themarquis Lv 1
I posted an issue several months ago about graphics-related performance issues, and was very happy that the new render modes were introduced to (ostensibly) speed things up.
Like a lot of other people, however, I'm still struggling with performance. The new puzzle "finding home" is agonizing to fold because the process is so slow due to the large number of residues. To make matters worse, any puzzle with mutate is a beast because any global mutates take eons to complete. I'm folding on a new computer with decent specs. In fact, I know that a lot of other folks have systems quite a bit less "beefy" than mine, and I can only guess that their folding speed is dismal.
The core issue is not so much scoring related (although it's true that faster systems most likely help a player get higher scores) but that poor performance impacts the basic "playability" of the game. It's hard to enjoy folding (and therefore fold more and help the field of proteomics) if I need to leave the room or surf the web or do other tasks in between moves. To do so transforms an enjoyable game into pure drudgery.
To return to my original question, what specifically can be done to improve the performance by tamping down the graphics rendering for anyone who is not folding on a supercomputer? (I'm guessing rendering is the main issue)
Since the new render modes have been introduced, I've had the chance to run some trials on each one to see how it impacts folding speed. Surprisingly, none seem to impact speed significantly. I noticed a slight improvement in one render mode (don't have my notes with me, but I think the line mode) that amounts to a second or two of time shaved off a standardized 40 second folding task. I'm surprised that I don't see more of an improvement, frankly. Is it possible to improve one of these render modes or design a new one specifically for folding performance?
Alternatively, there might be another way to improve performance that is not rendering related. I'm sure many other players like myself will be glad to hear of any ideas you can implement that may make the folding process faster and more enjoyable.
