What I found about DQ zombies in reducing them

Gameplay
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I found that the higher the storage speed of your phone , the less zombies appear. The theory is that zombies appear since the amount of enemies processed and the storage sequential read speeds cannot keep up with it.

DQ benefits from faster storage and phone storages are basically like SSDs since you can trim them and they are NAND/flash storage.

As a root user, I sped up the storage speed by using android trim through a trim application like FStrim , speed up my storage read speeds by using an I/o scheduler that is based for performance , f2fs file system to the storage/ cache to increase read speeds and even a boost option in the synapse app when I use a custom kernel called the Hacker Kernel for the S6.

On my first day of using the S6, I never got zombies but as time progresses, I started getting zombies as the storage read and write speeds do slow down overtime. My maximum read speed was around 385MB/s or 400MB/s but it’s not just read speeds. It’s also about the stability. My default was around 360 MB/s but at that threshold, I started getting a few zombies.

With the maximum potential , I found that even under stress from the CPU and GPU to the point where the game when I attack from stress testing, I find no zombies, no matter how hard I try. at 150% packsize with magic enemies and everything.

Also clearing storage space does help in improving the read speeds as well and clearing cache occasionally. What I find is that before I improve the storage speeds of my phone , I get stutters and micro stutters from DQ and it’s even more prevalent when in packsize maps despise my overclock to 2.4ghz CPU and 852mhz GPU. I also understand why even users of the S7 can get zombies.

Of course the DQ 3.0 is a bit better optimised than before those patches which is probably why less zombies overall.

In conclusion, no matter how fast the CPU and GPU are as well as RAM speed, if the storage cannot keep up, you can end up with zombies. You can either take action to improve read and write speeds as a root user or non root user, ; or you can sometimes but a better phone as they are likely to have faster storage speeds.The CPU and GPU speed does help though in certain settings and to reduce lag against some group or mobs.

If you cannot do these things, reduce packsize map requirements to what you find is best, go on lower settings if need be and dont use taunt on a large group or other attacks .

Im not too sure if I’m right but based on my curiosity, it does seem to make a difference and my testing. I used andro bench app to measure my storage speeds. Sequential and Random Reads matter most in any game that best works on speedier storage. Ill do further testing to make sure. Speedier storage not only makes DQ smoother but also overall phone experience.

Im not too sure about iPhone users in terms of DQ zombies but I’m sure they appear on iPhones . iPhones do load DQ faster in the setup and probably loadings screens as well . and it’s probable that less zombies can appear on iPhones. and iPads but I’m not too certain. As for Amazon devices, I’m not too sure either.

Edit: I will still get zombies at higher storage speeds but less as the speeds are higher and the stability being there too. DQ doesn’t always need too much clock speed for the CPU either as it can run recently on lower spaced phones but the storage speed is the real issue. The same with GPU as you can run DQ on low GPU speed recently but you rendering in developer options of android do help. Not only less zombies but more responsiveness and less stutter at higher storage speeds.
I also reduced overheating by undervolting the CPU, GPU and memory by as much as it allows and instead of 8 cores, I put 6 cores for DQ (disable 2 main cores but the rest are fine) and obviously not charging while playing.

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Could you point me in the right direction on rooting the s6? Maybe something you have found will work with my version. Ive had no luck with what ive found.

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Ok I found a great video on how to do it. I was so lucky I found it . https://youtu.be/zEmJckIHsgw

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I see, good point there! I actually noticed it before who i clear my data while playing dq it actually reduced the ghost bug but im not too sure if thats the case.

Sometimes when i play in really high pack size maps the ghost bug doesn’t appear at all. This happens occasionally.

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Yeah. Cool! Yup after lots of testing, the boosted I/O speed of the SSD Phone storage seriously helps in reducing zombies. I remember only seeing just 1 zombie in an entire map , even when lagging like crazy and doing more stress testing.

Although as a root user, I play on 720p mode (though you can do that without root using Game Tuner and Nougat reduce resolution on android ) . Also by pixoff app. That 720p definitely is playable on my phone easily but on 1440p default with ultra low shadows, I start lagging.

I mean I thought 720p was best suited for my phone because low battery drain and realistically, the GPU speeds for 720p, just like PC GPUs. As for CPU speed, dq seems to cap out at 1704mhz maximum but more still does help occasionally. It honestly depends on the resolution and settings.

On screen shake though, it will max out my speed of CPU and thanks to the OC 2.4Ghz, it resolves fast but it’s not my ideal setting for farming. I tend to farm at lowest settings with low stutters or none. That storage speed especially helps because more responsiveness and less zombies with less stutter.

