v0.31 Talk:Maximizing framerate

World Gen editing to speed Fortress Mode

On an old slow computer, I have found that editing the world_gen.txt file in the date/init folder to help:

[CAVERN_LAYER_COUNT:3] - reduce for fewer cavern layers, so less fun, but more speed.
[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MIN:0]
[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MAX:20] not entirely sure what these do, but these were the figures when I stopped testing.
[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MIN:0]
[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MAX:0] restricts the density of passages, at these figures the caves are not filled with tiny passages

Since I haven't tested exhaustively I don't feel this should be on the front page yet. - JimiD

More World Gen editing to speed Fortress Mode

I did some similar testing but instead of changing the number of cavern layers I changed the size of the caverns themselves. The defaults are Minimum Natural Cave Size 5, Maximum Natural Cave Size 25. I lowered these to 4 and 12 and ended up with a map with less than 40 z levels below ground. This significantly improved performance, load and save time without sacrificing the cave features. In fact it's a little funner since I don't have to travel so far to get to magma. Currently I'm running close to 50 dwarves and I'm noticing almost no hiccups or drop in frame rate(from 100).

I have only tested this on one map and each cavern layer has exactly 5 z levels each which is odd. More testing needs to be done to get exact figures but it does seem to be an excellent alternative to lowering the number of caves or the size of embark. Using this method, increasing the embark size isn't out of the question.

I tested this map on my 1.6GHZ EeePC Netbook and got a reliable framerate of 34, which is quite playable. - Lemunde

maybe you are confusing rare natural caves (familiar from 40d version, home to megabeasts, see worldgen-exported sites_and_pops.txt) with the new Cavern Layers which are guaranteed under every embark area. (.31.12) --TomiTapio 00:49, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Importance of Speedup

I think this is a really important feature which should have a high priority. Maybe this page can get some special attention on the front page along with other pages with high priority? A lot of people just don't play anymore with all of the graphics problems in this version, which is sad.

Another possibility here is for an explanation of the various init.txt settings, they can really change a LOT in your performance. - Nether

try a 3x2 embark. --TomiTapio 00:49, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Obsolete for the current version in italic

I have changed the parts where it is explained that the action is obsolete for the current version into italic font. I believe that this is a minor change which makes the page a lot easier to read. - Nether

How true is any of this? I've applied the various recommendations given here and noticed absolutely no speedup. Getting rid of thousands of items by atom smashing or gifting to merchants? Nothing. Caging and uncaging fifty animals? Nothing. Blocking off the outside, or the cavern levels, with a locked door, a bridge, a floodgate, a channel? Nothing. Turning off my indoor waterfall was the only thing that seemed to help, getting me about 8FPS extra, from 25 to 33FPS with 105 dorfs. GhostDwemer 20:34, 10 November 2010 (UTC)