[geltab]

I just got the pb 17" on Tuesday and purchased a copy of Unreal Tournament 2003 with it. I must say I am very unimpressed with the performance. I have turned everything down to low detail and run it in 800x600 and it still lags a lot. I am upgrading from 512mb to 1024 mb this afternoon. Do you think the memory will help with the slowed down performance? Are there any other things that I can try to fix the performance? I am guessing that this game should run fairly smooth with this machine. I can't seem to locate a folder for my ATI 9600 either, making it impossible to actually see if I can change the settings of the card- eg, enable anti-aliasing etc.- like I can with my desktop nvidia.

Also, where can I get the patch, if there is one, and how do you install it. I downloaded something called openal-osx-revolution71fix.tar.bz2 and can't seem to run this.

Thanks

[AssassyN]

I've done moderate searching, and unless you're having crashing problems at startup, there's been no patches released yet except to fix that one issue. It can be found at www.macupdate.com

Now, for your Q...that's very odd. I had a Rev. A 17" PB w/ 1GIG of RAM and the UT2003 Demo played awesome at 1024 res. w/ all details maxed out. I'd say doubling your RAM will certain make a difference, and make sure there's no extra apps. running in the background, and MOST importantly, check your "Energy Saver" settings in the "System Preferences" and make sure the CPU is set to "Highest". It could be running in Power Saver mode at a slower clock speed...good luck!

[geltab]

Thanks for the help. I had it set to "automatic". I just switched it over to "high performance". That is going to be great if I can crank it up like you can (1024x780 with all detail). Thanks for that web page too. There is a lot of cool stuff to download off there. What on there was I looking for though. Thanks for the help.

This is my first mac if you couldn't tell.

[dennis88]

Post as soon you get the results after setting it on "high".
How many fps do you get?

Thanks!

[AssassyN]

Yep! THIS is the only known patch available for UT2003.

[geltab]

Now that I closed all the background stuff and turned of airport and put the power saver from automatic to full performance, it looks nice with all the settings on highest. Still some delay when 5 people are on screen at once, but not bad at all. I am upgrading to a gig today and will post the fps for that too.

For right know though, how do I see the fps my machine is pushing? I will post asap.

Thanks

[dennis88]

I think you must press the ~ and write "stat fps".

[dennis88]

Here is a link for how to check fps in unreal 2k3:
http://www.insidemacgames.com/forum/...ght=unreal+fps

[dennis88]

I can't wait for the results! Thanks!

[geltab]

This is what I got running on a 17" w/ 512kb and the 4200 rpm hd. I ran UT2003 on 1024x762 with everything as high as it could go. I am upgrading the memory this afternoon to a gig and will post the results for that after.

I was playing on deathmatch with 8 bots on big levels. The high end of the fps was about 50-60 avg (usually when no one was present) The mid range, when a few people were on the screen was 30-40 and when most of the bots were present and mass gunfire was going on the lowest it reached was about 15 but usually stayed in the low 20's. It looks great, save a few slow downs. I hope the memory fixes that.

Is there a way to close out of finder? That is the only thing I can't close out of before playing.

[dennis88]

That sounds great!
Remember, 8 bots is alot of work for the cpu, so if you join somebodys game on a LAN it should be even better performance, because then you cpu don't need to work with the bots.

[geltab]

I think it is great. I usually play online anyway. A good way to save performance when playing the computer is to just jack up the skill and play with only 2 more bots.

I'll post more once I get the 1 gig.

[dennis88]

Will it be alot of difference in speed if I have 1gig of ram instead of 768mb ram in the 1,25ghz 15"pb?
And will my 5400rpm drive make higher fps vs. the 4200rpm?

Thanks!

[geltab]

The ram will definately help with performance. I don't know about the hard drive. I think the game loads the levels into you memory, so the loading time might be quicker, but not the acutal game play. I am not totally sure though.

[dennis88]

would 768mb ram be enough?

