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[JAFANZ]

Assuming that http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/40d:One-way still holds true, building one-way spiral ramp paths only works for moving up, for moving down you'd need to create a separate entrance & exit on each level (I think).

I may have phrased that badly, what i mean is that it appears to be possible to construct a single chain of contiguous Up ramps, but to force Downwards travel, each such segment per z-level would have to be discontinuous with those above & below.

[Hyndis]

I use some custom workshops, yes. I'm unsure why you're getting the error, I just zipped up the entire region folder.   

It is a version 31.08 game however. Maybe that could be it. What version are you using?

[Hyndis]

One thing I've noticed is that while the spiral ramps do look very nice, particularly open to the top with snow falling down to the bottom, they just murder FPS. A plain old block of 2x2 or 3x3 stairs is far more FPS friendly than the ramps. 

Probably it's due to the extra squares that need to be checked each time the pathfinding code needs to go up or down the ramp.  Quite often the dwarf will have to walk in the opposite direction to his target, to reach the next level and go around.  Also, the shortest path will always be around the very inside of the spiral, so dwarves will be constantly meeting and passing each other.  For a 3x3 stair, none of these is true.

I'm trying to find a ramp design where dwarves travel in one direction only, and use an opposite ramp (or perhaps stairs) to travel in the other direction.  It would help if we knew more about the pathfinding code, to come up with a design that optimised the searches.  I'm fairly sure a lot of lag in large fortresses is due to dwarves looking for ways to go around each other.

Yup, thats it. With stairs this isn't an issue. I'm finding that a block of 2x2 or 3x3 stairs is vastly more FPS friendly than spiral ramps. Linear ramps are fine. Its just the spiral that kills FPS due to dwarven collisions.

Using only one way ramps might resolve this issue though I am unsure if that will result in even more pathfinding problems. What is a dwarf wants to backtrack? If he wants to go back one level he'll need to go all the way up, then all the way down, then all the way up again to reach that point. And if he wants to take that item back into the fortress he'll need to go back down yet again. That would be something like a 400% increase in pathing distance for that dwarf.

[TDSS02]

I use some custom workshops, yes. I'm unsure why you're getting the error, I just zipped up the entire region folder.   

It is a version 31.08 game however. Maybe that could be it. What version are you using?

I'm using 31.12, thought that if i updated the save it would work but i guess i was wrong. I'll get an old 31.08 game and try it out. Thanks Hyndis.

[LaFollet]

Did you mod away all clothing other than armour?   

[Patchy]

Yup, he did. Pretty good idea too. Sort of thinking about modding away everything but cloaks and armour. I'll maybe leave dresses or robes since they cover the toes too. If you downloaded his save, you can look through his raws in the folder. Thats what I did when I looked at the fort last week.

[TDSS02]

Sorry to keep reviving this thread but i have a question for you Hyndis or anyone else if they feel they can answer. There is just one thing that i cant figure out. How does "The Grinder" work? i know there is a lever that controls the 2 bridges but how exactly did you set it up? how does it work? How do you build it? what way do the bridges close? here is the Map for anyone else that can help http://www.mkv25.net/dfma/map-9123-roadsaviors

Thanks in advance everyone

[Shagomir]

GA-P35-DS3L
E8400 OC'ed to 3.6ghz, prime stable 36hrs
4gb 1066mhz memory (running at 960mhz due to OC)
500gb HDD
8800gts320mb
Blue LED's on case (tasteful, not tacky)

speaking of gibberish,  how good is my computer compared to others that actually run three digit fps?
 
HP pavilion
AMD AThlon(tm) 64 X2 dual
Core Processor 4200+
2.19 GHz, 960 MB of RAM
 
is that "omg! pwn!" or "pfft when was that made? in the 14th century?"

Not quite 14th century. 18th.

I got new shinies that make my dorfs run at 140 FPS almost allllll the time with my mature forts. I don't waste a lot of time atomsmashing or on the most efficient layout and I dig like a crazy person, so I'm sure I could do better if I tried.

I upgraded from an E7200 with 4 GB of DDR2 (only 2GB was actually working properly, the rest was flaky) to an i7 930 with 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM. It's like a tiny god. I almost named it Armok.

