Welcome to our FAQ!
The FAQ is mostly just a rehash of the one that is found in the (D2OL)™ Support Forum, but since I wrote that one, there is no reason why I cannot use it here. If you have any questions not answered here or wish to have something added to the FAQ; please e-mail me and I will be happy to get back to you with an answer.
Performance:
Q: How big is each candidate and do they take a long time to download?
A: Each candidate is compressed before it is sent to your computer, so they are about 8KB each. The downloading can take a while, even on a broadband connection, because the candidate server meters the outgoing traffic so as to not overload itself. It sends each 8KB packet in spurts. This means that your bandwidth is used very little; the time difference between a broadband and 56K dial-up connection is minimal. During client downloads, dialup bandwidth is much more responsive than when uploading completed candidates in a stream.
Q: Why does my computer's responsiveness slow down when running the (D2OL)™ client?
A: Even though (D2OL)™ is the lowest priority program when running, some users still report problems with their machines slowing down after (D2OL)™ is installed. The most common culprit is the amount of RAM or memory installed in your computer and how much RAM all of your applications require to run. Typical consumer machines sold at the store today can come from the factory with only 128MBs, which is barely enough for Windows XP itself and not much more. (D2OL)™ can use between 40MB and 100MB of RAM, depending on what stage of processing the client is doing and if the Java GUI is open. Add in 16MB for Microsoft Word, another 16MB for Microsoft Internet Explorer and your available RAM will quickly disappear, and your system will utilize slower hard drive space to make up for it. Team Frozen Yogurt recommends at least 256MB of RAM in your computer, but many team members have 512MB of RAM at a minimum in their computers and report no slow downs. If you have 256MB right now and are running Windows XP or Mac OS X as your operating system, do yourself a favor and upgrade to 512MB; RAM is inexpensive compared to your time, and you'll notice a marked improvement in system performance even if you AREN'T running the (D2OL)™ client! Need more memory? Try Crucial, a company which uses their own US-made parts.
The second culprit can be the (D2OL)™ Graphical User Interface. While it is nice eye candy, it is not really designed to be left opened behind your other applications. If you close the GUI, you will still see the small icon in your system tray or dock showing that the client is still running and crunching. The modeling graphics can slow down both (D2OL)™ and your PC in general - especially on lower end graphics cards.
You may also want to try D2OL Daddy written by our very own TFY member Jeff Gilchrist. D2OL Daddy forces (D2OL)™ to run in the lowest thread priority.
Q: Are there any instruction set optimizations for (D2OL)™?
A: At this time there are no optimizations for any instruction sets. Hopefully in the future we will see optimizations for Intel's SSE & SSE2, AMD's 3D-Now & AMD x86-64, and Apple's Velocity Engine and G5. The best thing we can recommend if you are after higher stat scores, is to use high clocked AMD Athlon XP and Athlon64 CPUs. Intel Pentium 4s bring in respectable numbers, but only the higher clocked HyperThreaded models.
You could also overclock your CPU(s) for an extra boost in performance, but do so at your own risk. Overclocking voids warranties, and can create a less stable system or ruin a CPU if it doesn't have adequate cooling. But it sure is fun to try!
Q: Does (D2OL)™ run on SMP or Intel P4 HyperThreaded systems?
A: Yes the client will run on SMP (multiple CPU) and HyperThreaded systems, but will not automatically use both CPUs. For Windows and Linux users, install the client twice, using two different installation folders and run one instance from each folder (ie: install to C:\Program Files\SengentD2OL\D2OL, then re-run the installer and install to C:\Program Files\SengentD2OL-2\D2OL).
