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Lordx_ · Jun 25, 2002, 08:35 PM

Hello all, I just recieved RtCW from apple and the frame rates i've been getting have been really low, and considering my system (Dual 450mhz, 768megs,Raedon 32meg with the newest retail drivers, and OS X) this shouldn't be happening. I have tried everything I could think of and the frame rates still bounce between 4FPS to around 36FPS.

thanks

rampant · Jun 25, 2002, 09:26 PM

Your processor is definately the weak point. Upgrade that and your Wolfenstein framerates should get more acceptable.

Lordx_ · Jun 25, 2002, 09:40 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by rampant:
Your processor is definately the weak point. Upgrade that and your Wolfenstein framerates should get more acceptable.<hr /></blockquote>Somehow I don't think this is my problem...UT runs great, so does Quake III arena.

joe · Jun 25, 2002, 10:13 PM

Lordx, the main problem is that RtCW doesn't support dual processors even though it's based on the Quake3 engine. The "r_smp 1" command doesn't not work in RTCW so it's like you've only got a single 450Mhz G4. Also, RtCW uses higher detail and texture quality than Quake3 which makes it look even better. But that effects performance too. You could try turning down the graphics a bit or running in low res.

I'm in the same boat as you. I hacked a dual 500Mhz G4 into my Cube which was originally a single 500Mhz G4. That's great for Quake3 as it nearly doubles the frame rate. But the 2nd cpu will barely be used for RtCW. I have no idea how well RtCW actually runs. The old RtCW Multiplayer demo was based on a different Q3 engine than the commercial game. And without an updated demo to show how fast (or slow) RtCW will run on my Cube, I'm not risking the money. I would have bought it sight unseen if dual processors were supported......joe

PMG4DP · Jun 25, 2002, 10:31 PM

does the fact that the beta versions of RtCW were written in cocoa make any difference? since cocoa supports dual processors automatically...just a thought. any chance of getting RtCW to support dual processors in future updates? It seems like a stupid feature not to have. the betas ran great. Not a slow frame rate in site.

it's Lordx_ btw..

[ 06-26-2002, 12:03 AM: Message edited by: PMG4DP ]

a2daj · Jun 25, 2002, 11:13 PM

The RtCW MP test was also broken on dual proc Macs. The game would crash within seconds once the game was in play.

And to the original poster, the CPU is the bottleneck. Although RtCW is a Quake 3 engine, there have been engine modifications (for example, the scripting engine for single player mode) and all of the models and levels push more polygons than Quake3.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is the same way.

Chimpmaster · Jun 26, 2002, 07:04 AM

Seems pretty strange though. I am running rtcw on a g4 imac with 384mb ram and it runs well (gforce 2 mx card) - i get say 20-50fps with an average 30-40 on 800x600x32 max settings. Its also acceptable on 1024x768x32 @ medium settings.

A dp imac with 768mb ram and a radeon card would be provide similar performance ? surely?

Chimpmaster · Jun 26, 2002, 07:06 AM

did you try that radeon driver that came on the rtcw cd?

Maybe thats the problem? Maybe you need that driver - it could have been included for this very reason.

x user · Jun 26, 2002, 12:30 PM

Well I have a 450mhz Cube, 448, Radeon. So our specs are very similer. I usually bounce around from 14-50fps. The low end is on the beach. During the warmup time it usually drops to 4-9fps. If I turned it down more (1024x768, and some settings turned up) I can average more than that, maybe 25-90fps. This is all with the beachtest2 MP. In the SP it is a bit less, but still playible. For any kind of GOOD performance you'd need a 133bus G4 (i've played on a G4 533, and it's much better). If it's any consolation, I played on an iBook for a while. (Got up to level 4 on the SP

juanvaldes · Jun 26, 2002, 01:25 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by a2daj:
The RtCW MP test was also broken on dual proc Macs. The game would crash within seconds once the game was in play. <hr /></blockquote>Not for me, same setup but rage 128 as lordx_, the MP demo ran great I got 50+ fps (never an issue), but now that it's done and out it runs like complete crap no matter how much I turn it down. Even the mouse movement is bad. <img border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" title="" src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" />

Judge_Fire · Jun 26, 2002, 01:26 PM

Also keep in mind that RtCW has it's own memory management thing going on. The game most likely isn't utilizing all the RAM you have, resulting in longer loading times and possible slowdowns in the game.

You can find info for setting hunkmegs and soundmegs in a readme file inside the game folder, or by searching for threads on the topic, like <a href="http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,3183238~root=pcgames~mode=flat" target="_blank">this one</a>.

In short, you can pop up the console for the game and type in

/com_hunkmegs nnn

where nnn is max. 75% of your available RAM. IIRC, the default is set at 56. If you got 256 MB RAM, you could set it at 128, which seems to be 'enough'. You have to set it separately for the SP and MP games, but once you do it, it should stick. (It gets written in a config file.)

I'm absolutely not an expert on this, so please correct any errors, but the above trick improved gameplay for me a bit. (Cube 400/384 & Radeon)

J

iamnid · Jun 27, 2002, 06:31 PM

Are those the frame rates you are getting while running it in OS X? If so, run in OS 9 and you'll get better framerates -- I know I sure do! I get about 40fps in OS X and about 60 in OS 9 with the same settings.

OwlBoy · Jun 27, 2002, 07:19 PM

yup any games now based on the Q3 engine Push the limits of it.

-owl

a2daj · Jun 28, 2002, 04:04 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by juanvaldes:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by a2daj:
The RtCW MP test was also broken on dual proc Macs. The game would crash within seconds once the game was in play. <hr /></blockquote>Not for me, same setup but rage 128 as lordx_, the MP demo ran great I got 50+ fps (never an issue), but now that it's done and out it runs like complete crap no matter how much I turn it down. Even the mouse movement is bad. <img border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" title="" src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" /> <hr /></blockquote>Consider yourself fortunate about the MP Test.. Even Graeme mentioned that SMP support was broken.

joe · Jun 29, 2002, 01:58 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by iamnid:
Are those the frame rates you are getting while running it in OS X? If so, run in OS 9 and you'll get better framerates -- I know I sure do! I get about 40fps in OS X and about 60 in OS 9 with the same settings.<hr /></blockquote>Really? That's disappointing. Sure, the original Quake3 up to about v1.17 was faster in OS9. But ever since id released v1.30, Quake3 is faster in OSX than OS9 - and that includes all previous versions.

This doesn't make any sense. Did they port RtCW using the older, slower Q3 engine instead of the current Q3 engine? Or does backwards compatibility with OS9 throttle OSX performance? Hopefully this will be addressed in a future update. How many RtCW updates have there been anyway?........joe

j3kyll · Jun 30, 2002, 03:54 AM

Its because Aspyr ported it and the updates rather than id software specifically Graeme Devine.