Page 1 of 1

Need Help!

Posted: 23 Oct 2009, 11:31
by Viktor87
Hey, I have a couple questions-

1. I noticed when I look at widget list (f11) some are turned on and others off. How do I access this list outside of the game and/or keep some on or off permanently?

2. How do I get rid of UI windows I don't like? For example, I find that the latest (test) version UI blocks a lot of my view.

3. Are there persistent formations in CA? Unit squares, double lines, circles, anything like that? If so, how do I toggle them?

3. For me, the latest stable version runs decently, but with recent test versions I get unplayable lag even in 1v1 with bots. Anyone else having similar issues? Is this a typical problem for a test version and can I expect the next stable to run just as smoothly as the current one, or will I probably also have problems? If so, what can I do?

Thank you in advance for any and all advice I might get!

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 23 Oct 2009, 12:00
by SirMaverick
Viktor87 wrote:1. I noticed when I look at widget list (f11) some are turned on and others off. How do I access this list outside of the game and/or keep some on or off permanently?
LuaUI/Config/CA_order.lua - set the number after the widget to 0, same effect as disabling the widget in game.
2. How do I get rid of UI windows I don't like? For example, I find that the latest (test) version UI blocks a lot of my view.
Disable the corresponding widget. If you don't know which it is, post a screen shot and we can tell you what widget it is (but most widgets have descriptive names).
3. Are there persistent formations in CA? Unit squares, double lines, circles, anything like that? If so, how do I toggle them?
No. You can only use custom formations and use ctrl + move command to move in formation at same speed.
For me, the latest stable version runs decently, but with recent test versions I get unplayable lag even in 1v1 with bots. Anyone else having similar issues? Is this a typical problem for a test version and can I expect the next stable to run just as smoothly as the current one, or will I probably also have problems?
It's unlikely that the problem goes away with no one fixing it. But at the moment I' not aware of specific lag problems with test version.
If so, what can I do?
Provide info how to reproduce this lag. More specific in what situations? Post script.txt/infolog/replays when this happens.

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 23 Oct 2009, 17:11
by CarRepairer
SirMaverick wrote:
For me, the latest stable version runs decently, but with recent test versions I get unplayable lag even in 1v1 with bots. Anyone else having similar issues? Is this a typical problem for a test version and can I expect the next stable to run just as smoothly as the current one, or will I probably also have problems?
It's unlikely that the problem goes away with no one fixing it. But at the moment I' not aware of specific lag problems with test version.
If so, what can I do?
Provide info how to reproduce this lag. More specific in what situations? Post script.txt/infolog/replays when this happens.
If you're playing hard chickens, maybe it's the number of chickens that is lagging you. Did you test the exact same conditions in test vs. stable? Also please tell us your computer specs in addition to what SirMaverick requested.

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 23 Oct 2009, 21:35
by Viktor87
Ok, so my computer is fairly old, 1.7 Ghz, Radeon 9600 graphics card (yes ATI I know), pretty good RAM, actually- 1.5 Gb. These are the basics.
So I can play stable version against 1 or even 2 bots on Tabula v.2, RAI AI, and don't get any significant lag the entire game. I put my graphics down to fairly low, run in 24 bit mode with Lua shaders and pixelbuffer objects turned off, as well as texture compression, clouds, and antialiasing. Most quality settings are low.
Same conditions with test version, all the same settings, 1 RAI bot (I mention AI type because I noticed some tend to lag me up more than others), and about 5 minutes into the game I start experiencing some noticeable lag, once the unit and building count on both sides increases. This becomes progressively worse, until a battle occurs, and then the lag becomes so bad I basically don't even know what is happening on the screen, let alone have any ability to control units.
But at the same time I don't really know how to isolate the specific moment or development that triggers more lag. It seems very incremental and dependent basically on the number of things happening in-game. Again, I must stress that I have been experiencing this with every test version since stable- stable still runs quite well.

