[ort888]

I picked up a cheap copy of Quake II at ChumpUSA and it seems to be having some problems running on my Titanium 400/384.

First off all, the color looks real grainy. It seems to be running in thousands of colors and I can't find a way to change it to millions. Is it supposed to look that grainy? Can it run in millions? Is it just because it is old?

The bigger problem is the game freezes for about a half second all the time. It is just a brief hiccup, but it is very noticable and frustrating. It seems to happen mostly when I get shot, but at other times it happens when I jump or shoot at a far away bad guy.

My machine should be able to make this game run as smooth as silk. Is there an upgrade or something? Anyone have any ideas?

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ort!

[brown monk]

Originally posted by ort888:
First off all, the color looks real grainy. It seems to be running in thousands of colors and I can't find a way to change it to millions. Is it supposed to look that grainy? Can it run in millions? Is it just because it is old?

The bigger problem is the game freezes for about a half second all the time. It is just a brief hiccup, but it is very noticable and frustrating. It seems to happen mostly when I get shot, but at other times it happens when I jump or shoot at a far away bad guy.

My machine should be able to make this game run as smooth as silk. Is there an upgrade or something? Anyone have any ideas?

Okay, after the game starts up, press 'esc'. With your arrow keys, move
down to video and press enter. In the top option choose 'default open gl'.
If this doesn't change your color problem then reinstall open_gl (you can
get it at Apple's site).

Are you playing on a public server? You know, in multiplayer mode? If you
are, what kind of connection do you have? DSL, Cable, T.x or are you using
your trusty modem? This 'hiccup' you are experiencing might be due to your
internet connection (provider).

There is an upgrade to it (one that is supported by the game makers and
another one that isn't, it will say on the readme file) but I don't think
it will help you with your current problems. In any case, you can find it
them at versiontracker.com

Post your results or correct me if I misunderstood any of your problems.

Good luck.

[roders]

Okay this is stated in the Q2 manual, but what you need to do is, in the Video options menu turn off 8 Bit textures, obviouslty turn on the OpenGL renderer (i.e. not the software renderer) and in the Mac OS Finder, BEFORE you start the game, set your desktop to millions of colours (and possibly set your screen resoloution too the one you want in the game too, I can't quite remember).
This will/should sory out the Grainy effect, but as for the pause in the game I've never come across this in Q2, but I do have a very similar prob intermittantly on Q3A.
P.S get the latest version of Open GL, allocate enogh Ram to Q2 + run a minimum extension set + have you done a full install?

[This message has been edited by roders (edited 04-09-2001).]

[itim55]

I plan to buy Q2 to run on my TiBook, so all this info is very helpful!

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Kato! You have turned my apartment into a..a..Chinese nookie factory!

[ort888]

Well, I think the grainy thing is just the game being old. It seems to look better to me the more I play.

I still have the small game hiccup problem though. I think it may be related to the sound. Like when you grunt after getting shot. It seems to only happen when I get shot, and very rarely when I jump. The game just skips like 10 frames or something. It is very annoying.

I have played with the provided sound settings, Max Performance, Max compatablilty... CD, No CD. High quality and low. It still does it.

Do you think it is related to the sound? Am I looking in the wrong direction?

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ort!

[roders]

The frame skipping problem is very abnormal (especialy on your system, runs smooth as silk on my 350Mhz iMac).
The sounds a good place to start as it will be processsor intensive but it's not your prob (i.e. I nor ANYONE I know has had this problem).
As for the grainy effect theres a bug in ATi's drivers (although I'm starting to believe it maybe a hardware fault in the rage Pro chips, as I would of thought ATi would/could of sorted out a software glitch by now) that mean you will get a buzzing bee's type effect in any Rave or OpenGL game you play in sixteen bit (thousands of) colours.
Unfortunatly you cannot select the colour depth of Q2 in game (apart from the 8bit textures option) so the only way of settting the colour depth of the game is by selecting it manualy in the finder before you start the game (via the monitors control panel).
The buzzing bee's Driver glitch does not affect gaming in millions of colours, but can casue a performance penalty which will increase dramaticaly with an increased screen resoloution (although I can play Q2 super smooth at 800x600 in 32 bit colour).

[ort888]

I don't know, I just installed Quake on my G4 desktop at work and wow what a difference. It doesn't have the graininess at all, and no frame skips.

I would blame it on the video card, exept Unreal Tournement runs great on the same Powerbook. Maybe it is an issue with 9.1, since my desktop has 9.04 and my Powerbook has 9.1. Anyone running Quake II on 9.1?

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ort!

[roders]

I'm running OS 9.1...
P.S Have you got any other OpenGL games?
If so, do they have the same/similar probs & if you don't have any other OpenGL games borrow or buy or download a demo and try it out.
Although it is EXTREMLY rare, if you get the same probs then it could be a hardware fault with your vid card.

[This message has been edited by roders (edited 04-10-2001).]

[ort888]

Quake III is open GL right? Well I have the demo, and it runs fine. If Unreal Tournement is Open GL then that runs fine as well. I'm just confused at this point.

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ort!

[roders]

Have you tried a fresh install?
Also, try a base (gaming) extension set and the Q2 1.03 update.

[ort888]

I tried both the new install and running base extensions. I think maybe it has a problem with the new Open GL drivers. Just a guess. Is anyone running the game on a TiBook? Someone has too be, right...

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ort!