PC speed

[matlu]

A bit off topic, but maybe not really:

One certain person mentioned, that he plays the game on 350mhz computer. Currently I'm able to test the game on exactly same computer. It's really a bit antique, but the game runs quite well on it.

I did some experiments. The game is expected to run at 15 frames per second. When I open single game window it runs perfectly well even on 350 mhz computer. But when I open 2 game windows, it becames way too slow. Framerate drops to approx. 8 fps. End everything is a bit slower.
One bad consequence is, that you sometimes don't get 10 seconds to target your action, but less. So watch out for it
I could try to do something about it, perhaps I could slightly improve the game performance, but it would cost me considerable effort, and it's not high priority for me right now. (I pressume that most people either have faster PC, or at least don't play 2 games at same time)

BTW if I had such computer, I would try to upgrade it a bit. Even if I could not afford to buy new one, I could try to find out what *fastest* processor (CPU) the motherboard supports. If it supports for example 500hmz processor, it's great. Such processor is really antique nowadays, and it's sure possible to buy it for same price as one hamburger with cola. The performance increase compared to 350mhz would be really big.
It sure takes some skills to replace old processor with new one, but it should not be hard to find such skilled person

[Parsley]

Perhaps provide a 'slow game' and a 'fast game' option later on.

'Fast Game' you can continue to develop graphics & rules wise.

'Slow Game' you leave as the original.

[matlu]

Perhaps provide a 'slow game' and a 'fast game' option later on.

'Fast Game' you can continue to develop graphics & rules wise.

'Slow Game' you leave as the original.

Hm, later, when the game and forum have more members, I'll make a poll to find out what computers do people have. (It makes no sense to make such poll now, with just few people around). I will make "slow game" option when necessary (when many poeple have slow computers).

[BladeSabre]

I used to play CW against myself when I was studying it, and it lagged quite badly. That PC is 450MHz, I think.

For a "slow game" - could you reduce the expected fps to 5, and otherwise have it behave the same way as the "fast game"? 5 fps is ugly, but if it's properly timed so the frames are equally spaced, it feels a lot less laggy than a game that's trying to go at 15fps but can't. Hopefully it would mean that the different versions could remain connected, without too much work.

[matlu]

That PC is 450MHz, I think

uh, 450 mhz. Well probably this game is going to be targetted at people with slower computers. It is sort of logical, people with fancy computers probably play ever quest and such kind of games.

Ok I'll try to do something about performance.

[BlitzJoker]

That PC is 450MHz, I think

uh, 450 mhz. Well probably this game is going to be targetted at people with slower computers. It is sort of logical, people with fancy computers probably play ever quest and such kind of games.

Ok I'll try to do something about performance.

Heh, I have a fancy computer and play this over Final Fantasy XI.

[dragon75]

hey. i have a brand new pentium 4 computer, and i play cyberwars. i guess i am one of the few. *hugs computer and CW at same time*

[TheMcCool]

lol... When Guild Wars comes out I may suddenly disappear from here. I know during the beta weekend events I've gotten super addicted to it. I can't imagine what it'll be like once I can actually play it every day.

[BlitzJoker]

lol... When Guild Wars comes out I may suddenly disappear from here. I know during the beta weekend events I've gotten super addicted to it. I can't imagine what it'll be like once I can actually play it every day.

That was like me with Final Fantasy XI  for like the first 7 months...played it for around 25 days of playtime, but not anymore.

[TheMcCool]

Well, Cyber Wars is still good after all this time because it's competition and strategy. Guild Wars has those elements in spades.. Really kick ass game. But I guess time will tell.

[BladeSabre]

I've tried it out on the 450MHz PC, and I can actually play a two-player game with myself with no lag. So this game is already a lot faster than Cyberwars was.

[matlu]

I've tried it out on the 450MHz PC, and I can actually play a two-player game with myself with no lag. So this game is already a lot faster than Cyberwars was.

Actually, few days ago I improved some parts of code, and it led to approx 5-10% performance increase. There still IS room for improvements, but it would require too much effort, and it's likely that it will just stay as it is.
Single game runs very well on 350 mhz pc. If you can run two games on 450mhz, then I think the performance is sufficient.

[Odin]

Also depends on RAM too. About 128 MB seems good enough with a 500 MHZ processor. Seems to require more RAM though the lower the processor's clock speed, seeing Java is a resource hog (as Zap and I put it).

[matlu]

Also depends on RAM too. About 128 MB seems good enough with a 500 MHZ processor. Seems to require more RAM though the lower the processor's clock speed, seeing Java is a resource hog (as Zap and I put it).

Regardless of processor, I'd say 128MB is really minimum required. I hardly can imagine windows running with less? Maybe Windows 98 could run, but later versions would not. 256MB should be optimal.

[Odin]

Regardless of processor, I'd say 128MB is really minimum required. I hardly can imagine windows running with less? Maybe Windows 98 could run, but later versions would not. 256MB should be optimal.

Yup. I mainly use a system with a 2.4 GHZ processor and 256 MB of RAM when playing cw/clone though. Tried it on the other system previously mentioned (Win 98 of course) and it seemed to work fine too.