Lag in Reborn

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

So, Reborn is a very well polished game, but I'm sure we've all noticed that some areas have some cripplingly bad lag in certain areas, especially on older computers. I've taken it on to try and identify some of the biggest offenders and attempt to fix them. Before that, I managed to obtain permission from Ame to do it (I felt really uncomfortable even thinking about doing so otherwise), and as a result, I've already managed to neutralize the lag on Route 2 and Obsidia Ward. The results of my efforts will be at the bottom of the post.

Either way, I started this topic to try and drum up some responses: What areas would you all say have some really bad lag, also if possible what are the specs of the computer you used to play Reborn on? I wanna try and look into the maps and see if optimization is possible for them. I've accumulated a short list of areas I know that have some funky lag; I'm sure the list is incomplete, but here's what I have so far.

• Route 2 (Divide the map into two - Fixed)
• Obsidia Ward (Create a secondary map for after PULSE Tangrowth - Fixed)
• Chysolia Forest (Secondary map for after PULSE Abra)
• Spinel Town (Same as Chrysolia)
• Jasper Ward (The only possible way to fix this would be for a map after PULSE Tangrowth)
• Beryl Ward (Same as Jasper)
• I've seen some people mention Peridot Ward, but I can't confirm it as it doesn't really lag for me.

Additional maps I'll be looking at on people's request:

• Route 1 (When it rains, might just be an issue with weather)
• Byxbysion Wasteland (I... don't think this can be fixed. Byxbysion is just too large and has too many events to properly handle any other way)
• Apophyll Beach (Near Academy entrance)
• Ametrine City (Might divide Ametrine City and Ametrine Mountain Peak into two different maps, divided by player transfer commands at the first set of stairs leading up the mountain)

All that really needs to be mentioned is on what map the lag occurs, if it's in a specific area of the map (A screenshot would be helpful here), and the specs of your computer if you can get them. Knowing these three things will make it possible to deduce if the lag is a severe problem, or just an issue of a weaker machine being unable to handle the engine pushing that Pokemon Essentials does to even work in RPG Maker (Which is the main reason for the lag through and through, RPG Maker as a whole is an old engine and Essentials pushes it to and beyond its limits). I also apologize if this is in the wrong area, and request that it be moved if it is.

Below this is my fixes for Route 2 and Obsidia Ward, where I'll explain what the initial problem was and how I went about fixing it.

Route 2 was a frustrating fix. I thought I had an immediate fix of just separating the map into two maps, but it wasn't as simple as that. See, the issue comes with the jump puzzle taking up a large sum of events, plus the Crustle parts of it, then there's the trainers, items, warps, and other miscellaneous events. The map was just handling far too many events. I tried to bifuricate it, make it a simple map connection ala regular Pokemon games (connecting side-by-side), but that left an undesirable outcome - the map lagged in the center 25 tiles only, where the two maps connected at their border. So I tried to devise a new solution, and I eventually did.

Route 2 has a small chokepoint between the northern and southern halves, divided by a stairway and a ledge. This made for the perfect opportunity to place a Transfer Player command, and since there were already events on the stairway that determined whether you were on the upper or lower level, I didn't need to add more events to the map for those two warps (Not to mention, those events still work even after the warp!). I did have to add two new events when crossing the ledge though, but in the end, it all worked out, and Route 2 now runs smoothly on all machines its been tested on.

This video is Obsidia Ward with my fixes applied. Obsidia Ward is one of the laggiest spots in the early game, and that's because of the PULSE Tangrowth events (The vines, the trees, etc). So what I did was i made a copy of the entire map, then deleted all the PULSE Tangrowth events off the map. This sped that instance of the map back to normal game speed. I then had to make it so warps redirected to the new map which was easy enough, I just modified the door warp events and warps into Obsidia Ward from Opal, Onyx, and South Obsidia to lead to this new map after the events at the park were clear.

The next hurdle was the trainers and items. That would have been frustrating to do, had I not already been utilizing a script for my own game that let me trigger self switches between maps. Before I added it I checked with Amethyst if it was okay, informing her this would definitely work, and sure enough it did. A player visiting Obsidia Ward for the first time can battle the trainers and collect the items available, and if they did they wont be battleable/obtainable in the new map (I can't say the same for players who are past that part, unfortunately. I don't have an ability to do a check for if those were interacted with yet, but I'm asking a friend of mine to see if it is possible.) The only other way this could have been done was if a proper swicth was set for every event, and that would congest too many switches, leaving less slots for switches the game would need.

Unfortunately, the Obsidia Ward map that has the PULSE machine still lags, but there really isn't much I can do about that; I don't even think a third map which is just the park would fix it. I managed to artificially speed up the segment with ZEL, since the player can't save there it wont affect much (Playtime goes back to normal when speedhacks are gone), and had it regulate before and after the battle, then before the player warped to the new map.