But if I were to try this on a Hard Drive on my PC, it would lag like crazy. I tested before and so much zombies despise the pc CPU being okish so on PC, if seriously benefits from SSD and on phones, well phones don’t have HDDs and have SSD speeds so dq obviously runs well on phones. Even better when you speed the storage of the phone and it stays stable.

I also noticed that if I clear a bit of storage space taken up by my screenshots after they’re backed up and other files as well as cache, it definitely helps but I do the root method since I have the access to do so.

The thing is that phones come shipped with a default speed and the default file system of ext4 because it’s stable and works best but it can slow down. The phone reaches full potential on storage speed with f2fs file system on some custom ROMs as well as trimming and the right I/O scheduler because f2fs goes best on flash storage phones like mine. I even put I/O scheduler Row because I get the highest read speeds and responsiveness with it and though it’s not recommended for games, it seems to really benefit on Dungeon Quest as the read speeds and responsiveness helps alot. Loading screens faster too. Another thing is that f2fs has auto trim for android phone file storage for those who find a compatible custom ROM and kernel for it.

Although a good old factory reset also helps once in a while for a non root user since not everyone can root and sometimes it’s not worth it but also clearing unused cache occasionally is good too.

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What I really think about the ghost bug. If the storage speeds cannot keep up with the number of enemies dead by an attack in packsize maps , the code makes up by producing the ghost bug. If DQ was coded in C#, I wonder what it would be like though or C++ . Would it be better optimised to the point where you get no zombies, even on a really old phone and even on a hard drive pc (if a pc player played on a hard drive or a phone that somehow has hard disk storage).

Well it’s at least better than crashing if the storage speed doesn’t keep up but I do sometimes get random crashes from spikes in speed or slow downs occasionally but less so after I optimised my storage and increased maximum clock speeds.

I mean I do feel that 3.0 made zombies less common since it’s less demanding on storage but it still is demanding in some scenarios and if not , then I didn’t notice lol.

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What is the android version of your s6?

May i also share another tip, avoid explosive if your phone cant handle lots of stuff. Happens to my s5

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6.0. I avoided Nougat because I don’t find it worth it. No Xposed Modules for Nougat so less battery saving and I’m already fine with android marshmallow. Also it’s apparently less friendly on the S6 battery and bugs can happen with new updates so I wait lol. S6 had Nougat since April but I didn’t need it honestly.

Lollipop is fine too but it doesn’t have doze mode but regardless, your storage speeds will still be decent .

Yup, don’t use explosive on maps if your phone cannot handle it and if it doesn’t do enough damage. I made the iPad freeze up because of that lmao but it’s an old iPad. I did the same with the old Kindle too. Infinite explosives will freeze up any phone . Idk about a PC though but definitely a phone.

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What software did you use to root ur phone? Tried rooting mine but idk why i cant

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For the S6, I used Odin on my PC with CF-AUTO Root to break the Samsung Knox security barrier and then it rooted but it also allowed me to install a custom recovery mode like TWRP to be able to backup the entire system , delete everything but the internal storage and/or external storage (SD cards, usb, etc). TWRP. Recovery is what I use for custom ROM installation.

But what phone do you have? PM me if you want to. I may help you :slight_smile: . Also sometimes you don’t even need custom ROM as root can be more than enough. Root access can mean changing kernel parameters, trimming storage and being able to do anything that you couldn’t do before and that even includes backups of app+data and uninstalling system apps you don’t need preinstalled (Google drive , Dropbox, Microsoft apps, etc).

Be warned: warranty will be removed after you proceed. There is systemless root though which you can look into however and ping-pong root which are designed to root without doing anything drastic. SuperSU root is popular though.

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Pm sent

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Just a heads up (I am sure everyone knows this but I have to mention it) we don’t recommend you root your device with little to no knowledge of the process. You can brick your device and hosts of other bad things can happen, if you don’t understand the process.

We understand some users may do this and, we totally understand. The number of android devices makes it difficult to test DQ and opening the door to custom rom testing would be impossible to account for the number of different OS types and as such we have no way of offering support for devices that are “off stock” OS.

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I see. Thanks.

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I usually don’t see too many problems with ghosts using rogue, but one annoying happens when they start not only following me but attacking me too.

I’ve tested some circumstances and I found one which causes this problem: The combination of Pack Size + Enemy Bolt. When both happens, ghosts won’t only attack you, but attack by distance! So I would not recommend (or recommend for testing purposes) this combination at high floors or when relying on low HP strategies (permastealth, glasscannon, etc.).

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Ok looked into it again and I realise that DQ constantly saves onto the storage which is why whenever you quit, you don’t lose progress of the floor you raised; i.e. gold gained, legends found and crystals.

