Oolite Bulletins

mandoman wrote:

Commander McLane wrote:

On the other hand, one single OXP which for some reason tries to add thousands of simple asteroids to your current system could bring your computer to a screeching halt, even if you don't have any other OXP installed.

I got rid of any asteroid oxps too. I think you hit it on the head. I had too many shade intensive oxps. It really does run better now.....at least so far.

You know, there isn't actually any OXP which tries to add thousands of asteroids to a single system, so there is no real need to remove asteroid OXPs. It was just an example.

The explosion and debris are the most likely culprit.

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

Commander McLane, is your head starting to hurt? I know mine is.

I'm not sure I get your meaning, or even want to. Most of us are doing good just TRYING the oxps, without being experts on how many we can use, or which ones use the most processing, or memory. I'll figure it out, and if you want to groan, and laugh in the process, well, have fun, I guess, though I don't really see anything funny about it. If it's at the expense of people like me, then I guess I know who NOT to look to for advice. In fact, I doubt that I'll be back for any advice.

Hi mandoman,

if you're still with us - your machine like my own - has a pretty grotty graphics card - shader heavy oxps won't help you're right - so running simple shaders might make a difference - ease your card's weary bones - that will be more experimentation I'm afraid - working out which OXPs still look good in simple shader mode but that don't task your machine too heavily.

When YAH first came out (end of 2005!) I was one of the few people who suffered from a complete system freeze when that OXP added stuff to the system - my poor old cpu and gfx card and limited memory just couldn't hack it. I had a choice - give up on that OXP or live with the freeze - I chose the later.

The ability to add any number of OXPs is a double edged sword - you see what's out there and want a piece of the action and then, like me, find your machine just doesn't do it very well. That's not the fault of the OXP, it's just one of those things.

Until you win the lottery and buy a super-dooper machine - you're going to have to spend a bit of time working out what OXPs your machine can handle - there's loads of OXPs I can't play - or more precisely, can play, but not in a way I find acceptable.

As I've said elsewhere, text is a terrible method for communication, emoticons help a bit but not much. So please don't take offence - given how many replies you've had and continue to get, there is clearly a willingness to help. So please don't take offence, you're running linux, that has generally suggested a level of ability that perhaps, now that Linux is doing what it hoped, and becoming easier to use, not necessarily there.

Your system is unique because it involves you - so let the BB know what you'd like to run and those with past experience may be able to say "yay" or "nay" to your aspirations.

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Hi mandoman,

if you're still with us - your machine like my own - has a pretty grotty graphics card - shader heavy oxps won't help you're right - so running simple shaders might make a difference - ease your card's weary bones - that will be more experimentation I'm afraid - working out which OXPs still look good in simple shader mode but that don't task your machine too heavily.

When YAH first came out (end of 2005!) I was one of the few people who suffered from a complete system freeze when that OXP added stuff to the system - my poor old cpu and gfx card and limited memory just couldn't hack it. I had a choice - give up on that OXP or live with the freeze - I chose the later.

The ability to add any number of OXPs is a double edged sword - you see what's out there and want a piece of the action and then, like me, find your machine just doesn't do it very well. That's not the fault of the OXP, it's just one of those things.

Until you win the lottery and buy a super-dooper machine - you're going to have to spend a bit of time working out what OXPs your machine can handle - there's loads of OXPs I can't play - or more precisely, can play, but not in a way I find acceptable.

As I've said elsewhere, text is a terrible method for communication, emoticons help a bit but not much. So please don't take offence - given how many replies you've had and continue to get, there is clearly a willingness to help. So please don't take offence, you're running linux, that has generally suggested a level of ability that perhaps, now that Linux is doing what it hoped, and becoming easier to use, not necessarily there.

Your system is unique because it involves you - so let the BB know what you'd like to run and those with past experience may be able to say "yay" or "nay" to your aspirations.

Yeah, I'm still here. I blew up a few Thagoids to cool down. I suppose someone like me can get on the nerves of the veterans. Linux IS easier to use now, but it's still a challenge, and I like that. At least it doesn't interfere with every move I make, like MS does. I'm slowly learning the ins and outs of oxps, and like I said, I'll get it. I'm glad to hear that there are some that want to help. Sorry for the tantrum.

mandoman wrote:

Yeah, I'm still here. I blew up a few Thagoids to cool down.

Heh... yeah, that can work. Cool!

El Viejo wrote:

mandoman wrote:

Yeah, I'm still here. I blew up a few Thagoids to cool down.

Heh... yeah, that can work. Cool!

