UT99 intel core 2 duo vsync

bazmond said:

Hi All. I play UT99 (GOTY edition) on a G5 imac 2.4 ghz 2 gig ram, running leopard. I use OSX preview 3 to get it running, it's runs pretty well.
Have heard of the advantages of vsync, is that possible to set up on a G5 or is it a PC thing.
Tried running the game under boot camp, was a failure for me and have given the whole bootcamp a miss.

Thanks in advance.

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Bootcamp wont run ona G5, and i dont think a 2.4 GHz G5 i mac was made either?

There is an ATI Displays Utility for OS X that allows a number of iverride controls for games, such as AA, AF or VSYNC settings, but as far as I know it works only on PPC Macs...

But isn't there a Vsync option in the graphics settings of the game?

There is no way besides ATI Displays to turn on VSync in the original UT. If you have a nvidia video card, you are out of luck. (I've searched high and low and have deemed it impossible, unless Apple releases a 3D control panel.)

I'm in the same boat with my MBP and 8600gt, so I just don't play UT (and pretty much every single other Mac game) on this and go on my G5 instead.

socamx said:

There is no way besides ATI Displays to turn on VSync in the original UT. If you have a nvidia video card, you are out of luck. (I've searched high and low and have deemed it impossible, unless Apple releases a 3D control panel.)

I'm in the same boat with my MBP and 8600gt, so I just don't play UT (and pretty much every single other Mac game) on this and go on my G5 instead.

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Why do you need Vsync so that you'd rather not play the game without it? From my experience turning vsync on isnt a good idea, because when your computer cant run the game @ 60 PFS (LCD refresh rate), it runs it at 30, if it cant run it on 30 it drops to 15, and so on.

eXan said:

From my experience turning vsync on isnt a good idea

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But if the tearing is really bad, you might even prefer low FPS to that. Anyway the computers mentioned can run the game at just about any FPS desired so it wouldn't be an issue.

eXan said:

Why do you need Vsync so that you'd rather not play the game without it? From my experience turning vsync on isnt a good idea, because when your computer cant run the game @ 60 PFS (LCD refresh rate), it runs it at 30, if it cant run it on 30 it drops to 15, and so on.

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OS X has triple buffering on by default, because I never had this issue in any game with VSync. The frame rate was always smooth and never did that. It could be anywhere from 1 to 85 on my G5, not increments like that.
So as long as there is triple buffering, be it built into the game or OS X is doing it, you won't get those steps of the framerate.

bazmond:
ATI Displays is a downloadable control panel for ATI users. It allows them to override 3D options like full screen anti-aliasing and VSync. Much like you can do on Windows.

However I should also add, I never had luck getting an older C2D iMac with a ATI x1600 to force VSync on in UT (It did work in UT2004 which is a universal binary). UT is a PPC game and believe you can't use ATI Displays to force 3D options on PPC games. I also don't know if the HD2400 or HD2600 will work in ATI Displays, it hasn't been updated in awhile.

apfhex said:

But if the tearing is really bad, you might even prefer low FPS to that. Anyway the computers mentioned can run the game at just about any FPS desired so it wouldn't be an issue.

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Hmm I've never really noticed the tearing at high (above 60) FPS - on neither LCDs or CRTs. In same gaming cafes on Windows I sometimes did notice it though, but never on Macs.

socamx said:

OS X has triple buffering on by default, because I never had this issue in any game with VSync. The frame rate was always smooth and never did that. It could be anywhere from 1 to 85 on my G5, not increments like that.
So as long as there is triple buffering, be it built into the game or OS X is doing it, you won't get those steps of the framerate.

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The games I tried to play with Vsync on were Soldier of Fortune 2 and Unreal Tournament 2004. In both games if framerate dropped below 60, it would run at 30, and so on. That was very annoying so I disabled vsync...

eXan said:

The games I tried to play with Vsync on were Soldier of Fortune 2 and Unreal Tournament 2004. In both games if framerate dropped below 60, it would run at 30, and so on. That was very annoying so I disabled vsync...

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This doesn't happen for me, the framerate can be anywhere between 1 and whatever my refresh rate is in UT2004. No stepping at all. Same with UT and countless other games I play in OS X.

In all of these situations I've gamed in: 10.3, 10.4 and 10.5 + ATI Displays + Radeon 9800 or Radeon X800 or X600 or X1600 + any Mac game, VSync did the trick without any bad side effects such as tiered framerates for me.

G5s, iMacs.. you name it. VSync is a life saver for me because the tearing is absolutely horrible at any refresh rate and framerate in my experience.

bazmond:
I'm sorry to say but there really isn't much hope for ever running UT well in OS X. The beta (UTX Preview 3) was abandoned years ago, and the guy (icculus) who was working on a patch for all 3 systems, gave up on the Mac patch. It was going to be part of the UTPG project. It's a real shame because he had a private beta going and even bug reports on the icculus.org website.
http://icculus.org/cgi-bin/finger/finger.pl?user=icculus
http://www.utpg.org/

Sadly you are better off playing UT in Linux or Windows. UT + Linux is by far the best experience. It is so buttery smooth and doesn't have has many issues as Windows does. Windows will of course work fine too.

It's pretty depressing that such a great game is being abandoned on the Mac platform for updates. I'd even pay for a patch...

I'm a long time veteran of playing the original UT. I first played it on a PowerMac 9600 with a 300 mhz 604e processor with no 3D acceleration back in the days of 8.6 and 9. Needless to say I've learned a lot about ini file tweaking for the UT games, especially for Macs.

The UT experience is just horrible in OS X. So many numerous bugs that make it hard to swallow but I've sucked it up. It still isn't a pleasant experience.

Can't leave full screen, no 'preferences' command, glitchy, un-updated UT opengl driver, no TextureComposite support, no music, no control over brightness or sound volume, custom voice packs can be buggy in playback just to name a few. It truly is a crying shame the state it is in, in OS X.

I miss playing it on my 700 mhz G4 upgraded 9600 with a Voodoo 5 5500. I can't justify the desk space and extra cable mess to keep it hooked up just for one game (plus it is lacking a hard drive...). This is one of the real problems with the whole OS X switch is how these old OS 9 and older games got left in the dark. Either need an old Mac handy or the PC version and a PC.

One trick for OS X in UT with the ini file, is to add 'UseGammaCorrection=1' in the OpenGL section. This fixes those green boxes around biorifle goo and makes the lighting more accurate, but it also messes with transparent surfaces. So it's a trade off.

I just noticed that it doesn't seem to work anymore (or it never worked to begin with on my MBP), I think the 10.5.2 update has changed some stuff.

There is no fix for that black smoke stuff though, it seems random when it happens. I do know there used to be a little user mod that let you turn it off, but most servers view it as a "cheat" because it gives you a "visual advantage" (which personally I think is a bunch of bull). I can't remember the name of it though.