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Author Topic: How can I temporarily disable a squad?  (Read 877 times)

Encrtia

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How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« on: January 11, 2018, 06:11:53 pm »

Really simple. I just typed an essay & a half to ask for help with an FPS drag, but before I sent it, did some atomic testing after a Seasonal Save to find my Pristine 100fps was being destroyed because I had a military. (Two 10-dwarf squads). With both active, I fall down to 55fps, or 35fps during combat/caravan visits. I don't want to have to Delete the squads, then re-do all their uniforms... adding the same guys through that nightmare of a list every time there's an invasion. I just want to be able to go "okay, get your gear, let's go." Is this possible?

Outdated Info - Stupid Elite Marksdwarfs just won't put on their damned gloves or full ammo (according to Dwarf Therapist), so are probably constantly failing at grabbing something or another causing this issue. The melee squad alone only takes 10fps.

Edit: It's something to do with just being in the military. When nude, still 35fps, when disbanded, 100fps.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2018, 04:40:48 pm by Encrtia »
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mobucks

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2018, 06:17:49 pm »

You could probably make two macros to enable/disable them entirely. It would be a PITA only the one time you recorded/saved them.
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Encrtia

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2018, 06:19:36 pm »

You could probably make two macros to enable/disable them entirely. It would be a PITA only the one time you recorded/saved them.

I don't know what a PITA means, & I only know how to do excel macros on a basic level. This might be beyond my understanding, but I like the premise if I knew how to set that up. (Assuming there's no easier alternative :P)
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Pancakes

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2018, 08:15:06 pm »

PITA means Pain In The Ass, hehe

Anyways, recording a macro in DF is pretty easy once you get used to it, and extremely useful / time saving if you become proficient.

First, hit Ctrl + (r) to start recording; you should see a flashing REC in the corner of the screen while it is recording. While the macro is recording, any keys you press will be saved to memory. Simply go ahead and disable the squads as you would normally. Then, once you're done, hit Ctrl + r to stop recording, followed by Ctrl + (s)ave, and name the macro. To load and play a macro, select your saved macro using Ctrl + (l)ist, and after it is selected, hit Ctrl + (p)lay. The macro will perform your inputs exactly as you entered them, so if what you're doing requires precision (i.e. setting labors automatically, designating certain rooms with macros, etc.) remember to put your cursor where it should be for that macro, and with the proper menu selected.

If you want to chain macros together, say for designating a certain number of rooms to be carved out, hit Ctrl + u, then input the number of times you want the macro repeated, followed by Ctrl + p. Oh, and if you want to delete a saved macro, hit ESC, go to key bindings, and delete it from that menu.

Hope this helps!

« Last Edit: January 11, 2018, 08:17:22 pm by Scarlet_Avenger »
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Encrtia

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2018, 08:59:59 pm »

PITA means Pain In The Ass, hehe

Anyways, recording a macro in DF is pretty easy once you get used to it, and extremely useful / time saving if you become proficient.

First, hit Ctrl + (r) to start recording; you should see a flashing REC in the corner of the screen while it is recording. While the macro is recording, any keys you press will be saved to memory. Simply go ahead and disable the squads as you would normally. Then, once you're done, hit Ctrl + r to stop recording, followed by Ctrl + (s)ave, and name the macro. To load and play a macro, select your saved macro using Ctrl + (l)ist, and after it is selected, hit Ctrl + (p)lay. The macro will perform your inputs exactly as you entered them, so if what you're doing requires precision (i.e. setting labors automatically, designating certain rooms with macros, etc.) remember to put your cursor where it should be for that macro, and with the proper menu selected.

If you want to chain macros together, say for designating a certain number of rooms to be carved out, hit Ctrl + u, then input the number of times you want the macro repeated, followed by Ctrl + p. Oh, and if you want to delete a saved macro, hit ESC, go to key bindings, and delete it from that menu.

Hope this helps!

