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?

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You can't help growing old. You can help growing up... "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

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.

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OXPs by Norby

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!

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You can't help growing old. You can help growing up... "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

Get off my lawn!

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The only good fnord is a dead fnord!

Why, I ought'a...!

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You can't help growing old. You can help growing up... "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

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

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The only good fnord is a dead fnord!

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

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Arthur: OK. Leave this to me. I'm British. I know how to queue.
OR i could go with
Arthur Dent: I always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.
or simply
42

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).

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

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The only good fnord is a dead fnord!

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


(happy birthday, btw)

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Most games have some sort of paddling-pool-and-water-wings beginning to ease you in: Oolite takes the rather more Darwinian approach of heaving you straight into the ocean, often with a brick or two in your pockets for luck. ~ Disembodied

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

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Most games have some sort of paddling-pool-and-water-wings beginning to ease you in: Oolite takes the rather more Darwinian approach of heaving you straight into the ocean, often with a brick or two in your pockets for luck. ~ Disembodied

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

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The only good fnord is a dead fnord!

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.

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

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The only good fnord is a dead fnord!

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

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Most games have some sort of paddling-pool-and-water-wings beginning to ease you in: Oolite takes the rather more Darwinian approach of heaving you straight into the ocean, often with a brick or two in your pockets for luck. ~ Disembodied