Maximizing framerate - Revision history

68.169.141.66 at 01:55, 12 November 2025

2025-11-12T01:55:41Z

Ziusudra: /* Game Settings */ replaced d_init mention with difficulty links

2025-11-10T12:10:25Z

Game Settings: replaced d_init mention with difficulty links

Ziusudra: /* Without Game Alterations */ replaced init & d_init links with settings (removed double & trailing spaces)

2025-11-10T12:06:37Z

Without Game Alterations: replaced init & d_init links with settings (removed double & trailing spaces)

Quietust: no Mac version

2025-05-09T14:11:27Z

no Mac version

Dan-Gon: /* Fortress Design */

2024-10-25T00:42:32Z

Fortress Design

Dan-Gon: /* Fortress Design */

2024-10-25T00:38:23Z

Fortress Design

Kira-x86-64: /* Mac OS X or GNU/Linux Specific */

2024-05-09T20:37:18Z

Mac OS X or GNU/Linux Specific

Zippy: Yes, this one is actually true. I tested it myself, and it appears on Reddit many, many times... for the premium version at least.

2024-03-28T08:36:52Z

Yes, this one is actually true. I tested it myself, and it appears on Reddit many, many times... for the premium version at least.

GeloMor at 11:54, 4 July 2023

2023-07-04T11:54:36Z

GeloMor: "Items do not" what? Probably missing sentence.

2023-07-04T11:52:14Z

"Items do not" what? Probably missing sentence.

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 ** The obvious solution is not to generate so many items in the first place. Don't build such large [[Farming|farm plot]]s and don't go overboard with multiple [[Workshop|workshops]] constantly queued or set on perpetual repeat.
 ** Use a [[Dwarven atom smasher]] to remove items, or donate them to [[Trading|passing caravans]] to be taken away.
-** [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum stockpiles]] only help with game speed when you're looking at your stockpiles all the time. <!--Items do not -->
+** [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum stockpiles]] can [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.msg3276117#msg3276117 reportedly] improve game speed.
 ** The quantity of items in any particular stack doesn't affect framerate so much as the number of stacks in general, due to the resultant impact on [[hauling]], [[stockpiles]], [[pathfinding]] and other CPU-intensive tasks. The research done on the [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.0 Undump Engine] and [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=109319.0 Micha's experimental fort] demonstrate very FPS efficient solutions, while avoiding traditional stockpiles and the use of [[barrel]]s and [[bin]]s.
 ** That said, [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=104643.msg3094753#msg3094753 total quantity of items does matter]. Quantity matters far more with objects that have quality or decorations than boulders, as they take up more memory. Temperature checks, wear increments, and other issues lag the game, although it takes far larger item quantities (10,000+) to be seriously notable.

@@ Line 97: / Line 97: @@
 * [[Temperature]] calculations place a significant load on the processor.
 ** Disabling them will speed things up, and can be undone at any time.
-** Without temperature calculations, [[obsidian farming]] becomes unusable; as the tiles never cool down, dwarves refuse to step on the obsidian floor, preventing access for hauling dwarves.{{bug|6033}} You can re-enable temperature occasionally to allow tile temperatures to normalize.  Alternatively, you can work around this issue by altering obsidian in the raws to give it [MAT_FIXED_TEMP:10000] (as [[nether-cap]] does normally), preventing it from being hot.
+** Without temperature calculations, [[obsidian farming]] becomes unusable; as the tiles never cool down, dwarves refuse to step on the obsidian floor, preventing access for hauling dwarves.{{bug|6033}} You can re-enable temperature occasionally to allow tile temperatures to normalize. Alternatively, you can work around this issue by altering obsidian in the raws to give it [MAT_FIXED_TEMP:10000] (as [[nether-cap]] does normally), preventing it from being hot.
 ** Disabling temperature calculations will cause [[fire]] to become glitchy, including creatures who can create it ([[fire imp]]s, [[dragon]]s, [[forgotten beast]]s, etc). Dwarves set on fire with temperature disabled will burn perpetually until exposed to water, though they won't receive any damage. Tiles exposed to fire with temperature calculations disabled will become entirely impassable, which may lead to significant parts of your map being blocked away. If confronted by fire or fire-based creatures, it may be worth turning temperature back on until they're dealt with.
 ** Multiple users have reported an FPS increase of 100% or better when disabling temperature calculations [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=86761.msg2352509#msg2352509].
@@ Line 104: / Line 104: @@
 ** Limit the number of dwarves by setting a [[immigration|population cap]].
 * [[Invader]]s also need to process. While you can simply kill them to get rid of the problem, their mere presence may slow the game down to the point it is unfeasible.
-** The number of invaders can be controlled with d_init.txt. Lower the invader cap to get smaller [[siege]]s with a more reasonable amount of enemies. If that is not enough, invaders can be disabled outright, though that will lock you out of [[fun]] content.
+** The number of invaders can be controlled in [[Difficulty#Invasion_caps|difficulty settings]]. Lower the invader cap to get smaller [[siege]]s with a more reasonable amount of enemies. If that is not enough, invaders can be [[Difficulty#Individual_enemy_toggles|disabled outright]], though that will lock you out of [[fun]] content.
 * The game also has to track what is happening in the caverns.
 ** You can disable cavern layers in [[advanced world generation]]. Without caverns, you will have far fewer critters and threats pathfinding through winding passages. Unfortunately, you also lose underground [[plant]]s and [[tree]]s. Alternatively, you can reduce the number of cavern layers to just one.