That means a higher write speed means quicker saving as it constantly saves and the zombies seem to form when DQ constantly saves (maybe it’s autosave) but read speed and (CPU) processor speed also count in zombie formation and to an extent, GPU performance too. Anything that causes lag or stutter in a high packsize situation.

My highest write speed was 150-160MB/s and read speed being 400MB/s sometimes on average but it can drop it I don’t trim the storage , therefore more zombies. Also processor speed doesn’t have to be quite high but at least stable enough and jumps higher when needed. GPU is fine too.

It seems if I go below 150MB/s write speed, zombies start to form and similar case if I drop below 385MB/s read speed and if processor speed drops too low. GPU can apply if it lags at shadow settings or high FX. Stability in any case will be essential and a decent speed.

Ram speed can count if you suddenly switch to application and back to DQ as that can cause a performance drop and probably cause zombies to form faster because it’s trying to adjust or if you have low RAM but if you have enough RAM, not much issues really. It counts with storage speed at same time for switching apps.

Edit: it seems at these high speeds and decent speeds in general, the only zombies I seem to get are Ogres and that’s at packsize and magic enemies. Not very many though but a few. They’re usually quite big.

Edit: I stopped limiting the wakelocks for DQ which is S3DEngine from Shinybox which was probably the cause of my excessive battery drain as limiting it didn’t stop battery drain, it made it worse. I realise it was needed for game to work smoothly so less lag and also so I reduce random crashes. I think my random crashes were caused by something that came with the app and was necessary to run the graphics and the assets without lagging as much. It’s basically the wakelocks that comes from finishing after waiting on 46/62 so there is better performance with the GPU.

Honestly this game runs smoothly at 60fps at 1.2ghz CPU speed in some cases but goes to 30fps below that frequency. Also it is dependant on architecture of CPU too so that probably has a role. Obviously in packsize it would slow down to a crawl until say 1.5ghz or higher (I’m not sure the exact numbers though) . The game does have a limit on how many GHz it can actually utilise as I probably noticed but what really determines performance even at smooth 60fps is the storage speed so it doesn’t stutter and increase chance of zombies. Also the GPU to run decently at certain settings but it’s not so intensive on GPU unless at higher resolution and settings.
It also depends on CPU behaviour and the CPU governor determines that behaviour. If it constantly goes stuttery or runs below the required range, lag can happen and a probably higher chance of zombies. For most phones it’s not an issue unless you don’t like the stock speeds of your phone or chose the wrong CPU governor as a root user for gaming in an attempt to save battery at the same time (I did that before).

Its probably different for every phone though and as far as game resolution, you can reduce it using Samsung Game Tuner without root as a Samsung user so if you wanted 720p or something, you can easily do that. and probably push higher graphical settings or reduce lag overall. For me , I do the root method to reduce Reduce resolution but it’s not necessary always. There are other methods on other phones too but it’s not a huge deal unless you are at 1440p or so suffering lag.

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Oh wow I tried again and I underclock my maximum CPU frequency to 1.8 GHz or so and it stopped overheating which means no thermal throttling to reduce power and ultimately cause lag. The smoothest packsize run I’ve ever had, ever!

Literally a smooth 60fps run on even the most intensive maps, even with storage speed lowering somewhat. I disable the Samsung auto thermal throttle which enabled me to have no lag issues but I also reduced CPU maximum so it doesn’t overheat and set the thermal throttle manager so it doesn’t throttle easily.

Even with the smoothest of performance and the fastest speed I’ve ever seen in my life, the only zombies that ever appeared were ogres specifically.

The only drop in performance were really massive packsize groups but it wasn’t even to 30fps. I barely noticed any drops and I was happy. Looks like I don’t exactly need huge storage speed even though it does help as long as no throttling or lag of any kind.

To sum it up, even the best phones will be messed in some gaming experiences due to certain issues with thermal throttling and the way some phones work with gaming. It’s probably better to game on DQ with a decent performing device that isn’t Samsung generally with good enough specs for your needs or wants.

That throttling even at the frequencies where it won’t even heat on playing DQ, the DVFS of Samsung lowers frame rate constantly when I play DQ for so much. For Samsung phones there is actually a non root method of disabling the DVFS permanently so you can have slightly better experience in game. The only other step is making sure it doesn’t over heat and in turn reducing frames and storage speed.

Also undervolt even by just -25mv massively helped too. Its different results for all phones so it’s the risk that you be aware of as with anything to phones.

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fantastic in depth description, thank you!

Just out of curiosity are you using one tool or many different tools to tweak various settings at a hardware level on your device?

