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Author Topic: Best tileset for a beginner?  (Read 22347 times)

ildamos

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Best tileset for a beginner?
« on: September 18, 2010, 02:06:27 pm »

Hello I'm new to this forums. I do reviews for freeware games as one of my hobbies and Dwarf Fortress got my attention (given that this is the ONLY freeware god game I could find).

What's the best tileset for this game and how do you install it? Thanks!
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Laurin

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2010, 02:20:15 pm »

There is the LazyNewb Pack with three very popular Tilesets (Mayday, Ironhand and Phoebus) preinstalled:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=59026.0
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ildamos

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2010, 02:32:46 pm »

Thanks for the prompt reply! I see it's still v0.31.12 but oh well, one can't have everything I suppose. I'm reading the newbie guide (the one whose chapter 1 is titled as "WTF?!" haha!). Hopefully I'll be playing this next weekend.

Thanks Laurin!
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Laurin

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2010, 02:36:09 pm »

v. 0.31.13 fixes an annoying bug with dwarves not always sleeping in their proper bedroom, but it seems to have other issues even more annoying.
It might be a good idea to stick with 0.31.12 until the next release which will hopefully be not that far in the future. :)

The Newby Guide you are mentioning is probably the AfterActionReporter guide. It uses an older version of the game, but is nevertheless still very useful. There are some major changes though, regarding the military and a new hospital/medical system as well as the new burrows.
« Last Edit: September 18, 2010, 02:41:16 pm by Laurin »
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Gearheart

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2010, 03:12:29 pm »

Phoebus set makes all the stone types very clear, so it's rather newb friendly.
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ildamos

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2010, 02:47:55 am »

Quote
v. 0.31.13 fixes an annoying bug with dwarves not always sleeping in their proper bedroom, but it seems to have other issues even more annoying.
It might be a good idea to stick with 0.31.12 until the next release which will hopefully be not that far in the future.

Ah ok. Thanks again!

Quote
Phoebus set makes all the stone types very clear, so it's rather newb friendly.

What about Stonesense? It looks awesome. Though if there are subtle bugs that will only confuse beginners like me, I'd opt for the 2d tilesets.

Also I've got a PC that can run Crysis and FEAR 2 on high settings at 1024X768 resolution. My problem now is: can I run the game with the Phoebus/Stonesense tileset/add-on at 1152 resolution? That's the highest my 19" monitor can go I'm afraid.  :-[

Thanks for any helpful reply!
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Laurin

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2010, 02:57:00 am »

Stonesense is only a tool to watch a 3D/isometric visualization of your fortress.
You can't play the game through stonesense.

To change the default resolution with tilesets might be tricky. You have to deal with the init files.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2010, 02:59:44 am by Laurin »
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Zebra2

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2010, 03:15:49 am »

Quote
v. 0.31.13 fixes an annoying bug with dwarves not always sleeping in their proper bedroom, but it seems to have other issues even more annoying.
It might be a good idea to stick with 0.31.12 until the next release which will hopefully be not that far in the future.

Ah ok. Thanks again!

Quote
Phoebus set makes all the stone types very clear, so it's rather newb friendly.

What about Stonesense? It looks awesome. Though if there are subtle bugs that will only confuse beginners like me, I'd opt for the 2d tilesets.

Also I've got a PC that can run Crysis and FEAR 2 on high settings at 1024X768 resolution. My problem now is: can I run the game with the Phoebus/Stonesense tileset/add-on at 1152 resolution? That's the highest my 19" monitor can go I'm afraid.  :-[

Thanks for any helpful reply!

Your graphics cards are no good here.  ;D

DF is special when it comes to determining how well it will run on your computer. The GPU usage from DF is almost non-existent, it's all CPU load. Visualizers/utilities may use your GPU more, but probably even antique GPU's can handle those fine. I'm not aware of stonesense having variable resolution. I mean, it's an isometric visualizer.
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ildamos

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2010, 06:50:09 am »

Thanks for clearing that up guys. First time playing a game of this kind.

So I read the recommended resolution is 1280 right? That means I can't play DFort until I get a new LCD?  :(
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cerapa

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #9 on: September 19, 2010, 06:56:42 am »

Recommended does not equal required.

Personally I play with a small and windowed Dwarf fortress. 80x25 tiles, I think thats the default too.
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Laurin

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #10 on: September 19, 2010, 07:44:17 am »

The problem here is that the default 80x25 with a 16x16 tileset (like Mayday, Phoebus, and Ironhand) results in a 1280x400 window which is larger than the laptops resolution.

You can change the numbers in the init.txt file (located in DwarfFortress/data/init):
[GRAPHICS:YES]
[GRAPHICS_WINDOWEDX:0]
[GRAPHICS_WINDOWEDY:0]
[GRAPHICS_FONT:phoebus.png]
[GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENX:0]
[GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENY:0]
[GRAPHICS_FULLFONT:phoebus.png]
[GRAPHICS_BLACK_SPACE:YES]

to

[GRAPHICS:YES]
[GRAPHICS_WINDOWEDX:1152]
[GRAPHICS_WINDOWEDY:360]
[GRAPHICS_FONT:phoebus.png]
[GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENX:0]
[GRAPHICS_FULLSCREENY:0]
[GRAPHICS_FULLFONT:phoebus.png]
[GRAPHICS_BLACK_SPACE:YES]

You may have to change the numbers for Fullscreen too, I'm not sure about that.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2010, 07:53:25 am by Laurin »
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Thief^

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #11 on: September 20, 2010, 07:20:55 am »

It's not only the default, it's also the minimum.

On the upside DF will scale tiles down if you need it to.
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Grimlocke

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #12 on: September 20, 2010, 08:11:59 am »

Stricly speaking the minimum resolution is 80x25. Your tiles will be 1x1 though.
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ildamos

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #13 on: September 20, 2010, 10:44:06 am »

Quote
It's not only the default, it's also the minimum.

Ok I guess that wraps it up. I'll have to wait for a new monitor then. I don't mind though; between the day job and this humongous DFort guide on http://www.scribd.com/doc/16071872/The-Complete-and-Utter-Newby-Tutorials , methinks it'll take a while to learn the ins and outs of this game (time enough for me to allocate funds for the monitor budget  :D).

More power to the project! It sounds awesome.
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Laurin

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Re: Best tileset for a beginner?
« Reply #14 on: September 20, 2010, 11:15:11 am »

No need to wait. I have just tested it on a notebook with 1024x768 and it works fine. The resolution ist adjusted automatically without touching the init file. (A large fortress will probably run very slowly, depends how fast your cpu is and how much RAM you have.)
« Last Edit: September 20, 2010, 11:17:59 am by Laurin »
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