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ===Without Game Alterations===
-Fortress design is specific ways of building and planning, game setting changes are changes mostly in the [[init.txt]] and [[D_init.txt]] files that don't actually change how the game plays out.
+Fortress design is specific ways of building and planning; game [[settings]] changes are those that mostly don't actually change how the game plays out.
 ====World Generation====
-* Larger worlds require more background processing to update. The larger the civilizations, the more events occur in the world and the more complex they are. Generating too-large civilized populations can result in a permanent, unavoidable FPS drop.  However, with how rich the game is with content, even a small world will be fairly interesting, while leading to a much higher framerate, though you may want to adjust some of the [[advanced world generation]] settings.
+* Larger worlds require more background processing to update. The larger the civilizations, the more events occur in the world and the more complex they are. Generating too-large civilized populations can result in a permanent, unavoidable FPS drop. However, with how rich the game is with content, even a small world will be fairly interesting, while leading to a much higher framerate, though you may want to adjust some of the [[advanced world generation]] settings.
 * Longer histories require more memory and storage space for [[historical figure]]s and events.
 * Reducing the number of civilizations, sites, beasts, and setting world population cap can limit the resources spent updating the rest of the world.
@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 ** Similarly, one could adjust [[Advanced_world_generation#Layer_Openness_Min.2FMax|Layer Openness]] and [[Advanced_world_generation#Layer_Passage_Density_Min.2FMax|Layer Passage Density]] in [[advanced world generation]] to make the caverns have fewer tiles to path through. In general, the pathfinding algorithm heuristically treats distances as a chess king moving in 3D ("Chebyshev distance"), which means that it can tend to go to the right X/Y then start floodfilling dumbly through the entire Z from there until it can find a way up, at which point the whole process repeats, so having fewer cavern tiles is better and open areas are to be avoided.{{cite forum|104643/3096896}}
 ** Generating a world using a "REGION" template (instead of an "ISLAND" template which is used by "Create New World!") can significantly reduce the height of caverns and also place them closer together, resulting in fewer Z-levels. This generally also requires embarking in an area that isn't very close to an ocean or a mountain peak.
-* [[Snow]] and [[ice]] melting can cause lag spikes.{{verify}}  You can generate a world without poles with a somewhat heightened temperature, or just embark somewhere which doesn't freeze over.
+* [[Snow]] and [[ice]] melting can cause lag spikes.{{verify}} You can generate a world without poles with a somewhat heightened temperature, or just embark somewhere which doesn't freeze over.
 ====Fortress Design====
 * Larger embark sites dramatically increase the amount of terrain which DF needs to keep track of and path through.
 ** Reducing the size of your embark site from the default 4×4 squares to 3×3 or even 2×2 will have an enormous impact on FPS.
 ** Keep in mind that a 2×2 embark is only 25% of the size of a 4×4 embark. However, in 3D it is still a large enough area for many fortresses in normal play.
@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 ** Use a [[Dwarven atom smasher]] to remove items, or donate them to [[Trading|passing caravans]] to be taken away.
 ** [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum stockpiles]] only help with game speed when you're looking at your stockpiles all the time. <!--Items do not -->
-** The quantity of items in any particular stack doesn't affect framerate so much as the number of stacks in general, due to the resultant impact on [[hauling]], [[stockpiles]], [[pathfinding]] and other CPU-intensive tasks.  The research done on the [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.0 Undump Engine] and [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=109319.0 Micha's experimental fort] demonstrate very FPS efficient solutions, while avoiding traditional stockpiles and the use of [[barrel]]s and [[bin]]s.
+** The quantity of items in any particular stack doesn't affect framerate so much as the number of stacks in general, due to the resultant impact on [[hauling]], [[stockpiles]], [[pathfinding]] and other CPU-intensive tasks. The research done on the [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.0 Undump Engine] and [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=109319.0 Micha's experimental fort] demonstrate very FPS efficient solutions, while avoiding traditional stockpiles and the use of [[barrel]]s and [[bin]]s.
-** That said, [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=104643.msg3094753#msg3094753 total quantity of items does matter].  Quantity matters far more with objects that have quality or decorations than boulders, as they take up more memory.  Temperature checks, wear increments, and other issues lag the game, although it takes far larger item quantities (10,000+) to be seriously notable.
+** That said, [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=104643.msg3094753#msg3094753 total quantity of items does matter]. Quantity matters far more with objects that have quality or decorations than boulders, as they take up more memory. Temperature checks, wear increments, and other issues lag the game, although it takes far larger item quantities (10,000+) to be seriously notable.
 * Changes to the map's connections can cause brief lag spikes as the game's connections map needs updating.
-** This is most notable with doors, drawbridges, or other objects linked to a [[repeater]].  An atom-smasher linked to a repeater, even disconnected from the rest of the fortress, can cause lag spikes every time it is raised or lowered.  If you use an atom-smasher to eliminate garbage, make it operate only very infrequently through mechanics, or operate it manually by [[lever]].
+** This is most notable with doors, drawbridges, or other objects linked to a [[repeater]]. An atom-smasher linked to a repeater, even disconnected from the rest of the fortress, can cause lag spikes every time it is raised or lowered. If you use an atom-smasher to eliminate garbage, make it operate only very infrequently through mechanics, or operate it manually by [[lever]].
 ** Wall off areas with changing water levels[https://dwarffortress.mantishub.io/view.php?id=5986#c22870].
 * Proper use of [[traffic]] designations will help.
 * The amount of active [[plant gathering|plant gatherers]] can heavily impact framerate, especially if the "everyone does this" option is enabled in the labor menu, coupled with having a very high population. It is best to use the "only selected do this" and select just a fraction of citizens for this task, or to disable it completely with the "nobody does this" option if gathering plants is not a priority at the time.
@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 ** The obvious solution is to not dig out quite so much of the ground.
 ** Some careful fort planning and design can cut down on pathfinding with shorter trips.
-** Spreading your fortress out horizontally tends to mean travelling three or four tiles further down the hallway per every second workshop you build.  Making workshops stack vertically upon multiple stairwells or ramps up or down from the stockpiles lets you cram workshops around the stairs or ramps just one further tile per set of four workshops.
