We all know how painfully slow Arena is with the wrong configuration. For a while I've been happy with max cycles and a dynamic core (same setup I use for Daggerfall). I have also tried with 15000-25000 cycles. NPCs still too fast (or game too slow).

But one thing that's driven me nuts is that animated NPCs such as the Bartender, Snake Charmer, and other animated fellows in the towns have stupidly fast animations, it's kind of immersion-breaking.

Of course, as you can imagine, lowering the cycles to the point they're alright slows the game down. Has anyone found a way to balance the two?

NOTE: If you can't figure it out yet, I'm talking about the ANIMATIONS of the NPCs, not their speed.

But one thing that's driven me nuts is that animated NPCs such as the Bartender, Snake Charmer, and other animated fellows in the towns have stupidly fast animations, it's kind of immersion-breaking.

Not knowing the definition of "stupidly fast," I will hazard a guess that what you might be seeing is the way the animations were designed to be. The bartender does scrub his glass pretty quickly.

Otherwise I'm not sure what you could do about it. You might try pressing the - a few times and see if that does anything. That and + were in-game slowdowns and speedups.

I never knew about those.

Nah, they're too fast. The Bartender is alright, so is the prayer-hollering Priest, but some such as all the women who will say "I'm a [censored]" when you ask them to talk about themselves, the way they shake their upper body in 2 frames, it's like they're having a seizure.

Nah, they're too fast. The Bartender is alright, so is the prayer-hollering Priest, but some such as all the women who will say "I'm a [censored]" when you ask them to talk about themselves, the way they shake their upper body in 2 frames, it's like they're having a seizure.

Those ladies of the night are what I'm keying on...also that beggar stretching his hands back and forth. If you didn't talk to him, you'd think he was a monkey or something, the way he jerks around. I don't recall a time when they weren't too fast. I'm casting my mind back to the first computer I ran it on...a 486/33...and IIRC (and of course maybe I don't), it was too fast on those.

I will add just one more thing. The main way to tell how fast it's running is by the people walking around town. They don't ever dilly-dally unless they get very close to you, but if they move with blinding speed, then you'll want to slow it down a bit somehow.