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For the custom ROM on the S6, it’s the xtrestolite Deomod or deodexed but that’s not too relevant other then the auto trim on reboot and debloated. Pure odex would be more stable though but less easier to modify for overall experience.

Custom kernel for my S6 is called the Hacker kernel which is what allows me to have the overclock to 2.4ghz big CPU cores if possible and 1.8ghz on the little CPU cores. It also allows me to Overclock the GPU to 852mhz .
Another benefit to this kernel is that it allows me to underclock really low , up to 200mhz CPU wise and 100mhz GPU wise and 100mhz is perfect for my 720p DQ gameplay, granted at ultra low shadows and low FX.

Also it’s got so many settings to customise.

I actually use 2 kernel software to customise how I want to use my phone and make it fairly fast and smooth .
One of them is Kernel Adiutor which is completely free and it is fairly simple to use. What it allows me to do is underclock or Overclock, select CPU governor to choose how the CPU behaves in load and as a method for either battery saving or performance or even balanced between battery and performance , select I/O Scheduler with the read ahead cache , enable KSM (kernel samepage merging on some kernels for more efficient ram usage at a cost of CPU usage and battery life slightly , Virtual memory , low ram killer (optional if you have ram issues) and even an entropy setting for advanced users.

It also has the misc setting for the TCP algorithms and a method of phone sleep which is also for advanced users and the advanced users settings you don’t generally need to touch most of the time.

While it’s useful for some users, I also use another kernel editing program called Synapse - which is only useable by custom kernels, and the amount of settings depends on the custom kernel.

With Synapse, I can undervolt the hardware by a certain amount of -Mv such as CPU big little, GPU and Memory; multi core control (kernel adiutor you can offline cores after you disable cores) with a method to change how CPU behaves in terms of performance and power consumption ; GPU settings to allow the Underclock to 100mhz as well as gpu governor to control how it behaves to reduce power consumption or increase performance, thermal throttling controls to control how it drops frequency if you reach a certain temperature , I/O boost , audio boost, LED control (kernel adiutor also has one) , advanced KSM or ultra kernel samepage merging for controlling how much CPU usage to make more efficient usage of RAM ; and Crontab for auto trim at a certain time period , battery calibration every week , close Google play services to fix ram leak and clear unused ram and cache if CPU is idle. You can even overlord on overclocked frequencies.

Synapse is for having more knowledge of what to do than kernel adiutor as it’s more advanced for hardware management . If you undervolt too much , you will freeze. If you overvolt too much, the hardware will be damaged or shorter lifespans and a heck of a lot more heat. Undervolt is great for reduction of heat.

There is the HPM Voltage controller for the CPU and GPU as well as RAM . For my case, it was 25000 microvolts for the CPU for both big and little but for GPU, it was 12500 microvolts and the same with Memory. 25000 microvolts is the same as -25mV or 25 Millivolts and it’s best to undervolt by 4 steps down per frequency where it says 25000 microvolts or μv for short. Any lower and it was unstable .
For GPU and RAM, you only have to undervolt by 2 steps down which was stable. I do acknowledge though that every SOC and RAM for phones is different so it’s different results for different people and it is truly silicon lottery, the same as with the overclock frequency. Underclock frequency somewhat true for silicon lottery but 200mhz is something nobody would run at except deep sleep. 500-600mhz minimums are decent enough and the normal minimum for S6 is 800mhz.

Today I underclock Maximum to 1.8ghz and the little cores to 1.2ghz or 1296mhz just to reduce heat as DQ didn’t need so much power. To Disable DVFS so I don’t have constant throttling so I get a smooth 60fps, I used ES File Explorer , enabled Root on it and found the folder which contained DVFS. The folder is sys/devices/14ac0000.mali and find the DVFS file . I then change permissions so it doesn’t read and write which therefore disables it. I did the same with DVFS max lock and min lock since Samsung’s throttling is annoying.

There is another way with Xposed Framework and Xposed installer but I didn’t find that to work.

As far as battery savings go, I use Greenify to close unwanted background processes from battery life and possible ram usage which can matter, as well as aggressive doze for better sleep , Power Nap for deep sleep , Amplify to limit unwanted wakelocks for deep sleep yet again and an app called Better Battery saver to disable certain wakelocks off Google Play Services that you don’t need to save battery. Disabling wakelocks on Google play services is not always needed though and Greenify does that.
Obviously they use Root and they also use Xposed . For Samsung devices, it’s the unofficial Wanam Xposed for it to work.

