Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Discuss Daggerfall Unity and Daggerfall Tools for Unity.
Sabudum
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Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Sabudum »

Hello people, i'm new to this forum and to Daggerfall Unity, the project is amazing and has the best features ever.
However, i have a very low-end machine and it has horrible performance, in fact it is unplayable, it's not even that low-end, it's a Core 2 Duo 2.66 with a Geforce 9500 GT on it, it runs Unreal Engine with no problem at around 70 fps, so it should run Daggerfall Unity at a reasonable FPS with no mods, turns out, it doesn't.

So my question is: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized to run better on low-end machines?

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Hazelnut
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Re: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Hazelnut »

We're already doing some optimisation, but it's not focussed on very low spec machines. Which release did you try on your core2duo? Most of the focus of optimisation is in areas where the FPS drops on transitions etc. If your machine is having issues with FPS when simply walking around after everything has been loaded and generated then you may have to drop draw distance, resolution, turn off shadows etc to get acceptable performance. Let us know how you get on.

Just for the record I'm able to play okay on a recent i5 based laptop just using the integrated gfx, although it's a bit sluggish.
See my mod code for examples of how to change various aspects of DFU: https://github.com/ajrb/dfunity-mods

Sabudum
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Re: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Sabudum »

Thanks for you answer.
I tried running the pre-alpha 0.7.32, which is the latest, and having issues just walking around with the graphics at minimum, and resolution at 800x600, to resemble the original game as close as possible, yet, fps is around 18.

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Hazelnut
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Re: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Hazelnut »

Have you gone into settings->advanced->video? I suggest switching off shadows, turn down all sliders and set terrain distance to 1. Also try use legacy deferred, I have no idea what it does but I vaguely recall it's useful on old gfx hardware. Also turn off mod system and asset injection on enhancements tab. Beyond that I have nothing to suggest. Unfortunately I just threw out my old C2D machine with an 8800gtx since it had been sitting in a cupboard gathering dust without a power supply or hard disk for a year or so.
See my mod code for examples of how to change various aspects of DFU: https://github.com/ajrb/dfunity-mods

Sabudum
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Re: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Sabudum »

Cool, i'll try your suggestions, thanks for your tips! The legacy deferred (if i'm not mistaken) takes into account only the lights that are overlapping the object that is being lit, not all lights in the scene, so that improves performance by a huge amount.

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Interkarma
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Re: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Interkarma »

Welcome to the forums. :)

Minimum specs for Daggerfall Unity are roughly an Ivy Bridge i3 from 2012 and a GeForce 660 from around the same time.

Following are some settings that might help improve performance. You'll find these in Advanced > Video at startup.
  • Lower terrain distance to 1.
  • Disable interior and dungeon shadows.
  • Set resolution to 1280x720 (or similar depending on your monitor's aspect ratio).
  • Set quality level between Fastest and Good.
  • Try with legacy deferred and see if that helps.
I would also recommend enabling Smaller Dungeons as an optimisation, as it will reduce load times and give your system less work to do when loading and rendering dungeons. And of course, avoid any mods outside of the most lightweight ones like quest packs and scripting mods.

Good luck! Let us know how you get on. :)

Sabudum
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Re: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Sabudum »

Thanks! i tried with the legacy deferred, but didn't make any difference, i am not using any mods whatsoever, is there any way to have the exact same look as the original game, with that lighting effect, and not demanding more from the machine than the original game?

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Jay_H
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Re: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Jay_H »

Interkarma posted instructions on making Daggerfall into "retro mode," albeit for an older build: viewtopic.php?t=881#p10765. That's how to make the game look extremely classic.

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Interkarma
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Re: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Interkarma »

Part of the Daggerfall Unity mission is to create a scaffold for future mods. To that end, everything is rendered with modern shaders and realtime lighting solutions, and will require a somewhat newer computer to play successfully. For absolutely minimal system requirements, DOSBox and classic Daggerfall are still there as the best solution. There's no need to target that range when its already being served so effectively.

Unmodded Daggerfall Unity runs quite well on a modestly capable gaming PC from 2012. That's approaching a 7-year hardware history and would be in the range of what I consider very low end. The 9500 GT was launched in mid-2008, which places your hardware level at almost 11 years old. That's roughly as close to 1996 Daggerfall as it is to now, and well below the minimum spec, I'm sorry. :(

With that said, keep in mind that Daggerfall Unity is open source. There's nothing stopping someone from forking the project and re-engineering some parts with a minimalist approach. Switching to forward rendering and lightweight shaders (that don't support graphical mods) is always a possibility.

Narf the Mouse
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Re: Will Daggerfall Unity be optimized for very low-end machines?

Post by Narf the Mouse »

I've recently been informed that turning off interior shadows can result in a large performance increase. :)
Previous experience tells me it's very easy to misunderstand the tone, intent, or meaning of what I've posted. If you have questions, ask.

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