Yeah, I get a perverse pleasure out of killing the carrier, the battleship, and then picking off the dead robot fighters as they float through space. Good target practice.

mandoman wrote:

Yeah, I'm still here. I blew up a few Thagoids to cool down. I suppose someone like me can get on the nerves of the veterans. Linux IS easier to use now, but it's still a challenge, and I like that. At least it doesn't interfere with every move I make, like MS does. I'm slowly learning the ins and outs of oxps, and like I said, I'll get it. I'm glad to hear that there are some that want to help. Sorry for the tantrum.

Don't worry about it! You're already much better with your log files and guessing what the problem is than you were a week or so ago. It can take a while for people to get the hang of things, but that's why we should be here to try and help!

On my system, I used to have horrific trouble with GalNavy, but then Eric tweaked some of the AIs and it worked to an acceptable limit. Thargoid Wars, on the other hand, was somewhat iffy, even though there were fewer ships. I never quite worked out where the problem was with that one, but it got a bit tedious, so it's no longer in my folder. There were a few missions in the Assassins oxp in which a large number of ships were added. I had to trim out my AddOns folder a bit just so I could complete those missions. It's all a matter of practice and familiarity, which'll come in time. Don't give up!

Mauiby de Fug wrote:

Don't worry about it! You're already much better with your log files and guessing what the problem is than you were a week or so ago. It can take a while for people to get the hang of things, but that's why we should be here to try and help!

On my system, I used to have horrific trouble with GalNavy, but then Eric tweaked some of the AIs and it worked to an acceptable limit. Thargoid Wars, on the other hand, was somewhat iffy, even though there were fewer ships. I never quite worked out where the problem was with that one, but it got a bit tedious, so it's no longer in my folder. There were a few missions in the Assassins oxp in which a large number of ships were added. I had to trim out my AddOns folder a bit just so I could complete those missions. It's all a matter of practice and familiarity, which'll come in time. Don't give up!

Thanks for the encouragement. I seem to be getting along well now. I just add one Griff ship at a time, and if a problem arises I'll see if the latest ship had anything to do with it. I haven't run into any massing of fleets for a while, so that may be why there haven't been any real problems. Still shoot myself with my own railgun, though. I think it's because the Merlin is moving too fast in those instances. I've used it several times at lower speeds without a problem. It doesn't occur with the Werewolf at all.

mandoman wrote:

Still shoot myself with my own railgun, though. I think it's because the Merlin is moving too fast in those instances. I've used it several times at lower speeds without a problem. It doesn't occur with the Werewolf at all.

If you check the railgun oxp thread I think this was noted as a limitation of the oxp, I think there are a few things you can play with, including the launch point of the projectile, but you'll have to fiddle to find a sensible launch point that doesn't hit the ship and one that doesn't give too much parallax on the shot.

Or generate yourself some handwavium to say that there's a max speed a ship can fly at and still use the railgun.

Wonder if Commander McLane could modify the OXP, so it checks the speed of the ship and actually stops the gun from firing if the ship is too fast? A safety mechanism?

The modern equivalent to the machine-gun geared to fire through the propeller blades

Smivs wrote:

The modern equivalent to the machine-gun geared to fire through the propeller blades

True.

They did try fitting missiles to an SR71, but it took about 2 seconds for the SR71 to overhaul the missile on full chat, so the aircraft had to bank away immediately after firing, or not go flat out!

Although the railgun does work at distance, it's best as a close-in weapon, ideal for dogfighting... at close-quarters, you shouldn't be travelling too fast to use it.

mandoman wrote:

Still shoot myself with my own railgun, though. I think it's because the Merlin is moving too fast in those instances. I've used it several times at lower speeds without a problem. It doesn't occur with the Werewolf at all.

This just means that some more tweaking is necessary. No problem, I will revisit the Merlin. Your PM about the Werewolf gave me some hope that I had already gotten it right. (And for some reason I completely missed your PM with your frame rate. )

Anyway, now I can run some more tests with a Merlin at a comparable frame rate, and fiddle some more with the calculation formula. Eventually the railgun will be Merlin-compatible.

Commander McLane wrote:

mandoman wrote:

Still shoot myself with my own railgun, though. I think it's because the Merlin is moving too fast in those instances. I've used it several times at lower speeds without a problem. It doesn't occur with the Werewolf at all.

This just means that some more tweaking is necessary. No problem, I will revisit the Merlin. Your PM about the Werewolf gave me some hope that I had already gotten it right. (And for some reason I completely missed your PM with your frame rate. )

Anyway, now I can run some more tests with a Merlin at a comparable frame rate, and fiddle some more with the calculation formula. Eventually the railgun will be Merlin-compatible.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I love that railgun, and El Viejo is right about the slowing down for dogfights at close quarters, as you know too I'm sure. It works really well in a dogfight unless I make a sudden turn right when I'm firing it. It's especially good with Thargoid ships, as they aren't all that hard to keep up with.