[Jansar]

Why would a company make a game if it doesn't work on high-end computers?

My specs are:
Dual 1.25 GHz G4
2 GB PC2700 RAM
GeForce 4 Ti 4600

And when I run Soldier of Fortune II on 800 x 600, high quality texture it goes down to about 2 FPS. What's going on here? I'm missing something. Can anyone else comment on their speeds with this game? Thanks.

[littlegreenspud]

See my earlier thread on this matter!

Work arounds include - do not use the maximum texture level (see the web site for info).

I also selected re-detect video card (something like that!), which helped. Though I still managed only to get 10-20fps, even whilst facing a blank wall

That and the fact that you can creep up on some enemies, have them in your sights and shoot at them only to find that it is impossible to hit them unless you have followed the "correct route"!

I'm still waiting for a game to match the standard set by Deus Ex.

[rm199]

thats weird, reviews of SOF2 on a dual 1.25 at 1280x1024 with everything on max is smooth. On my 667dvi its around 15fps with things on medium

RM

[a2daj]

A few issues may be causing the performance issues you see.

One, the first level of SoFII is notoriously slow.
Two, SoFII singleplayer doesn't take advantage of dual procs, so you're basically still using just a 1.25 GHz machine. Due to many of the engine enhancements, SoFII is a very CPU intensive game.
Three (one of the more likely causes), I'm guessing the texture issue with SoF II is similar to the one with JK II (both also use a lot of the same engine enhancements). SoFII's maximum quality textures may be equivalent to JKII's very high quality textures in that they take enormous amounts of VRAM. There may be an issue with how well compressed the textures are when using Apple's texture compression API, which can cause performance issues with high quality textures.
Four, turn off the anisotropic filtering and volumentric lighting (fog)!!

[Jansar]

Thanks, everyone. I'll try that. It was just unexpected to see that after buying a $10,000 computer. I mean, how would all of you feel? As of today, I have the best consumer Apple computer there is.

By the way, JKII runs fine on high quality on this machine. Something's wrong with the game.

[pahroza]

Honestly though, the requirements for this game are just absurd. I know my machine is a few years old, but I have been able to play most recent games without any difficulty. SoFII however, is completely unplayable in my opinion. Part of the fun of a new game is to see the realistic graphics, and it just doesn't seem possible to play this at a decent frame rate.

[t_hah]

I have a Ti 800 and I have been able to play most games on it except this one. Quake 3 runs very well, everything on max, UT runs quite good (could be better), but SOFII is just painfully slow. The graphics do not even amaze me that much. I am not sure what is taking up all that power. I played Castle Wolfenstein couple of times on my computer, and that runs really nicely as well. SOFII is just horrible. I wish I could do something about it. Is there a way to tunr the rain off? Some people said that the rain on the first level takes up too many of the resources.


t

[MindFad]

Compress them textures, man! Is it an option within the game? I don't have the game, but compressing textures can help performance in some games, depending on the engine.

[iamnid]

I don't have the game so I can't attest to performance etc... but as somebody else mentioned in another thread -- try turning down the sound quality and you might get better performance.

[Vash]

Jansar - I do not know if you mean very high quality on JK2, or just High.
I have the same specs as you, but with a Dual 1ghz Quicksilver and 1.5GB RAM. When I set JK2 to very high it is totally unplayable, just like SOF2. I do not kow why they have the very high, or maximum option in both games, just a waste of coding. And like you I hated the game when I had about 2 FPS with everything on Max, you just have to set the texture quality to high, or medium.

[MindFad]

Originally posted by Vash:
Jansar - I do not know if you mean very high quality on JK2, or just High.
I have the same specs as you, but with a Dual 1ghz Quicksilver and 1.5GB RAM. When I set JK2 to very high it is totally unplayable, just like SOF2. I do not kow why they have the very high, or maximum option in both games, just a waste of coding. And like you I hated the game when I had about 2 FPS with everything on Max, you just have to set the texture quality to high, or medium.

