Oolite Bulletins

Posted: **Sat May 10, 2008 5:41 pm**

I've downloaded this on my dad's computer and as I'm not au fait with the specs, I'm not putting this down as a bug/problem as my own computer (in another town, so not able to try until I go back) is a bit more powerful and I'm hoping that will clear things up.

So this is more of a curiosity question really. What is the 'average' workable FPS?

I did try the program on my dad's just to check that it did in fact work (and because I really really wanted to try it!) and I noticed the fps was not great, maxing out at 32 and going down to 4 (and then crashing) as I got to Zaonce's navigational bouy. I had changed the shading back down to simple but the fps never rose above 21. No OXP's where loaded and no other programs where running 'front of house'.

So, what should I expect on my system, which is XP with dual core 320 processor, 512meg ram and a Nvidia Geoforce 7 series graphic card?

Also unrelated: Has anyone else seen Thargoids after their very first jump? They were attacking a Python in Zaonce.

Posted: **Sat May 10, 2008 6:46 pm**

On a good graphics card, Oolite hits easily 60 fps or above. It depends on the action on screen too, of course.

~~Is the GeForce you tried it on one of the Go series? If yes, then there is your FPS problem. Gos are generally not "up there" with the best.~~

Edit: Re-reading your post, I realize I may have slightly misunderstood something:
The GeForce is installed on your own computer, not your dad's correct? If so, what is the graphics card on your dad's computer? Even better, can you post the top 50 lines of the stderr.txt log found in the oolite.app folder? That should clrear up things a bit.

With the Nvidia you should be generally OK, unless it is lower spec than a Go7400, in which case framerate may suffer.

Posted: **Sun May 11, 2008 2:58 pm**

Here you go. Seem to be right about a weak graphics card tho.

2008-05-10 16:18:57.671 oolite.exe[3812] File NSUserDefaults.m: 562. In [NSUserDefaults +standardUserDefaults] Improper installation: No language locale found
2008-05-10 16:18:57.734 oolite.exe[3812] [log.header]: Opening log for Oolite version 1.71.2 (x86-32 test release) under Windows at 2008-05-10 16:18:57 +0100.
2 processors detected.
Note that the contents of the log file can be adjusted by editing logcontrol.plist.

2008-05-10 16:18:57.734 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: initialising SDL
2008-05-10 16:18:58.171 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.JoystickHandler]: init: numSticks=0
2008-05-10 16:18:58.171 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: CREATING MODE LIST
2008-05-10 16:18:58.171 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Unknown architecture, defaulting to 1024x768
2008-05-10 16:18:58.171 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Added res 1440 x 900
2008-05-10 16:18:58.187 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Added res 1280 x 1024
2008-05-10 16:18:58.187 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Added res 1152 x 864
2008-05-10 16:18:58.187 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Added res 1024 x 768
2008-05-10 16:18:58.187 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Added res 800 x 600
2008-05-10 16:18:58.187 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Added res 640 x 480
2008-05-10 16:18:58.187 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Added res 512 x 384
2008-05-10 16:18:58.187 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Added res 400 x 300
2008-05-10 16:18:58.187 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Added res 320 x 240
2008-05-10 16:18:58.625 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: drawRect calling initialiseGLWithSize
2008-05-10 16:18:58.625 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Creating a new surface of 800 x 600
2008-05-10 16:18:58.937 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: no universe, clearning surface
2008-05-10 16:18:58.984 oolite.exe[3812] [rendering.opengl.version]: OpenGL renderer version: 1.4.5336 ("1.4.5336 WinXP Release")
Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Renderer: RADEON XPRESS 200 Series SW TCL x86/SSE2
2008-05-10 16:18:58.984 oolite.exe[3812] [rendering.opengl.extensions]: OpenGL extensions (89):
GL_ARB_multitexture GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array GL_S3_s3tc GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow GL_ARB_fragment_shader GL_ARB_multisample GL_ARB_occlusion_query GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_ARB_point_sprite GL_ARB_shader_objects GL_ARB_shading_language_100 GL_ARB_shadow GL_ARB_shadow_ambient GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_texture_compression GL_ARB_texture_cube_map GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_ARB_texture_env_combine GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_transpose_matrix GL_ARB_vertex_blend GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_vertex_shader GL_ARB_window_pos GL_ARB_draw_buffers GL_ATI_draw_buffers GL_ATI_envmap_bumpmap GL_ATI_fragment_shader GL_ATI_separate_stencil GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3 GL_ATI_texture_float GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once GL_ATI_vertex_streams GL_ATIX_texture_env_combine3 GL_ATIX_texture_env_route GL_ATIX_vertex_shader_output_point_size GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_packed_pixels GL_EXT_point_parameters GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_EXT_shadow_funcs GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_EXT_texgen_reflection GL_EXT_texture3D GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc GL_EXT_texture_cube_map GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp GL_EXT_texture_env_combine GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3 GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_EXT_texture_mirror_clamp GL_EXT_texture_object GL_EXT_texture_rectangle GL_EXT_vertex_array GL_EXT_vertex_shader GL_HP_occlusion_test GL_NV_blend_square GL_NV_occlusion_query GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_SGI_color_matrix GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_multitexture GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_lod GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays GL_WIN_swap_hint WGL_EXT_extensions_string WGL_EXT_swap_control
2008-05-10 16:18:58.984 oolite.exe[3812] [dataCache.notFound]: No data cache found, starting from scratch.
2008-05-10 16:18:58.984 oolite.exe[3812] [searchPaths.dumpAll]: ---> OXP search paths:
(oolite.app/Resources, AddOns)
2008-05-10 16:19:01.281 oolite.exe[3812] [script.load.world.listAll]: Loaded 5 world scripts: "oolite-cloaking-device" 1.71.2, "oolite-constrictor-hunt" 1.71.2, "oolite-nova" 1.71.2, "oolite-thargoid-plans" 1.71.2, "oolite-trumbles" 1.71.2
2008-05-10 16:19:06.296 oolite.exe[3812] [dataCache.willWrite]: About to write data cache.
2008-05-10 16:19:06.328 oolite.exe[3812] [dataCache.write.success]: Wrote data cache.
2008-05-10 16:19:14.765 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Creating a new surface of 1024 x 712
2008-05-10 16:21:08.609 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Found mode {Height = 768; RefreshRate = 0; Width = 1024; }
2008-05-10 16:21:12.687 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Found mode {Height = 768; RefreshRate = 0; Width = 1024; }
2008-05-10 16:21:28.437 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Found mode {Height = 768; RefreshRate = 0; Width = 1024; }
2008-05-10 16:31:06.843 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Found mode {Height = 768; RefreshRate = 0; Width = 1024; }
2008-05-10 16:31:10.578 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Found mode {Height = 768; RefreshRate = 0; Width = 1024; }
2008-05-10 16:31:27.250 oolite.exe[3812] [unclassified.MyOpenGLView]: Found mode {Height = 768; RefreshRate = 0; Width = 1024; }

