alright, dont mind my typos, i got a new laptop with a new keyboard and i tend to type fast without looking at the keys. Its different. But anyways, over the past 7.5 months i have been experimenting online and in skirmish with ta and it's faults, and im here to present some of the knowledge i aquired to you.
Well i have windows seven now, so no need to use my old xp computer for ta, but it served good in experimenting with lag. it had over 1.5 gig ram but still was, in fact, a slow piece of shit, so i decided to experiment. (you can skip this part)
well here are some of the things i did to slow lag. (i used mods and the regular install of ta btw)
i actually pressed "ctrl" repeatedly and lowered lag
remove tademo.ufo if found from ta directory. not needed.
remove every dll file except: (if found) dplayx.dll, ddraw.dll.
do not remove smackw32.dll as well or else you will make ta non-functional.
this is like only if you are running ancient systems such as 95, 98, or 2000, or even a very slow version of xp
for online: you can use multidump, found on files.tauniverse.com/fu/files/totalannihilation/moddingutilities.aspx
download, install anywhere where you can find it, run multidump.exe
now, go to ta directory. [if found] rename ccdata.ccx to ccdata.ufo
rename totala1.hpi to totala1.ufo.
if you have rev3.gp3 in there and it isn't found on multidump (or scanned), rename it to rev31.ufo
you might want to back up these files
now, open multidump, (if you closed it out), scan ta directory, extract all files.
choose to pack into a monolithic archive (name it totala1.hpi)
pack it up! (into ta directory)
in-game
this solution is really cool. in-game, ta uses RAM space to control unit pathfinding.
(ex, how a unit moves around a hill)
when you have a shitload of units, pathfinding gets worse. not only does this solution [im about to explain] free up ram for pathfinding, but it also reduces unit count in ta AND frees up a bit of RAM.
now, when you go tech 2 and have some mohos/fusions up, either reclaim or self-destruct your tech 1 resource buildings. (tech 1 metal extractors, solars, tidal generators...)
reclamation is the preferred choice because self-d'ing your units causes collateral damage to other structures.
lessens up about 5-10% of lag, and in some cases, 15%.
also:
try to empty recycle bin
delete unnecessary files from your computer (frees up RAM/Hard drive space)
defrag your hard disk drive
if you have to, get a new computer.