Edited November 2, 2015 by DerxwnaKapsyla

[Lostelle]

came to this thread thinking someone was complaining about lag, happy with the result

I think the Opal Ward is more laggy than the Peridot, I've never had lag there before either.

Other than that, your list is pretty accurate

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

From what I've been informed of, both from reading the forums, my own experiences playing, and looking at the map in RPG Maker, most of the lag in Opal Ward comes from the map transitions, and when weather is active in the overworld. Not much can be done about fixing Opal, as the events there are mostly trainers, warps, and the lighting effects. I'd imagine that when Episode 16's Opal rolls around, Rebuilt Opal will be better optimized, but I have no idea.

[MEga DAVE]

lag is when you have a slow computer or a slow internet connection

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4785047148 its in my hometown range

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4785061816 this is random server from US ..

I have no lag on reborn. smooth as ever.

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

Internet connection has nothing to do with Reborn's gameplay, and lag can be present within games, usually in the form of slowdown.

[MEga DAVE]

then explain why in the hell i don`t have lag? i have reborn open Opera(with bulba this site ) and chrome for yt facebook and 2 types of torrent(Bittorent and Uttorent) and Skype ofc and i have no lag whatsoever...

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

It's possible you have a really good computer. Some people have reported that they don't get lag in certain strong lag areas, but even then they acknowledge that the lag does exist for others. I know of myself and several others who have reported lag, and even Amethyst acknowledges that exists as well (Otherwise she wouldn't have let me find ways to negate it). If your game doesn't lag, then that's great. But please don't come in here boasting that you have no lag period especially when I started the thread for those that do, and to gather more information on it.

Edited October 28, 2015 by DerxwnaKapsyla

[Lostelle]

Out of curiosity, do you have a custom built gaming PC or are you on a normal laptop?

[Thekiller37]

Cool topic! I have noticed lag in a decent amount of the areas you listed as well. If possible, I'd like to add Route 1 (in between North and South Adventurine Forest, I think) as a potential source for a strong lag area. I get a minor frame drop there whenever it rains.

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

If you mean me, I'm on a custom built gaming machine. My specs are kind of Mid-tier (but when you look at what high end specs are, mid-tier is more than sufficent for most games that are on the market right now. My specs are as so:

It would have been 16 gigs, but I installed the wrong operating system and this OS didn't support 16 gigs. Which in the end, oh well, I think the other ram stick I got is a dud, so eh - it was free with something else I got, so I wasn't terribly concerned.

Also a quick update, I have added the videos of the de-lagified areas to the first post, to show what I mean. It may not mean much, since every computer experience is somewhat different, but this should be representative of how smooth it'll be across the average machine.

Edited October 28, 2015 by DerxwnaKapsyla

[Lostelle]

Really nice job on those two videos. +1 from me.

[MEga DAVE]

It`s not that great, but i manage ,, it works well with this year`s gaming.

http://prntscr.com/8wuisy

http://prntscr.com/8wuij5

[Mäddla]

I'll add byxbysion wasteland to the list, also occasionally on apophyll beach, near the academy entrance, though that only lasts 10 to 20 seconds, then it goes on smoothly.

My specs for reference:

Processor: AMD FX 4100 Quad Core, overclocked to 4 GHz each

RAM 8GB

Graphics: nVidia Geforce GTX 650

OS: Windows 7, 64 bit

[SgtNoobly]

Ive noticed alot of lag on the snowy mountain I forgot wuts it called

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

Ive noticed alot of lag on the snowy mountain I forgot wuts it called

Ametrine City? That is something to look into, a possible division of Ametrine Peak and Ametrine City might be helpful here... Something to consider I suppose.

I'll add byxbysion wasteland to the list, also occasionally on apophyll beach, near the academy entrance, though that only lasts 10 to 20 seconds, then it goes on smoothly.

My specs for reference:

Processor: AMD FX 4100 Quad Core, overclocked to 4 GHz each

RAM 8GB

Graphics: nVidia Geforce GTX 650

OS: Windows 7, 64 bit

I'll try and look into those, see if I have any issues there and can spot anything which could be optimized. The Wasteland in general would be a doozy because of all the events on it and no way to really break it down.

EDIT: I've added some of the locations I need to look into to the first post, as well as a theoretical solution for the ones I might have an idea for. Most of them revolve around making a second map, but I might be able to do Shenanigans with Chrysolia Forest that involve expanding the map and making a carbon copy without the events, but it might still persist. Still, I have some ideas at least.

Edited November 2, 2015 by DerxwnaKapsyla