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mac freak · May 26, 2004, 04:19 PM

Downloading now...
Y'all noticed improvements in anything with the new drivers? I remember the last set, with 10.3.3, intensely boosted a couple games.

Ozzpot · May 26, 2004, 04:36 PM

I'm no expert on the matter and a virgin to this forum (I hang out at the GUI forum normally), but I've noticed an increase in framerate on Unreal Tournament 2004. I can't give specifics, but let's just say it's a big enough improvement to allow me to bump the resolution up to 1024x768 and check a couple more boxes and retain the framerate I had running at 800x600 on 10.3.3. (See sig for specs)

Can anyone else confirm this? I'd love to hear some framerate data.

gbafan · May 26, 2004, 04:45 PM

Apple states:

Improves OpenGL by adding support for OpenGL Vertex Buffer and Replaceable OpenGL entry points.

Hopefully this should boost Halo performance when using shaders? I really don't see anything "listed" that would relate to anything major but you never know.

As always, I won't update until someone else does

arekkusu · May 26, 2004, 07:30 PM

VBO support is a major improvement that will allow increased performance IN FUTURE GAMES. It is a new rendering path, current games will not automatically take advantage of it.

Will McGoonigle · May 26, 2004, 07:36 PM

I only tried Medal of Honor because its the most intensive gam on my Alu Rev A 17. It is faster definitely. Not as good as an Athlon 2000XP w/GF4MX I had a year ago (ran that at 1600x1200) but more playable for sure now at 1024x768 @ 16bit.

OwlBoy · May 26, 2004, 08:47 PM

Hmm, lets see if that Gnome I talked to helped speed up WoW in it.

-Owl

arekkusu · May 26, 2004, 10:09 PM

It does look like the older (non-VBO) vertex paths have been sped up a bit too. Here's stats from an old benchmark I have, run on 1.25 Ghz 15" Albook (Radeon 9600):

Speedtest: (10.3.3)
GL_RENDERER: ATI Radeon 9600 OpenGL Engine
drew 1717k polys per second (classic arrays, packed, drawArrays)
drew 1717k polys per second (classic arrays, aligned, drawArrays)
drew 1746k polys per second (interleaved arrays, drawArrays)
drew 1778k polys per second (classic arrays, packed, drawElements)
drew 1760k polys per second (classic arrays, aligned, drawElements)
drew 1765k polys per second (interleaved arrays, drawElements)

GL_RENDERER: ATI Radeon 9600 OpenGL Engine
drew 12236.0k polys per second @ 30.0 fos (optimized:1)
drew 11967.1k polys per second @ 30.0 fos (optimized:0)
drew 12204.0k polys per second @ 30.0 fos (optimized:1)
drew 11954.7k polys per second @ 30.0 fos (optimized:0)

Speedtest: (10.3.4)
GL_RENDERER: ATI Radeon 9600 OpenGL Engine
drew 2980k polys per second (classic arrays, packed, drawArrays)
drew 2708k polys per second (classic arrays, aligned, drawArrays)
drew 2913k polys per second (interleaved arrays, drawArrays)
drew 3526k polys per second (classic arrays, packed, drawElements)
drew 3525k polys per second (classic arrays, aligned, drawElements)
drew 3500k polys per second (interleaved arrays, drawElements)

GL_RENDERER: ATI Radeon 9600 OpenGL Engine
drew 12655.9k polys per second @ 30.0 fos (optimized:1)
drew 12237.2k polys per second @ 30.0 fos (optimized:0)
drew 12612.2k polys per second @ 30.0 fos (optimized:1)
drew 12290.2k polys per second @ 30.0 fos (optimized:0)

So, that's roughly 82% faster in the first test (using GL lighting) and 3% faster in the second test (no lighting). Of course this is one artificial, isolated test on one card, but still good news. VBOs could speed up dynamic geometry even more.

Horsepoo!!! · May 27, 2004, 06:44 AM

This was probably done in preparation for Doom 3's release.

atFault · May 27, 2004, 08:28 AM

I've found minimizing America's Army causes a crash. Not all the time, but often. There are still game sounds but no mouse cursor and nothing else works except holding the power button and restarting. I'm so sad now.

Remember, I'm atFault

MilkmanDan · May 28, 2004, 09:40 AM

The update has caused my PowerBook to suck at games. HALO, UT 2004, WC3. All suck now. 1.33 12in Powerbook.

emark · May 28, 2004, 10:06 AM

Originally posted by MilkmanDan:
The update has caused my PowerBook to suck at games. HALO, UT 2004, WC3. All suck now. 1.33 12in Powerbook.

Are you going to reinstall, or wait it out and see if it's reported as a problem? I'd be curious if it changes after a fresh install...but it's your time....

I bet it would cure whatever gremlin is in there....

did you try and log in under another user and run application to see if conflict? or install/run from another partition if available?

good luck, pain in the kester...

Grrr · May 28, 2004, 01:06 PM

Originally posted by MilkmanDan:
The update has caused my PowerBook to suck at games. HALO, UT 2004, WC3. All suck now. 1.33 12in Powerbook.

