Extra RAM = Less choppiness?

iPwnzorz · Post by **iPwnzorz** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:31 pm

I know the situation with RAM is that there isn't enough to run the more comlpex games, but what if ScummVM DS could address the extra RAM and produce less choppy gameplay in games such as Sam and Max where there are lots of skips with animations.

Places like the Tiki place, where Max fiddles with the door, there is huge lag.

Would the extra RAM help? I bought the DS Browser (mostly for DSLinux) but also hoped there would be less lag in ScummVM DS.

robinwatts · Post by **robinwatts** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 10:58 am

Currently, the NDS version of ScummVM makes no use of the extra RAM at all. The system doesn't even know of it's existence.

The extra RAM is somewhat limited in it's abilities, as a) it's slower, and b) it only responds to certain types of reads/writes. Making use of it would certainly not be straightforward.

Can you submit a bug, and attach a saved game near the place where it lags please (with some instructions as to what we should do to trigger the lag)? Maybe I can find time to profile it and see what is causing the lag. If so, it may be that we can speed it up a bit.

Robin

agentq · Post by **agentq** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:11 pm

Any choppiness in ScummVM is not the fault of the amount of RAM available.

Things you can do to speed up ScummVM DS:
- Turn off high quality audio (if it's enabled)
- Use the low quality scaling mode
- Use the original audio files (,sou file) instead of mp3 audio (.so3)

Using the original audio files is the best option. MP3 decompression taxes the DS CPU quite a lot. The original audio files are much better in this way, and it'll sound better too (marginally).

You could even turn off the music using the launcher as a last resort. Some people play these games without sound, so this would be a quick way of speeding things up.

With everything turned off you shouldn't get chopiness anywhere. Then you can turn on features to see how much slowdown you can tolerate!

Hope this helps,

- agentq

iPwnzorz · Post by **iPwnzorz** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:02 pm

I do most of those things you mentioned in that post anyway, with the exception of turning audio off. That would be painful.

High Quality Audio is only on in games that don't lag as much, I don't bother making new MONSTERs and the only game I play that uses a MONSTER is Sam and Max anyway.