Thanks! I must confess, I just assumed that rec section (which I only noticed once or twice way back) was some rudimentary way to record...well, video footage to show elsewhere. Hah... So much I don't even know... I mean, today was also the first day that I've ever built a Quern and Press (maybe tomorrow I'll even use them!) despite having captured dozens of megbeasts, mastering the powers of FPS-Tempering & otherwise playing this game on 'n' off over years. I'll give that a go later on for sure, thanks again!
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anewaname

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2018, 09:57:07 pm »

Stupid Elite Marksdwarfs just won't put on their damned gloves or full ammo (according to Dwarf Therapist), so are probably constantly failing at grabbing something or another causing this issue. The melee squad alone only takes 10fps.
The failure to pick up gloves may be a conflict between items in their uniform (for the hand location, you can have gauntlets or gloves but not both, and then can wear mittens over either).

For their ammunition, pause the game and compare what DF and DT says is in one dwarf's quiver. There can only be 25 bolts per quiver and one quiver per dwarf, so if you assign 500 bolts to a 10 dwarf squad, DT may be calculating an expected 50 bolts per dwarf and showing a bolt shortage even when the dwarf has 25 bolts. If you have different ammunition types assigned for Combat and Training, that might be doing something also.
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mobucks

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2018, 01:45:44 am »

I think there is a bit of FPS drain while an active or inactive squad is training. Especially sparring. My advice is not to disable the squad entirely. Just remove their training flag from their assigned barracks. They won't train and will go do other fort stuff, usually hanging out at the bar or temple.

FPS drain is a simple fact of life in DF. It's extremely common for one of my forts to run at 100+ FPS for years and then dwindle. The best defense is to know what you can do pre-embark for the best FPS and then let the cards fall as they may.
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Encrtia

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2018, 07:54:41 am »

Stupid Elite Marksdwarfs just won't put on their damned gloves or full ammo (according to Dwarf Therapist), so are probably constantly failing at grabbing something or another causing this issue. The melee squad alone only takes 10fps.
The failure to pick up gloves may be a conflict between items in their uniform (for the hand location, you can have gauntlets or gloves but not both, and then can wear mittens over either).

For their ammunition, pause the game and compare what DF and DT says is in one dwarf's quiver. There can only be 25 bolts per quiver and one quiver per dwarf, so if you assign 500 bolts to a 10 dwarf squad, DT may be calculating an expected 50 bolts per dwarf and showing a bolt shortage even when the dwarf has 25 bolts. If you have different ammunition types assigned for Combat and Training, that might be doing something also.

Thanks for picking up on that point. I don't believe there's a conflict with wearing clothing as I changed it to "replace clothing". I initially just put them on the default "Leather gear" load-out, which was ambiguous as to which gear they would wear (glove/mitten, shoe/low boot, etc.) but they all would wear 1 or no mittens, 1 or no shoes, and some would wear no leather armour. I fixed the armour one by specifying mail shirts instead, and tried to get anal on the other clothing by specifying "glove" & "low boot". The low boot issue was solved, but the gloves not to so much... They all have the tick next to them (as seen below), as it something's already assigned, but DF Therapist knows better - they're clearly not getting it right. Constantly trying to equip something that's no longer attainable perhaps? Eitherway, that, & their ammunition is set to 250 squad-wise, but 2 dwarfs are missing 10/11 bolts for seemingly no reason. I even changed them to Steel Bolts exclusively, but they won't empty their quivers to use that material.



I want to try to spawn all the gloves (once the ammunition is sorted out... I will probably sell all 3k ammo, including the 2k I made in steel :-X :'( :-X, then see if that might resolve it), but I don't know the DFHack Createitem command for spawning leather gloves. I tried a few variations but haven't figured it out yet. Would you happen to know what it might be?

I think there is a bit of FPS drain while an active or inactive squad is training. Especially sparring. My advice is not to disable the squad entirely. Just remove their training flag from their assigned barracks. They won't train and will go do other fort stuff, usually hanging out at the bar or temple.

FPS drain is a simple fact of life in DF. It's extremely common for one of my forts to run at 100+ FPS for years and then dwindle. The best defense is to know what you can do pre-embark for the best FPS and then let the cards fall as they may.

