ALL IS BUGGY!

[geork]

 Hello!
  Somehow, I don't know how, my game has become...well...buggy. Hotspots sometimes don't respond, walkable areas sometimes don't let me walk more than 30 pixels. I'm a little confused...my FPS never goes above 42, and usually stays on 40. I am working with 16 bit on a 640X480 screen (I'm using a netbook with 800X600 screen). The more content I add to the game, the more things start to respond less. I have not added much, apart from my first room which has 8 hotspots, the rest just have edges for getting between the rooms. I hope the cause isn't the 55 or so dialogs I already have (Which I plan to increase drammatically).
     Do I have to set anything? What am I doing wrong?
         Thanks

[RickJ]

I don't think it matters how many rooms or dialogs you have since you are only running one at a time.   In the case of the dialogs they aren't typically running when the player character is walking around.   Your FPS seems to be perfectly adequate as well.  Since you mention walkable areas I do know that the path finding algorithm can be resource intensive so I wonder if that in combination with a netbook may have something to do with your problem.

The only other thing I can suggest is that you start experimenting with a copy of the game.  Start eliminating different elements so as to determine which element(s) is causing the performance problem.  The other thing I would suggest is to try an unmodified copy on a normal PC to see if the problems persist.

Good Luck!

[arj0n]

The other thing I would suggest is to try an unmodified copy on a normal PC to see if the problems persist.
Good Luck!

I guess the problem is your netbook. what processor and graphic does it use?

[geork]

here are the specs:
Processor
      Processor
      Intel® Atomâ,,¢ processor N270 1.6GHz

Main Chipset
      Main Chipset
      Intel 945GSE + ICH7M

Memory
      System Memory
      1GB (DDR2 / 1GB x 1)
    *
      Memory Slot
      1 x SODIMM

Display
      LCD
      10.2" WSVGA (1024 x 600) LED Anti-Glare Display (Factory Option)

Graphic
      Graphic Memory
      Intel® 945GSE 128MB Integrated Graphics
      Graphic Processor
      Intel® 945GSE (Integrated Graphics)

Multimedia
      Sound
      HD (High Definition) Audio
      Sound Effect
      EDS (Enhanced Digital Sound) Effect

   Although, I can play AGS games fine.
   So, other question: If it's buggy in the design process, will it be buggy when I carry out the completion process?
    Thanks

[Khris]

There's only 1GB RAM, that's not that much and is likely the primary reason for the performance drop.

[Ryan Timothy B]

There's only 1GB RAM, that's not that much and is likely the primary reason for the performance drop.

I don't know man...
The computer I'm currently using is only 256mb, with a single core 2ghz CPU (it's my temp computer which I stole from my dad. Mine blew up 3 times in one month--don't ask).  The thing is even sporting windows 2000. lol

I've played several games on it in the past month or two.  The only game that showed any signs of lag was Mind's Eye, but only whenever the layered effects came into play. 
Geork also mentions that he's able to play other games too without any issues:

Although, I can play AGS games fine.

I personally think it sounds more like a programming issue, since all the other games he plays seem to run ok. It's just his own game that runs with issues.

[Lufia]

Well, running Vista with 1GB of RAM is a bit tight. (I'm assuming he's running Vista.) I'm fine with 512MB because I'm running XP.

This being said, if this was an issue with his computer running too slow, wouldn't the framerate of the game drop down?

[RickJ]

It's netbook so it's probably running a crippled version of XP.  I guess if he tried it on a non-netbook computer he'd know right away if that was the problem or not.   Alternatively he could just assume that it's a programming problem and start eliminating elements of the game as I suggested earlier.

[Kweepa]

Do the bugs happen when you compile the game and run it outside the editor?
Are the scripts simple enough to post here or upload somewhere? Perhaps even a zipped copy of the development directory?

[Gilbert]

By default, AGS games run at 40 FPS, so as Rick pointed out the 40 FPS thingie is perfectly fine (unless you have already changed this setting yourself). Normally, a 1GHz+ CPU and 1GB RAM are more than enough to run games in that resolution, but that also depends on other factors like what is running in background alongside with the OS (like virus scanners and such, which may interfere with HDD accesses and RAM usage, and it's not surprising that preinstalled OS on a laptop contains loads of stupid stuff that do nothing but cripple your system).

Also, as others have mentioned, what OS you are using matters too, while XP or earlier could certainly run happily with 1GB of RAM (minus some of those crippled vendor preinstalled versions), stupid Vista probably won't.

My suggestion is, try adding the following line

Code: ags

SetGameSpeed(100);

to game_start() of your game and check whether your computer is fast enough to run a game with a high FPS. If the FPS count does go close to 100 (or anywhere >60) it should be okay for your game if you keep it in the default 40 FPS setting.

As you mentioned you didn't have any problems playing others' AGS games, it may be due to unoptimised programming as others have pointed out. I'll bet it may be some heavy loading functions (like unnecessary loops in repeatedly_execute() ) or you use many blocking functions (which actually do what they do: to block the game).

[geork]

 Well, I have modified My Exec_Rep's, they are now nearly empty.
  It changed things a little, but I am strating to be suspicious of the new GUI I use, which is summoned on a right click, therefore everpresent, just invisible
   Although, speaking of which, I personally think it's the notebook(which runs windows XP), it has had stutters in the past with a few mock games...
    I will see what it is like on a "big" computrer, then, if there is no difference, I will go with removing elements.
   You'll probabely not hear from me for a while though (holiday), meaning roughly 1 and a half weeks.
    Thanks again for all the advice