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nath · Dec 17, 2003, 02:22 AM

hello

very happy with my new g5, apart from the noise of the radeon which i plan to fix sometime soon. however...

I am getting constant crashes in unreal tournament 2003. this seems to happen in 'instant action' mode, within the first two minutes of playing. the screen just freezes, although the audio continues (i can actually hear other bots being fragged etc). i can find no way to get out of the freeze other than by holding in the power key to force a shutdown (force quit and escape have no effect), so effectively this is a system freeze, although i have no way of knowing if the system is still running OK 'underneath' unreal. i have applied the latest patch to unreal and my G5 is kept fully up to date via software update.

is this a video card issue? it seems odd that it wouldn't be reproduced in other games or heavy visual apps if so. if anyone else has experienced this issue or can confirm a problem i would appreciate it, as if there is a problem with my video card i want to get it back to apple asap.

many thanks in advance.

--
G5 dp 1.8 / 1.5GB RAM / 9800pro

proton · Dec 17, 2003, 08:37 AM

It sounds like it's probably a video card issue (I don't see this problem on a single 1.8 G5 with Radeon 9600).

You can try force quitting the front most application using (on 10.3 and later only) Command-Option-Shift-Esc, this doesn't come up with the Force Quit dialog first, so it may help you force quit when the screen is frozen. At the very least, you may be able to get back to your desktop without rebooting.

- proton

Vash · Dec 17, 2003, 06:46 PM

If Forcequit doesn't work, then it is most likely a video card issue. I had the same problem with ut2k3 in my G4, it would jam rather quickly, but then I noticed that other games would jam, they just lasted much longer as they were not as visually demanding. It ended up being that the Geforce4Ti was just fried, and had to be replaced

Oh, if you are sure this only happens in Instant Action, then it is a known bug on the bug reporter site. On a Dual 2ghz G5 w/Radeon 9800Pro I just use the un-updated version of ut2k3 to play, it doesn't make that much of a FPS difference. But the thing is, I could always forcequit back to the finder when this bug reared its ugly face.

nath · Dec 20, 2003, 07:58 AM

I have managed to resolve my problem, but in the process have come to the conclusion that this is an incompatibility between he ut2003 install CDs and either the G5 as a whole or specifically the superdrive.

after re-installing 3 times the problem was still occuring as described in my original message above - screen freeze at the start or near the start of a bot match on certain maps, no control over cursor, but sound still present and G5 visible to other macs on the network.

So i replaced all the files in the folder 'Maps' in my ut2003 app folder (you have to right-click the file 'Unreal Tournament 2003' and 'Show package contents') with the maps from the same location on my partner's G4 powerbook, who has never experienced these problems. Since doing this i have not had a single freeze on any map.

I have heard of instances before whereby large CD installers can corrupt data because the speed with which the cpu/hard drive etc are able to process the installation is too fast to be fed at the right speed by the cd drive. So maybe this is it. Both installations (on the G5 and G4 PB) are from the same install CD, so this is not a problem with the CD itself.

i thought this was a video card issue too, but it seems very unlikely that this would only manifest itself in one game.

Originally posted by Vash:
If Forcequit doesn't work, then it is most likely a video card issue. I had the same problem with ut2k3 in my G4, it would jam rather quickly, but then I noticed that other games would jam, they just lasted much longer as they were not as visually demanding. It ended up being that the Geforce4Ti was just fried, and had to be replaced
Oh, if you are sure this only happens in Instant Action, then it is a known bug on the bug reporter site. On a Dual 2ghz G5 w/Radeon 9800Pro I just use the un-updated version of ut2k3 to play, it doesn't make that much of a FPS difference. But the thing is, I could always forcequit back to the finder when this bug reared its ugly face.

proton · Dec 20, 2003, 08:09 AM

Originally posted by nath:
So i replaced all the files in the folder 'Maps' in my ut2003 app folder (you have to right-click the file 'Unreal Tournament 2003' and 'Show package contents') with the maps from the same location on my partner's G4 powerbook, who has never experienced these problems. Since doing this i have not had a single freeze on any map.

There are known problems with the UT2003 update and some map files. This won't be caused by your G5 or the Superdrive being "too fast" or "too slow". You may want to verify your discs haven't become corrupted since you installed on the G4 PowerBook, but before you tried to install on your G5.

- proton

nath · Dec 20, 2003, 11:45 AM

yeah, i understand all of that. But I've now made a second successful installation onto the PB from the same cds (with the ut2003 update applied immediately), and all maps are fine.

i know i'm grasping at straws with the superdrive being "too fast" and "too slow" ;-)

...but have followed the whole thing through in the logical way. install cds=fine, ut2003 update=fine. the only place where a problem occurs is to certain maps when installed from the cds to the G5.

edit: do you have a link to those known problems btw?

Originally posted by proton:
There are known problems with the UT2003 update and some map files. This won't be caused by your G5 or the Superdrive being "too fast" or "too slow". You may want to verify your discs haven't become corrupted since you installed on the G4 PowerBook, but before you tried to install on your G5.

- proton

proton · Dec 21, 2003, 06:26 AM

Originally posted by nath:
edit: do you have a link to those known problems btw?

The ones I was thinking of are:
https://bugzilla.icculus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=994
https://bugzilla.icculus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=992

Try running without the update for a bit, see if the problem still occurs.

- proton

nath · Dec 22, 2003, 05:20 AM

quick update: have now been running my maps copied across the the PB for 2 days, under heavy use, playing a variety of instant action and LAN games. No map-related crashes whatsoever, so obviously this is a workaround of some kind, if only in my case.

Originally posted by proton:
The ones I was thinking of are:
https://bugzilla.icculus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=994
https://bugzilla.icculus.org/show_bug.cgi?id=992

Try running without the update for a bit, see if the problem still occurs.

- proton