# Game moving awfully slow

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308>\
**Category:** The Garage\
**Created:** [March 5, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308 "2014-03-05T23:27:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FunsizeNinja123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/funsizeninja123/32/118_2.png) [@FunsizeNinja123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FunsizeNinja123)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/1 "2014-03-05T23:27:57Z")

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As of 0.A-259-ga33ee4f, the game moves slow. What I mean is, that one key press takes a few seconds to register. Multiple key presses result in moving in one lower than the number of key presses.

I’ve tried just playing Cata, nothing else open. Not working.

Menus work just fine though.

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**Author:** ![Ronin1791](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@Ronin1791](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Ronin1791)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 2:44pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/2 "2014-03-06T14:44:33Z")

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I’m getting the exact same problem.

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**Author:** ![FunsizeNinja123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/funsizeninja123/32/118_2.png) [@FunsizeNinja123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FunsizeNinja123)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/3 "2014-03-06T21:28:36Z")

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Aghh… It’s still doing it.

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**Author:** ![i2amroy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/i2amroy/32/909_2.png) [@i2amroy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/i2amroy)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/4 "2014-03-06T21:32:44Z")

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Tiles or Curses? What OS?

I can’t seem to replicate this.

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**Author:** ![FunsizeNinja123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/funsizeninja123/32/118_2.png) [@FunsizeNinja123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FunsizeNinja123)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 9:39pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/5 "2014-03-06T21:39:39Z")

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Tiles on windows 7. I think it has to do with large viewports for the game.

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**Author:** ![FrankyPlaysGames](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/frankyplaysgames/32/32_2.png) [@FrankyPlaysGames](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FrankyPlaysGames)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/6 "2014-03-06T23:11:13Z")

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> [@FunsizeNinja123](#):
>
> Tiles on windows 7. I think it has to do with large viewports for the game.

I agree, I am running the game on full screen 1920 pixels by 1088, using Windows 7.  
Pressing a key will result in a quick flash in game showing hashtags on the black borders along the side, for less than a second. Also moving a square and then pressing “s” to save the game will revert my character back to the space before I moved. Loading the save game places me to the space I had originally moved to, however.

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**Author:** ![FrankyPlaysGames](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/frankyplaysgames/32/32_2.png) [@FrankyPlaysGames](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FrankyPlaysGames)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/7 "2014-03-07T00:04:30Z")

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Actually, pressing any key will revert my character back to the past space. Examine, save, drop, grab, smash nearly everything.

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**Author:** ![Zireael](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/zireael/32/956_2.png) [@Zireael](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Zireael)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2014, 11:10am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/8 "2014-03-09T11:10:42Z")

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I didn’t have any slowness problems in 0.A, but they are back with a vengeance in the experimentals.

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**Author:** ![Zireael](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/zireael/32/956_2.png) [@Zireael](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Zireael)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 8:19am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/9 "2014-03-10T08:19:51Z")

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I saw mentions on git that slowness might be related to viewport dimensions. Is it true?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FrankyPlaysGames](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/frankyplaysgames/32/32_2.png) [@FrankyPlaysGames](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FrankyPlaysGames)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 6:52am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/10 "2014-03-11T06:52:36Z")

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I don’t think so, it happened to me with a 16x9 viewport, and the same with the default.

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**Author:** ![Crador](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Crador](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Crador)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 7:19am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/11 "2014-03-11T07:19:07Z")

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Windows 7 (x86)  
Windows Tiles build ver. 0.A-559-g512efdd

Had to delete LANG folder (game thinks i am russian and CDDA have no RU translation, nor i want it to).  
Had to download those 3 DLL’s (SDL2?) from this forum, otherwise game wasn’t loading.

Any size of window (from default to 158\*61), any type of tilesets, even with tiles turned off - it takes around 100-500 ms for the game to register any keypress. Everything “lags” after a command:

- typing name of item in any menu (like sorting inventory in AIS);
- moving around;
- opening any menues;
- shooting, fighting, etc.

Have same problems with all 0.A builds, including initial “stable” one.  
All 0.9’s, including all experimentals, works good without mentioned troubles.

P.S. This lag is especially noticable when trying to move cursor on the big map. Takes around 1000-1500 ms between keystroke and the actual move.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FunsizeNinja123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/funsizeninja123/32/118_2.png) [@FunsizeNinja123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FunsizeNinja123)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/12 "2014-03-11T13:13:39Z")

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Dang Crador, that’s a nice bug report.

