Massive slowdown

[Alpharat]

After running a couple of characters from levels 1 to 25 and 1 to 27 respectively, the game runs a lot better without page files enabled in Windows. However certain areas are still lagging horribly though other areas that used to lag horribly aren't lagging at all. The game seems faster across the board though without page files enabled... weird. The areas that lag bad with them disabled are pretty much unplayable with them enabled.

Daikara, Old Forrest, and Darkfell all lag pretty much on entrance. Sandwyrm Tunnels used to lag really bad though and they don't lag at all

[PowerWyrm]

I figured out that it was what I needed to do... so I rebooted my computer after having removed the paging file. Checking the Task Manager however told me that the memory allocated to the system cache... increased!
Clearly this doesn't change anything for me, the game is still laggy (running simply doesn't work, I have to manually walk anywhere in the game) and I don't see what I can do to fix it... except getting more RAM (and I don't even know if it would do something).

[Grey]

Did you remove the page file for every drive?

[PowerWyrm]

I have only one drive...

[Canderel]

OK, interesting INFO!!!

http://imagebin.org/136948

[PowerWyrm]

Jeez that's a lot of I/O accesses and page faults... Is that without a page file?

[Canderel]

Page file is active. I don't have admin rights here so I can't change it...

[Canderel]

Do you guys think there are any proposed improvements/fixes for this. It seems it's only on windows.

[Predawn]

Playing beta 18 with extreme lag.
Running Windows XP at 3Ghz with 1Gb memory, all non-essential tasks killed.
Game set up with 0 particles, no frame buffer, no anti-aliased fonts.
Set at 25 frames per second.
Started getting heavy lag immediately upon loading the char.
High Peak level 8

The game was taking more than 10 seconds between most moves, but sometimes felt like it was running as fast as the title page borg.


Typical in-game running example.

19 frames in 1.044 seconds = 18.1992 FPS (23 keyframes)
26 frames in 1.042 seconds = 24.952 FPS (43 keyframes)
26 frames in 1.034 seconds = 25.1451 FPS (32 keyframes)
[TALENT WEAPON MULT] 7.5 1 1.5 0 1.6123724356958
[TALENT WEAPON MULT] 1.5 1.2 1.7 0 1.4738612787526
[TALENT WEAPON MULT] 7.5 0.6 1.3 0 1.4573214099741
[TALENT WEAPON MULT] 6.5 1.1 2.2 0 2.3541929676091
[TALENT WEAPON MULT] 1.3 0.5 1.2 0 0.85693136595149
[TALENT WEAPON MULT] 6.5 1 1.5 0 1.5700877125496
[TALENT WEAPON MULT] 6.5 1 1.4 0 1.4560701700397
[TALENT WEAPON MULT] 6.5 0.5 1.5 0 1.6401754250991
14 frames in 11.174 seconds = 1.25291 FPS (17 keyframes)
88 ticks in 22.806 seconds = 3.85863 TPS
16 frames in 1.043 seconds = 15.3404 FPS (384 keyframes)
12 frames in 2.733 seconds = 4.39078 FPS (24 keyframes)
23 frames in 1.015 seconds = 22.6601 FPS (158 keyframes)
23 frames in 1.001 seconds = 22.977 FPS (31 keyframes)
[LOG] Twang uses Pinning Shot.
USING table: 03AD0B50 Pinning Shot
[ARCHERY AQUIRE TARGETS WITH] mighty dragonbone longbow of speed poisonous poisonous dragonbone arrow
3 frames in 1.146 seconds = 2.6178 FPS (4 keyframes)
4 ticks in 21.536 seconds = 0.185736 TPS
1 frames in 14.655 seconds = 0.0682361 FPS (12 keyframes)
26 frames in 1.035 seconds = 25.1208 FPS (11431 keyframes)
[SHOOT] speed 0.79420289855073 => 794.20289855072
[TALENT WEAPON MULT] 6.5 1 1.4 0 1.4560701700397
[SHOOT WITH] mighty dragonbone longbow of speed poisonous poisonous dragonbone arrow


Started to save the game using (CTRL+S)

