Editing v0.31:Maximizing framerate

{{quality|Fine|08:00, 22 May 2010 (UTC)}}{{AV}}

[[File:Frames_Per_Second_Meter.png|300px|thumb|bottom|A picture of Dwarf Fortress with Frames Per Second displayed.]]

Framerate is used in Dwarf Fortress to measure the speed at which the game is running. To check your FPS (frames per second) in Dwarf Fortress, simply change [FPS:NO] to [FPS:YES] in {{l|init.txt}}, and your FPS will be displayed near the top right corner of the screen.

==Way to increase your framerate==

*Using Baughn's Accelerator program. This was written for the old 40d stuff before most of the recent graphics updates. It is generally reported to increase performance in both windows and WINE DF games, though there have been some reports of a blue tinge and instability arising from the accelerator. See the Bay12 thread  [http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=51957.0 here]. Please note that this is intended solely as a stopgap until the 40d-graphics merge, so if it doesn't work, don't use it. Baughn has stated that he will not devote time to bugtesting it.
:: Obsolete as of 31.04 which introduced the 40d-graphics merge. Trying to use it will only cause DF to crash at launch.

*Changing [PARTIAL_PRINT:NO:2] to [PARTIAL_PRINT:YES:2] often dramatically improves performance.
:: In 31.04 partial printing is currently disabled as a workaround for other problems according to a forum post by Baughn and will likely be back in 31.05.

*Disabling [[Temperature]] and [[Weather]] in the init file has been shown to increase speed.

*Limiting the number of dwarves and other moving units (cage/butcher animals!) greatly helps keep speed up.

*World size and fortress site size increase RAM usage and decrease speed. Check if you are happier with an embark rectangle of 3x3 and a medium or small world.

*It has been reported that some people experience "lockdowns" (severe drops in fps for several seconds) when building a well.You may want to try removing yours.