Bay 12 Games Forum

I've seen a lot of people still saying that single-core speed is the most important thing in DF performance. Can we start clearing up some of these old myths? They might have been truer back when we were playing 40d16, but our understanding of how DF works, combined with the advent of much more powerful technology, necessitates a discussion on what is fact and fiction in the world of DF optimization.

I'll start off here. Correct me if I'm wrong on anything; this is all coming from my understanding and pooled forum knowledge.

• Dwarf Fortress does not need multicore support to remain playable. Processor architectures are continually getting better, and while multicore support would lead to a fairly large framerate increase (capped by RAM channels and speed), modern processors can run 5x5 embarks with 200+ dwarves without massive performance decreases.
• The most important thing about your CPU is your processor architecture and benchmarks, not necessarily your clock speed. Clock speed is virtually useless. The only way to compare modern processors is through benchmarking them on the same standard. The architecture is also vital - a 65nm pentium 4 running at 3.8ghz pales before a 32nm i5 clocked at 2.8ghz.
• Reserving a single core for DF in a multi-core processor is NOT always a good idea. Even reserving 2 cores, one for DF and one for graphics, is pointless. Modern operating systems are excellent at shifting a process from one core to another; this is why you'll generally never see DF maxing out a single core - it's being continually shifted from core to core with very high efficiency. This also aids in heat distribution, which prolongs the life of your processor.
• RAM latency is key to playing DF with a high framerate. Dwarf Fortress is unique in this aspect. Memory latency has no effect in most games, but the sheer amount of data processing Dwarf Fortress does means far more RAM operations are made than most games make. Each operation takes more time with slow RAM, and this adds up substantially. As a result, fast ram is vital.

Questions we still have:

• What is the effect of dual/triple channel RAM in a DF machine? I'd imagine a substantial speed increase would result, but I honestly don't know.
• How significant is the speed increase that results from overclocking?
• What sort of cap does ram latency put on DF speed? And when will you start to encounter that cap?
• What architectures are currently the best for DF? And what's a good CPU benchmark for DF?
• What are the most cost-efficient DF-oriented computer builds out there?
• Cats?

I know there are a few linux threads kicking around, but has anyone ever tried optimizing a lightweight linux distro for DF? In leu of my hard drive dying, I'm loading Puppy Linux on an old thumb drive, installing WINE (because dwarf fortress running on booze gets a faster framerate than running natively linux), and being unproductive for the next few days. Puppy linux doesn't use much in the way of resources, so I'm hoping for good speed.

But. Has anyone actually messed with linux for optimal DF speed? If not, we need someone who can do this now, because Dwarf Linux (Dwarf Distro?) is just something the world needs.

I've never breached the HFS before. Just never really felt like ending my fortresses in their prime.

Crystalaxe, my current fort, has been going for two years. For some reason (I don't remember if I tinkered with worldgen or not) the map was only 38 Z-levels deep. So I decided, what the hell. I'm going to go for it.

I missed the first cavern entirely, dug into and around the second, reached the third, and set up a danger room. I forged 9 swords, 6 crossbows, and threw the latest migrant wave into the danger room.

Because of logistical errors and an elven ambush, it was another half year before I breached, although I trained up 10 legendary axedwarves in the meantime. When I did finally breach, I was greeted with the usual plethora of messages. I check out the demons, and they looked easy enough. Most of them were made out of salt, snow, or fire.

The odd thing is, they spawned in a large square mass... underneath a different adamantine tube. I sent a miner to dig that one out, while my military waited. And waited. In a cramped little cavern, maybe 3x5, above the top of the tube. While the demons just flapped around and did nothing.

Eventually, a single demon flew up. One of the fire ones. My military was waiting, and it got out one gout of flame before a dozen swords and axes smashed it into nonexistance.

The one gout of flame, however, killed my fortress.

Within 30 seconds, 15 dwarves had bled out. In that tiny, cramped space, most of the military had been melted. The survivors were missing fat, and most of them almost bled out too. Cue tantrum spiral with legandary soldiers...

So far, deaths have been low, but with so many tantruming, I expect they'll pick up a lot. I'm also paying for not sealing off the caverns, as I am continually being harassed by local wildlife. I've lost a half dozen dwarves to them. Several of my military attacked other military. Fortunately, the one that went berserk took a bolt to the stomach and went down easily. In the meantime, the humans are wondering what in Armok's name is going on, I'm desparately hoarding adamantine, and the fortress in general is in shambles. Crops rotting on the fields. Tantrums everywhere. Buildings being destroyed. I threw in fresh recruits with the old and put everyone in the Danger room (killing a baby and a dog in the process) in one last hope of striking back against hell itself. Unfortunately, my (legendary) miner sug through the wall of an adamantine tube and just stood there for the inevitable magma bath.

I'm hoping there will be a few survivors. I'm also surprised I don't have any ghosts yet- nobody's been buried since HFS was opened. I'm considering an abandon/reclaim, but I don't know... I want to see who makes it through.

Did I mention that my civ's symbol is "Two dark pink haunts"?

Thank you, Dwarf Fortress, for reminding me what both fun and !!Fun!! are, and for mixing the two so delightfully. Whoops, got to get back- last weaponsmith just went berserk.

This topic is for a compilation of all my Dwarven poetry. I've been writing a fair bit lately, and there's more to come. Heck, I might even touch up "The Legend of Cacame" and finish it off.

But yeah. Criticism, praise, gold, etc all accepted. Without any further ado, here's the first part of the first poem.


The Tale of the Dwarven Bard

I'll tell you a tale, of dwarves stout and hale,
If ale and a chair you'll pull up to a fire.
Of kings and great thrones, of dead men and bones,
Of evil dark things hidden deep in the mire.

There's Tekkud the great, no barrel could slake
His thirst in the dawn when his mining was done.
His iron pick sharp, rang on stone like a harp,
And gleamed in the dusk's blood-red fall of the sun.

And Kogan the feeble, yet hands ne'er so nimble
To stitch and to heal and to cure mighty wounds
He worked with a needle, some thread and a thimble,
And injuries with his thread swiftly festooned.

There's Urist the Axe, who at trees swiftly hacks,
But goblinscum serve just as well for this one.
And Ushat the Crafter, who some thought was faster
Than fleet elven rangers, who ne'er were outrun.

And Shorast the Smith, whose left arm was stiff
From a wound from a swallow-man, long wars ago.
And Lokum and Vucar, both from a land far,
Where whispering winds blow on blood-haunted snow.

These seven dwaves stout, together struck out,
For a land that the foolhardy perish within.
A dead-crawling marsh, a landscape so harsh,
T'was called by the bearded ones “Gedorothsin”.

Thus they struck the earth, and dead-marsh gave birth
To a city, a legend, a place of great fame.
They dug down so deep, to caverns that creep,
With festering creatures, ne'er yet seen or named.

With engines and gears, forgetting all fears,
The dwarves drained the aquifer from under the ground.
Until, near the hill, they stopped and stood still,
and listened, and heard the dead-marsh-mourning sound.

Then dark beasts that creep, at night when asleep,
Rose up from the marsh and fought hearty and grim.
The battle was long, the fighters were strong,
But the dwarves won the night, for the moon was yet dim.

I captured a breeding pair of Giant Toads from my underground river and tamed them. Do they reproduce? I'd like to have some sort of horrible deathdrap if they do (another toad I killed bit a mason's head off), but I'd perfer to save them if they're the only two I can get (there's only one left in the river and it's inaccessable).