3-dimensional Z-level support, Core Part 2: efficiently process active items in 3D [$100]

[GlyphGryph]

Master Ticket #6822
This will be a "bounty issue" for the development of z-line track development.

This has following requirements:
Process active entities (items, monsters, fields, etc.) on all z-levels.
This should not cause a notable decrease in in performance on an average system.

Did you help close this issue? Go claim the $100 bounty on Bountysource.

[KA101]

Define "average system"? That'll be a Bugbear, I fear.

[GlyphGryph]

We'll be getting specific benchmark figures to hit, hopefully, before anyone starts working on these. I'm just getting up the initial frameworks for now.

[CIB]

This should not cause a notable decrease in in performance on an average system.

I assume this is refering to the average case of just one z-level actually being used? I can guarantee you, setting a skyscraper on fire will be slower than setting a 1-story house on fire, and with good reason.

[KA101]

I assume this is refering to the average case of just one z-level actually being used? I can guarantee you, setting a skyscraper on fire will be slower than setting a 1-story house on fire, and with good reason.

That's as may be, but if it lags the game into unplayability, then we don't have functioning z-levels. Worst case, worldgen option to cap the amount of aboveground z-levels (with menu suggestions for various hardware?) could be a workaround.

[Coolthulhu]

Does this need anything more?
The only "notable decrease in performance" I see here would be the larger number of monsters that can happen, but the only big multi-z-level structure we have right now is the lab and those seem to work fine, at least in my tests.

[kevingranade]

Yea, I may have accidentally addressed this sufficiently when I was optimizing monster and item processing in general, if no action is needed I'll look into closing out the bounty and redistributing the money to other z-level bounties.

[Coolthulhu]

What about the first part (ie. process stuff on all z-levels)?
I extended the code to cover (almost?) all of the stuff and did some minor optimization (mostly fields, because fire was not "3D-ready"). Can I get a part of the bounty?

[kevingranade]

If you implemented part and the rest is unnecessary, you'll get the whole thing.