General Feedback (Rev 5771)

Describe your experience with the latest version of FreeOrion to help us improve it.

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santa_klausi
Space Krill
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2013 3:50 pm
Location: Hannover, Germany

General Feedback (Rev 5771)

#1 Post by santa_klausi »

Hi everybody!
Some days ago i stumbled upon your nice project and I really like it. I always loved to play MOO2 (and still do) and I think the project has a very healthy relationship to that game. So, for me Freeorion looks like a lot of fun and I would like to get envolved. After playing a little bit (I really like strategy games but I think I am kind of a bad player :wink: ) and studying some of the Wiki-Articles and Forum posts related to how to help I decided to give some general and in-detail feedback of my impression. Please excuse me if i note things that are already on your to do lists, I just can't read everything in this forum and have lost the overview - so if this happens, please ignore it.
Getting involved means for me trying to be around at the forum regularly and maybe contribute some ideas or opinions on game mechanics. I can't do graphic design nor coding (probably the things you need most), but I would like to help with a german translation.

So, a quick introduction to myself: My name is Paul, i'm 22 years old, live in Germany and study some engineering stuff. I'm testing around with Linux since a couple of years now and am using Linux Mint as my main OS 8and currently onlyone) for around one year, so I'm a newb on this part too.

Thats the reason why I didn't compile anything myself but used the prebuild archive with the chroot-environment. In detail this one: FreeOrion-v0.4.2-5771-Linux.tar.xz
In main menu it says v0.4.1 Rev 5771.
As hardware I am using a Thinkpad T400 with a Core2Duo 2.5GHz, 4 GB RAM and Intel/RadeonHD 3400 Mobility switchable graphics.
It is running on Linux Mint 14 with Cinnamon Desktop using the opensource graphic drivers (intel and radeon).
I will try to arrange my feedback so it is easier readible.

Performance
The game was nearly not playable using my intel card. With the Radeon it was around 20 FPS at the beginning of a match going down to 13-15 later on. Also the game starts to hang quite long, it takes around 10 seconds for calculating new turns and sometimes freezes for 5 to 10 seconds when I open the research window, a system or merge fleets. While I'm used to laggy gameplay (normaly no up-to-date hardware and playing some stuff through WINE) I cannot see reasons in this case. Is there a lot of hidden complexity I don't know of which makes the game that slow? Is this caused by my own hardware/software? Should I compile it myself to improve performance? Will Perfomance be improved later on?

Also, sound isn't working for me. Any ideas or known issues?
My terminal output:

Code: Select all

[ Process PID=8370 runs in 32 bit mode. ]
Following into my basedir
CWD: /usr/share/freeorion
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/.' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
AL lib: (EE) oss_open_playback: Could not open /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
FreeOrion server waiting for network events
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/misc/system_selection' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/misc/system_selection_tiny' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/galaxy_decoration' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/icons/fleet' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/icons/fleet' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars_sidepanel' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars_sidepanel' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars_sidepanel' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars_sidepanel' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/stars_sidepanel' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
CDE WARNING (unsupported operation): sys_openat './default/data/art/icons/fleet' is a relative path and dirfd != AT_FDCWD
mainSetupAndRunOgre caught CleanQuit
CDE
Well, thats quite a nice way so I don't have to bother with all that dependencies. Is it only for developing or is the final game going to be distributed that way too? Because I would like to have the possibility to use my global hotkeys like alt+tab in a game, and using the CDE this is impossible, isn't it?

Gameplay
- Battle:
Is interactive battle going to be implemented? If not, I think there should be more detailed battle reports (how fought against whom with what...), because especially at the start of the game i had a lot of battles against anybody, i didn´t know who because i didn see any ships or monsters or anything.
- Building system:
I really like the building and the research system, although it took me some time to get used to it (and the resource sharing as well). I miss a hint where the building is built without having to click on it, maybe the planet name in parentesis? I suppose that you can build the same building multiple times on one planet will be removed later on.
- 'Pedia:
I really like that thing. Two comments: A search function would be neat, especially for new users. And i don't know if its a bug or a feature, but i would like it to close when I press esc, like research or design window. Or with right click, like the fleet window. I don´t care how, but i don´t like that i have to press it in the menu.
- Design/Ships:
I would like to compare stats of ships more easily, maybe here or at the production screen or at both. This could be via a little box showing the icons like on the galaxy map. Also i find it a little confusing and disturbing that at design screen always the last custom design is shown. Maybe it should just vanish after the design was saved, or the design of prebuild ships should also show up here when you click on them. And a "new design" button would make this process a lot more intuitive for me (i took me long enough to find that via double clicking a hull).
While I like nearly all of your graphics, i found many of the ships lacking clear outlines. To me it looks like they are made for smaller resolutions (I use 1440x900).
- Fleets:
Is there a reason why you can´t send individual ships, but they always form a fleet? A more intuitive and easy to use fleet management system would be great, so you don´t have to drag and drop each individual ship in the fleet where you want it. This is a lot like, beware, micromanagement...
I didn´t understand the rule how the different fleet icons (especially on the galaxy map) are chosen. Are the depending on speed, or on ship number, or on ship size?
- Star lanes, Supply lines and fuel:
Nice ideas. Altough i find it quite difficult to work with this starlanes its a cool thing. First it totally freaked me out because I didn´t understand why the supplylines turned purple, but i think stuff like this could (later) be explained in some tutorial.
- Planets:
I really like the way you solved how to manage planets without to much micromanagement. The meters and focus thing is cool!
- Specials and Neutral natives:
I also like the specials and that there are a lot of planets colonized by neutral species.

