Quake 4 Multiplayer browser problems.... Please Help me!!

[bobster46]

Guys please help, i have recently purchased my first mac, a mac pro 17" 2.33 2gb ram 256mb graphics basically the current top spec uber laptop. i didnt buy it for gaming but thought i would have one game just to pass away the hours now and again. So i purchased quake 4 from amazon, after initial sound issues the game now plays fine although im disappointed that i have to run in 640x480 just to keep the smoothness given the machines spec. Anyway to the problem.

when i go to multiplayer i can create a LAN server and play against work mates but when i refresh the internet list no servers are found??????????
My friend encountered the same problem on his pc and after turning off his pc firewall for the game and rebooting, his internet server list was massive.

On checking my firewall, it is set to the off position so i cannot understand why i cant find any servers?????

ANY IDEAS?

I cant find the answer on the net anywhere so far so i am guessing its a simple problem to do with my settings, i hope!

Should any one take pity on my very basic knowledge of macs please can you supply me with some lamen advice to solve this infuriating problem.

Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated.

 

[Mackilroy]

I don't know about the browser problems, but do you have the Universal Binary version of Quake 4? That should let you bump up the resolution.

 

[bobster46]

I havent heard of this universal binary version can i download any patches??

 

[Kosh66]

Quake 4 is a new game and therefore the initial game you installed from the DVD is a universal binary. So forget about the universal binary stuff. As for the resolution, this is because he has a Macbook Pro (not a Mac Pro) which means he has a mobile graphics chip which isn't as fast as desktop graphics chip, and since Quake 4 is a new game, at higher resolutions with lots of action, it's going to crawl on a laptop. Laptop graphics chips usually have fewer pipelines than it's desktop counterpart, and a lower clock frequency, as laptop GPUs have to be lower-powered and produce less heat.

As for finding internet servers to play on, check that your game is up-to-date. If there is a punkbuster client for Quake 4, enable it, there is usually a check box. I'd have to check around for other suggestions, it's been awhile since I played Quake 4 and I didn't care for the multiplayer.

 

[Mackilroy]

It's not a new game. And just because he has a laptop doesn't mean he has to play at that resolution to get good frame rates – according to Bare Feats the high-end MBPs were getting 41 fps at 1280x800, which is substantially higher than his resolution. Don't disillusion him. What's possible is that he isn't using the latest version, and also, it may be one of the games that doesn't do as well as it should on the MBP due to driver immaturity.

 

[Kosh66]

Quake 4 is so a new Mac game (well, as new as any game can be on the Mac - hasn't been a good FPS game for a few months), and I wouldn't base things too much on those Bare Feat benchmarks. Those are timedemoes and don't necessarily match game play. You can get less than that in gameplay. They're more useful to compare systems (if one is better than another), that's about it. Depends on what settings he has things at, as well. Bare Feats was testing at "high quality", is there 1 level abovew that or two?

 

[Kosh66]

I just installed Quake 4 on my Mac Pro, and after the initial install and enabling punkbuster I got one server to show up. After installing the 1.3 patch I got over 100 servers to show up. I tried getting on a server, though and it kept on telling me I needed to download files or game code. Most likely, alot of servers have mods or custom maps.

So it sounds to me to solve your server problem you just need to install the patch.

It probably won't help your performance too much, though.