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Steb Mad · Feb 12, 2004, 12:13 AM

My feedback:

�Vehicle controls BLOW BIG TIME.
�Vehicle in UT2k4 is nowhere near as fun to ride in as Halo
�Need some serious graphic optimizing. UT2k3 perform easily 10x better for me
�Snipe is almost useless because everyone are tiny and move insanely fast (UT1's speed is far better and more fair, IMO)

Post your feedbacks about UT2k4 here.

johnt519 · Feb 12, 2004, 12:18 AM

If I could download it, I'd try it.. I have a 2mb cable modem, and the 4 mirrors at MacUpdate.com all suck. They are either swamped or don't respond at all, or get about 10k/sec.

I checked unrealtournament.com, and the windows demo has about 40 mirror sites....

d*mn.

Steb Mad · Feb 12, 2004, 12:21 AM

I understand that you're unable to download it but please stay on the topic. I want to hear feedbacks from people who have actually played it.

Thanks

Frumpy · Feb 12, 2004, 01:29 AM

First of all, YES, it took multiple tries to get this thing to finally download in one complete session. That was strike number one. For all who wish to know, i've listed my specs below all of my posts. Tried out the demo of UT 2004, in quick match (not online) with all of the settings completely dumbed down. Lowest of the low, 640x480 in 16 bit color. And of course, everything moved and worked fine, but looked like ****. Sooo, i go back to the settings and restore the defaults, but keep the 640x480 in 16 bit. Still very good, but nothing more than what i get in UT 2003. THEN, i took the 16 up to 32 bit, and i saw what everyone has been talking about. Everything is much improved. From the guns to the textures to the characters. The worlds are fantastic as well. BUT, as soon as i went to 32 bit color, you could easily see some slowdown, especially in the bigger "common rooms" of some levels. This was a bit disappointing, and i'm sure it will only be worse when playing online. My big question right now is...how do i get the game to show me stats like frames per second while i'm playing? That would help A LOT. I'll try online in the next day or so and get back.

RooneyX · Feb 12, 2004, 01:42 AM

Been playing it at 800x600 on Rev. A Alu 17.

It's not as fast as 2003 but it is far better in every sense than Halo. A bit more optimizing and it should be really good.

Lateralus · Feb 12, 2004, 01:53 AM

I'm not finding the game super impressive. For starters, it runs like ass on my G4, though I kind of anticipated that one. But it doesn't seem much different than UT2003. Makes you wonder what all the hype was about...

Judge_Fire · Feb 12, 2004, 02:38 AM

To get your frames per second, pop up the game's console window and type stat fps (this worked in 2003)

J

RevEvs · Feb 12, 2004, 08:19 AM

Downloaded it twice fron different places. Both crash just after showing the Splash Screen.
Anyone else with this problem?

heres the console log.

Code:
  ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack.u for reading!
 
  ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack_rc.u for reading!
 
  ERROR: Could not open BonusPack.u for reading!
 
  ERROR: Could not open SampleSkin.u for reading!
 
WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture specification is subject to change!

alBuffer.c:1101: failed assertion `0'
  ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack.u for reading!
 
  ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack_rc.u for reading!
 
  ERROR: Could not open BonusPack.u for reading!
 
  ERROR: Could not open SampleSkin.u for reading!
 
WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture specification is subject to change!

alBuffer.c:1101: failed assertion `0'

johnt519 · Feb 12, 2004, 09:35 AM

I finally got it downloaded, after dying a bunch of time less then halfway through...however...Granted I have a dual 2ghz G5, but I think the demo kicks butt! I tried running at 1024x768 with default graphics goodies and it was smooth as silk. I upped to 1280x1024 and still was nice and smooth - much smoother than UT 2K3, which I think is a real dog.

As far as gameplay, I thought it was pretty nice. The wheeled vehicles take some getting used to, after playing Halo, and steering with the keys is a bit awkward, but that lets you drive in one direction and shoot in another. The little hover car thing is a blast, and the plane takes some getting used to, you can't just point at the ground and go down - have to use the "C" key. That took some experimenting. I played online a little and it played nice.

It's going to be a "Buy" for me!

CIA · Feb 12, 2004, 11:06 AM

What graphics card are you using in the G5?

blakespot · Feb 12, 2004, 11:18 AM

Originally posted by RooneyX:
Been playing it at 800x600 on Rev. A Alu 17.