Bugs
The description of the prebuild ships "Edonmorphic VI-VIII" is broken.

In a lot of times some number says 0.9 when probably 1 is meant, e. g. number of ships. This is also happening with 1.9, 2.9, 3.9 and so on.

Questions
What´s about food? In the quick guide it is shown, did you take it out?
Are the maps always the same or are they randomly generated?

Game Complexity
I find the game quite complex, for example the big tech tree and a lot of different stats and meters. Some game concepts aren´t that KISS in my eyes. However, with a good tutorial and starting campaign unlocking the features part by part and leading the new player to all game mechanics this can be compensated.

Please excuse me for the length of my post, I hope some of the feedback is helpful!

AndrewW
Juggernaut
Posts: 791
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:15 pm

Re: General Feedback (Rev 5771)

#2 Post by AndrewW »

You can send individual ships, the same way you send a fleet if you have an individual ship select just that ship will be sent, if it's part of a fleet though you would need to drag it to New Fleet to bring it out of the fleet first.

Haven't really seen a problem with the ship outlines here, playing with a 1920x1180 window.

The galaxy map will be the same, given the same starting values (number of planets and so on). This was done for testing purposes so the same conditions can be easily replicated.

Yes, there are plans for interactive battles, see:

http://www.freeorion.org/index.php/Roadmap

User avatar
Dilvish
AI Lead and Programmer Emeritus
Posts: 4768
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:25 pm

Re: General Feedback (Rev 5771)

#3 Post by Dilvish »

Maybe ... the design of prebuild ships should also show up here when you click on them.
They will be displayed if you double-click on them. Also, just to be sure you understood this from AndrewW's reply -- you can get the galaxy layout to change by changing the number of systems. Also, one of the things on my to-do list is to add a galaxy-seed input/generator element to the galaxy startup screen, to allow for easy reproducibility while also making novel galaxy layout generation easy.
If I provided any code, scripts or other content here, it's released under GPL 2.0 and CC-BY-SA 3.0

wheals
Space Squid
Posts: 88
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:56 pm

Re: General Feedback (Rev 5771)

#4 Post by wheals »

santa_klausi wrote: Thats the reason why I didn't compile anything myself but used the prebuild archive with the chroot-environment. In detail this one: FreeOrion-v0.4.2-5771-Linux.tar.xz
In main menu it says v0.4.1 Rev 5771.
That's a month or two old; it's possible some of your issues have been resolved.
Performance
The game was nearly not playable using my intel card. With the Radeon it was around 20 FPS at the beginning of a match going down to 13-15 later on. Also the game starts to hang quite long, it takes around 10 seconds for calculating new turns and sometimes freezes for 5 to 10 seconds when I open the research window, a system or merge fleets. While I'm used to laggy gameplay (normaly no up-to-date hardware and playing some stuff through WINE) I cannot see reasons in this case. Is there a lot of hidden complexity I don't know of which makes the game that slow? Is this caused by my own hardware/software? Should I compile it myself to improve performance? Will Perfomance be improved later on?
Not much you can do besides updating drivers and turning off gas and stars in the background.
- Battle:
Is interactive battle going to be implemented? If not, I think there should be more detailed battle reports (how fought against whom with what...), because especially at the start of the game i had a lot of battles against anybody, i didn´t know who because i didn see any ships or monsters or anything.
Geoff (our main programmer) had been doing some work on more detailed battle reports. We probably won't have interactive battles until we get an OGRE programmer.
- Building system:
I really like the building and the research system, although it took me some time to get used to it (and the resource sharing as well). I miss a hint where the building is built without having to click on it, maybe the planet name in parentesis? I suppose that you can build the same building multiple times on one planet will be removed later on.
If you have a big enough display window, the planet of origin will be visible, but there isn't room on a smaller one, really.
I didn´t understand the rule how the different fleet icons (especially on the galaxy map) are chosen. Are the depending on speed, or on ship number, or on ship size?
More ships make more chevrons; colony ships have rounded ones, and troop ships have very angular ones. That's all I could tell.
What´s about food? In the quick guide it is shown, did you take it out?
Yup, the quick guide is out of date.
Please excuse me for the length of my post, I hope some of the feedback is helpful!
Don't worry, we always like more feedback around here :mrgreen:.
All my code and content provided herein or on GitHub is released under the GPL 2.0 and/or CC-BY-SA 3.0, as appropriate.

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