Dwarf Fortress adds experimental multithreading support

In this release, we’re updating the engine from SDL to SDL2, and there are many optimizations to go along with it. Aside from the optimizations, SDL2 is also the stepping stone to ports. We have Linux compiling and playable; it just needs some testing.

Moreover, there is now a(n experimental) multithreading option in the game settings that makes the game even faster!

We also have some new individual tree graphics, and an update to grass ramps as well.

This has been mostly the hard work of Putnam! Meanwhile I’ve started up on adventure mode - the long work of updating menus and adding audio has begun! Hopefully we’ll have some progress to show their soon, as we continue updating fortress mode as well.

SuiXi3D,
@SuiXi3D@kbin.social avatar

Great, do Rimworld next.

LoafyLemon,

Rimworld already utilises multithreading.

greenskye,

Yep. Multithreading isn't a magic fix for these really complex games. At the end of the day some stuff just has to happen in order.

Hellebert, (edited )

Putnam has been such a huge blessing to this game since they took him them on.

With a Linux port I might have to install it again too. Ugh my sleep.

Edit: I was an idiot.

Tarte, (edited )
@Tarte@kbin.social avatar

Fully agreed! It's 'took her on', though.

It's just insane how competent some people are. Here's an interesting interview from 5 month ago.

Hellebert,

I learnt something new today.

apotheotic,
@apotheotic@kbin.social avatar

It absolutely does matter - male default needs to stop!

Hellebert,

I didn't use male as the default, I had just seen various forum posts over the years referring to Putnam as him and assumed that was correct. Of cause I assumed wrong.

apotheotic,
@apotheotic@kbin.social avatar

Oh sure - I'm not calling you out or anything. But somewhere along the line the people whose forum posts you were reading had made the male default assumption, and it stuck with you! Not your fault that someone else made that assumption.

Hellebert,

All good - I should have been more mindful and probably used gender neutral language instead.

Tarte,
@Tarte@kbin.social avatar

In case someone is wondering about your response: My comment originally included the phrase "Not that it matters, [...]", but I immediately edited my comment after I posted it, because I agree with your sentiment. You were faster than me.

Dragonseel,

Wow. That is a cool. My limited experience working with single-threaded game-stuff tells me it is exceptionally hard to port stuff that is written without threading in mind, to multi-threading. Getting the behavior to stay the same while still actually getting better performance requires some really deep insight into how stuff works in the program. On a (program-)global scale. Mad respect if it works out. This should make huge maps or huge fortresses possible.

I haven’t yet played the steam version (it is on my todo-list though), but sank quite some hours into the “legacy” version. It can become laggy if you play on big maps with a lot of dwarfs/critters etc on it. I am excited to have even more stuff possible in this already very complex and huge game.

gabo2007,

I hope this means the Mac version is coming soon!

BaroqueInMind,
@BaroqueInMind@kbin.social avatar

This has been a decade too late for me, but I'm still excited to play again once Adventure Mode is up to speed.

Sordid,
@Sordid@beehaw.org avatar

a decade too late

It's amazing how quickly important performance and QoL features get development priority once there's money on the table, isn't it?

Not that I'm complaining. I tried DF multiple times over the years and always bounced off, it's the mouse-driven interface that's made the game playable for me. Multithreading is great to see too. I'm excited to see what the future of DF holds.

tochee,

Super excited about this as the game runs like shit on my laptop and there’s a long running issue of fortresses becoming unplayable at high populations. Anyone tried it out?

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