+** Spreading your fortress out horizontally tends to mean travelling three or four tiles further down the hallway per every second workshop you build. Making workshops stack vertically upon multiple stairwells or ramps up or down from the stockpiles lets you cram workshops around the stairs or ramps just one further tile per set of four workshops.
-** Giant stockpile areas are huge areas that cost pathfinding. Quantum stockpiling can prevent the need to excavate more space.  That said, each item you produce [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=104643.msg3094753#msg3094753 takes up more memory and is considered in routine cycles like temperature].  Avoid producing more goods than you can actually use just because you "want to keep dwarves busy".  If you are starting to run out of space to hold your goods, rather than dig out more space to stash it all, just stop producing goods.
+** Giant stockpile areas are huge areas that cost pathfinding. Quantum stockpiling can prevent the need to excavate more space. That said, each item you produce [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=104643.msg3094753#msg3094753 takes up more memory and is considered in routine cycles like temperature]. Avoid producing more goods than you can actually use just because you "want to keep dwarves busy". If you are starting to run out of space to hold your goods, rather than dig out more space to stash it all, just stop producing goods.
-** If fortress functions are spread far apart, consider multiple dining halls.  A legendary dining hall isn't THAT hard to produce, and there are few reasons a magma forge operator has to cross 100 zs to the surface to get a drink before going back down.
+** If fortress functions are spread far apart, consider multiple dining halls. A legendary dining hall isn't THAT hard to produce, and there are few reasons a magma forge operator has to cross 100 zs to the surface to get a drink before going back down.
-** Crowded hallways force "dodging" which results in more pathfinds.  Find ways to spread traffic out to avoid collisions.  Don't rely upon a 1-tile hallway for access to areas dwarves travel to frequently, and possibly set up multiple paths that are "shortcuts" for dwarves rather than always having to travel through the same hallways to the same central staircase every single time.
+** Crowded hallways force "dodging" which results in more pathfinds. Find ways to spread traffic out to avoid collisions. Don't rely upon a 1-tile hallway for access to areas dwarves travel to frequently, and possibly set up multiple paths that are "shortcuts" for dwarves rather than always having to travel through the same hallways to the same central staircase every single time.
-** Dwarves have been found to prefer pathing across ramps to stairs or even horizontal travel if there is a change in z-level.  Laying out your fortress with ramps rather than stairs can give an edge.
+** Dwarves have been found to prefer pathing across ramps to stairs or even horizontal travel if there is a change in z-level. Laying out your fortress with ramps rather than stairs can give an edge.
 ** Closing off unused areas with raised [[bridge]]s or walls can help.
-** Open "quarry pits" are pathfinding traps.  Seal them off from your fort with walls when you are done with them.
+** Open "quarry pits" are pathfinding traps. Seal them off from your fort with walls when you are done with them.
 ** Caverns are probably the worst offender for pathfinding in irrelevant areas. So keep any part you aren't occupying closed off.
 ** Don't designate large areas to be smoothed at once.{{bugl|5986}}
 ** Trapped dwarves, particularly trapped [[mood]]y dwarves cause significant lag at times. '''This is pretty much the only time pathfinding actually causes FPS issues.''' There is a bug where a trapped dwarf with a [[strange mood]] will slow the game down tremendously. {{bug|8698}} Free them of bondage or life to get on with your own.
@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 * Each animal needs to do line-of-sight checks, too.
 ** Tame animals can be put into [[cage]]s, in which case they are totally exempt from all such checks. Or you can butcher them, too.
 * Multi-tile trees are a known source of lag.
 ** Choosing an embark location that only grows trees on one or two squares can improve performance.
-* [[DF2012:Contaminant|Contaminants]] can accumulate on the ground and on dwarves and creatures. Especially for old forts, this can impact FPS.  There is a bug ({{bug|296}}) which makes contaminants continuously multiply and another ({{bug|3270}}) which prevents blood from ever disappearing.
+* [[DF2012:Contaminant|Contaminants]] can accumulate on the ground and on dwarves and creatures. Especially for old forts, this can impact FPS. There is a bug ({{bug|296}}) which makes contaminants continuously multiply and another ({{bug|3270}}) which prevents blood from ever disappearing.
-** If the contaminants are outside, isolate the area and let [[DF2012:Weather|rain]] slowly wash it away.  Pets can be kept out with a [[Activity_zone#Pen.2FPasture|pen/pasture]] or a [[Activity_zone#Pit.2FPond|pit]].  Similarly, setting the [[traffic]] designation to restricted and/or assigning [[Activity_zone|Activity Zones]] strategically may keep dwarves away.
+** If the contaminants are outside, isolate the area and let [[DF2012:Weather|rain]] slowly wash it away. Pets can be kept out with a [[Activity_zone#Pen.2FPasture|pen/pasture]] or a [[Activity_zone#Pit.2FPond|pit]]. Similarly, setting the [[traffic]] designation to restricted and/or assigning [[Activity_zone|Activity Zones]] strategically may keep dwarves away.
 ** Add in some in-fortress means of cleaning dwarves and pets. Just soap and a well will allow dwarves to clean themselves. Make sure you have the [[cleaning]] labor enabled, too. Details of these and other suggestions can be found on the [[cleaning]] page.
 * Encountering [[HFS]] will dramatically reduce FPS AFTER you seal the breach ({{bug|1340}}). Either avoid doing so or use the work around posted in the bug report.
-* Heavy construction, especially megaprojects, will cause increasingly severe input lag as the fortress grows.  Forbid materials (especially stones, blocks, and bars) as much as possible to reduce the time the game needs to calculate the list of available materials to build constructions with.
+* Heavy construction, especially megaprojects, will cause increasingly severe input lag as the fortress grows. Forbid materials (especially stones, blocks, and bars) as much as possible to reduce the time the game needs to calculate the list of available materials to build constructions with.
 * When a team comes back from a raid/mission, a huge lag can appear suddenly (down to 5 fps). You can disband the squad and situation should come back to normal.
 * The same can happen when sending a squad out for a mission. If squad members are somehow locked inside, they will continuously try to find a path to the mission and the game can grind to a near halt.
@@ Line 87: / Line 87: @@
 ** After all of that is done, it then does yet another linear search (though the same list as with vein stones and grass) to see if the tile has a spatter on it (e.g. mud, blood, vomit, or leaves) and adjust the symbol/color accordingly
 ====Game Settings====
-* G_FPS is a setting in the [[init.txt]] file.  It controls how often Dwarf Fortress redraws the screen.  It also controls how often the game checks for keyboard or mouse input.
+* G_FPS is a setting in the [[init.txt]] file. It controls how often Dwarf Fortress redraws the screen. It also controls how often the game checks for keyboard or mouse input.
 ** Reducing G_FPS '''will not''' speed up the rest of the game, as everything in it runs on a separate thread.

