Is classic mode really as terrible as it seems (to me right now) ?

[Overmann]

I've recently gotten my hands on a Quad G5 with 8gb ram. Working nicely (though the liquid cooler needs a good flushing). I've installed Tiger on it hoping to get the best possible experience, and running some OS9 games/programs in classic mode. Everything was going super nicely until I started SC3000 (after a fast and painless installation). The menus are snappy but loading a map takes 4-8 minutes, and once in every redraw of the screen takes about 10 seconds. The game is running super nicely as long as I don't touch anything..

I then tested Marathon, which at first refused to load due to lack of memory. I assumed that the 2gb's "Classic Mode" has allocated was to much for Marathon to understand so I lowered all the settings for the game and the game loaded but ran horribly. Stuttering and lagging. If I increase the screen size to full (no GUI ingame) it runs perfectly, but that's no way to play.

There are clearly some issues. Classic mode has so few costumization options that I'm not sure where to begin. I can't set it to 512mb ram. I can't set up virtual memory (which SC3000 asks for), and I can't seem to make any choices in regards to graphics drivers.

Are there steps I can take or am I doomed to have a bad time with OS9 programs on a G5?

 

[Amethyst1]

The problem is... Classic pretty much sucks for gaming in Panther and Tiger. Jaguar's is better but that won't run on a Quad.

 

[Overmann]

The problem is... Classic pretty much sucks for gaming in Panther and Tiger. Jaguar's is better but that won't run on a Quad.

Well that's a bummer. Thanks for the input though! I suppose I'll habe to get hold of an OS9 native machine

 

[TheShortTimer]

I doomed to have a bad time with OS9 programs on a G5?

To reiterate what @Amethyst1 has already covered, the Classic environment isn't geared up for gaming. As I noted in my PPC gaming thread, older titles which are so technically undemanding that they ought to zip along with a G3/G4/G5 perform miserably or don't even run at all. Apple probably could have implemented a better solution for these scenarios but I suspect that even Classic itself was provided somewhat grudgingly and that they'd rather have just seen OS9 vanish overnight.

Why hasn't anyone made a breakthrough with hacking OS9 to run natively on the G5s? After all, other marvels have been achieved...

Well that's a bummer. Thanks for the input though! I suppose I'll habe to get hold of an OS9 native machine

Yep: your best bet is to seek out a Mac that can run OS9 natively - and make sure that you check beforehand that it actually can do so because, for example, not all G4's possess OS9 compatibility. Or see if an OS X remake or port of the game(s) has been produced - I found many such examples and shared them within my thread. They should all run like the clappers on your Quad.

 

[mectojic]

I can confirm that Jaguar Classic is actually quite good.
I couldn’t run Diablo II on Tiger Classic, but on Jaguar it actually ran excellently.
Had to use USB Overdrive to get a right click, but that was all!

 

[Overmann]

My main reason for going with Tiger was "Classic Mode". If that is useless, should I just go with Leopard instead or are there other advantages with Tiger? What do you suggest running on the G5 Quad to get the most out of the machine?

 

[Amethyst1]

What do you suggest running on the G5 Quad to get the most out of the machine?

If that means havng a more modern OS and, thus, compatibility with more and more modern applications - Leopard all the way.

 

[Overmann]

If that means havng a more modern OS and, thus, compatibility with more and more modern applications - Leopard all the way.

Well, I suppose, but I'm not going to be running anything "modern" on this machine, so most compatible and most fun are the main criteria. If classic mode was working like I expected that would be a lot of fun. Does Leopard offer anything today that Tiger does not? OnefourFox and onefourBird runs on both. I guess getting a music production setup up and running would be easier on Leopard. And perhaps finding good office software? Games?

 

[AphoticD]

I then tested Marathon, which at first refused to load due to lack of memory. I assumed that the 2gb's "Classic Mode" has allocated was to much for Marathon to understand so I lowered all the settings for the game and the game loaded but ran horribly. Stuttering and lagging. If I increase the screen size to full (no GUI ingame) it runs perfectly, but that's no way to play.