It's not as fast as 2003 but it is far better in every sense than Halo. A bit more optimizing and it should be really good.

???

I have a dual G4 800 w/ GeForce 4Ti. HALO runs much faster than UT2K3. I have not tried the UT2K4 demo yet - but I imagine it will be a dog - UT2K3 speed is generally ok - but it's not silk. HALO is silk.

Maybe HALO properly threaded. Dunno.

bp

EdipisReks · Feb 12, 2004, 12:02 PM

Originally posted by blakespot:
???

I have a dual G4 800 w/ GeForce 4Ti. HALO runs much faster than UT2K3. I have not tried the UT2K4 demo yet - but I imagine it will be a dog - UT2K3 speed is generally ok - but it's not silk. HALO is silk.

Maybe HALO properly threaded. Dunno.

bp

Halo runs terribly for almost everyone, PC or Mac. a properly patched version of UT2K3 generally runs very well on decent hardware.

johnt519 · Feb 12, 2004, 12:24 PM

Originally posted by CIA:
What graphics card are you using in the G5?

I have the stock Radeon 9600 Pro.

sbjordal · Feb 12, 2004, 12:35 PM

Originally posted by RevEvs:
Downloaded it twice fron different places. Both crash just after showing the Splash Screen.
Anyone else with this problem?

heres the console log.

Code:
ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack_rc.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open BonusPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SampleSkin.u for reading! WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture specification is subject to change! alBuffer.c:1101: failed assertion `0' ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack_rc.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open BonusPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SampleSkin.u for reading! WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture specification is subject to change! alBuffer.c:1101: failed assertion `0'

Crashing for me too after displaying splash screen. Beachball for about 10 seconds then the games just quits.

Turias · Feb 12, 2004, 12:41 PM

Originally posted by RevEvs:
Downloaded it twice fron different places. Both crash just after showing the Splash Screen.
Anyone else with this problem?

heres the console log.

Code:
ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack_rc.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open BonusPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SampleSkin.u for reading! WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture specification is subject to change! alBuffer.c:1101: failed assertion `0' ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack_rc.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open BonusPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SampleSkin.u for reading! WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture specification is subject to change! alBuffer.c:1101: failed assertion `0'

If this is a problem on your end and not a bug with the code, it looks like it could be one of two things:

1) Your download is corrupted.
2) There are some permission problems, hence the trouble opening those files. Try repairing permissions.

Petter · Feb 12, 2004, 12:56 PM

I have the same problem as I do with UT2003 - after a few minutes the the firgure starts to strafe to the right and can not be fixed unless you restart the game...

any one else with this problem?

Eug · Feb 12, 2004, 12:58 PM

I wonder how well this game is dual optimized.

a2daj · Feb 12, 2004, 01:14 PM

Originally posted by Eug:
I wonder how well this game is dual optimized.

Unless there were drastic changes to the PC version (I doubt it) it's basically the exact same engine as UT2K3 so I'm guessing no dual optimization. The sound is thrown off into a separate thread, but that's because of the OS.

a2daj · 01:29 PM

Originally posted by RevEvs:
Downloaded it twice fron different places. Both crash just after showing the Splash Screen.
Anyone else with this problem?

heres the console log.

Code:
ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack_rc.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open BonusPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SampleSkin.u for reading! WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture specification is subject to change! alBuffer.c:1101: failed assertion `0' ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack_rc.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open BonusPack.u for reading! ERROR: Could not open SampleSkin.u for reading! WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture specification is subject to change! alBuffer.c:1101: failed assertion `0'

I get the same file reading error but the game works fine for me. However, I do not get the alBuffer.c error. That looks like it might be an audio related error. If the latest OpenAL osx code is representive of the lib used in UT2K4 then the error has something to do with the device frequency. Any audio devices plugged in? PCI audio cards?

RevEvs · Feb 12, 2004, 01:41 PM

Originally posted by a2daj:
I get the same file reading error but the game works fine for me. However, I do not get the alBuffer.c error. That looks like it might be an audio related error. If the latest OpenAL osx code is representive of the lib used in UT2K4 then the error has something to do with the device frequency. Any audio devices plugged in? PCI audio cards?

