Does anyone else feel like the default FPS is kind of slow?

I struggle with this sometimes because it feels to me like the base animation speed is slow, even sluggish at times...but then the speed +1 notch is often too fast for me, and I end up stupidly stepping on traps or dying to other things. It would be really great if there was one more level in between 0 and 1-- just enough to not feel slow but not too much to be too fast.

 

Agreed, in bigger combats several seconds go by between each move - and while it may sounds like very little, you easily have 5 mins of pure waiting time in a monster zoo. At the same time, the default notch up in speed you can do almost always makes me do double walks and set off traps

 

i am glad i'm not the only person. i figured it must have been my terrible computer acting up or something.

 

It is extremely slow.

 

If they are speaking of the things I think of, it is in all versions I have tried. Including 1.09, 1.09RevB, 1.0.10RC5, RC7, RC8, and RC9. (I never tried RC6 since it was hours apart from RC7.)

I do not define the slowdowns as FPS drops. They are more like too many things being done at once relying upon timed animations to run their coarse. Drop a rift in a full zoo and you will certainly see one. It may be a solid minute before you can move after that.

 

I've noticed that it is slightly better in the 1.0.10 RC patches (assuming that past slowdown was my computer being crappy and the patch making the game more efficient), but it's still pretty slow now. I think it is just the animations.

 

The increased risk of traps on +1 speed seems fair. If I played on normal speed I don't think I'd ever need more than the starting 1.

 

Its in the default Steam build but its not a framerate drop - its waiting for the tons of units to run their movement animations. The worst are dragons but others are pretty bad as well

 

No, it's really dumb. Playing the game at a faster frame rate doesn't give you an in-game advantage, it just gives you a real world advantage of not having to sit doing nothing as long. Since there's no in game advantage, there shouldn't be an in game penalty.

I support the idea of having a middle ground in FPS boosting.

Or possibly the option to turn off walk/battle animations, but that's kinda extreme and not really needed anywhere but monster zoos.

 

I'm not saying it's a fair trade.

I'm just pointing out that the only time I ever step on traps is in +1 speed. That seems fair and makes getting more than 1-2 actually worthwhile.

 

I would prefer a standard 1 seconds animation per unit max, with special cases in monster zoos where only the closest 5x5 squares played animations since that is, realistically, the main focus for the player anyway. Alternatively, making a small change in zoos so that they do not show the entire room of animations but only according to normal visions.

Also, the biggest animation time hogs are really only dragons and witch docters in my oppinion - the rest is neglible in comparison. Still, having Promethean Magic, summoning the dragon and letting it fight 5 monsters at the same time should give a very good idea of the problem.

 

Speaking of the dragon, anyone else notice how it's got a tendency to just sit there and let things hit it without even attempting to attack half the time? It can't be due to a personal mana stockpile or anything, because the bugger's done this repeatedly when I'd just summoned him. Possibly related is the fact that he's got a tendency to just wander off when there are monsters RIGHT NEXT TO HIM that he is supposed to be blocking from reaching you.

Also, make the golemancy pets more powerful, atm they cost more mana than the dragon and accomplish less.

...in order to stay at least vaguely on topic: I'm glad to hear that the animations are going to be shortened; monster zoos do indeed take some time. I tend to clear 90% of them within 15-20 turns, which takes me about ten minutes per zoo.

 

May I suggest that, if possible in the engine naturally, that if more than 10 monsters are visible at any one time, monsters move 5 at a time instead of just 1. I know it screws up combat resolution a little bit but I doubt it will make much of a difference to players if they get killed by diggle#21 or diggle#45. resolving more moves at the same time will reduce the waiting time for animations quite a bit without hurting the way they look.

 

Personally I think adding a toggle to the UI to completely disable animations would resolve 100% of the complaints in this thread. And it would probably be the easiest way by far.

DoD is a Roguelike. As such it need not have graphics at all. It does, and they look good. But animations in a Roguelike?!?! Them's Fighten Words.

I know such a thing will make the graphics makers cry for wasted effort. And I am sorry for that. But I and many others do not play the game to see colorful sprites and such.

That reminds me... Does anyone know what "Colorblind Mode" does? It looks identical to me. Is this a broken feature that does not matter?

 

I have to agree with that OmniNegro, although I would only want to turn them off for zoos, or for the Promethean summon. I think just adding more animation speed options would fix most of the problems as well.. one "+" is far to much for me.

 

Taking it a step further...what if there was an option set by the user to literally cut out every other, or every third, or every fourth frame from all animations? (I don't know if this would be too complex to finnagle though)

 

Okay. I must have a magical computer, because I really have never used that speed up function, because the game never lags for me. Except for when it autosaves. And going to the next floor.

I've never had an animation based lag like people here have explained.
Unless I'm missing something, I really don't get it.
How do you all have these graphical issues, and I don't? On a 3 year old computer that is almost a relic from an ancient civilization.
Seriously, I don't get it at all.
The game runs smooth as silk, except for those lag spikes.
I mean, I can't figure this out. What gives. This problem people have completely baffles me, because I don't understand it. And my computer sucks.
I mean, I could understand it, if you all had computers that were older than mine, and would struggle to run Doom 3......but I doubt you do.

I have tested the +1 speed because I was curious to see how it works, but it made the animations and everything go by a lot faster than I could care for.