Anybody playing games on their new PB's? [Archive]

Counterfit

Sep 30, 2003, 08:18 PM

I have the stock 1.25GHz. I can play Max Payne at (almost but not quite) full quality with little to no loss in performance. The WarCraft III demo runs great as well. Once I get my hands on Unreal Tournament 2003, I'll let you know.

yoda13

Oct 1, 2003, 07:45 PM

I play SimCity 4 on mine. In addition, I play tropico as well. I have just purchased Wolfenstein and Spyhunter, as well as Jedi Outcast II. SimCity plays really well.....let you know about the others

neonart

Oct 4, 2003, 08:45 PM

I'm a big Ghost Recon fan and really wanted to Play it on the go with my new 12" 1Ghz.
It does pretty good.
My G4 Dual 1.25 with 1.5GB RAM and a Radeon 9000(64MB) runs it at roughly 30-40 (50-60 on missions with no trees) fps. Shadows off, all others max. 1600x1200x32 and Mipmap Textures at .09(very effective mod,BTW!)
The 12" 1Ghz Powerbook with 512MB RAM and the nVidia FX5200(32MB) does about 20-30fps. Settings are shadows off, tree model max, all others medium. 1024x768x32 and Mipmap Textures at .08. It plays well like this and only very little choppiness is noticed. I honestly didn't expect much, so I'm very happy I can play on the go.
This is possibly one of the most demanding games due to the outdoor environments, and the fact that you are controlling 6 characters.
I'd like to see what numbers the 12" gets on games like Quake and Unreal. I don't play these, but the benchmarks are a standard.

pimentoLoaf

Oct 4, 2003, 10:12 PM

If you're running stuff on a 17" then you might have to change resolution to 1024x768. I found this out whilst playing Tropico, as everything was a bit squashed.

Stuck a few other games on (all were originally on my 500mhz iceBook), but except for Links Championship Edition, all are board-like games.

Suffice that more RAM is always better, with 512mb being a standard for 2002-3 gaming.

Powerbook G5

Oct 4, 2003, 10:21 PM

Originally posted by yoda13
I play SimCity 4 on mine. In addition, I play tropico as well. I have just purchased Wolfenstein and Spyhunter, as well as Jedi Outcast II. SimCity plays really well.....let you know about the others

I just got Tropico, too. It's pretty cool and not bad for only $20. It's the first Mac game I've ever bought since my G3 was never fast enough to play anything. I wanted to get Sim City 4, but I have it on the PC at home and don't have the time to waste 10 hours at a time on it like I did over the summer.

filmmaker2002

Oct 5, 2003, 01:23 PM

JKII, MOHAA, WCIII, RtCW all with pretty much full details on my 1.25 15" AlBook. Very smooth and very playable. Gets me through those incredibly boring lectures about political science.

yamabushi

Oct 11, 2003, 01:04 PM

Yeah, a lot of games play alright but I still want more power in my PowerBook.

dennis88

Oct 11, 2003, 03:44 PM

Buy Panther, it will increase the game performance.
Someone with a quicksilver 933mhz and ati 9000 64mb went from 37score to 55score in a ut2k3 flyby test after installing Panther.

pimentoLoaf

Oct 11, 2003, 11:59 PM

Now have MOHAA (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault) and everything looks great with everything maxxed out (volumetric smoke & etc).

Only wish the cheat codes worked as described for the PC version.

scottwat

Oct 12, 2003, 01:57 AM

I'm looking to get a powerbook 15" superdrive in november maybe early december, 512mb one chip and upgrade to 1gb on my own. Hoping to game alittle, MOH spearhead. Have friends that use some pretty good pc's 2.4 ghz athlons and all, hoping to keep up with them. Any one have any idea if the radeon card can keep up? maybe even kick some windows loving a$$??

neonart

Oct 12, 2003, 09:41 AM

Originally posted by scottwat
I Any one have any idea if the radeon card can keep up? maybe even kick some windows loving a$$??

Those windows machines can game better because the games were written for them and they are made to use those fast Ghz procesors. If mac games were G4 or G5 optimized and were dual processor savy mac gaming would be much better.
That does not mean a 15" Powerbook with it's 9600 is a sloth at all, but with a comparable card and a 2. something processor a Wintel machine will get better frame rates.
But since it's not all about frame rates, your Powerbook will be an amazing machine!

QCassidy352

Oct 12, 2003, 03:17 PM

Originally posted by dennis88
Buy Panther, it will increase the game performance.
Someone with a quicksilver 933mhz and ati 9000 64mb went from 37score to 55score in a ut2k3 flyby test after installing Panther.

are you serious? Panther will even help with game frame rates? I hope we're not all setting ourselves up for a let down here, because the speed increases of Panther seem to be reported as better and better by the day.

dennis88

Oct 12, 2003, 03:40 PM

Originally posted by QCassidy352
are you serious? Panther will even help with game frame rates? I hope we're not all setting ourselves up for a let down here, because the speed increases of Panther seem to be reported as better and better by the day.

Yep.

