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osxrules · Jul 4, 2005, 07:38 AM

I didn't think it would but it plays acceptably for me. Sure I wasn't expecting it to run with all the souped up options but on the minimum settings it plays ok and it still looks better graphics than anything else I've played.

I have it on 640x480, everything on low but bump maps, specular and advanced effects are on.

The only problem is it seems to jitter a bit going through doors and in a lot of action. With the bumps etc. off, it plays just fine but you really need the bump maps to get the feel of it though so I just put up with the jitter.

I know some people find anything less than 60fps unplayable but for people like me who are used to playing games on low end machines, it is totally playable.

Halo plays really quite well and I would recommend it highly.

The thing that's bothering me now is that the Mac cursor keeps rendering on screen. It doesn't always happen but it only started with Tiger. It happens with UT2004 and Doom 3. I can't remember it happening in Halo but it probably did.

ihatesuvs68 · Jul 4, 2005, 12:14 PM

heh. Dude, Doom3 runs on my TI85. It may not be to your level of acceptability, but hey, 1 frame per minute is playable if you're not shooting anything.

osxrules · Jul 4, 2005, 06:53 PM

Lol, yeah I draw the line at 1fpm. Mine plays at like 20-25 fps or so. I should probably mention that I have 1GB Ram too because you'd likely need it. I get 20fps in the timedemo.

My hard drive is also messing up badly so that is affecting the game. Sometimes it is stopping spinning and freezing the game. Looks like I'll have to get a new drive soon.

blizzard · Jul 4, 2005, 09:47 PM

Glad to hear the RAM makes a notable difference...I had my mom's for a week setting it up for her and while it was a cute computer, I found it unusable even for MSN, web browsing, and email at the same time with the stock RAM and HD in there.

It was small and quiet enough that I'm contemplating getting one with a gig of RAM and one of the 7200 rpm HDs from my PC in there, though.

osxrules · Jul 5, 2005, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by blizzard

Glad to hear the RAM makes a notable difference...I had my mom's for a week setting it up for her and while it was a cute computer, I found it unusable even for MSN, web browsing, and email at the same time with the stock RAM and HD in there.

It was small and quiet enough that I'm contemplating getting one with a gig of RAM and one of the 7200 rpm HDs from my PC in there, though.

If the 7200 is a desktop hard drive, it won't fit since the Mini uses 2.5" laptop drives. The best 7200 rpm option I think that's available is the Hitachi Travelstar 60GB E7K60:

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/e7k60/e7k60.htm

I've seen it for £80 (40GB) and £90 (60GB) so I'm thinking of getting the 60GB rather than go through the hassle of getting Apple to replace my dodgy Seagate that came in my Mini. I really wish they'd used 3.5" drives because they are so much cheaper.

I might get the 5400 Hitachi that's only £60 because I really don't like spending £90 to fix a fault from Apple. BTW, is your Mini hard drive sounding ok or does it make a spin-up/down noise or a marble bouncing noise?

Jim Paradise · Jul 5, 2005, 11:06 AM

What's the ol' clock speed on your mini?

PacHead · Jul 5, 2005, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Paradise

What's the ol' clock speed on your mini?

His clock speed would be 1.2 GHZ, since he mentioned something about having a seagate drive, which runs at 5400 RPM. The 1.4 GHZ comes with a larger capacity drive and runs at 4200 RPM. Some of the 1.2 GHZ mini's have shipped with 4200 RPM drives, but these aren't seagate drives I think.

So my guess is that he is using the cheapest, 1.2 GHZ mini.

Kyros · Jul 6, 2005, 12:46 AM

I thought it was was just a few lucky people who bought the mini very early. A few of the first ones came with 5400 RPM drives, I think both models did. Apple should really let you BTO 5400 RPM drives on them.

osxrules · Jul 6, 2005, 10:05 AM

Yeah I have the 1.2GHz model. I wouldn't consider it lucky that I got the 5400 Seagate though because it is broken. It keeps spinning up and down and every few days stops working until I unplug it for a couple of hours or so. I'm so annoyed by it, I'm considering just buying another drive because if I send it to Apple and it happens to be working, they'll just send it right back. It's not completely broken but it's bad enough to make me want to get a new drive.

One time while playing Doom 3, the thing spun down a few times and just froze the game, then it spun up and let me continue. It's a really strange problem but a few people with Minis have been getting similar spin up/downs. Mine is bad because it's been making loud buzzing noises too. Could be a bad batch of drives maybe. If they don't put Seagates in any more, that could be why.