[COROUTINE] registering savefilepipe thread: 08A3F1A0
[COMBAT DAMAGE] power(2.134942) totstat(117.100000) talent_mod(2.224745)
1 frames in 5.444 seconds = 0.183688 FPS (2 keyframes)
[ONLINE PROFILE] rpc called http://te4.org/lua/profilesrpc.ws/SaveChardump
[ONLINE PROFILE] saved character 1af9e537-19a0-11e0-ae5d-001cc000edf0
[LOG] Saving game...
1 frames in 1.241 seconds = 0.805802 FPS (164 keyframes)
[SAVEFILE PIPE] new save running in the pipe: Twang game :: game.teag :: table: 056A38A8 => table: 0632A140 (11813)
1 frames in 1.683 seconds = 0.594177 FPS (38 keyframes)
19 frames in 1.025 seconds = 18.5366 FPS (960 keyframes)
143 ticks in 10.022 seconds = 14.2686 TPS
22 frames in 1.173 seconds = 18.7553 FPS (36 keyframes)
1 frames in 2.426 seconds = 0.412201 FPS (2 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.245 seconds = 0.803213 FPS (73 keyframes)
1 frames in 2.276 seconds = 0.439367 FPS (38 keyframes)
1 frames in 3.041 seconds = 0.328839 FPS (69 keyframes)
144 ticks in 12.801 seconds = 11.2491 TPS
1 frames in 3.033 seconds = 0.329707 FPS (92 keyframes)
1 frames in 3.613 seconds = 0.276778 FPS (91 keyframes)
1 frames in 3.672 seconds = 0.272331 FPS (109 keyframes)
5 ticks in 12.093 seconds = 0.413462 TPS
1 frames in 4.841 seconds = 0.206569 FPS (111 keyframes)
1 frames in 5.624 seconds = 0.177809 FPS (146 keyframes)
45 ticks in 12.45 seconds = 3.61446 TPS
1 frames in 6.817 seconds = 0.146692 FPS (169 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.799 seconds = 0.555864 FPS (205 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.319 seconds = 0.75815 FPS (54 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.481 seconds = 0.675219 FPS (40 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.563 seconds = 0.639795 FPS (45 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.156 seconds = 0.865052 FPS (47 keyframes)
2 frames in 1.206 seconds = 1.65837 FPS (70 keyframes)
2 frames in 1.096 seconds = 1.82482 FPS (37 keyframes)
100 ticks in 10.215 seconds = 9.78953 TPS
2 frames in 1.159 seconds = 1.72563 FPS (33 keyframes)
2 frames in 1.219 seconds = 1.64069 FPS (35 keyframes)
2 frames in 1.52 seconds = 1.31579 FPS (37 keyframes)
2 frames in 1.54 seconds = 1.2987 FPS (46 keyframes)
2 frames in 1.484 seconds = 1.34771 FPS (47 keyframes)
3 frames in 1.225 seconds = 2.44898 FPS (67 keyframes)
5 frames in 1.04 seconds = 4.80769 FPS (62 keyframes)
9 frames in 1 seconds = 9 FPS (57 keyframes)
218 ticks in 10.003 seconds = 21.7935 TPS
20 frames in 1.101 seconds = 18.1653 FPS (67 keyframes)
8 frames in 1.82 seconds = 4.3956 FPS (14 keyframes)
10 frames in 1.079 seconds = 9.26784 FPS (69 keyframes)
10 frames in 1.065 seconds = 9.38967 FPS (33 keyframes)
5 frames in 1.005 seconds = 4.97512 FPS (16 keyframes)
8 frames in 1.061 seconds = 7.54006 FPS (49 keyframes)
7 frames in 1.185 seconds = 5.90717 FPS (28 keyframes)
8 frames in 1.131 seconds = 7.07339 FPS (41 keyframes)
447 ticks in 10.114 seconds = 44.1962 TPS
6 frames in 1.064 seconds = 5.6391 FPS (26 keyframes)
10 frames in 1 seconds = 10 FPS (54 keyframes)
12 frames in 1 seconds = 12 FPS (36 keyframes)
24 frames in 1.001 seconds = 23.976 FPS (60 keyframes)
25 frames in 1.04 seconds = 24.0385 FPS (32 keyframes)
7 frames in 1.4 seconds = 5 FPS (9 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.72 seconds = 0.581395 FPS (6 keyframes)
1 frames in 2.64 seconds = 0.378788 FPS (52 keyframes)
726 ticks in 13.923 seconds = 52.1439 TPS
1 frames in 4.119 seconds = 0.242777 FPS (80 keyframes)
1 frames in 5.04 seconds = 0.198413 FPS (124 keyframes)
25 ticks in 11.381 seconds = 2.19664 TPS
1 frames in 6.36 seconds = 0.157233 FPS (152 keyframes)
1 frames in 8.56 seconds = 0.116822 FPS (191 keyframes)
22 ticks in 12.823 seconds = 1.71567 TPS
1 frames in 4.241 seconds = 0.235793 FPS (257 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.559 seconds = 0.641437 FPS (128 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.962 seconds = 0.509684 FPS (47 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.689 seconds = 0.592066 FPS (59 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.39 seconds = 0.719424 FPS (51 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.399 seconds = 0.714796 FPS (42 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.281 seconds = 0.78064 FPS (42 keyframes)


