if there's anything the page doesn't know yet, add it in instead of posting something that will be buried and forgotten in days.

[Nesoo]

quote:Originally posted by infinity:
<STRONG>FYI, I'm running a P4 3.0 HT, with 1 gig of ram.</STRONG>

It might be worth a try to disable HT (should be a BIOS option; when I had one of those I had to turn off HT because it was causing one game or another to crash). My understanding is that HT emulates a multi-core CPU, which is really only useful for multithreading or running multiple applications, and since DF doesn't do multithreading it's basically only using half of your CPU power. However, my understanding could be mistaken  

Edit: Me type good!

[ March 03, 2008: Message edited by: Nesoo ]