Dosbox 065 and MOO2 1.40b23 - extremely slow after chunk7

[Feuerzahn]

HI

I have a problem with playing MOO2 over dosbox in the Multiplayer.
After joining the game I am recieving the chunks, but at chunk 7 I have to wait 6 to 8 Minutes to get the screen of the Universe.

So it is extremely annoying for the other players.

I have a Travelmate 292LMi with a Intel M 1,5GHz, 512MB DDR SDRAM.
I am using dosbox 0.65 and MOO2 1.40b23.

I am on a router from linksys. But I have still the problems if I kick all other people out. I have 2 Mbit (or is it byte?) DSL for the iternetconnection.

-Addition: Programs which are running at the same time:
1) Miranda/Mirablis (to simulate ICQ, Yahoo, MSN)
2) ANTIVIR guard (we tested it without but nothing was better)
3) windowsfirewall (we tested it without but nothing was better)
4) sometimes Winamp, but normally only at the sidebar and not aktiv

I hope that someone can help me.

Best regards
Hendrik alias Feuerzahn


P.S.: the dosbox config (MAYBE there is a problem, but I do not think so)

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest.
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=false
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=surface
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory dosbox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=16

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames dosbox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.

frameskip=1
#normal 0, aber bei moo2 1bis3, mit strg+f8(+) und strg+f7(-) veränderbar
aspect=false
scaler=normal3x
[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: simple,normal,full,dynamic.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions dosbox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this higher than your machine can handle is bad!
# You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to auto.
# Please note that this guessing feature is still experimental.
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

#cycles=auto
#core=normal
core=dynamic
cycles=80000
cycleup=5000
#cycleup=500 strg+f12
cycledown=5000
#cycledown=20 strg+f11

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
# probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
# but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=true
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401 -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
# the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the dosbox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
# there should be a MIDI directory that contains
# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
# with Timidity should work fine.

gus=true
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
# For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[bios]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: none, 2axis, 4axis,
# fcs (Thrustmaster) ,ch (CH Flightstick).
# none disables joystick emulation.
# 2axis is the default and supports two joysticks.

joysticktype=2axis

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
# Can be disabled, dummy, modem, directserial.
# Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
# parameter:value. Parameters for all types are irq, startbps, bytesize,
# stopbits, parity (all optional).
# for directserial: realport (required).
# for modem: listenport (optional).
# Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support (false,true,max).
xms=true
ems=true
umb=true

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.
ipx=true
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount c c:\Spiele\Orion2~2
c:
#only when not host (IP address of opponent)
ipxnet connect XXX.XXX.X.xxx
#only when host
#ipxnet startserver
ORION2~1.EXE /skipintro

[siron]

We tested tonite with his older comp. Hardware was different - besides the router. The problem persists. So it seems related to the router.

[Feuerzahn]

I called the linksys hotline in the morning and they said that the problem should not be the router. The only thing to change there was the UDP port, but that is only neccessary if I am the host, if I am guessing right.
Thats also changed now. I will also test MOO2 via dosbox when I am in another system at my parents home in 1 month.

But if nobody else finds a solution I have to wait until that to get new results.

[ALEX|D]

... I think every manufacturer says that not his hardware is the reason

I just would tryout another Router, and if possible another place ... like buddys home or so ... !

btw ... did u use the same dosbox.conf ? Or did u tryout the default one too .. ?

[Feuerzahn]

I used the same config, but with less cycles on the old PC.

I returened yesterday to auto cycles and had a good test, but it was not in the evening. Siron mentioned that some told him that scale=normal3x is very cpu intensiv. I will try it now with normal2x and I am looking on another page for a patch for a better normal3x.

Maybe something of this will help.

[Zieman]

Sorry for digging this old thread up, but I wanted to see what kind DOSBox configurations people use...

IMO 80000 CPU cycles is way too much for P4 1,5GHz, I use 60000 with Core2Duo E6600 (2,4 GHz).

Remember once tryig to find the upper limit, and @ about 84000 I started having stutters.

Other thing is frameskip: for some reason I got beter quality sounds and better game speed with frameskip=0 than with frameskip=1.

Upped Memsize to 64 too

my 2.62 cents

Comments, suggestions?

EDIT: DOSBox wiki says normalNx scaler uses 'minimal' resources, advmame and advinterp are more demanding. Currently I use 'none', and let my GFX do the scaling