Posted: **Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm**

Even with my crappy graphics card I get about 20 FPS. That can drop to about 10 when there are loads of ships on screen.

Posted: **Sun May 11, 2008 4:28 pm**

The XPRESS 200 is definitely a low end card, not really meant for gaming. To get an idea where it stands, check this link (it is for notebook cards, but a good indication nevertheless):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=39568

As you see, it is not exactly a great performer. For sure your Nvidia will be able to top that.

Posted: **Tue May 13, 2008 5:40 pm**

I'm running a fairly decent system (Quad Core 2.4 ghz, 8800 GTS, 2gb memory) and I still get stuttering on my system. Will vary between 49-55 fps dropping to a staggering 4fps every 25 secs or so. However, I do have most of the OXPs installed, so I shouldn't grumble really.

Cheers!

Posted: **Wed May 14, 2008 8:27 am**

Hmm. Even with my Duo Core 2 GHz, 512MB system I usually have 99 FPS and hardly any studder.

I am a little selective, though, if it comes to OXPs.

Posted: **Wed May 14, 2008 5:20 pm**

only 512Mb, that's not bad, worth increasing it though memory is cheap these days.

Posted: **Wed May 14, 2008 9:06 pm**

Hmm. Even with my Duo Core 2 GHz, 512MB system I usually have 99 FPS and hardly any studder.

I am a little selective, though, if it comes to OXPs.

Hmmm...

I've taken out all the galaxy specific missions e.g. assassins as I'm still ambling around G1, but do have most of the ship OXPs installed, plus missions for g1 (around 120 oxps in fact). I think that's the reason behind my slowdowns.

The warranty on my PC runs out soon and then I'll buy more memory. Hurrah!

Posted: **Wed May 14, 2008 10:19 pm**

Are you running Vista and/or Norton, they are both memory hungry, 512mb is insufficient with these running in the background.

Posted: **Thu May 15, 2008 8:33 am**

TGHC wrote:
only 512Mb, that's not bad, worth increasing it though memory is cheap these days.

Actually, yesterday my computer came right back from the authorized dealer who did a repair and, while opening the computer anyway, was supposed to put another 512MB in. Mind you, he just forgot that second part.

(Which wouldn't be that much trouble, if he wasn't roughly 1000 miles away, so returning the computer to the shop isn't really an option! (You have noticed my location beneath my avatar, haven't you? It is meant dead serious!))

*****

By the way: neither Vista nor Norton consume anything on my computer, because it's a Mac, which surely helps for a good performance. And being selective with OXPs means effectively that I've got around 50 running.

Posted: **Thu May 15, 2008 4:55 pm**

I wish I could be more ruthless with my OXPs, it's just that they're damn lovely...

Anyhoo, by closing down non-essential software in Vista (like the sidebar, spybot, c4 on demand, er, BBC newsticker). Oolite runs much smoother.

Had a fantastic time last night - flew into a system that was full of navy spaceships engaging in combat with pirates. Helped them out a bit, ran away using WS Fuel injectors and generally had a good time. With very little slowdown.

I think with my computer it's more a case of "do I have to play games? But it's hard work. Humph. Go on then."

Oh, and by the way - not one crash yet. Not one!

Now I've said that I'm bound to have dozens! Kiss of death see.

Posted: **Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:45 am**

I'm using my onboard graphics and get around 20fps, dropping below 10 occasionally, but not a single crash (yet!). I have maybe 30 OXPs.
My system is a 2.0GHz P4 underclocked to 1.8GHz with 1Gb DDR. Initially I was running MBM in the background, but noticed a dip in fps every 10seconds (when MBM updates!), so now I always turn that off.

Posted: **Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:31 pm**

Lessee ...

Windows XP system (SP2), 512 mb memory, 2gig Pentium 4 processor, Nvidia GeForce4 MX420 video card (AGP) w/64 meg memory, Dell widescreen monitor running in 1440 x 900 resolution (fullscreen), only 1 or 2 oxps (simple ones - add'l equipment only - no missions).

My normal framerate is between 20-30 fps and the game is no problems to play, even when there's additional clutter on screen (station area, or mining splinters, etc.).

Posted: **Tue Jun 03, 2008 6:52 am**

Increasing your memory if you can, would make a difference, it's about £30 a gig here in the UK. It sounds like an older system you have so availability could be an issue though. Best of luck.