Oolite Bulletins

Let me open by saying I can make excel sing and dance and can get around programs just fine. However, my I.T. knowledge is sketchy... I'm 44 (28 years past my Computer Studies Lessons) and have spent 26 years working in larger firms, which provide help-desks.

Problem. Oolite runs just fine on my 8gb, AMD 8 laptop, AMD Radeon R5 Graphics. Runs fine right up until there's combat between 8-or-so ships, when everything lags.

What settings do I change to reduce this lag please?

No problem with your age, most of us are near due to many Ooliters played Elite anno.

There is a Graphics Detail setting in Game Options menu, which is displayed if you press F2 when you are in a station, or during flight if you press "p" first for pause mode, then F2. You can change the level of the selected option line by horizontal arrow keys.

Some OXP need high CPU and/or GPU power, for example [wiki]Trails[/wiki]. Press Shift+F to see your FPS for testing.

Norby wrote:

No problem with your age, most of us are near due to many Ooliters played Elite anno.

Thank you, I'll have a play after work and see what happens! I've upgraded my Cobra to combat level but have been scared to go toe-to-toe in case of lagging. I'll keep you posted!

Hullblazer wrote:

I'm 44...

Get off my lawn!

Cody wrote:

Hullblazer wrote:

I'm 44...

Get off my lawn!

Why, I ought'a...!

<grins> For the record, I'm in my sixties - as are a few others around here.

just turned 54 today.... you youngster... lol

There could be some OXP(s) in your setup that generate large numbers of entities and it could become more evident when there is a lot going on on-screen. This was the case some time ago with Griff's explosion fragments and the old (buggy) Engine Trails OXP, which was causing the game to crawl to a halt if you let it run for about 20 minutes. If you want to post a Latest.log, we may be able to identify such potential offenders.

Also, the R5 is not one of the top performer cards (see here) and it could simply be FPS dropping due to too much happening. Again, a Latest.log could help here because it tells us the exact model of the card in use. If the problem is related to gfx card not keeping up, then the best advice is as described above, i.e. drop the detail level to "Shaders Enabled" or even lower if you must (although I think "Shaders Enabled" should be more or less good enough).

another_commander wrote:

This was the case some time ago with Griff's explosion fragments...

<chortles> I recall one particular explosion while testing Smivs' Xepatl's Sword - talk about locked-up, but it was a massive explosion!

spud42 wrote:

just turned 54 today.... you youngster... lol

Heh.. got you beat then, me lad.. I turned 55 a month ago!


(happy birthday, btw)

Cody wrote:

<chortles> I recall one particular explosion while testing Smivs' Xepatl's Sword - talk about locked-up, but it was a massive explosion!

Is that the one you lost the screenshot of? That was epic!

Diziet Sma wrote:

Cody wrote:

<chortles> I recall one particular explosion while testing Smivs' Xepatl's Sword - talk about locked-up, but it was a massive explosion!

Is that the one you lost the screenshot of? That was epic!

<growls> As I recall, the lost pic (the Psychosaucer) was taken immediately after the explosion - the pic of which I also lost.

One more thing: Some OXPs may be utilizing unoptimized versions of the shaders they use for their effects. Normally this gets fixed in later releases of some of those OXPs, so it might help if you ensure that all your expansion packs (especially ship ones) are at their latest version.

And, while we're at it: 44 in two days.

Cody wrote:

... the pic of which I also lost.

Ha! I've actually found the explosion pic... and that was from a long way out!

Cody wrote:

Ha! I've actually found the explosion pic..

I wonder how your new machine would cope with it...?