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**Author:** ![D11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/47e85d/32.png) [@D11](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/D11)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/13 "2014-03-11T15:49:55Z")

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I, too, seem to be having this problem since the migration to SDL2. It seems to get worse the more tiles are drawn on screen. The easiest way to see that is to use the zoom function—when zoomed all the way out, each step can take 3-4 seconds.

Curses runs smooth as butter, and [profiling with Valgrind seems to confirm](http://i.imgur.com/A9H5eSU.png) that drawing is what causes the game to choke up with tiles. In fact, cataclysm-tiles with tiles turned off is still much slower than similar sized curses window. Tiles chokes up both when I download it from Jenkins, and when I build it myself (with or without the release flag, in 32 and 64).

I’m not sure whether this is something wrong with Cata or with my SDL2 installation and some other thing on my system. I’m running this on a laptop with a built-in Intel graphics chipset, so it’s not exactly the greatest graphics hardware, but it handled pre-SDL2 Cata versions with no complaints. One caveat: I’m running Linux, Ubuntu 13.10. 13.10 doesn’t have libsdl2-ttf in the official repos, and other parts of libsdl2 seem to be older than the latest stable: 2.0.0, while latest is 2.0.2. I guess because of that, [tiles don’t work right for me with those libs installed](http://i.imgur.com/FZ9JdUP.png) (that’s a screenshot with tiles enabled, and it shows a large, non-refreshing stripe down the middle, and no tiles).

I also found an Ubuntu PPA with snapshots of libsdl2 (so newer, but unstable). With these, I can actually get tiles to show up, but I do get the slowdowns. So, really, I’m inclined to believe the fault is here on my end, except for the fact that others seem to be experiencing the same things on Windows with (presumably) release SDL 2.0.2. I might try to build 2.0.2 myself next, and see if it ends up working any better. I’d also appreciate hearing from anyone else, who’s running experimental builds on Ubuntu.

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**Author:** ![CIB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/cib/32/903_2.png) [@CIB](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CIB)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/14 "2014-03-11T18:10:36Z")

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> [@D\_](#):
>
> II’m running this on a laptop with a built-in Intel graphics chipset, so it’s not exactly the greatest graphics hardware, but it handled pre-SDL2 Cata versions with no complaints.

That’s it, really. The person switching to SDL2 _also_ switched to a GPU-based drawing API.

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**Author:** ![Zireael](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/zireael/32/956_2.png) [@Zireael](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Zireael)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/15 "2014-03-11T18:46:38Z")

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In my case, decreasing the viewport dimensions slightly (I used to play with 120x50, now it’s 100x40) helped, the lag’s still there, but not as noticeable.

My laptop’s also running on a built-in Intel graphics card and I had no problems before the SDL2 (and GPU-based drawing) switch.

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**Author:** ![CIB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/cib/32/903_2.png) [@CIB](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CIB)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/16 "2014-03-11T21:01:00Z")

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If you can compile, try this branch please: [https://github.com/CIB/Cataclysm-DDA/tree/sdlfast](https://github.com/CIB/Cataclysm-DDA/tree/sdlfast)

It forces the game to use software rendering mode. This might speed things up for you if you don’t have a beefy GPU.

If that helps, can consider making it a graphics option.

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**Author:** ![kevin.granade](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kevin.granade/32/1316_2.png) [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/17 "2014-03-12T05:01:07Z")

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Confirmed here and merged, software rendering is significantly faster on my system. It’s still going to need some extra work though, it’s still a bit slower than on 1.2 I think.

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**Author:** ![Crador](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Crador](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Crador)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 7:23am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/18 "2014-03-12T07:23:44Z")

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Current “windows tiles” experimental (0.A-643) adds an option to turn Software rendering on.  
It works faster on my PC with integrated graphics. But it brought troubles with some tilesets like Tsu’s and Waldo’s 24 - the only two i see sense using (others are either unusable or not different from ASCII, imho).

![](http://i59.tinypic.com/ji1ab4.png)  
  ![](http://i58.tinypic.com/ohol69.png)  
Also, 3 DLL’s you need to launch windows tiles client are not in build yet.

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**Author:** ![CIB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/cib/32/903_2.png) [@CIB](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CIB)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 8:12am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/game-moving-awfully-slow/5308/19 "2014-03-12T08:12:02Z")

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The graphical glitches are a result of issues with rotation. It can probably be hackfixed, but I’m not sure how exactly.