Alneyan
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 622
Registered: 07-06-2004
IP: Logged

DROD has followed me on more than a few computers over the past few years, but I have seen only now that it plays a good deal better than most other games I know of, and that isn't including any heavy-3D game. I wonder if other people are in that boat where DROD's light use of system resources is a significant asset.

The first obvious point in DROD's favour is its availability on multiple operating systems, with some more porting being feasible (granted, not *that* straightforward, but still). Beyond that, DROD doesn't seem to require that much CPU time (rooms with a bunch of monsters, serpents particularly, would be the exception here), and can get by while struggling for memory. DROD runs pretty well on my sister's computer, though she only has a 700 mhz Duron CPU, 256 mb of ram, and Windows XP. Even with her beloved Firebird and a few other programs idling around, DROD runs fairly well without causing a massive swap blackhole (of course, her computer is pretty fast in absolute terms, but that would be another matter altogether).

On my own computer, I particularly like DROD since it does not rely on the graphic card much (the game might benefit from having a fully functional graphic card around, though). As long as Alpha blending is turn off, I have no problem playing DROD while using the Nv drivers, though these drivers are not *exactly* the pinnacle of modern technology. In a similar setup, Dominions barely fires up and is hardly playable at all, even when using up as much processing time as it can... and that was with all fancy effects turned off, without going anywhere near a 3D battle.

I guess I should cross my fingers so that The City Beneath will be as playable as Rooted Hold, with such features as Alpha blending staying optional. That, or prepare to boldly go where angels fear to tread, in the land of Mordor where computers die.

gamer_extreme_101
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1939
Registered: 03-07-2004
IP: Logged

Well, I fiddled with JtRH back when it first came out in 2005 and ran it at various speeds on my old computer. I remember my amazement when I hit the lowest speed possible for my CPU (200mhz at the time with only 64MB of RAM and an 8MB videocard on Win2K) and the game still ran fine. It was ugly when slow, as you could only average about 3-4 mps (0.5-1 mps while invisible), but that was still with alpha blending on, IIRC.

I should dig around for that email...I remember sending a log of every speed and memory increment I hit.

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--That guy with a million different aliases since he doesn't like this name anymore.

Stefan
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2119
Registered: 05-25-2004
IP: Logged

When my computer broke last year, I played JtRH for a couple of months on a 10-year-old Pentium 200MHz with 64MB RAM and a 4MB (or was it 8MB) graphics card (running WIN98SE). It took a while to get it running (if the dats were large), but after that it was perfectly playable (with alpha blending turned off and running fullscreen). Also, around that time, Mike made some speed improvements that really boosted the overall performance.

So yeah, DROD definitely doesn't need a very new computer, or a fast one.

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