My Game is Slow [SOLVED]

[WackyWildCard]

Hello.

I'm really enjoying AGS so far, and I'm having good success in building my game. The problem is, every time I test my game, certain rooms take a long, long time to load (there is a little clock symbol). I even converted all my wav files into Mp3 files then I converted the Mp3 files into OGG files. I'm still not able to play my game without skipping rooms with the debug mode. Could it be that my computer is too slow, and/or it needs more disk space?

I would really appreciate any help with this!

Thanks!

Wacky Wild Card

[Ishmael]

We'll be much more effecient in helping you out after you supply us with the following information, or atleast as much as you of them

Used AGS version
CPU Speed
RAM amount
Graphics Card type and it's memory
Game resolution
Programs running at the same time that might devour the CPU capacity

[Gilbert]

Hmmm how large are the backgrounds in those room that are slow?

Also, I'm just curious:

I even converted all my wav files into Mp3 files then I converted the Mp3 files into OGG files.

Why don't you just convert the .WAV files directly to .OGG? That works much better (not related to your speed problem).

[WackyWildCard]

Hard-Working Helpers at Adventure Game Studio:

Ok, here is the info on my Computer:

Used Space: 7.56 GB
Free Space: 2.48 GB
Capacity: 10.0 GB

GeForce 4MX 440
Display Adapter Information
Graphics Processor GeForce 4MX440
Bus Type: AGP
BIOS Version 4.17.00.24.40
On-Board Memory: 64 MB
IRQ: 16
TV Encoder Type NV17 iNTERNAL(M)
System Information
System Processor AMD Athlon (tm)wit
3D NOW!(tm)
Total Physical Memory: 261,616 KB
Free Physical Memory: 131,784 KB

That is my Computer Memory Info that I could obtain.
I recently removed some unnecessary Programs that were clogging my hard drive up, as well I De-Fragged.

Oh, you mentioned about my Background Pictures? Heh!
I just remembered...they are all 300 dpi bmps! Is that too big? Maybe that is what is causing the slowdown?

Thanks again for all your detailed help!

I really appreciate it!


Wacky Wild Card

Edit*
I meant to say they are all

300 dpi pcx

[..]

How big are the files (in Kb)? What is different in the rooms that are slow to the rest of them?

[Ishmael]

The image format doesn't matter, AGS converts backgrounds to it's own compressed format.

I don't see any problem with the system either... how fast is the Athlon? And what resolution is your game set to? According to this chart:

320x200, 256-colour: Any Pentium-class system
640x400, 256-colour: 266 Mhz or above
800x600, 256-colour: 500 Mhz or above recommended
320x200, 16-bit colour: 233 Mhz or above
640x400, 16-bit colour: 500 Mhz system minimum, may need faster if you use large objects
800x600, 16-bit colour: 600 Mhz system minimum, may need faster if you use large objects
320x200, 32-bit colour: 300 Mhz or above
640x400, 32-bit colour: 700 Mhz system minimum, may need faster if you use large objects
800x600, 32-bit colour: 900 Mhz system minimum, may need faster if you use large objects

if you have for ex. a 500Mhz processor and your game is 640x400 in 32bit color it would be just because of the hardware, and downgrading the game color depth (in the setup program) to 16bit should fix the slowdown.

[WackyWildCard]

I just checked, and my Computer is 1.67 GHz
with 256 MB of RAM...

I'm still fixing my game, I'll notify you later...

Wacky Wild Card

[Gilbert]

Also, I was asking the resolution of the backgrounds in question (for example a 2000x1000 scrolling bg displayed in resolution 640,480, etc.), not the DPI they used.

[WackyWildCard]

 :=Well, it looks like I've solved the problem!

It seems, that the pages that were taking WAY too long to load, had conflicting commands, that is Rooms 5-14 had a blanket of hotspots for easy clicking, AND a Walkable area!  I left the Walkable area by mistake! I feel like a goof!

Anyway, the problem is solved, the game runs MUCH smoother now, and I can focus my creative energies on the pictures and story now!

Thanks to everyone at Adventure Game Studio for your patience and time in trying to help me! I really do appreciate it!

Happy Adventuring!

Wacky Wild Card

[TerranRich]

Wait, what exactly was the problem? I didn't quite understand from your post. This would help me to add a BFAQ entry on slulggish games and ways to solve them. Thanks.

[WackyWildCard]

 
I had left some Walkable Areas and Hotspot Areas on the same page(s), so that whenever I clicked the page to skip it, a clock symbol showed up and I was not able to progress in my game.

The problem has since been solved.