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Dwarf Fortress (now available for OS X)

A

augustgarage

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 7, 2007
13
0
I just noticed that one of my favorite Windows games has been ported to OS X: Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress

This is an incredibly immersive game with radically basic graphics (almost like ASCII), ridiculous attention to detail, and a devilishly complicated learning curve (I had to use the Wiki just to figure out how to navigate the manual).

Others have described rather aptly as "...a mix of Nethack, SimCity, Dungeon Keeper, and the Lemmings."

So yes, once you get into it, say goodbye to your free time...
 
lol.

lol. I want to see this game on "apple hot news" apple page.

"Breathtaking graphics, cutting edge sound effects; possible only by the power of a Mac"



someone should port "REALMS" to OS X if your going to talk about bad/awesome old RPGS.
 
That'll be cool. I've been interested in Dwarf Fortress ever since it was featured on jayisgames.com (an excellent site for discussion of online / casual games), but couldn't be bothered to boot Windows to play it.

I played the early Moria, completed Angband with a yeek priest, and played through TOME (Angband variant) with a Rohan lord, then lost interest in the variants (too many silly rules like Nethack).

Will be interesting to see what Moria in 2008 is like.

The Avernum series is a pretty good look at old school rpg updated to modern era. I played through a couple a couple of years ago, and was pleasantly diverted.

http://www.avernum.com/
 
kkat69 said:
Not compatible with GMA950 cards eh? LOL
Click to expand...

:D

That would be pretty sad. On the other hand, Dwarf Fortress is actually surprisingly CPU intensive and does benefit from a decent graphics card (to maintain reasonable frame-rates) despite the highly rudimentary graphics. I get some lag running it in full screen mode even with my Macbook (2.2Ghz, 4Gb RAM, 7.2k HD).
 
sigh

augustgarage said:
:D

That would be pretty sad. On the other hand, Dwarf Fortress is actually surprisingly CPU intensive and does benefit from a decent graphics card (to maintain reasonable frame-rates) despite the highly rudimentary graphics. I get some lag running it in full screen mode even with my Macbook (2.2Ghz, 4Gb RAM, 7.2k HD).
Click to expand...


i've been a diehard macgamer for 10+years; but information like this makes me wonder why...

your $2k apple lags running software with 8bit atari graphics.

seems like mac games used to run on par with pc games pre os x. wtb os 9 PPC port of quake wars; kthx. (still making payments on a g5 "powerhouse")
 
filthandfury said:
i've been a diehard macgamer for 10+years; but information like this makes me wonder why...

your $2k apple lags running software with 8bit atari graphics.

seems like mac games used to run on par with pc games pre os x. wtb os 9 PPC port of quake wars; kthx. (still making payments on a g5 "powerhouse")
Click to expand...

Well, SuperPI beats the crap out of my Mac pro and it's only lines of text :rolleyes: my guess is Dwarf Fortress is extremely CPU-intensive, even if the graphics are rudimentary, it's complex gameplay makes it a hardware-hog, I'm sure it's demanding on Windows as well.
 
filthandfury said:
i've been a diehard macgamer for 10+years; but information like this makes me wonder why...

your $2k apple lags running software with 8bit atari graphics.

seems like mac games used to run on par with pc games pre os x. wtb os 9 PPC port of quake wars; kthx. (still making payments on a g5 "powerhouse")
Click to expand...

Dwarf Fortress uses OpenGL to display its tilesets. Just because the tilesets are not highly artistic doesn't mean it's not throwing a ton of stuff around on screen. Although, having said that, its an extremely CPU intensive program. Couple that with the immaturity of the Mac port and thats why a beefy machine is needed to run it. Let's just be grateful its been ported at all.
 
It's CPU intensive yes. The wiki has a whole section on maximising framerates, and that's for Windows machines.

256MB RAM: The game uses 150+ MB memory while running (more if you select a local grid larger than 6x6). The more creatures, objects, and explored space on your map, the more memory you will need. Most of this can be kept in virtual memory (disk swap), but be sure to have at least 500MB total (physical + virtual) memory available. World generation requires 400MB at its peak.

Dwarf Fortress loves as much raw CPU power as you can provide it with. Recommended:

Core2: 1.4GHz or higher

Pentium 4: 3.0GHz or higher

Athlon: 3000+ or higher

The larger your map and the more units on it, the harder your computer will need to work (see "optimization", below). Dwarf Fortress will take all the CPU power it is given, and will run at 50-100FPS on a modern system.

You'll also want a decent video card to keep up with the CPU. Integrated on-motherboard video cards are a bad idea, but even a separate gaming-type video card that's several years old will satisfy DF under most circumstances.
Click to expand...

User with Pentium 4 at 2.2 GHz and 1 GByte RAM, running version 0.27.169.33g: "3x3 site; relatively hilly (ten z-levels of elevation change), without magma but with unfrozen brook, no caves, lakes, or monsters; virtually all possible speed-boosting edits in init.txt applied. Game starts to lag seriously at just under 80 dwarves. Speed is down to 30-45 FPS (varies) and occasional interface jerkiness is becoming noticeable."
Click to expand...
 
http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/

This is a very amusing story about Dwarf Fortress that gives you an idea of what the game involves. Those dwarves really have their own personalities, and it often gets quite amusing when they become mentally disturbed. Since the story was written, many more features have been added to the game. It's no surprise to me that it is incredibly CPU-intensive. All sorts of little details are present in the game, and they all use processor time.

The basic graphics are due to the creators focusing more on gameplay. Better graphics may come in the future, but they are a low priority.

This story made me want to play, although I haven't yet had the time to really site down and learn it. The Dwarf Fortress Wiki is an interesting read.
 
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