15 replies to this topic

[dhampirking]

Hello, I've only recently joined these forums.
I've always liked the Skirmish AI project, unfortunately the only thing thats ALWAYS kept me from using it is I can NEVER seem to get stable performance. No matter what options I enable, or disable, the game always seems to catch. Especially when im scrolling around the map.
I'm not sure if it's lag or what, but the game always seems to stutter almost constantly. without the mod, I enjoy perfect performance on my pc which is more than enough to run this game.

I've tried turning all the graphics/sound options to the lowest setting. Making it almost look like starcraft, and the stuttering is still there. I've turned off heroes and donations. enabled AI highspeed. however nothing seems to work.

Is there any advice anyone could give? I find the original DC AI horribly stupid and love this mod, but cant stand the stuttering.

[thudo]

It was determined its both the user's hardware and OS settings.

Recommend:

- Defrag yer HDD

- check you have no files in your \windows\temp and \documents and settings\<logged in user>\local settings\temp

- what ver of .NET framework is on your system

- check for mal/spyware running.

Lots I can recommend to make your system run efficiently. I'm also a system builder by trade as well.

[dhampirking]

It was determined its both the user's hardware and OS settings.

Recommend:

- Defrag yer HDD

- check you have no files in your \windows\temp and \documents and settings\<logged in user>\local settings\temp

- what ver of .NET framework is on your system

- check for mal/spyware running.

Lots I can recommend to make your system run efficiently. I'm also a system builder by trade as well.

Hey thanks for the reply Thudo.

I have made sure there are no files in those directories. I am defragging my system now, I'm pretty sure i have .NET frameworks 2.0 on my system.

So your a system builder eh? Do you buy your hardware online? if so what site do you use?
When my systems done defragging I'll come back and let ya know if that helps.

I do appreciate the help

[thudo]

Try disabling Hyper-threading in your BIOS. Its been bloody wierd what causes this studdering as we practically nuked it long time ago and people who were having studders don't anymore.

As for costing out components - well that depends where you live. I am in Canada thus its easy to get good prices on high-end computer stuff. In the US, its even easier due to the massively tight competition between distributors.

I do wish I could produce this lag very few people have but we cannot.

[dhampirking]

Hmm, Neither of those things worked.

If you have any other tips, that'd be great.

BUT

I'm building a new system myself. Rather beefy one at that, so If I can't get the stuttering to stop on this computer, Perhaps I'll try the new one, once its built.

Any more tips are appreciated, Thanks for your time

[thudo]

Only advice I can give you is get an excellent CPU, Motherboard, and LOTS OF fast RAM! Never EVER skimp on all three of these. Recommend a good Asus Motherboard, an Intel Core2Duo like an E6300 or better, and 2gb of PC2-6400 RAM ! Then yer sitting pretty. Would recommend a good CPU cooler like a Thermaltake 120 Exteme (but thats $40) and good thermal paste like Arctic Silver 5.. lots I can recommend for starters

[dhampirking]

Hey, I know it's been a long ass time since this post. However I found the problem. It wasn't hardware at all, it was the OS software that came with the gateway computer. Dunno what it was exactly, but wiped the whole hard drive and it fixed everything. Aso fixed alot of problems on my other computer which I finally have up and running. Just thought I'd let you know. Definately something to do with gateways windows XP that was on here.

Later.

[thudo]

@dhampirking - it was likely what was on that OS installed either in 'msconfig' or as a running service. Microsoft OSes and their supporting/purchased apps are VERY notorious for leaving utter bloated resident crap sitting there just taking up cpu cycles. I would need 5-10mins for every machine on the planet to optimize all the OSes I've seen with 30+ 'crap apps' running in the background.

[Seven_Force]

I had this problem and STILL have it to this day when running the mod. Remember Thud? 8800 GTS, 3ghzx800 mhz dual core, 1 gig RAM. Regular game runs smooth as silk maxed out but the mod stutters a little when scrolling the camera. My PC's in really good shape as well, so... I never did figure it out.

[LarkinVB]

I found that there is a lua profiler. Perhaps Arkhan wants to try it to find bottlenecks.

http://www.keplerpro...ler/manual.html

[Seven_Force]

Hey Thudd, I hadn't got around to downloading 2.4, but I did so last night and played a marathon session with it. The camera seems to be scrolling much better compared to 2.3. Did you guys do anything to smooth it out or is it just a fluke on my end? It still stutters for me in the first 1 or 2 mins of a match, but after that it's really good. Still not perfect, but I'd say like, 90 to 95% stable scrolling. Just to reiterate, the game stutters a little ONLY when scrolling the camera. If the camera is left alone, there are no jitters EVER.

And it's not the objects on screen that appear to stutter or troops ETC, just the viewpoint, which makes it look like a slight framerate issue.

Edited by Seven_Force, 02 July 2007 - 03:01 PM.

[thudo]

Dunnoo man.. have a more powerful machine with all details maxed to the tit (running @ 1600x1200) and yes when i move with 3vs3 there is some minor lag but thats expected the way I am running it. Dunno what to say.. More CPU cycles are being used with our mod since the AI needs to think much more.

[Seven_Force]

That's what I figured in the first place-- the AI is loading and doing its thing so it causes a very slight bit of jumpiness when scrolling. The massive give of your mod is so worth it compared to the very slight take-- know what I mean? Still the best AI I've ever seen next to Ninja Gaiden Black on xbox1. And that's comparing you with a commercial dev team. By far you guys have the best AI compared to any other freelancers though, so keep it up.

[thudo]

We'll keep looking into it. There is always a little more room to squeeze out.

[Inquisitor]

I found that there is a lua profiler. Perhaps Arkhan wants to try it to find bottlenecks.

http://www.keplerpro...ler/manual.html

Yeah, I think that is a great idea. I have used profilers for both C++ and C# code and it can be a real eye-opener as to what code you need to simplify, optimize or even just call less often.

Anyway, the potential benefit of the using the profiler depends on the quality of the output and a comprehensive understanding of the code design.

Apparently, running the profiler is quite simple. Have you tried it?

[LarkinVB]

Yes. It didn't work. At least I didn't get it to work and deleted it afterwards.