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 23 Oct 2009, 22:21
by Pxtl
Turn off the LUPS (Lua Particle System) widget in the F11 menu. Somebody's been playing with this thing in the test version and it makes my system crawl, too.

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 23 Oct 2009, 22:27
by CarRepairer
Pxtl wrote:Turn off the LUPS (Lua Particle System) widget in the F11 menu. Somebody's been playing with this thing in the test version and it makes my system crawl, too.
If he has lua shaders off then lups is not operational anyway. Still a mystery to me.

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 23 Oct 2009, 23:10
by Viktor87
"Turn off the LUPS (Lua Particle System) widget in the F11 menu. Somebody's been playing with this thing in the test version and it makes my system crawl, too."

But again, is this test version issue going to be resolved in the future?

In any case, is there anything else I can do/report to get more information on the problem? I'd really like to be able to play future versions of CA but as it is it seems I will be stuck with the current stable for eternity. :(

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 24 Oct 2009, 10:25
by Saktoth
Test is test, it has bugs, thats why its test.

Sometimes these creep into the stable version too, but if you report them and help us track them down, we will fix them.

Try doing a stress test. Type /cheat /nc and just spam a bunch of units.
On the behalf of CarRepairer: /nc no longer exists. Use /nocost.

If you've only played one game in test, it might be a specific unit or something the AI did. Hell, it might just be the AI spazzing and breaking for that one game.

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 24 Oct 2009, 13:50
by Viktor87
Well, no, it's not just one game. I've tried the same basic setup a number of times on many different maps. No matter what I do, lag with test version becomes unbearable.
A stress test sounds like a plan. How do I report what happens? I assume there is some log file somewhere... maybe I should post that?

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 24 Oct 2009, 23:09
by CarRepairer
Saktoth wrote:Test is test, it has bugs, thats why its test.

Sometimes these creep into the stable version too, but if you report them and help us track them down, we will fix them.

Try doing a stress test. Type /cheat /nc and just spam a bunch of units.
Correction: /nc no longer exists. Use /nocost.
Saktoth wrote:If you've only played one game in test, it might be a specific unit or something the AI did. Hell, it might just be the AI spazzing and breaking for that one game.
I wonder if it's shield spam. That hurts everyone.

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 25 Oct 2009, 01:52
by Viktor87
No, it's not shields- this happens before anyone has them. Or cloaking devices for that matter.
I did some more testing and I am starting to think it is related to the new GUI- I deleted chiliGUI from the widget list and the lag, while not disappearing, became manageable, at the cost of giving me other graphical and gameplay issues- so this is not a long-term solution, obviously. There may be other widgets involved; in general I think the problem is primarily related to widgets and changes to them, rather than new graphics/effects.
So... is there a way to revert the GUI to the old style GUI, without deleting it altogether?

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 25 Oct 2009, 02:28
by MidKnight
You could disable ChiliGUI, ChiliTip, Crude Menu, and ChiliChat, although CA isn't quite so pretty after that. Best of luck! :-)

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 25 Oct 2009, 02:24
by Viktor87
Right, ok, but again, why is it that these things lag me up now, when they didn't in the past?

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 25 Oct 2009, 02:44
by Viktor87
Just an update- I turned off some chili-widgets, except chili ui as that creates problems. The lag seems to have stopped! I think it may have been the chatbox and chilitip. Who would have thought that something so small was going to tax my computer so much?
Still, a question- I suspect the new chiliUI is somewhat more resource hungry than the one in stable version. Could I somehow keep using chiliUI but revert it to an old less demanding version?

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 25 Oct 2009, 03:07
by CarRepairer
Chili and the chili widgets are a work in progress. I think we even disabled them during stable releases. Strange though that it's faster for you in stable as there are actually some optimizations in test.

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 25 Oct 2009, 12:33
by Licho
What is your graphics card?

Re: Need Help!

Posted: 25 Oct 2009, 12:51
by SirMaverick
Licho wrote:What is your graphics card?
Viktor87 wrote:Radeon 9600 graphics card