I used to have the SQL server compact 3.5 thing installed, but I uninstalled it because Mike asked me to test the current 'official' version worked without it before he released it to the masses.

Anyways, i've reinstalled it now...and i've got some news for you, Mike.

On my computer, the official version of Supremacy takes about 35 seconds to load a game on a tiny map, and 5 seconds to process turn 1. It took about 4 minutes to load a huge map with maximum everything, and I've lost count for how long it takes to process turn 1 - it's well over 5 minutes.

When I loaded up this test version, I started the game on a tiny map with everything on maximum, dense, whatever. It took 38 seconds for a game to load, and 6 seconds to process a turn - this means the game is actually running slower than previously, although that may be down to random changes etc. since my last official test coz of background programs and whatever.

HOWEVER, I then loaded up a huge map with maximum everything - and the results were spectacular! The game loaded in 1 minute 17 seconds and turn 1 took 1 minute 6 seconds to process. That's a performance increase of about 66%!

The slowest parts of the turn processing were still the 'Downloading Updated Game State From The Server' and 'Postturnoperations' - even on a huge map, I barely had time to read any of the other messages as they processed that quickly!

Congratulations, Mike, your updates have worked. I can certainly live with the almost un-noticable performance hit on the tiny map. Now we just need to know what the experience is like for other dedicated people.

...One little thing though, the test version defaults to a small windowed screen - you'll need to set it to fullscreen in the game options again.

@matress: It launches in windowed mode because this was built from my own test configuration, and I always run it in windowed mode when testing (the screens look rather sparse at a full-screen resolution of 2560x1600 ). However, my mental math tells me that your numbers yield a performance improvement of around 500%, not 66%, if the huge galaxy turn processing time did indeed change from ~5 minutes to ~1 minute .

Those numbers are about what I was expecting for my first round of performance fixes. It's still way slower than I'm ultimately aiming for, but you have to attack these things in stages . Ideally, I'd like to get the turn processing times on large galaxies under 10 seconds and huge galaxies under 15 seconds. Whether or not that's doable remains to be seen, but I will continue to focus my efforts on refining the code that's already written before moving on to writing more code.

Maths isn't my strong point, and 1 minute down from 3 is a third, so we've lost 66% of the processing time, therefore it's a 66% performance increase.

...But 500% sounds better so i'll agree.

No, it's a 300% performance increase because the new old time is 300% of the new time.

This is giving me a headache!!

Sorry, Older guy + Math = Advil!!

Haha. Whatever the numbers are, it is still an inprovement! And there's lots more to come? I'd be looking forward to it.

Yes, more improvements in time. It may be a long process, but we'll get there .

hey i installed .NET Framework 3.5 Redistributable then downloaded the demo lodes of different files came up such as ironpython, resources and so on...just wondered if this is rite so far and which one of these files is the demo? thanks mitch

SupremacyClient.exe is the one you should click i believe, run game on small or medium galaxy for now.

Regards Wolfe

Yeah, Supremacyclient.exe is the file that runs the game - click it, and the game will load. Don't click or move any of the other files as they are needed by the game. If you want a nicer, friendly desktop shortcut to the game, right-click on Supremacyclient.exe, then click 'create shortcut'. Then just click and drag the file created onto your desktop.

There's one other file in Supremacy that you can also try though - Supremacyeditor2.exe. Clicking this file will load up the game editor. You have to double-click objects in the editor to load them, and loading in the editor is quite slow, so give it time. Once you're done with your edits and want to save them, CLOSE all the buildings etc you've made changes to, then click the flopp disk icon near the top-left. Changes to open objects will NOT save, which is why you must close them first.

When you click on Supremacyclient.exe, you'll see the game splash screen come up. (It may take a minute or two to load, so if it doesn't at first load give it some time coz it has to load a lot of files) The game will then load. Click on single player to display the game options, and select either a tiny or small Galaxy. Don't select a huge Galaxy or you'll be waiting at least 5 minutes for the game to even load! Set the other settings to whatever you want, then click ok and the game will load!

The controls are the same as BOTF - click to select, double-click to open, right-click to bring up the menu. Have fun.

...

I added in 12 of the minor race ships with descriptions that I wrote for the minor race ships a few weeks ago. Wolfe and Zeleni are the only people that have read my descriptions so far, so I hope people like them.

Who was it again who was making the minor race ship statistics, or was that supposed to be me

Regards Wolfe

Well Zeleni said he's busy...so er...yes, it's you.

Don't worry, there's no rush. The models won't even be complete for at least another year anyway.

Do you still have that PM I sent with all the stats I said I need?

ok thanks takes a while to extract but on it now cant wait to test it

just played it think its lookin great keep up the good work its amazin wot u can do!

I made some significant performance improvements this weekend. I might also have fixed the SQL Server CE dependency issue, but I won't know until someone tests it for me . I'm eager to hear how this performs for people who had really bad performance in the last couple releases.

http://www.armadafleetcommand.com/botf/strobel/SupremacyPerfTest_20071215b.zip

Once I get confirmation that it runs without having to install the SqlCE runtime, I'll update the link in the original post. I also made a screencast of the improved turn performance. The game is running on my desktop workstation with a Huge galaxy and the settings maxed out:

http://www.armadafleetcommand.com/botf/strobel/SupremacyPerfTest.html

Can't get to map as i get an error, i think maybe a missing file.

Service 'Supremacy.WCF.SupremacyService' has zero application (non-infrastructure) endpoints........ etc etc

Regards Wolfe

See my edit for a fix.