27 Minutes later .......
Seriously, it took 27 minutes to save the game.

1 frames in 5.462 seconds = 0.183083 FPS (153 keyframes)
1 frames in 4.687 seconds = 0.213356 FPS (164 keyframes)
1 frames in 4.913 seconds = 0.203542 FPS (141 keyframes)
18 ticks in 14.165 seconds = 1.27074 TPS
1 frames in 4.578 seconds = 0.218436 FPS (148 keyframes)
1 frames in 7.603 seconds = 0.131527 FPS (138 keyframes)
11 ticks in 10.031 seconds = 1.0966 TPS
1 frames in 2.439 seconds = 0.410004 FPS (229 keyframes)
3 frames in 1.079 seconds = 2.78035 FPS (220 keyframes)
4 frames in 1.163 seconds = 3.43938 FPS (44 keyframes)
6 frames in 1.037 seconds = 5.78592 FPS (53 keyframes)
26 frames in 1.039 seconds = 25.0241 FPS (135 keyframes)
25 frames in 1 seconds = 25 FPS (30 keyframes)
[SAVEFILE PIPE] new save running in the pipe: world :: world.teaw :: table: 003E9218 => table: 0E9C6EE8 (1)
17 frames in 2.391 seconds = 7.11 FPS (21 keyframes)
[LOG] Saving done.
[COROUTINE] dead savefilepipe
24 frames in 1.012 seconds = 23.7154 FPS (102 keyframes)
26 frames in 1.045 seconds = 24.8804 FPS (33 keyframes)
25 frames in 1 seconds = 25 FPS (31 keyframes)
26 frames in 1.037 seconds = 25.0723 FPS (32 keyframes)
25 frames in 1 seconds = 25 FPS (30 keyframes)
25 frames in 1.002 seconds = 24.9501 FPS (31 keyframes)
25 frames in 1.001 seconds = 24.975 FPS (31 keyframes)
26 frames in 1.035 seconds = 25.1208 FPS (32 keyframes)
26 frames in 1.044 seconds = 24.9042 FPS (32 keyframes)


Now Save and Exit ( CTRL+X)

[COROUTINE] registering savefilepipe thread: 0AF4B2A0
[COMBAT DAMAGE] power(2.134942) totstat(117.100000) talent_mod(2.224745)
20 frames in 5.864 seconds = 3.41064 FPS (25 keyframes)
[ONLINE PROFILE] rpc called http://te4.org/lua/profilesrpc.ws/SaveChardump
[ONLINE PROFILE] saved character 1af9e537-19a0-11e0-ae5d-001cc000edf0
[LOG] Saving game...
[ENGINE] Switching to turn based
1 frames in 1.17 seconds = 0.854701 FPS (9 keyframes)
[SAVEFILE PIPE] new save running in the pipe: Twang game :: game.teag :: table: 056A38A8 => table: 155F7CE8 (11831)
1 frames in 1.724 seconds = 0.580046 FPS (36 keyframes)
1 frames in 2.667 seconds = 0.374953 FPS (52 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.158 seconds = 0.863558 FPS (81 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.458 seconds = 0.685871 FPS (35 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.478 seconds = 0.67659 FPS (44 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.516 seconds = 0.659631 FPS (45 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.881 seconds = 0.531632 FPS (46 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.945 seconds = 0.514139 FPS (57 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.951 seconds = 0.512558 FPS (59 keyframes)
1 frames in 2.018 seconds = 0.49554 FPS (59 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.542 seconds = 0.648508 FPS (61 keyframes)
1 frames in 1.895 seconds = 0.527704 FPS (47 keyframes)
[SAVEFILE PIPE] new save running in the pipe: world :: world.teaw :: table: 003E9218 => table: 092E76A0 (1)
1 frames in 3.12 seconds = 0.320513 FPS (57 keyframes)
[LOG] Saving done.


Is there any way I can speed this game up
PS: Buying hardware is not an option.

Predawn

[darkgod]

That is with or without pagefile enabled ?

[Predawn]

With page file enabled, BAAAAD things happen if it is not enabled.

I have the entire Stdout.txt file if needed.

Predawn

[KPine]

May I ask what this BAD thing is?

I love this game, but my poor computer seems to be suffering from lagging as well. After reading through this thread, I was just about to run the game without pagefile when I saw what you wrote. Will it blow up my computer to tiny pieces?

[Predawn]

I tried once running without a page file, and the computer crashed badly. ie it went to the BSoD (Blue Screen of Death).

Windows XP cries like a baby if it does not have a big fat page file to play with.

The only thing I can think of is that parts of Windows XP needs to run itself in specific memory locations, and that only one physical location is possible if there is no page file.

Any hardware guru's available to shed some light on this?

Predawn

[PowerWyrm]

Memory management is the problem. There's a big fat piece of code called periodically that simply freezes the game for the time it executes itself. There are multiple solutions here:
- put the code in a separate thread
- use smart pointers
- delay the code until some obvious time-consuming actions are executed (like changing levels, saving the game...)
- rewriting the core in Java (just kidding )

[Canderel]

I found the biggest lag on the deeper dungeons. Dreadfell, Old Forest and others. They obviously use more memory etc. and that would increase the page faulting issues.

Also I disabled background save. My saves are much quicker, and the saves lagged so much it wasn't worth playing while saving anyway.