Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

criedel · Dec 13, 2000, 04:45 PM

anyone play Q3A or UT on an iBook (new revision, DV style)?
my usb mouse doesn't work when in these games, and the trackpad doesn't lend itself to descent gaming.

Archangel · Dec 13, 2000, 08:48 PM

My friend has a new Graphite SE iBook, and he says he can get Q3 running fairly decent on it. Though I've never heard of UT being played on an iBook, I'd imagine it would be a nightmare because of the lightweight graphics card. Personally, though, I wouldn't even bother. Unless you have extraordinarily small hands, the controls would be too small to effectively use. At least, that's the way it is for me. Even these stupid iMac keyboards are too small. Plus, like you said, a trackpad would be bad to use for an FPS, so if you can't get your mouse working (USB overdrive? or even the puck mouse?) I definitely wouldn't waste my time with it. You should be able to at least get a puck mouse to work on your iBook, mine does. It only has one button, but, hey, it's a mouse.

Maybe instead of an FPS you could play a RTS, simulations, or RPG? Starcraft runs great on the iBook. I know that for sure. If you do get UT running on an iBook decent, I would like to hear about it. . . that would be way cool.

The Dude · Dec 13, 2000, 09:41 PM

Well, considering the fact that the new iBooks are basically colorful Powerbooks with a faster CPU, the new iBook should be able to do just about anything the Powerbook can. For example, I can get a nice 45FPS on my Pismo Powerbook (400MHz) in Quake 3. In UT, I can achieve about 25-30FPS. I'd say this is damn good for a laptop! So hopefully this should provide some incite into what the new iBooks are capable of in terms of gaming.

The only major difference between the two are the screen sizes and the fact that the Powerbooks have 1MB of L2 cache running at 160 to 200MHz. The new iBooks have 256KB of L2 cache that run at the same speed the processor is running at.

------------------
Macintosh for productivity.
Unix for stability.
Palm for mobility.
Windows for solitaire.

mac freak · Dec 13, 2000, 09:44 PM

I really find it impossible to play any game where movement is important with a trackpad. So that basically restricts me to playing Alpha Centauri and Master of Orion II on the old PBG3/233...

As for UT and Q3A, don't have high expectations, and playing with a trackpad should be... interesting

------------------
Be Happy.

Chimpmaster · Dec 13, 2000, 11:23 PM

I dont understand, why doesnt your usb mouse work with these games?

I dont really know what else to add. Im buying an ibook Se this weekend, and I intend on playing Q3arena on it. Im going to plug my Microsoft intellimouse Optical into the ibook and Id be damned upset if I cant use it.

Surely it will work? Or do I need the apple mouse?

Archangel · Dec 14, 2000, 02:25 AM

Dude: what are your graphics settings on UT to get those frame rates?

Chimpmaster: your intellimouse (one sweet mouse!) should work, but you will have to use the provided Intellipoint control panel to turn off the settings for it to work, giving you only two usable buttons. At least that's what I had to do. USB Overdrive might get you some more buttons, but I have no experience with it.

------------------
"Die, b###h!"

criedel · Dec 14, 2000, 10:31 AM

thanks for all the replies guys!
I finally got my mouse, Kensington Optical type (1 each), working great by using USB Overdrive.
Chimpmaster: yeah, Q3A works fine on the iBook.
UT works fine as well. I've yet to check out the FPS performance, but I dare say that my iBook may work a little better than my iMac DV with Q3A and UT. I find the palm rest area of the iBook to be more comfortable for me than on the keyboard for the iMac, and with the keystroke on the iBook's keyboard as short as it is, I have an easier time jumpin around and trying not to die.

Chimpmaster · Dec 16, 2000, 06:13 PM

HELP

Im running q3arena on my new ibook, and it runs really well but,.. Im having trouble using my intellimouse optical on it. It works ok until i boot up q3arena and then it just freezes and forces me to use the trackpad,

Any ideas guys - i cant play without it !

criedel · Dec 16, 2000, 10:32 PM

get USB Overdrive from versiontracker.com
works like a charm. makes my kensington optical mouse work fine.

The Dude · Dec 16, 2000, 10:54 PM

Originally posted by Archangel:
Dude: what are your graphics settings on UT to get those frame rates?

Well, off the top of my head I use these settings:
32-Bit textures
800x600 Res
Low Texture Quality
Low World Quality
Min Frame Rate: 45

------------------
Macintosh for productivity.
Unix for stability.
Palm for mobility.
Windows for solitaire.

Brian Marsh · Dec 18, 2000, 09:40 PM

unless I've missed something, doesn't UT in RAVE mode get higher FPS than Quake 3 which only uses OpenGL?

(sure it probably doesn't look as nice on average in Rave, but rave has been fast for me)

at least on my iMac DV (grape) UT has always played better than the Quake 3 demo when comparible settings were used.

The Dude · Dec 19, 2000, 12:37 AM

With me, it's always been the other way around. In fact, just today, I found this really neat CFG file for Q3 off the Quake3World Forums. With it, I achieved 80FPS (no joke) on my Powerbook.

With UT, I can eek out 20-40FPS. It just depends on the settings.

------------------
Macintosh for productivity.
Unix for stability.
Palm for mobility.
Windows for solitaire.

Dec 19, 2000, 03:58 AM

RAVE is a horrible API, Open Gl is far superior and that's one of the few advantages that Quake has over UT.

Doesn't USB Overdrive totally rock? I use it with a scrolling mouse, and find it's "smart scrolling" feature addictive. Doesn't matter for games, however.

For those of you with USB mice that don't work in FPS games, did you install the proprietary drivers for the mouse? Many USB mice work fine without additional drivers in Mac OS, but will not work in games. At least, that has been my experience. I can't imagine any other reason why they wouldn't work, very strange.

Chimpmaster · Dec 19, 2000, 07:42 AM

Ok lets start from the beginning. I have a microsoft intellimouse optical. It comes with its own drivers and software. This software is not compatible with a lot of games, but it allows you to disable it for each game ina asimple fashion, and run it for the desktop.

too easy. If you dont have independent software allowing you to do this, definitely try that usb override, as you just cant play q3a without a mouse.

In terms of framrates, my ibook indigo is giving me around 20-35 fps with only 64mb ram. Im upgrading to 192 mb ram later this week, and expect ill get 30-45fps solid, which is pretty damn cool for a notebook.