Question on CPU usage in DA

from GalCiv2 Forums
hello everyone,
this question is open-ended, but it occurs to me thinking back to brad's posts about making really smart AI, specifically the idea that he can dedicate a whole thread to it because so many gamers are getting multi-core processors.
i'm not beta testing DA myself, so i can't really observe this myself. playing DL, when i look at my task manager, the game is always using 50% - presumably, the entirety of one of my two dual cores. the other is usually around 20-30% between background tasks and winamp.
i'm not even sure if this is how the load is really divided, but i'm mostly wondering if i'll see DA using up more than 50% of the my core processing capacity (with the "use advanced AI" option on). assuming it will, i wonder how much of the second core will it use, and more specifically how it might affect the other stuff i have going on while i play (i myself have a gig of ram and a 2.8g pentium D - why oh why didn't i wait a few months for the core2s?).
i'm really looking forward to next month - keep up the great work SD.
4,141 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
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Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i'm not even sure if this is how the load is really divided, but i'm mostly wondering if i'll see DA using up more than 50% of the my core processing capacity (with the "use advanced AI" option on). assuming it will, i wonder how much of the second core will it use, and more specifically how it might affect the other stuff i have going on while i play (i myself have a gig of ram and a 2.8g pentium D - why oh why didn't i wait a few months for the core2s?).


You'd really have to ask Frogboy about that. I'd check it out and let you know myself, but unfortunately I have only single-core machines.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I played the DA with duel-core, it still uses only one core (50%) for me. There maybe times it using more than this yet I haven't notice it.
P.S I haven't notice any loss time (longer turns) when using Max AI either.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
interesting, thanks for your feedback Smidlee (and you too Kryo - prompt as always).

from what i understand, the AI makes all or most of its decisions during your turn; it's one of the ways the devs kept time between turns relatively low. perhaps if DA is dipping into your second core, it's not a huge/constant load (and not noticable).
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The main advantage of multi-core is that the new AI CPU options (in the options screen and in the setup screen) won't slow down the animation or responsiveness of the main game UI while you're taking your turn.

As a practical matter, on a high end machine, it's fine, dual core or not.  But multi-core machiens definitely open up more room for things.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
excellent, thanks brad.