"from macbidollue

"Panther makes us wonder every day a bit more. "le_mackeux" on our forums posted the results he reached with BenchUT2003 under X.2.6 and X.3. He uses a G4 Quicksilver 933 with a Radeon 9000 and 1.5 Go RAM. Tests were done under 1280*1024 resolution with demo flyby-citadel

Under X.2.6:
Score 37.00
Min FPS 11.42
Average FPS 36.94
max 121.27

Under X.3:
Score 55.95
Min FPS 17.4
Average FPS 57.026
max 192.117

Score improves by more than 30% !"

lewdvig

Oct 12, 2003, 11:50 PM

FLYBY SCORES ARE VERY MISLEADING!

Flyby is a measure of videocard performance. This improvement is due to the ATI drivers being brought up to similar quality to the PC ones (which are now nothing short of breathtaking with the 3.8 release).

NV users may not get the same increase.

Panther will not make your CPU faster. In bot matches, games with heavy AI, or really intense online gaming, the driver enhancement will not give you a 30% improvement as the video card spend most of its time waiting for the CPU to catch up.

You can dl Panther from mlmac today and test it yourself if you like.

lewdvig

Oct 12, 2003, 11:53 PM

Originally posted by QCassidy352
are you serious? Panther will even help with game frame rates? I hope we're not all setting ourselves up for a let down here, because the speed increases of Panther seem to be reported as better and better by the day.

Finally the voice of reason.

Will Panther be worth getting? Yes.

Will it make gaming possible on older hardware? No.

Will it improve performance for newer machines with newer video cards? It sounds like it may, but letrs wait and see.

Chucky

Oct 25, 2003, 11:46 AM

i want to know if anyone else is having problems running panther and warcraft3 FT because my game keeps on freezing up me about 10-30Min in. :(
I'm using the 1.25gig Powerbook w/512mb ram.
Don't know if its a bug or just my computer.
Thanx

QCassidy352

Oct 26, 2003, 02:10 AM

oh lord, don't scare me. FT is the only game I play, (12" PB rev. B) and I don't want to lose it. In fact, if Panther kills FT, I won't install it (will be here on monday). Someone say it aint so!

Counterfit

Oct 26, 2003, 02:49 AM

I dunno about WarCraft, but UT2003 runs great. Even when burning a DVD in the background!

QCassidy352

Oct 26, 2003, 12:57 PM

on a 12" PB??

Counterfit

Oct 26, 2003, 01:54 PM

No, a new 15" (it's referenced in the second post)

neonart

Oct 26, 2003, 05:55 PM

Originally posted by QCassidy352
on a 12" PB??
I have the UT2003 Demo and it runs outstanding on my 12" PBook(1Ghz,512MB).
I don't know how to set it to display FPS, but it runs smooth as silk 1024x768 with all effects on.

kparvez

Oct 27, 2003, 04:52 PM

I have a 12inch 1Ghz powerbook, with 512 MB RAM, [the PB announced Sept 16th]. I have Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos [and the Frozen Throne Expansion]. It runs perfectly, and it sounds great, using headphones that is. Blizzard's great in that they release MAC and PC games at the same time, and on a hybrid CD, i heard that they will also release World of Warcraft, [the MMORPG] for MAC/PC at the same time too. Now all i have to do is wait for Dec 4th, when Halo is released, and I'm set. :)

Oh yeah, i have panther installed too. just to let you know.

crossed-over

Oct 28, 2003, 10:47 PM

Problem w/ warcraft3 FT and Panther?

I am having the same problem. I wish I could uninstall Panther because I have not yet been able to play a full game of TFT without getting a crash. I'm hoping blizzard will come out with a patch soon to help with this. My advice for you die-hard War3 fans... Hold out on installing Panther for just a bit longer. I wish i had. :(

Chucky

Oct 29, 2003, 02:21 AM

Hey Crossed-over,
are you using the developer released gold master version panther or a purchased panther? I know there is supposed to be no difference b/w the GM dl and Retail version but still... I just received my retail (upgrade) Panther today so i was thinking about doing fresh install to see if WC FT still crashes.

crossed-over

Oct 29, 2003, 10:31 AM

I'm using a purchased Panther that I bought at the Apple store. I've tried re-installing it too, but I keep having these problems. Something must be done, or it's back to Jaguar for me.

lewdvig

Oct 29, 2003, 01:52 PM

Originally posted by neonart
I have the UT2003 Demo and it runs outstanding on my 12" PBook(1Ghz,512MB).
I don't know how to set it to display FPS, but it runs smooth as silk 1024x768 with all effects on.

LOL

Maybe the menus run great, but that thing won't even come close to silky smooth at 10*7.

[edit] well, maybe with the new patch Macplay released today...

CrackedButter

Oct 30, 2003, 05:12 PM

I've got my PB now and i've ran Warcraft 3 with max settings and it ran like a dream...can't wait for Sim City and Unreal!