And in the Jedi read me, they tell you to compress textures when using the highest texture setting. I did this and it fixed everything. Try it. Is SoF even based on the Q3 engine?

[Jansar]

Originally posted by MindFad:


And in the Jedi read me, they tell you to compress textures when using the highest texture setting. I did this and it fixed everything. Try it. Is SoF even based on the Q3 engine?

Well, the console is similar and everything.

[Jansar]

The main problem with the game is that I can see its potential to go fast. It just slows down and then speeds up again which pisses me off.

[a2daj]

Both JK II and SoF II use a modified Q3 engine. Both were done by Ravensoft originally and use much of the same technology (such as the GHOUL II skeletal system and I believe the ICARUS scripting engine).
But even though they use much of the same technology, there are other things which can affect performance like level architecture, AI, and other engine mods which may be specific to each game.

I my P4 1.9GHZ workstation with a GeForce2MX 32MB VRAM card, I can play the JK II demo at full graphic detail, including Very High Quality Textures (except no shadows) at 1024x768 and the game is like butter. I still think it has something to do with Apple's texture compression, which would affect SoFII as well.

[Jansar]

Originally posted by a2daj:
Both JK II and SoF II use a modified Q3 engine. Both were done by Ravensoft originally and use much of the same technology (such as the GHOUL II skeletal system and I believe the ICARUS scripting engine).
But even though they use much of the same technology, there are other things which can affect performance like level architecture, AI, and other engine mods which may be specific to each game.

I my P4 1.9GHZ workstation with a GeForce2MX 32MB VRAM card, I can play the JK II demo at full graphic detail, including Very High Quality Textures (except no shadows) at 1024x768 and the game is like butter. I still think it has something to do with Apple's texture compression, which would affect SoFII as well.

Apple somehow needs to get better drivers for the video cards. I know it can be better (especially with this much power).

[leperkuhn]

hmm... Brand new dual ghz, 512 MB of RAM. SoF runs like complete ****. so far i'm pretty pissed off. Anyone had any experience getting this stuff working well?

[Liquidity X]

Ok i emailed omni and they are looking into the shitty game play. heres there reply.

"here are a couple possible things that might cause this. 10.2 has a texture paging bug of some sort that seem to allow texture memory to get leaked / reused or something. This typically gets cleared up by logging out and back it, but you might also try rebooting. If this fixes the problem, and you aren't already on 10.2.2, you might try upgrading (there are still some minor problems on 10.2.2, but they seem MUCH less common).

If this doesn't fix the problem, then you should try lowing some of the detail settings. SOF2 can eat a huge amount of texture memory in the highest quality mode (more than 64MB).

If *that* doesn't work, then hopefully the MacPlay support folks have some ideas. I know they've seen this issue, but I forget if they have a resolution for it. I'm CC'ing them on this."

[leperkuhn]

Originally posted by Liquidity X:
Ok i emailed omni and they are looking into the shitty game play. heres there reply.

"here are a couple possible things that might cause this. 10.2 has a texture paging bug of some sort that seem to allow texture memory to get leaked / reused or something. This typically gets cleared up by logging out and back it, but you might also try rebooting. If this fixes the problem, and you aren't already on 10.2.2, you might try upgrading (there are still some minor problems on 10.2.2, but they seem MUCH less common).

If this doesn't fix the problem, then you should try lowing some of the detail settings. SOF2 can eat a huge amount of texture memory in the highest quality mode (more than 64MB).

If *that* doesn't work, then hopefully the MacPlay support folks have some ideas. I know they've seen this issue, but I forget if they have a resolution for it. I'm CC'ing them on this."

Hmm... interesting.. I'm running 10.2.3. I have the detail turned down quite a bit. How do i get the game to display it's framerate? I know I was getting around 90 with Unreal Tournament, even with only the OS X preview.

[a2daj]

http://www.insidemacgames.com/forum/...pic.php?t=7115

[rampant]

in all Q3 games, it's cg_drawfps 1