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[Daveorock]

So I've been trying to get my fps up from 10-15, and it has been like that since I started playing. So I did all the things that I thought might help, and they did, got it to 30, but then it inched down to 10 again and it has never gone up to 17+ since, and I've been trying EVERYTHING!! I've uncapped g_fps, and fps, turned off temp and weather, changed the priority (in the system and in the files) to max, my population is only 49, there is minimal junk lying around (but I do occasionally smash some), there are few animals, my dwarves don't have pages of "coverings" on them (in fact none), I set high traffic areas so the pathfinder has less to do, and not much is going on. I know it can improve, as one time I got it to stay at 30 for about 10 minutes (on the same fort), and I have no idea why fps refuses to go anywhere near it again. HELP!!

[BuGGaTon]

what are your system specifications?  (including OS)

[Daveorock]

OS: Ubuntu 9.10
RAM: About 716 (other background programs use some up)
CPU: 1.5 Ghz
Video card: (AGP, so it would be hard to upgrade) nVidea e-GeForce FX 5200 (128MB) (and possibly supports OpenGl because it didn't crash when I activated that option, but it didn't improve either)

Anything else? And I don't really see how that would make a difference in this, YES it does make a HUGE difference from computer to computer, but I really mean that I do know that I can run DF under some circumstances (I almost said settings, but then it wouldn't make sense that it doesn't run at 30fps all the time, as it only did that once right after I altered the settings the first time) on this computer with a near-stable 30 fps, and it just won't go back to 30fps, or anywhere close.

EDIT: oops, I forgot to say it's 716MB of RAM, if that makes a difference.

[Maklak]

Size of embark matters too. There may also be something flowing in the caverns.

Your system specs are very low for this game. I have an old Pentium 4 2.6 GHz + 1 GB RAM + WinXP, and 40 dwarf fort runs ok on it, but not much bigger. My second computer is Core 2 Duo 2.3 GHz + 2GB RAM + WinXP, and I'm upgrading that, as my 4 year old fort runs at 50 FPS.

[Daveorock]

I'm considering transfering to another computer, my family has one that is new and has about 1-2 GB ram (Idk what, but its a LOT), a 3Ghz CPU, and just about everything else is really high, only problem is that half of the day its in use, and I don't want to go through the trouble of transferring the save each time I get kicked off and want to keep playing. (And on a side note, it would make me hate playing df on this computer.)

[Sutremaine]

Uncapped G_FPS?

[Daveorock]

Set it to 0, it didn't help or hurt the fps, I was noticing that the g_fps was always the same value as the fps in game (idk why), so I uncapped it to see what happened, and why not just leave it if theres no effect?

[blue emu]

Jeeze... your computer barely has the specs to runUbuntu, let alone that plus DF.

[mrbaggins]

Cap the G_FPS. This is how often the screen display refreshes. This is largely useless in a game like DF.

Why waste time drawing all of the frames per second when 10-20 is heaps. There's no point in arguing that we can see 25 frames of animation per second (or more) because DF doesn't display at that, even when G_FPS is at 50+. It would just be showing the same frame 3 times instead of once.

I'd cap normal FPS at 100, (or at whatever your monitor is refreshing at, likely 60) but that's not really an issue for the OP anyway.

[rephikul]

try to clean blood and yes you need to cap g_fps. G_fps can never go above your fps (1 render cycle per 1 game cycle) but that doesnt mean you shouldnt cap it.

[IT 000]

Cage all animals kill all cats. Even if they are adopted use your imagination :p

[Hans Lemurson]

I am impressed you're able to play DF at all with that little RAM.  Good job!  DF is very RAM-intensive.

I would recommend 2x2 or even 1x1 embark sites.  How much of the map does a fortress honestly use? Why simulate unimportant wilderness? Also, avoid flowing water, as that can slow things down too.

It seems that you're doing basicly everything right, but you're running up against the fundamental restrictions of what your computer can do.

[mrbaggins]

Cage all animals kill all cats. Even if they are adopted use your imagination :p

Best possible combination of avatar and post ever.

[Schmlok]

Even though you don't think there is spatter, it would probably be a good idea to make a wash trench with 3/7 water in it anyways, in some main hallway.

Possibly fewer cavern levels, or more open caverns(low passage numbers like 0/10), would help with pathfinding once you open them.

This is the tool for 1x1 embarks if you want to try it.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=21601.210