- v50 information can now be added to pages in the main namespace. v0.47 information can still be found in the DF2014 namespace. See here for more details on the new versioning policy.
- Use this page to report any issues related to the migration.
v0.34:System requirements
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
If you're looking for information on improving the performance of Dwarf Fortress on your computer, see Maximizing Framerate. For installation instructions, see Installation.
OS
- Windows requires XP SP3 or newer.
- Linux runs natively or using Wine.
- Mac needs Intel chip. (OS X Lion works, but requires a short modification to run)
Note: The 40d article has detailed info on Non-Windows OS' that is probably mostly still valid.
RAM
DF is not particularly RAM-hungry. Expect the process to allocate between 300 and 700 MB with medium regions. With 512MB you may be a bit on the short side, but 1 GB is absolutely sufficient. World Generation can eat up far more than that - it's possible to encounter crashes due to being out of memory. In particular major areas for this to occur are during history, final touches in finalizing sites, and while saving. This is especially problematic with unusual generator configurations, such as worlds with large numbers of megabeasts, caves, civilizations, high or non-existant site and population limits, and very lengthy histories. User-made modifications can also increase the requirements, depending on their nature. Otherwise the influence of RAM on game speed is limited, as DF is not loading and offloading big chunks of data much.
There are no detailed requirements per se. However, because simply saying the more RAM you have and the faster your CPU is the better is not all that helpful, we would like to get some bearings on how DF performs on different computers - such as your own. (Please note that ‘fast game-play’ and ‘slow game-play’ are subjective terms and not intended to relay anything specific or exact. What may be fast to one person might be slow to another). It's also essential that you mention the state of your fortress - how many dwarves there are, animals, terrain, speedups, and so forth.
What is SDL and Legacy version difference?
SDL is a cross-platform application framework. The SDL version of DF uses that framework and so runs on mac and linux, along with including Baughn's new opengl code, which should be faster, allows png files for tilesets, zooming with the mousewheel, etc. The SDL version is quite new, so isn't proven yet. It's also being actively worked on, getting features like "separate files for graphics and font", and true-type font support.
Legacy is Toady's old code, only kept in case the SDL version doesn't work for someone. There is no legacy version for mac or linux.
Experiential reports
Report format
Please read the report template page before contributing any reports Since worldgen has changed significantly, and a new interactions system has been brought into play, older reports are probably not as accurate, but still seem reasonably close to current play.