@@ Line 129: / Line 129: @@
 *{{DFtext|fastdwarf|white}} Causes dwarves and other creatures to move and work faster or causes them to teleport. Run {{DFtext|fastdwarf help|white}} for more information.
 ==GNU/Linux Specific==
@@ Line 149: / Line 144: @@
 The path the malloc is installed to may vary, check ''/usr/lib/'', ''/usr/lib64/'', ''/usr/local/lib/'', ''/usr/local/lib64/'', and ''/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/''. The .so file's name may also vary.
 ===Setting process niceness===
 One thing that Unix-like systems feature is being able to control the priority of a process in relation to other processes running at the same time. This is its "niceness" value, with -20 being most favorable to the process. Some graphical task managers can set this value, but otherwise, you can use the "renice" command.
@@ Line 159: / Line 153: @@
 If the command was successful the output should be:
-(PID #) (process ID) old priority (whatever the old number was), new priority -20
+ (PID #) (process ID) old priority (whatever the old number was), new priority -20
 ==See also==

@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 ** Avoid having only one meeting area that has hundreds of dwarves in it.
 ** Try to break line-of-sight in various places to keep your dwarves from asking "friend or foe?" too often.
-** Don't use doors to break line-of-sight, as doors act as an fps-drain themselves. Use walls instead
+** Don't use doors to break line-of-sight, as doors [https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/1feymz1/comment/lmrymua/ can act as an FPS drain (in sufficient numbers)]. Use walls or bridges instead.
 * Fewer items inside a fort means fewer items checked for temperature, which is the only major performance issue items cause.
@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 ** Crowded hallways force "dodging" which results in more pathfinds.  Find ways to spread traffic out to avoid collisions.  Don't rely upon a 1-tile hallway for access to areas dwarves travel to frequently, and possibly set up multiple paths that are "shortcuts" for dwarves rather than always having to travel through the same hallways to the same central staircase every single time.
 ** Dwarves have been found to prefer pathing across ramps to stairs or even horizontal travel if there is a change in z-level.  Laying out your fortress with ramps rather than stairs can give an edge.
-** Closing off unused areas with raised [[bridge]]s and locked [[door]]s can help.
+** Closing off unused areas with raised [[bridge]]s or walls can help.
 ** Open "quarry pits" are pathfinding traps.  Seal them off from your fort with walls when you are done with them.
 ** Caverns are probably the worst offender for pathfinding in irrelevant areas. So keep any part you aren't occupying closed off.