Counterfit

Oct 31, 2003, 03:03 AM

I went for that UT2003 for $20 deal from amazon today, erm, well almost 20 hours ago now, but still. The demo runs great on my 15", and I can't wait to play the full version.

dennis88

Nov 1, 2003, 02:41 PM

6.557805 / 25.201025 / 64.210518 fps
Score = 25.222992

Antalus botmatch.

This was on a 1,25ghz powerbook 15" with 1024mb ram and 5400rpm HD.
I have panther and I used the ut2k3 demo, so I don't have the new patch, but I have replaced the old openal.dylib file with the new one.
The game runs great.

toughboy

Nov 1, 2003, 06:41 PM

Originally posted by CrackedButter
If so how are they performing?

How much RAM have you got onboard and does it make alot of difference?

I have a 12"Pb 867Mhz 10.2.8 with 640Mb Ram installed. I've played WarcraftIII Quake III Arena and DiabloII LOD since I bought my it. All works amazing without a problem. Especially I just installed Diablo's 1.10b patch and I loved playing it with my PB rather than my PC..

dennis88

Nov 2, 2003, 05:37 AM

When I play online at 1280x854 on antalus I rarely see the fps drop to under 30fps, and that's with a lot of action on the screen, and on asbestos I have never seen the fps go under 30fps.
And this is with 10player online deathmatch.

The game runs great with a 1,25ghz 15" powerbook with 1024mb ram and the 5400rpm drive.

Powerbook G5

Nov 2, 2003, 12:16 PM

I just got Age of Empires II Gold yesterday for my PowerBook, it's really cool, but I was just wondering if anyone could recommend any other good real time strategy/adventure games? I wish Red Alert was on Mac, that is one game I really miss from the PC.

dennis88

Nov 2, 2003, 03:46 PM

Originally posted by dennis88
When I play online at 1280x854 on antalus I rarely see the fps drop to under 30fps, and that's with a lot of action on the screen, and on asbestos I have never seen the fps go under 30fps.
And this is with 10player online deathmatch.

The game runs great with a 1,25ghz 15" powerbook with 1024mb ram and the 5400rpm drive.

Warcraft 3.

Anticipat3

Nov 3, 2003, 03:24 AM

Hate to be the nay-sayer guys, but seriously... 25fps is not silky smooth ;).

It's still awesome that it runs at all, but lemme tell you.... I had a 12" PB, it was Rev A, but it didn't run games for ****. Warcraft was pretty choppy, UT2003 was hardly playable at all.

Glad to see they gave it a much-needed speed boost though!

dennis88

Nov 3, 2003, 08:11 AM

Originally posted by Anticipat3
Hate to be the nay-sayer guys, but seriously... 25fps is not silky smooth ;).

It's still awesome that it runs at all, but lemme tell you.... I had a 12" PB, it was Rev A, but it didn't run games for ****. Warcraft was pretty choppy, UT2003 was hardly playable at all.

Glad to see they gave it a much-needed speed boost though!

When I play 10 player online deathmatch with 1280x854 res. on Antalus the average is about 40-50fps, and I have seen it very rarely drop to about 27-28fps with A LOT of people on the screen, shooting like crazy.
That's not bad at all.

Remember that it's a bot match with 12 bots on high settings, and the bots eats A LOT of the cpu power, so the fps get's MUCH lower than in online matches.

On asbestos 10 player online deathmatch, I get a constant 40-50fps, and it rarely drop to 32-35fps when it's a bunch of people on the screen, all shooting at the same time.

lewdvig

Nov 3, 2003, 01:13 PM

If it never dips below 30fps it _is_ silky smooth. Especially on a 10 way DM on Antalus. That is great.

I was going to get one, but I opted for the G4 tower (and more $$$ in the bank).

If I ever sell my PV laptop I will get one of these G4 PB or iBooks too.

The m10 (9600 mobility) is AWESOME

Chucky

Nov 11, 2003, 05:14 AM

Just installed the new update for panther and played a game on battlenet. I was able to complete a game (win) w/o a hitch. Its only one game but it looks promising :)
Chucky

Counterfit

Nov 11, 2003, 05:38 PM

Cool, I guess. And I am able to report that Medal of Honor: Allied Assault runs very well, the only problems I run into are lag (stupid POS school network) and sometimes when I turn, the vertical lines get misaligned.

thumper

Nov 14, 2003, 01:11 PM

i downloaded the demo and it ran wicked! i was so happy that it ran almost flawless on my 1.33 17 pb,

so i bought the game...
and it runs like A$$ even with settings turned down it still runs like crap.
BIGGEST waste of money, i feel so ripped of that the demo fooled me into thinkin it would run good.

Powerbook G5

Nov 14, 2003, 02:08 PM

Perhaps there was a problem with the installation or perhaps you need to uninstall the demo completely before installing the full version. When I got Office v.X I forgot to delete Test Drive and it crashed everytime I tried to open Word and gave me my first and only Kernal panic twice. After looking through the Office documentation, I saw you needed to completely wipe Test Drive from your HD before installing, so I had to uninstall both Office and Test Drive, then reinstall Office to finally run it well. Maybe UT2k3 is like that, too?