I just tried disabling training, but they ignored me & carried on. So I removed the barracks where they could train (hehe), still 35-45fps (it's constantly here now T_T but the moment I disband it shoots right up to 90+). I know you say FPS drain is a simple fact, but... well no. I'm sorry, that's simply not acceptable to me. ??? >:( >:( >:( In order to play this game, I've already had to sacrifice so much. I have zero expansion, zero hoarding - essentially I'm a defanged vampire with no more cool abilities, just about able to justify my coolness because I'm at least still a vampire... I.e. my fort at year 1, is the EXACT same as it is now at year 15. (technically same as year 3 when I reached my pop cap, with a change of pet-scenery)

Anyway, before I get woefully passionate there about how I don't accept FPS drain as something to be expected (holds it in... doesn't cry about his i7 being useless...), I've already gone out of my way to maintain perfect FPS. The only problem here, is what I believe to be a bug with the military that's, again I believe, constantly running a check in the background (proposed one theory), that I'm hoping can be unwound or circumvented.

Edit: Oh & actually, in case you're wondering about my FPS struggle, I'll pop in this spoiler of my FPS countering list that I was going to include in an FPS plea for help. Who knows, maybe after year 100 I'll create a post with it... ::)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: January 12, 2018, 12:39:09 pm by Encrtia »
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mobucks

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2018, 11:47:55 am »

Haha you and me play the game almost exactly the same. I'll list a few differences:
Treeless, completely flat embark.
Extremely thin embark, I think mine is 45z total. Only one cavern. <--- This has made a HUGE difference in offsetting FPS death. I can play 4x4 embarks easily now whereas on 150z thick forts the game would start with micro-stutter before even striking the earth.
The entire fort is built on 1 z-level, except for the forges which are dug down to the magma sea, and a cistern that I bucket brigade from the cavern. I don't mess with DFHack liquids because the readme says there are issues with it sometimes.
No individual rooms for non-noble dwarves. They all get 1x1 owned beds stacked and packed together in a pseudo-dormitory.

I'm going to run a test by uncapping my FPS and see if disbanding my squads makes any immediate impact. Will report back.

UPDATE: Start fort, unpause on surface (where I get the worst FPS) and wait for FPS to stabilize: 87 FPS
Disband squad, remove militia commander from noble position. Unpause and wait for fort to stabilize: 87 FPS

Perhaps there is something with your squad's equipment setup that is causing this issue?
« Last Edit: January 12, 2018, 12:06:06 pm by mobucks »
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Encrtia

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #9 on: January 12, 2018, 01:00:13 pm »

Haha you and me play the game almost exactly the same. I'll list a few differences:
Treeless, completely flat embark.
Extremely thin embark, I think mine is 45z total. Only one cavern. <--- This has made a HUGE difference in offsetting FPS death. I can play 4x4 embarks easily now whereas on 150z thick forts the game would start with micro-stutter before even striking the earth.
The entire fort is built on 1 z-level, except for the forges which are dug down to the magma sea, and a cistern that I bucket brigade from the cavern. I don't mess with DFHack liquids because the readme says there are issues with it sometimes.
No individual rooms for non-noble dwarves. They all get 1x1 owned beds stacked and packed together in a pseudo-dormitory.

I'm going to run a test by uncapping my FPS and see if disbanding my squads makes any immediate impact. Will report back.

UPDATE: Start fort, unpause on surface (where I get the worst FPS) and wait for FPS to stabilize: 87 FPS
Disband squad, remove militia commander from noble position. Unpause and wait for fort to stabilize: 87 FPS

Perhaps there is something with your squad's equipment setup that is causing this issue?

Thanks!!! Yes, so there's some sort of bug here as I suspected as opposed to general "fps deathery"... Macro setting up will have to be the way unless I can suss out the issue. Just waiting for my dwarrows to finish naming their gear (lowest is 10% T_T) & max out their Sparring skills before I act.

