Angband 3.32 Slow/Laggy

[Ruin_Christmas]

First of all, hello. I last played Angband & Zangband between 1997-2004. I occasionally posted in newsgroups and used Thangodorim (sp) as a reference, but I'm new here. I really like the changes to the game in the intervening 10 years. My favorite is how item management has become so much saner with quivers/auto-squelch.

My problem is that the game (3.32) is running very slowly. It gets slower as I play. It lags when I am in a room with a group of monsters surrounding me. I might have to wait 15-30 sec between keypresses to see what happens next. Tunnelling starts at about 10 tunnels/second when I begin, and slows to about 1 per second (on the counter) after about 30 minutes of play.

My computer is a netbook running Lubuntu. I have 2 GB memory. Not sure about the processor, but it has to be light years faster than the machines I played on 10-15 years ago. No other applications run in this slow manner (within reason - I don't run Photoshop etc) .

So anyone have any ideas? I searched for Lag but couldn't find anything in the forums. Any further information that would help, I'd be happy to provide.

Hope to be active here and make new friends/learn about new variants. Thank you for your help!

[Nick]

You could try turning various options on and off and seeing if it makes a difference, or (more work) try different versions and see if that makes a difference. It sounds a bit like a memory issue - was your version compiled in any different way to usual? Did you compile it, or install from a package (via the Ububtu software centre or whatever) ?

Sorry, not very helpful here. Other people would know more about specific potential problems with 3.3.2.

[Ruin_Christmas]

What type of options should I try?

I used this version on my parents' Win 7 computer and it worked fine.

I did not compile it, I got it from Ubuntu Software Center (I use GTK version)

[Nick]

I did not compile it, I got it from Ubuntu Software Center (I use GTK version)

OK, this might be the problem - the GTK version had some issues (and has been discontinued now).

I believe you should be able to make the SDL version work from the Ubuntu package (I don't have a working Ubuntu currently, but someone who has may be able to confirm), and I would recommend that, or x11 if you can't get SDL to work.

[AnonymousHero]

Do note that screen refreshes in the X11 version can also be quite laggy (with certain drivers), though nowhere as laggy as what you're describing.

[Derakon]

Given that it gets worse as you play, it practically has to be some kind of resource buildup issue, and that almost always means a memory leak. I concur with Nick.

[Ruin_Christmas]

solutions

Thanks for the tips. I will try SDL then X11. How do I get graphics mode? Can I still have a window open showing messages? I'm assuming that to load a game i just need to move my savefile into the appropriate folder?

[Ruin_Christmas]

When I try SDL I found the graphics options but could not figure out how to load my game - it seems to use the same save folder as GTK? Additionally it only displays on 1/4 of the screen - given that I have a netbook, this is about the size of a deck of cards!

on X11 i didn't see how to get graphics or any option to load game.

[Nick]

For SDL, in a terminal type

angband -msdl -uXXX

to load savefile XXX. You can then choose graphics modes from options tab. To cnahge the size just drag the corner (or choose fullscreen from the option menu); if you're really stuck, you can edit $HOME/.angband/Angband/sdlinit.txt (which has all the window and subwindow sizes in pixels) directly.

For x11, it's

angband -mx11 -uXXX -- -nN

for savefile XXX with N windows; you can't get graphics with x11.

[Magnate]

For SDL, in a terminal type

angband -msdl -uXXX

to load savefile XXX. You can then choose graphics modes from options tab. To cnahge the size just drag the corner (or choose fullscreen from the option menu); if you're really stuck, you can edit $HOME/.angband/Angband/sdlinit.txt (which has all the window and subwindow sizes in pixels) directly.

For x11, it's

angband -mx11 -uXXX -- -nN

for savefile XXX with N windows; you can't get graphics with x11.

Note that the -u switch assumes that savefiles are actually named UID.XXX where UID is your UID on the system (usually 1000 on a standard single-user linux install).

[Ruin_Christmas]

still having problems loading

Opened a terminal window and typed:

angband -msdl -u1000.Ruin117994.new

which was the name of my savefile. But it loaded up a new game. So I changed the name of the savefile to "1000.Ruin"

and tried:

angband -msdl -u1000.Ruin

and:

angband -msdl -u1000

but still it brought up the create a new character dialog.

Thanks for the help and sorry if I'm being very dense.

[Magnate]

Opened a terminal window and typed:

angband -msdl -u1000.Ruin117994.new

which was the name of my savefile. But it loaded up a new game. So I changed the name of the savefile to "1000.Ruin"

and tried:

angband -msdl -u1000.Ruin

and:

angband -msdl -u1000

but still it brought up the create a new character dialog.

Thanks for the help and sorry if I'm being very dense.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. The UID is assumed. You need

angband -msdl -uRuin

[Ruin_Christmas]

woot

that did the trick, thanks! I'll fool with the windows/graphics to get them the way I like them and then try digging some tunnels tonight.

your patience is much appreciated!!