I'll check with the others with this trouble to see what drives they have.

osxrules · Jul 6, 2005, 04:58 PM

Screenshot time - check out the head in set 3:

For the observant among you, yes I do have full health etc. all the time. That's because I'm a big wuss and I play on god mode. I just enjoy it more that way.

d.fine · Jul 8, 2005, 05:58 AM

Screenshots look nice. 20fps is pretty op for a Mac Mini. My DP G5 doesn't run it that much better

How did you run the timedemo? I know you have to press the ~ key but where the h*ll is it? I just can't get the console to pop up! Thx.

Grrr · Jul 8, 2005, 06:10 AM

Originally Posted by osxrules

The thing that's bothering me now is that the Mac cursor keeps rendering on screen. It doesn't always happen but it only started with Tiger. It happens with UT2004 and Doom 3. I can't remember it happening in Halo but it probably did.

This is a fairly well known issue. I have had this happen also. Its related to QT 7. Or more specifically, a QT plug in. It is one of the 2 main DIVX plug ins I bet you have installed.
Personally, I live with the cursor onscreen, as I got used to it, and dont much want to reduce my QT functionality.

Btw, I used to play UT2004 perfectly well on my old 1ghz eMac, altho I had over clocked it to 1.2ghz.

osxrules · Jul 9, 2005, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by d.fine

Screenshots look nice. 20fps is pretty op for a Mac Mini. My DP G5 doesn't run it that much better

How did you run the timedemo? I know you have to press the ~ key but where the h*ll is it? I just can't get the console to pop up! Thx.

You get the console by pressing ctrl alt ~, I don't know why they changed it from just the tilde key unless some people prefer to use it for something else. Then you type timedemo demo1 and hit return. If it's the same as Quake3 there are sometimes more demos like demo2 etc.

You just wait until it runs through to the end and it will give you an average fps. You can turn the fps on during gameplay with the command:

set com_showFPS 1

turn it off by using 0.

Originally Posted by Grrr

This is a fairly well known issue. I have had this happen also. Its related to QT 7. Or more specifically, a QT plug in. It is one of the 2 main DIVX plug ins I bet you have installed.
Personally, I live with the cursor onscreen, as I got used to it, and dont much want to reduce my QT functionality.

Thanks, I never heard that before. I now remember it starting around the time I installed the divx component. I'll maybe test to see if 3ivx works better because it decodes divx too.

Originally Posted by Grrr

Btw, I used to play UT2004 perfectly well on my old 1ghz eMac, altho I had over clocked it to 1.2ghz.

I think the games mainly rely on the graphics card. Some people say their fan kicks in while playing doom 3 but mine doesn't and my processor doesn't look like it's been maxed out after quitting the program. I guess it might depend on the settings used though. UT2004 runs well on my machine too. Great game.

RemyX · Jul 11, 2005, 11:12 PM

I seem to have a problem with the game, my friend lend me his copy to see how well it would run on my PB, becuase i've been wanting to buy the game. I insert the DVD, drag the folder to install it, once its copied, i double click on the game to play it, but it just quits, nothing else happens, the game just bounces on the dock a few times and quits. I have a 15' 1.25 Ghz powerbook with 1.2 gigs of ram, TIger installed. Can someone please help me.

Thain Esh Kelch · Jul 13, 2005, 06:32 AM

Originally Posted by d.fine

Screenshots look nice. 20fps is pretty op for a Mac Mini. My DP G5 doesn't run it that much better

How did you run the timedemo? I know you have to press the ~ key but where the h*ll is it? I just can't get the console to pop up! Thx.

Some non-US keyboards doesnt have tilde as a button, except through a command-key. Pretty annoying.

osxrules · Jul 14, 2005, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by RemyX

I seem to have a problem with the game, my friend lend me his copy to see how well it would run on my PB, becuase i've been wanting to buy the game. I insert the DVD, drag the folder to install it, once its copied, i double click on the game to play it, but it just quits, nothing else happens, the game just bounces on the dock a few times and quits. I have a 15' 1.25 Ghz powerbook with 1.2 gigs of ram, TIger installed. Can someone please help me.

You need to have the DVD in the drive while you launch the game.

Originally Posted by Thain Esh Kelch

Some non-US keyboards doesnt have tilde as a button, except through a command-key. Pretty annoying.

Did you try using ctrl-alt and the key under the escape key (is that the hyphen key)? Or it might be the single quote key.

If you make a file called AutoExec.cfg in your Doom 3 base folder and add the line:

set com_allowConsole "1"

you should only have to press one key to invoke the console. So even if the other keys I mentioned don't work, it should still be easier using the command combo as you have two less keys to press.

Note, the base folder I mean is the one where Doomconfig.cfg is - User/Library/Application Support/Doom 3/

BTW, for those running the timedemo, you should run it more than once because the first time it is caching stuff so it stutters more.