Same here

1ghz 12" PowerBook.. It used to run UT2003 just great. Now it sux after the 10.3.4 update. I also just got UT2004 today, and it's damn near unplayable.

TheMosco · May 28, 2004, 01:14 PM

someone on xlr8yourmac.com posted that there speeds went back to normal and even went a little higher on halo when they enabled vsync.

gbafan · May 28, 2004, 01:36 PM

Originally posted by Grrr:
Same here 1ghz 12" PowerBook.. It used to run UT2003 just great. Now it sux after the 10.3.4 update. I also just got UT2004 today, and it's damn near unplayable.

Hmmm. I have noticed that since I updated I need to reboot and then launch WoW in order to get my good framerates. If I launch the game after web surfing, emailing, playing something else, then I get extreme lag in game.

Now, this could be caused by my limited 512MB in my 12" PB, but I don't recall having this problem before I upgraded to 10.3.4.

Haven't tried Halo yet but will do so now. BTW - UT2004 has always ran like crap for me on the 12", but that was the demo. AA wasn't so hot either. But Halo has been very playable even with some shaders enabled.

Grrr · May 28, 2004, 01:53 PM

WoW?
btw, my pb has 768mb of ram. Seems plenty. Curiously enough, MOH seems slightly better after 10.3.4? But UT2003 has definitely taken a turn for the worst. And UT2004 is nigh on useless. Terrible

juanvaldes · May 28, 2004, 02:34 PM

Haven't noticed any change either way with Worms 3D.

gbafan · May 28, 2004, 02:50 PM

Originally posted by Grrr:
WoW?

World of Warcraft

MilkmanDan · May 28, 2004, 05:12 PM

Theres a thread in the Powerbook forum about the update. I changed my video setting to VSINC in HALO, and it fixed my problems.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...22#post2008122

Grrr · May 28, 2004, 09:40 PM

I tried deleting the .ini files for UT2003 and UT 2004, and performance didnt improve that i noticed. 10.3.4 update definitely screwed something up here..

mac freak · May 29, 2004, 08:48 AM

On a DP1.8/Radeon 9800 Pro...

� WoW runs a tad better, but hard freezes my machine constantly!
� UT2004 runs maybe 15% better.
� The CoD demo is a jumbled mess if I enable FSAA.
� Halo is the same.

And that's all I've tested. Overall, pretty lack-luster if you ask me!

Frumpy · May 30, 2004, 05:09 PM

Unbeliebeable. Just bought my 12" PB last week, and have been playing the original UT and UT 2004. I've had all of the settings maxed out on UT and was getting 40-60 fps. And all was good. THEN Apple released 10.3.4 and everything came to a crashing hault. To get the same performance out of the game I have to turn down the resolution to 800x600 and turn the world and skin settings down to medium. THEN, and ONLY then do I get the same performance. Sooo, what should I be doing. Albeit these settings were all with the stock 256 ram and I have another 512 coming on Tuesday, but STILL. I want the performance that I had before this crazy update. I repaired permissions with no avail...any ideas?!

altimac · May 30, 2004, 07:05 PM

i upgraded to 10.3.4, what a change !
the game is finally more than playable even in 1024*768 on both my mac (the PB 1Ghz is faster probably due to a better video card)

no slow motion at all

so if you really want to play this game, install 10.3.4 is almost a compulsory !
the framerate increase in HUGE for me the game was not playable at all !

MacGallant · May 30, 2004, 08:04 PM

Originally posted by altimac:
i upgraded to 10.3.4, what a change !
the game is finally more than playable even in 1024*768 on both my mac (the PB 1Ghz is faster probably due to a better video card)

no slow motion at all

so if you really want to play this game, install 10.3.4 is almost a compulsory !
the framerate increase in HUGE for me the game was not playable at all !

Call me a fool for asking, but . . .what game are you talking about?

Deicide · May 30, 2004, 09:11 PM

Powerbook G4 12" 1Ghz 768MB ram.

WarCraft 3:

Well it looks like it was Apple's fault afterall. After this 10.3.4 update there is no more micro pauses when scrolling using the mouse or keyboard. The game is pretty smooth now. Big improvement.

C&C Generals Demo 1.0.1:

Before it was laggy but now it is totally useless. abot 1 FPS during the intro screen. I don't understand because someone in the Generals thread claims it is better now.

Age of Mythology:

I can't see any change. It has never been real time smooth but playable.

Grrr · May 30, 2004, 09:56 PM

Seems not all games suffer. And the results vary a lot on different types of macs. But UT 2003 & UT 2004 definitely have bad issues with 10.3.4, no doubt about it. A patch is needed soon, or failing that, downgrade to 10.3.3 for decent performance in UT again.

Vash · May 30, 2004, 11:44 PM

No problems with UT2K4 here at all...no noticeable downgrade or upgrade in performance. Dual 2ghz G5 Radeon 9800Pro.

Frumpy · May 31, 2004, 05:35 AM

Just wondering how you go about downgrading back to 10.3.3 without a fresh install?