Not your day

Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.

at System.RuntimeMethodHandle._InvokeMethodFast(Object target, Object[] arguments, SignatureStruct& sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeTypeHandle typeOwner)
at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethodFast(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeTypeHandle typeOwner)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks)
at System.Delegate.DynamicInvokeImpl(Object[] args)
at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Boolean isSingleParameter)
at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate callback, Object args, Boolean isSingleParameter, Delegate catchHandler)

----------------------------------------

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

at Supremacy.Client.ClientApp.ReloadResources() in C:\Users\Mike Strobel\Workspace\supremacy\DiplomacyRewrite\SupremacyClient\ClientApp.xaml.cs:line 78

----------------------------------------

Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.

at System.RuntimeMethodHandle._InvokeMethodFast(Object target, Object[] arguments, SignatureStruct& sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeTypeHandle typeOwner)
at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethodFast(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeTypeHandle typeOwner)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks)
at System.Delegate.DynamicInvokeImpl(Object[] args)
at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Boolean isSingleParameter)
at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate callback, Object args, Boolean isSingleParameter, Delegate catchHandler)

----------------------------------------

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

at Supremacy.Client.SystemScreen..ctor() in C:\Users\Mike Strobel\Workspace\supremacy\DiplomacyRewrite\SupremacyClient\SystemScreen.cs:line 168
at Supremacy.Client.GameWindow.CreateGameScreens() in C:\Users\Mike Strobel\Workspace\supremacy\DiplomacyRewrite\SupremacyClient\GameWindow.xaml.cs:line 831

----------------------------------------

Weird, I'm not sure what caused your problem, Wolfe.

Runs fine on mine, huge galaxy with everything at max.

Galaxy generation took around 25 seconds. Turn 1 processing hanged until ZoneAlarm came up with a message that Supremacy is asking for rights to trusted zone. Weird right? I remember you said it shouldn't affect firewalls. Anyway I allowed it, and then all turns were around 5-8 seconds, tested up to turn 20.

Average turn processing time of around 7 seconds is pretty good for the biggest map. I think you got the speed problem fixed, Mike well done.

Hmm, i might have missed a few 'installations', anything recent i would have had to install?

Regards Wolfe

It just needs .NET 3.5, right?

PS - Threw an unhandled exception at exit, but that's fine, I'm closing you anyway

Mr Error.txt says:
Attempted to access an unloaded AppDomain.

I'll play it properly tomorrow - more comments then.

Wolfe, the program you 'missed' is something called the 'Microsoft Server Compact CE 3.5'. Margus and myself posted a link to it a few pages back but the links seem to be broken now. It looks like you have to sign up for something before you can download it.

Anyways, as Mike said, you shouldn't need it now as he now includes the files in the update. I actually just uninstalled it to see whether the game would work without it - and it DID.

So to testing. This latest version is running even faster than the last one! It took 57 seconds to load a huge map with max settings, and 9 seconds to process turn 1. The strange thing is is that turn 20 took 7 seconds to process...

I then tested a tiny map with max settings - the game took 24 seconds to load - and turn 1 only took 3 seconds to process!

You've cracked it Mike, most definitely. The right-click menu is now also working in the Diplomacy section. You did however forget to include the editor again.

...

I encountered the same error that Strings had, Mike. It only happens when you exit the game and seems to be random because it doesn't always come up.

...

Could you tell me exactly what files I need to copy into the new version to save my updates?

I copied all the missing editor files into the main Supremacy folder and it worked fine. I then copied the Images, Data, and Strings folders into the Resources folder, and loaded up the editor again.

I noticed that under the buildings and ships, there were strange blank entries that never used to be there - as though there were unnamed ships or structures. So I clicked on one of these entries - and the editor crashed.

Do I need to copy any other files? Or are my updates incompatible because of your updates? I've made quite a few changes since I last sent you the files Mike, so i've Zipped And Uploaded my entire resources folder for you. The download is 83.32mb.

My updates include:

• Numerous building updates, most of which i've actually forgotten about because it's been so long. I do know that i've changed some of the tech requirements so there is less of a building rush at the start of the game though.
• Added new buildings, such as the Deuterium Plant and the Aquatic Deuterium Plant. The Aquatic Deuterium plant is more expensive, has more tech requirements, and produces less Deuterium than the 'normal' one though, so there's no need to worry about balancing, Mike.
• Fixes for some more images with transparency issues.
• Added 12 minor races ships with descriptions that I wrote myself. You currently can't see these unless you load up the file or the editor though. Once the game is complete you'll be able to see them once you gain control of a minor race and have a look on the ship build screen.

I'd hate to lose these updates now, so I hope you know what the problem is, Mike.

@matress: I've made several minor architectural changes that will prevent you from migrating your updates directly to the new version. Not to worry though, I can make the changes pretty easily. I'll go ahead and start importing them tomorrow.

And I didn't forget to include the editor--this is an experimental branch of Supremacy, and it's under heavy construction, so nobody needs to be starting on any more edits .

I have been running into the game locking up right when I try to colonize a new system. it is locks at the performing per turn operations. it does not give an error log.

Good work Mike, huge galaxy take one turn ~2 sec only.
EDIT: it not colonize system it stuck in turn perfoming pre-turn operations

to get the newest updated demo to work do i have to erase the old one 1st or will it be fine with the old one still on my pc? cheers mitch

Hmm...I just tested colonization, and I wasn't actually able to get that far - I simply wasn't able to click ANY of the ship orders when I right-clicked on the ship. (The orders did come up though)

So I loaded up Supremacy again. It worked fine that time, and I was able to colonize a nice 190 population system.

Maybe it's a random bug? It's strange how two people have reported it already though, and the fact that I couldn't click the options at first is a little odd too.