[Commodus]

One thing to note: the texture detail settings on UT2K3 are heavily reliant on your available video card memory. If you're running in 32-bit colour, keep the setting at Normal instead of raising it to High or Highest.

Epic explained back when UT2K3 was new that the extra settings were there for future hardware. High is geared towards 128 MB cards, and Highest is meant for 256 MB cards - which weren't even available when UT2K3 came out for the PC, and are still fairly uncommon.

[geltab]

Ok, I just put in 512mb of ram and now have 1024 mb.

The performance is sooooo much better. I would recommend that you get the 512mb upgrade instead of the 256. I have everything on highest and get no pauses! I ordered my memory yesterday online and got it today. With overnight shipping it cost 127.90 for 512mb.

The memory makes a world of difference.

BTW- the frame rate is about the same or up a bit, but like I said, no slow downs (which in my opinion, ruin the game flow)

[AssassyN]

Yep, RAM does wonders. Good to hear it helped out...and I recommend running games at 16-bit color; the difference in color you can't hardly tell, but it allows you to crank up the more important details.

[geltab]

I'll try to use the 16 bit color. I am very happy with my new 17" 's performance. Especially after that first run that I had when all those apps were open.

I still want to find out how to access the video card in OSX. I heard that with these new ATI 9600's you can adjust the clock speed of the card via their software. Anyone know about this?

Also, if I get a portable external firewire 800 hard drive that runs at 7200 rpm and 8mb of cache, could I use that to run the game and would it improve speeds? Does the warantee of my apple care get voided if I get a certified apple tech to install it?

Thanks

[Draco]

I just wanted to comment, I would imagine UT2K3 would run beautifully on the new 15 and 17" PB's. The ATI 9600 is a great mobile chipset. It flys on the Windows laptops anyways.

It will be interesting to see how Unreal plays on my new Pb 12" once I get it Of course the NVidia 5200 mobile is no where near as fast as ATI's 9600.

[dennis88]

Originally posted by Draco:
I just wanted to comment, I would imagine UT2K3 would run beautifully on the new 15 and 17" PB's. The ATI 9600 is a great mobile chipset. It flys on the Windows laptops anyways.

It will be interesting to see how Unreal plays on my new Pb 12" once I get it Of course the NVidia 5200 mobile is no where near as fast as ATI's 9600.

Yeah, but the new 12" is very fast, because now it have just as much cache as the rest, and a 1ghz G4, it no longer have any bottlenecks compared to the rest powerbook's (except for the 5200go which is weaker than the ati9600)
I would guess that you will get about 30-35fps with 1024x768res, 16bit color and all settings set to normal.

[dennis88]

Originally posted by geltab:
Ok, I just put in 512mb of ram and now have 1024 mb.

The performance is sooooo much better. I would recommend that you get the 512mb upgrade instead of the 256. I have everything on highest and get no pauses! I ordered my memory yesterday online and got it today. With overnight shipping it cost 127.90 for 512mb.

The memory makes a world of difference.

BTW- the frame rate is about the same or up a bit, but like I said, no slow downs (which in my opinion, ruin the game flow)

Do you mean that it runs 50-60fps all the time with all the settings set to the highest?
That would be so cool!
If that's the case then this is going to be the best notebook ever! (well I think it already is, but..)

Thanks!

[beefstu01]

Originally posted by geltab:
Ok, I just put in 512mb of ram and now have 1024 mb.

The performance is sooooo much better. I would recommend that you get the 512mb upgrade instead of the 256. I have everything on highest and get no pauses! I ordered my memory yesterday online and got it today. With overnight shipping it cost 127.90 for 512mb.

The memory makes a world of difference.

BTW- the frame rate is about the same or up a bit, but like I said, no slow downs (which in my opinion, ruin the game flow)

Where did you buy your RAM from?

[geltab]

no, it still drop in fps when there is a lot of action, but there is no more lagging.

I got the ram at

www.4allmemory.com

[dennis88]

How fast does it run with everything on normal/medium, 16bit color and 1024x768 res?

Thanks!