Slow Going in the UK

[ev.delen]

I downloaded the UK scenario from the OpenTTD website and have been happily playing it until around the late 1970's when things would slow down. I initially thought it was due to the way I set up my advanced settings (NPF, YAPF, Super Station size, etc...) so I changed them and tried again. The attached file is my third incarnation of attempting to play this great map. In all three cases I set up a main trunk line from Scotland to London for freight and use it as a spine for my network. I've turned off opponents because I’ve found I can usually beat them, and I now mostly play for score. In the case of this game, I set up about 90 ships to move oil from the north sea platforms to an oil refinery in Edinburgh. The cargo is then transported by rail to London. However, the game is becoming impossibly slow to play. Can anyone aide in figuring out why this is? Is this limited to my machine (I’ve played much larger maps before) or something to do with settings?

Thanks,

[LordAzamath]

...about 90 ships to move oil...

I didn't test the game but try stopping those ships...Tell us what happens then.

[patter]

I've tested and its all those ships, unfortunately. You've also got a bit of a traffic jam at Edinburgh, maybe rebuilding with 2 or 3 platforms for each direction would help.

Thats a fun scenario to play with though, plenty of space for tracks & long-distance lines.

[Dave]

NINETY ships!?

[ev.delen]

lol, what can I say... there are about 15 oil platforms out there, and the closest refinery is in Edinburgh, about 1,000 squares away, so it takes over a year for a single ship to makethe journey. Meanwhile, the platforms are produceing about 800,000 litres of oil...

Whats the deal with Oil Refineries? why can they only be placed at the edges of maps?

As for stopping the ships, i'll give that a try. Thanks,

[ev.delen]

Yup, I stopped all of the ships and it goes beutifully. Why is that? Why are ships taking up so many cycles and slowing the game down.

[DaleStan]

Because YAPF thinks it needs to find the best route for a ship to take. Imagine how many possible routes there would be for a train if every land tile had all 6 possible track pieces on it. That's what a ship sees, except with water instead, and YAPF tests every one of them.

[Draakon]

Dont use NPF or YAPF for ships.

[ev.delen]

Only problem is, if I don't use YAPF it won't let me run a shipping route from the platforms to the refinery because the distance it too long.

How do the pathfinding systems work? maybe there is a way to refine them a little...

[Niek]

You can use buoys for that problem. I can't imagine the route is so long that you run out of buoys to place..

[sc79]

Try using this grf as well; it allows you to increase the capacities/running costs of ships. With larger capacities you can reduce the number of ships needed. I've added it to existing games without a problem, but it wont take affect on ships already built, so you'll need to replace existing ones.