For changing resolution, I used resolution changer pro which was a root method for the entire screen for battery savings but also performance enhancement for certain situations and reduce heating. Game tuner is another way for Samsung Game apps to reduce resolution if you don’t want that screen 1440p to go. 720p is sweet spot for DQ and even 1080p. Game Tuner and Game Launcher are also capable of reducing frames to 30fps on some games to reduce power consumption where it isn’t needed as an option too.

Titanium backup is my friend for backing up and especially DQ if I had no internet access and wanted to be careful. Also the uninstalling system apps that are bloatware . Not all but only a select few such as Microsoft apps, certain Google apps you don’t want, certain Samsung apps you don’t want and anything that isn’t needed but won’t ruin the device. If not uninstalling, you can also freeze apps which means disabling but it allows you to disable apps you couldn’t disable before. Root required of course.

As with anything in the root territory, it has risks to be careful of but the rewards are high depending on what you want. The risk of losing warranty and messing up is there but as long as you’re careful , you’d be fine. Obviously there’s also the need to prepare for the worst whenever you do something major or a backup solution.
Also for some root apps like Titanium Backup, Greenify and Amplify , I used pro versions. For resolution changer, I got the apk since the play store version was removed. The same with busybox changer pro but the normal one is fine enough for kernel modifications as well.

For any kernel settings, there are plenty of guides on the internet generally and XDA Forums and anything if you want to root , there’s always guides to tell you what to do to be careful as well as risks and how to avoid. Also YouTube has some good videos on it too. Each device is different, each hardware comes different and each person’s needs are different for anything with rooting.

Sometimes rooting is all that’s needed with a custom kernel and no need for custom ROMs as well as a possible Xposed Framework or Wanam Xposed Framework for Samsung. Custom ROMs do make it easier for bloat removal though but Greenify is sufficient in battery life and ram usage without the need to uninstall or freeze bloatware at times with stock version of the S6.

I still run Android Marshmallow though since I find no need for the S6 Nougat atm and less support for it in my needs but maybe for somebody else, it can be fine. Also custom ROM stays to marshmallow as well and I find it reliable. There are Nougat custom ROMs and official firmware but I’m not into them atm.

Also Synapse does have the option to change the CPU governor and it’s tunables like the kernel adiutor app but having two apps with the same functionality can conflict but synapse disables it when you already have kernel adiutor which is much better for tweaking CPU governors and tunables. I/O scheduler tunables are there on kernel adiutor as well as option for rotational storage and RQ Affinity to use CPU for better storage speed and synapse doesn’t have I/o Scheduler tunables.
Tunables great to really enhance how they behave .

Benchmarking storage speeds, I used Androbench and the different I/O Schedulers have an impact on how the storage behaves in a way to speed up storage but also have a potential for battery savings. CPU benchmarking I didn’t bother to do, nor GPU benchmarking as the kernel apps already have live statistics showing what frequencies are used for CPU and GPU as well as temperature. Kernel adiutor has a graph of the loads being taken up though whereas synpase just shows plain numbers.

I have tried another kernel before called Arter Kernel but it didn’t have the same level of customisation as the Hacker Kernel but it is more battery saving. It can also run DQ but for trimming storage automatically, I’d use an app called Fstrim to trim data and cache for consistent and fast storage speeds. It does support f2fs file system instead of ext4 though which is something Hacker Kernel doesn’t have for better speeds but changing file systems has a risk of deleting everything and changing back. F2fs is much faster but ext4 is fastest when you have no other option and just trim with a good I/o Scheduler.

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as in depth as always :wink: thank you very much for the exhaustive write up!

In my testing on the “wilder” side of android I find there is so much to tweak for a variety of apps that I never really find a sweet spot and end up using pre-sets depending on what I am doing.

I have used traveling presets which strip power from non vital systems like location, screen updates, radios, and service pings/refreshers. If I am on a plane or traveling where my signal can vary dramatically this helps me get more distance with my battery.

Depending on the games I play and test I have a lot of different presets. Native presets for apps/games written with android studio or back in the olden days eclipse. These I can get the most performance gains from when it comes to GPU/CPU memory. I have not dipped into over/underclocking CPU.

If I am playing games made with a unity, or an in house engine, these tweaks become a bit harder.

We look for big wins to overall performance that we think will effect a large amount of devices/players. So things like lighting/shadows, texture resolution, and in some cases we work on reducing draw calls (at the engine level) if the performance gains are worth it.

Our next game is using much more robust technology which means we have a lot of options when it comes to “fancy stuff” when we are making our game. That also means we have to re-learn 5 years of performance management we used for DQ but we hope the trade offs are worth it and we are able to optimize the new game even more.

Thanks again for the insight, I appreciate it!

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My eyes it burnsssss!!

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