I've noticed in general about a 3x increase in FPS since I upgraded, probably due to the fact that DF can take over its own core(s?) and as much RAM as it could want. I could have done a little better with the processor, but spending ~200$ is a little more reasonable than spending 500$+ just for an upgrade to DF.

[Hyndis]

Did you mod away all clothing other than armour?   

Yes I did. Removes a whole lot of clutter. Clothing is just abstracted away, sort of like the tools the blacksmiths use at forges.

Either that or dwarves cloth themselves entirely with their beards. Cousin It's first name could be Urist! 

[Hyndis]

Sorry to keep reviving this thread but i have a question for you Hyndis or anyone else if they feel they can answer. There is just one thing that i cant figure out. How does "The Grinder" work? i know there is a lever that controls the 2 bridges but how exactly did you set it up? how does it work? How do you build it? what way do the bridges close? here is the Map for anyone else that can help http://www.mkv25.net/dfma/map-9123-roadsaviors

Thanks in advance everyone

Its just a pit dwarves can fling stuff down. At the bottom of the pit is a single, 1x1 tile drawbridge. The direction it raises does not matter. Its linked to the nearby lever, which is assigned to a special dwarf. The only thing he does is pull the lever, no other jobs.

The reason why its a pit is that a drawbridge can fling objects up maybe 3 levels, so I dig the pit a little deeper than that. That way nothing is flung out of the grinder when its busy grinding.

Its simply a garbage disposal, nothing more. Toss stuff down into there you don't want and the atom smasher will grind it into oblivion.

[Niveras]

Yup, thats it. With stairs this isn't an issue. I'm finding that a block of 2x2 or 3x3 stairs is vastly more FPS friendly than spiral ramps. Linear ramps are fine. Its just the spiral that kills FPS due to dwarven collisions.

Perhaps a path wide enough to allow for a 3 (or at least 2) tile wide high pathing designation through the middle of the spiral, to keep dwarves off the edge of the pit and allowing them to easily strafe each other as they pass?

So the spiral would be four tiles wide at minimum, with a 2 tile high traffic designation through the center as it spirals down.

I'm no wholly confident about the effect of traffic designations but I assume this would, at the least, keep dwarves from all running along the edge of the spiral and bashing into each other. Keeping them away from the edge also allows them to either pass on the left or right, rather than all having to pass on e.g. the left (because the right side is the pit).

[TDSS02]

Sorry to keep reviving this thread but i have a question for you Hyndis or anyone else if they feel they can answer. There is just one thing that i cant figure out. How does "The Grinder" work? i know there is a lever that controls the 2 bridges but how exactly did you set it up? how does it work? How do you build it? what way do the bridges close? here is the Map for anyone else that can help http://www.mkv25.net/dfma/map-9123-roadsaviors

Thanks in advance everyone

Its just a pit dwarves can fling stuff down. At the bottom of the pit is a single, 1x1 tile drawbridge. The direction it raises does not matter. Its linked to the nearby lever, which is assigned to a special dwarf. The only thing he does is pull the lever, no other jobs.

The reason why its a pit is that a drawbridge can fling objects up maybe 3 levels, so I dig the pit a little deeper than that. That way nothing is flung out of the grinder when its busy grinding.

Its simply a garbage disposal, nothing more. Toss stuff down into there you don't want and the atom smasher will grind it into oblivion.

Good info thanks Hyndis, i sent you a PM last night regarding the "Mine Shaft" don't know if you got it or not. Might have to send it again, or i can just ask you here. But for now i have to get going to school.

Thanks all.

[Hyndis]

You can see the custom buildings and reactions I use in the raw files.

[TDSS02]

You can see the custom buildings and reactions I use in the raw files.

Yea that's the thing hehe, not to familiar with the raw folder, let alone how to edit it. I don't know what files you modified and how lol. Is there a nice tutorial about editing the raws etc?

Thanks in advance

[mrbigmuscles]

Could you possibly upload the raw files to your 31.12 fort?  I like your custom workshops and reactions but haven't been able to get them to work using the 31.08 save.  Also I don't understand modding the raw files at all.