I really would like to have as few z-levels as possible, but if I remove any cavern layer, the appeal of the game is lost. I want to see as much fauna as possible. This is also why I'm covering two biomes on the surface, both being Savage. When embarking, it goes like this for me:

  • Priority One: Neighbors MUST include Human, Dwarf, Elf, Tower
  • Priority Two: Must be Savage; preferred across multiple biomes
  • Minor Priority: Less Trees, no water, good/desert biome if possible

I would like to know what the fewest z-levels might be to get all 3 caverns though. I don't want to start again, but if (& when *sighs*) I do, that'll be my next tactic to get the upper hand in the eternal war between Playing DF & FPS! And if I go down the truly minimalist route of 1x1 beds, I just feel like I'm losing that war... It may not be apparent, but I've actually fallen from the very high place that I started; being 5x5 embarks, 4x5 bedrooms (not even including nobles), with rivers & dwarf/pet-plosions. Every 5 years those games ended...

I didn't know you could bucket brigade lava.. if I knew that, I'd've done that to the surface! :O Source or explanation, if you may? Never done a brigade before.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2018, 01:01:55 pm by Encrtia »
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mobucks

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #10 on: January 12, 2018, 03:34:33 pm »

Sorry, I meant bucketing water for my hospital cistern/well. The only area of the fort that is not on one z-level is the forges; I dig down to the magma sea for that workshop area.

As for finding shallow embarks, it's just luck to find a shallow one with 3 cavern layers that covers all your requirements. You could spend an entire day on DFHack "prospect all" on the embark screen genning world after world to no avail.
 I'm to the point I don't even consider what metals are available I just bring as much steel and silver bars to use the melt exploit and do metal industry that way.

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Encrtia

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #11 on: January 12, 2018, 03:52:38 pm »

Sorry, I meant bucketing water for my hospital cistern/well. The only area of the fort that is not on one z-level is the forges; I dig down to the magma sea for that workshop area.

As for finding shallow embarks, it's just luck to find a shallow one with 3 cavern layers that covers all your requirements. You could spend an entire day on DFHack "prospect all" on the embark screen genning world after world to no avail.
 I'm to the point I don't even consider what metals are available I just bring as much steel and silver bars to use the melt exploit and do metal industry that way.

Aw man, that's really what I have to look forward to? I still have my search parameters on "Savagery-High, Flux-Yes, Shallow Metals-Multiple, Deep Metals-Multiple" :P

EDIT: So we're clear, it's not the equipment. Just having the military is causing an issue.

So, 35FPS with squads enabled. The second I un-pause from disbanding all squads,100FPS as they strip.

To verify clothing, I assigned a new uniform to every dwarf: Uniform Nude.
But the second I un-paused, they started stripping in 35FPS. What does this mean?!?!  :'( :'( :'(
« Last Edit: January 12, 2018, 04:35:03 pm by Encrtia »
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Quietust

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #12 on: January 13, 2018, 08:25:31 am »

I want to try to spawn all the gloves (once the ammunition is sorted out... I will probably sell all 3k ammo, including the 2k I made in steel :-X :'( :-X, then see if that might resolve it), but I don't know the DFHack Createitem command for spawning leather gloves. I tried a few variations but haven't figured it out yet. Would you happen to know what it might be?
What you're looking for is this:
Code: [Select]
createitem GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GLOVES CREATURE_MAT:creature_id:LEATHERReplace "creature_id" with the creature ID (e.g. "COW", "DONKEY", "BIRD_TURKEY", etc.) representing what kind of leather from which you want the gloves to be made.
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Encrtia

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Re: How can I temporarily disable a squad?
« Reply #13 on: January 13, 2018, 08:36:19 am »

I want to try to spawn all the gloves (once the ammunition is sorted out... I will probably sell all 3k ammo, including the 2k I made in steel :-X :'( :-X, then see if that might resolve it), but I don't know the DFHack Createitem command for spawning leather gloves. I tried a few variations but haven't figured it out yet. Would you happen to know what it might be?
What you're looking for is this:
Code: [Select]
createitem GLOVES:ITEM_GLOVES_GLOVES CREATURE_MAT:creature_id:LEATHERReplace "creature_id" with the creature ID (e.g. "COW", "DONKEY", "BIRD_TURKEY", etc.) representing what kind of leather from which you want the gloves to be made.

Thanks! Much appreciated!
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