Marathon runs nicely in Classic on my PowerBook G4 under 10.4.11.

Try setting the Preferred memory size of the app a little higher. Here is the info window setup on my machine.

Also, you can setup the screen resolution and color depth to 640 x 480 @ 256 colors. Once you've done this once, click the "show displays in menu bar" option and you get a handy resolution switcher like this:

 

[Overmann]

I didn't know you could do that. Thanks! Yes, this made Marathon playable. It did nothing for SC3000 however
I think I'm better off OS9-gaming on an OS9-machine

 

[AphoticD]

Good idea. Grab a Power Mac G4 or a Titanium PowerBook G4. Or both

 

[Amethyst1]

And perhaps finding good office software?

Both iWork '09 and MS Office 2008 work on Tiger and Leopard, for instance. No idea about games I'm afraid.

Good idea. Grab a Power Mac G4 or a Titanium PowerBook G4. Or both

Or any Mac mini G4; or an original 12" or 17" PowerBook G4. These run OS 9 very well despite Apple's best efforts to prevent it.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Or any Mac mini G4; or an original 12" or 17" PowerBook G4. These run OS 9 very well despite Apple's best efforts to prevent it.

What specifically prevents OS 9 from running on G5's? Is it a lack of drivers?

 

[weckart]

What specifically prevents OS 9 from running on G5's? Is it a lack of drivers?

Lots of issues. Firmware, drivers, AHCI booting support. I think some early "feasibility studies" were done on MacOS9lives then abandoned. It's too much work with not enough information on OS9 and the G5 available as Apple just doesn't release much information. Getting things to work on non-compatible G4s was hard enough as it was.

 

[r34per]

Lots of issues. Firmware, drivers, AHCI booting support. I think some early "feasibility studies" were done on MacOS9lives then abandoned. It's too much work with not enough information on OS9 and the G5 available as Apple just doesn't release much information. Getting things to work on non-compatible G4s was hard enough as it was.

Why exactly can't some g4's run os9? I remember tearing my hair trying to get os9 running on my ibook g4, only to find out it can't run it! Also, i remember a user on here replaced the tiger os9 runtime with the jaguars runtime and called it classix. I haven't meseed with it too much though, but it may be a decent option

 

[Strategia]

Why exactly can't some g4's run os9? I remember tearing my hair trying to get os9 running on my ibook g4, only to find out it can't run it! Also, i remember a user on here replaced the tiger os9 runtime with the jaguars runtime and called it classix. I haven't meseed with it too much though, but it may be a decent option

Usually the GPU is too new to be supported under OS 9. Late G4s usually have AirPort Extreme + Bluetooth, which is also not supported. I presume Apple didn't want to hold back advancements for the sake of maintaining 100% compatibility with OS 9.

 

[Amethyst1]

I presume Apple didn't want to hold back advancements for the sake of maintaining 100% compatibility with OS 9.

With that being said, OS 9 can be coaxed to run on some newer G4s that won't boot it OOTB, with varying degrees of success. AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth, in particular, are not functional.

 

[weckart]

Why exactly can't some g4's run os9? I remember tearing my hair trying to get os9 running on my ibook g4, only to find out it can't run it! Also, i remember a user on here replaced the tiger os9 runtime with the jaguars runtime and called it classix. I haven't meseed with it too much though, but it may be a decent option

Because said notebooks came out after Apple stopped development of OS9, hence it lacks drivers for the newer hardware plus the notebook firmware is telling it to look for a later OS to boot from.

Previously, Apple used to release system enablers with new hardware so that they could complement the latest version of whatever Mac/System OS was around and allow it to boot. Those got bundled into the OS itself so when new hardware came out, you needed either the special release of the OS that came with the hardware or newer to boot. After Apple got bored with OS9, that inevitably meant you needed Mac OS X.