[Fyre4ce]

I just got my younger brother the Diablo Battle Chest for Christmas and I was surprised at how poor the performance was. When the character is just running around in an empty field it performs fine, but in battles (especially involving those little red Shamen guys) performance really drops. Something has to be up. Here are the specifics:

Machine: Summer 2001 slot-loading iMac
CPU: 500 MHz G3, 256K 1:1 L2 cache
RAM: 256 MB, virtual memory off
Accelerator: RAGE 128 Ultra, 16 MB VRAM
D2 version: 1.03c, full install

I read
this thread, and took the suggestions, but the problem seemed to get worse! I did the following:

-Doubled the program's memory (preferred size to 150 MB)
-Copied the Music file to the HD
-Set lighting quality to low, disabled perspective and the other video option

...and the problem is worse than ever. Additionally, saves now thang the machine for 30 seconds. The game becomes unplayable at times because the performance is so bad. Considering how well the machine plays UT (40 fps @ 640x480x32) I find it very hard to believe it's simply a hardware issue. What's up here? Can someone else with the same or similar machine comment on the performance? I'm starting to get ticked off.

[juanvaldes]

very odd....because I have a similar setup...450 G4, but D2 does not use any of the cool G4 stuff, so it's basically a G3 to games. D2 runs great. Did you try a reinstall? how about playing with extension sets?

Good luck man!

[seanyepez]

D2 is playable on my 500-megahertz Pismo. Did you try reinstalling the OS yet?

[Osirisis]

Originally posted by Fyre4ce:
<STRONG>I just got my younger brother the Diablo Battle Chest for Christmas and I was surprised at how poor the performance was. When the character is just running around in an empty field it performs fine, but in battles (especially involving those little red Shamen guys) performance really drops. Something has to be up. Here are the specifics:

Machine: Summer 2001 slot-loading iMac
CPU: 500 MHz G3, 256K 1:1 L2 cache
RAM: 256 MB, virtual memory off
Accelerator: RAGE 128 Ultra, 16 MB VRAM
D2 version: 1.03c, full install

I read
this thread, and took the suggestions, but the problem seemed to get worse! I did the following:

-Doubled the program's memory (preferred size to 150 MB)
-Copied the Music file to the HD
-Set lighting quality to low, disabled perspective and the other video option

...and the problem is worse than ever. Additionally, saves now thang the machine for 30 seconds. The game becomes unplayable at times because the performance is so bad. Considering how well the machine plays UT (40 fps @ 640x480x32) I find it very hard to believe it's simply a hardware issue. What's up here? Can someone else with the same or similar machine comment on the performance? I'm starting to get ticked off.</STRONG>

I'm reading battle chest and version 1.03. I would suggest that you complete install of the LoD expansion pack if you have not installed it already and then hit battlenet real quick to get the latest patch. You also want to make sure you're playing in software mode. Hope this helps.

[r-0X#Zapchud]

Try to get newer/older video-drivers. That WORKS!

[Fyre4ce]

originally posted by Osirisis
You also want to make sure you're playing in software mode.

Uh.... Are you sure about this? I'm running in RAVE mode now.

originally posted by r-0X#Zapchud
Try to get newer/older video-drivers. That WORKS!

Willing to try. Where can I find them?


BTW, LoD is installing as I write this. I'll let you all know what happens.

Thanks!

[Osirisis]

I'm fairly certain about the software mode to gain speed. I have a Quicksilver DP 800 with a GeForce 3. Due to crappy drivers (may not apply to you), I am forced to use software mode 99% of the time.

[ 12-26-2001: Message edited by: Osirisis ]

I would also suggest loading LoD and getting the latest updater from BattleNet.

What system OS are you running? There were all sorts of troubles with 9.2.1 ATI extensions slowing things down for me - so much that I reverted back to the 9.1 ATI stuff to solve it.

9.2.2 update seems to have fixed all ills.

Software mode will solve the ATI troubles - but (on my mac) performance isn't even close to equal.

Again - 9.2.2 solved my troubles - hope it helps yours.

[SmileyDude]

These are the same kinds of problems that basically made me give up on D2 for now... I have a slightly older machine, but not too much difference:

400mhz 2000 iMac
192mb RAM
MacOS 9.2.2

I've never been able to get D2 to run smoothly -- software rendering on or off. I'm beginning to think that the current iMacs just aren't up to snuff for whatever reason for playing D2.

On the other hand, I have a 180mhz Performa 6400 with NO video acceleration that runs the original just fine... talk about taking a step backwards.

Maybe if Blizzard ports D2 to OS X, I'll give it another try -- it made the already snappy Starcraft run that much smoother, so maybe it will help here as well....

[Fyre4ce]

Yeah, switching to software rendering solved my problems. Now I have a new problem - I can't stop playing!

[Osirisis]

Originally posted by Fyre4ce:
<STRONG>Yeah, switching to software rendering solved my problems. Now I have a new problem - I can't stop playing!</STRONG>

Welcome to the club

[mr. burns]

i have a dual 500 with the rage 128. d2 was running pretty bad as well until i installed the radeon video drivers, now i get the same performance in rave that i did in software mode.

[r-0X#Zapchud]

Willing to try. Where can I find them?

If you run OS 9.2.1, try the 9.2.2 or 9.1 drivers ( thats me ). Running 9.2.2 and getting crap framerates, try the 9.2.1 (although that shouldnt work) or 9.1 drivers. And etc, etc. 9.1 drivers have ALWAYS worked with ATi Rage 128 cards, iMac -&gt;G4 Tower!

Good luck and...have fun!

[Fyre4ce]

Beware foul demons and beasts!

[a2daj]

One thing to keep in mind, do not increase the default memory partition. That may actually hurt performance. The initial apps memory partition is only for loading the game. Beyond that, any more memory it needs is grabbed from your available free memory. I've been running Diablo II on 4 different computers since it came out and have never had an out of memory problem.

[hyperizer]

I second this. I tried increasing the RAM, and noticed an immediate slow-down. Putting it back to its orginal size fixed it.

Originally posted by a2daj:
<STRONG>One thing to keep in mind, do not increase the default memory partition. That may actually hurt performance. The initial apps memory partition is only for loading the game. Beyond that, any more memory it needs is grabbed from your available free memory. I've been running Diablo II on 4 different computers since it came out and have never had an out of memory problem.</STRONG>

[Graymalkin]

I've been running D2 on my 333Mhz Lombard PB with 256MB of RAM and the two things that made performance decent for me was to use software rendering mode and keep the default memory allocation. I also doubled the memory alotted to it and found that performance was worse than it was when I had the default set. RAVE rendering on my oooold Rage LT Pro was just horrible and bogged the system down like mad. In general the 333 handles the game pretty decently considering the sheer number of sprites and AI routines it has to run in multi player mode. I did notice single player was a bit smoother in alot of cases but I think that is mostly due to the lack of guys bum rushing my Golem. I also had some lag problems playing my friend on his PC in a LAN game. Sometimes his game would see his character or bad guys in different locations than mine did. Usually it was whoever was host had the real positions and the client would sometimes shoot a wall thinking someone was there. When we went down to fight Duriel we died 4 times because neither of us has a smoothly animating screen so it jumped from place to place and we were lucky to even hit it with magic. I lost 40k gold fighting that mofo.