@@ Line 150: / Line 150: @@
 ==Mac OS X or GNU/Linux Specific==
 ===Setting process niceness===
-One thing that Unix-like systems feature is being able to control the priority of a process in relation to other processes running at the same time. This is its "niceness" value, with -20 being most favorable to the process. Some graphical task managers can set this value, but otherwise, you can use the "renice" command as so:
+One thing that Unix-like systems feature is being able to control the priority of a process in relation to other processes running at the same time. This is its "niceness" value, with -20 being most favorable to the process. Some graphical task managers can set this value, but otherwise, you can use the "renice" command.
   <nowiki>sudo renice -n -20 -p $(pgrep Dwarf_Fortress)</nowiki>
-This command should work in most distributions of GNU/Linux. For macOS (whose Dwarf Fortress binary uses Windows' naming convention for some reason), use:
+If the command was successful the output should be:
   <nowiki>sudo renice -n -20 -p $(pgrep dwarfort.exe)</nowiki>

@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 ** Wall off areas with changing water levels[https://dwarffortress.mantishub.io/view.php?id=5986#c22870].
 * Proper use of [[traffic]] designations will help.
 ** Setting corridors to "high" traffic, and dead-end workshop rooms next to them to "low" traffic, means the pathfinder algorithm will search more quickly along the corridor, and waste less time searching in the rooms.
 * While pathfinding is not a major FPS drain, reducing the area which the pathfinder algorithm has to search lets the game run a bit faster.