News: New Low-End Netbook

[PyTom]

Just to let the forum know, I bought myself a new low-end netbook, for use in testing Ren'Py. What I finally decided on is the Lenovo Ideapad S9. I bought a refurb one from here.

The big thing about this computer is that it's a 1.6 ghz Atom, with a small (1024x600) screen and lousy graphics (Intel GMA 950). I'm pretty sure this is about the lowest-end pc-like computer in common usage today. This should make it a reasonable platform for testing Ren'Py performance, allowing me to see where problems are occurring and fix them.

I can already see problems occurring on this platform that will be easy to fix, so expect to see improvements in Ren'Py's support for netbooks as early as the next release.

[Aleema]

This makes me super duper happy. Performance updates would be amazing.

[LVUER]

When I first read the thread title, I thought "Oh no, another spam O_o ) but then I read who the author is "Wait, he's PyTom!" I immediately assured that it's not a spam ^_^

I don't know how crappy my old notebook is, but it's sure have a very low performance, being more than 8 years old (it only have 512MB RAM). So this is going to help me a lot.

[jack_norton]

It's the same config of my EEPC!
As I posted on twitter Undead Lily "Tech Demo" runs, it is obviously not running at 30 FPS but is playable, which surprised me since I literally cannot play ANY game on this one. If you can have such graphic intensive games run "ok" on netbooks will be a big achievement

[Samu-kun]

I heard from Taleweaver that Homeward runs really slowly on netbooks. Considering that it's pretty much a vanilla visual novel with nothing fancy going on, I hope that the performance can be boasted.

[DaFool]

I heard from Taleweaver that Homeward runs really slowly on netbooks. Considering that it's pretty much a vanilla visual novel with nothing fancy going on, I hope that the performance can be boasted.

The Homeward menus were also sluggish on my i3 with Intel GMA HD. I don't know what the problem is, since my Battle-Engine equipped game runs fine and it's in 720p.

I would like a natural downsizing function when a netbook tries to run a 1280x720 game. I had been going back and forth between 1024 x 576 and 1280 x 720 for several months until finally settling on the higher resolution and adjusting assets accordingly. I don't want to have to downscale all of them just to fit a netbook.

[Chu-3]

OMG! That's the same spec with my current netbook (and that's why I asked about how to have better performance before) I really hope you can fix the performance lag issues here.

[Nebi]

Sorry for getting off track because this does not have anything to do with net books but does anyone know if Ren'Py games run on the iPad and/or iPhone? If it could bundled/exported as an 'app', studios who have commercial games could open up another potential market. Granted any text will probably show up a wee bit smaller...

Please disregard if this question had been asked or answered previously.

[choklitchan]

@Nebi:
This is an earlier post from PyTom regarding this question.

Presumably, any Ren'Ai game that isn't built from the ground up in C, C++, Objective-C or Javascript will be given the Steve Jobs Stamp'o Rejection. Or am I reading this inccorectly?

From what I understand, this is correct. According to multiple news sources, the new developer agreement says:

3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

The way I read this, if applied consistently, it pretty much bans all visual novel engines from the iPhone/iPad/iPod platform. Since all visual novel engines that I know of use a scripting language to describe their games, if applied consistently, this clause makes them all now unacceptable to Apple.

In fact, this clause bans any language designed in the past 15 years from running on the iPlatform.

Now, I wasn't actively pursuing Ren'Py development for the iPlatform, because the next clause of the agreement bans interpreted languages. I had some ideas on how to get around this using Cython, but I didn't have time to pursue them. I'm kinda glad I didn't, because this new development makes those ideas moot.

Unless Apple changes their policy, the chance of a Ren'Py port to the iPlatform is now 0. I will not waste my time working on a project that Apple will reject.

I encourage people to avoid purchasing Apple products (with the exception of the Macintosh). I've always been uncomfortable with Apple's restriction of the sort of content they allow on their platform, which would prevent many fine visual novels from being ported there. Couple that with inane technical decisions that benefit Apple while hurting developers (and eventually, users), and I can't see any good reason to purchase iPlatform products.

Especially now that there are, or soon will be, products available that dominate the iPlatform products in every way.




I suspect Android will be the next platform I support. I have a good idea on how the port will work, and so the big holdup is getting the time to develop it. (Also, my current phone is a little too wimpy to support Ren'Py, so I'm waiting for my contract to be up in October to get a new phone.)

I also have some ideas on web delivery of Ren'Py games, where the Ren'Py engine runs on a server and streams down a list of display commands to a thin client. But that's not something I've totally thought out yet, and I need to run some experiments to decide if it would work well enough in practice to be worth pursuing.

As a note; Android IS being supported now by RenPy, but I think it's still being tested; as it's a bit buggy.
^_^ Hope this helps.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Glad to see optimizations being made for lower-end users. I always have to be careful when I make games on my PC, because it is a beast:

Quad-Core Intel i-7 3.0ghz
10 GB DDR3 RAM
An Nvidia GTX 260 card with another 1 GB of RAM
and all liquid-cooled.

I can easily make a game too powerful to run on mid-range systems or lower when I work in 3D, so I always have to be careful. (I'm constantly making ZBrush models too detailed to open up at work or school.) A lot of Sprite calls might also work very smoothly for me, but stutter or lag for other people.

I should probably get a bottom-bin laptop to test stuff out - I just never thought about it before now. A laptop with the specs you mentioned can't be very much these days, can it?

[LVUER]

I want it too... ~ DROOLLLL
Just remember to lock your house every night, or the ninja will take your PC!

[Nebi]

As a note; Android IS being supported now by RenPy, but I think it's still being tested; as it's a bit buggy.
^_^ Hope this helps.

Helps a lot! Thank you. :] (should do a search before I ask a question next time...)

[choklitchan]

@Nebi:
You're welcome. ^_^