I fixed it. noticed StuffIt wasnt updated to 8.0.2. though im not completely sure that was the problem, as i used the commandline bzip2 before. Oh well, works now.

revs

::maroma:: · Feb 12, 2004, 01:53 PM

On my G4 Sawtooth (1.25GHz upgrade card), GeForce3, 1G RAM, it runs fairly well. Indoor maps I get around 20-30fps average. Outdoor maps are much worse. I had it on 800x600, 16bit, all low. I will set it to 640x480, 16-bit all lowest tonight and see how that is.

Johnny_B · Feb 12, 2004, 01:55 PM

Originally posted by RevEvs:
I fixed it. noticed StuffIt wasnt updated to 8.0.2. though im not completely sure that was the problem, as i used the commandline bzip2 before. Oh well, works now.

revs

Didn't work here. I had StuffIt 8.0.2 from the start, and I just tried with bzip2 through cli, still the same errors...

Code:
  ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack.u for reading!
 
  ERROR: Could not open SkaarjPack_rc.u for reading!
 
  ERROR: Could not open BonusPack.u for reading!
 
  ERROR: Could not open SampleSkin.u for reading!
 
WARNING: ALC_EXT_capture specification is subject to change!

Tried both the ausmac mirror or something, and one from BitTorrent.

darcybaston · Feb 12, 2004, 02:22 PM

iBook 14" G4 933Mhz 640MB ram

640x480
16 bit
all textures and options let to LOWEST
all check boxed extras like filtering, shadows set OFF

Still can't play it. Too slow unles...you...like...to...move...every...now...and ...then..

And vram thrashes like heck when you quit. Fat little piggy this game is!

a2daj · Feb 12, 2004, 02:25 PM

The read file errors are a red herring. Those errors show up for everyone. Do you have an iSight hooked up? Try disconnecting it then starting up the game.

Hydra · Feb 12, 2004, 02:49 PM

I have it running on my dual 2.0 G5 w/9800 very well - maxed out at 1680x1050. The ONS map plays about the same if not better than Antalus in UT2k3 which surprises me because it is so HUGE. Very smooth and pretty.

Problems :

I also wish the the vehicles behaved like Halo's - they are a bit disappointing in this regard. I need to figure out how to make an iSight work with the voice over IP. USB OverDrive refuses to allow me to make a custom set of prefs for the game also.

I ran the game in a window and checked Activity Monitor. The game hits 130% cpu usage with 5 threads so it seems a little more smp aware than UT2K3.

Overall I'm very impressed and would like to thank the developers for releasing the Mac version within hours of the PC version. We should start a thread thanking them

-Jerry C.

Hydra · Feb 12, 2004, 02:58 PM

Also, if anyone wants to see the manual just view the package contents and there is a help folder in there with a pdf manual inside.

-Jerry C.

Johnny_B · Feb 12, 2004, 03:09 PM

Yes, that did it

Works now, but the performance is really bad. Everything to minimum (except running 1024*768), really crappy. Going to try to turn of sound.

Originally posted by a2daj:
The read file errors are a red herring. Those errors show up for everyone. Do you have an iSight hooked up? Try disconnecting it then starting up the game.

a2daj · Feb 12, 2004, 04:04 PM

Originally posted by Hydra:
I have it running on my dual 2.0 G5 w/9800 very well - maxed out at 1680x1050. The ONS map plays about the same if not better than Antalus in UT2k3 which surprises me because it is so HUGE. Very smooth and pretty.

Problems :

I also wish the the vehicles behaved like Halo's - they are a bit disappointing in this regard. I need to figure out how to make an iSight work with the voice over IP. USB OverDrive refuses to allow me to make a custom set of prefs for the game also.

I ran the game in a window and checked Activity Monitor. The game hits 130% cpu usage with 5 threads so it seems a little more smp aware than UT2K3.

Overall I'm very impressed and would like to thank the developers for releasing the Mac version within hours of the PC version. We should start a thread thanking them

-Jerry C.

In order to get USBOD to work with UT2K4 you have to add an app signature to two files inside the .app package. For whatever reason, an app signature wasn't added but UT2K3 has one. UT2K3 used UnT2 so I decided to use UnT4 for UT2K4.

1. Show Package Contents for UT2K4 Demo.

2. Open up the Contents folder. In that folder should be two text files among other things. One called Info.plist, the other called PkgInfo. Open both up in a text editor.

3. Locate the ???? string in both files. In Info.plist it should be near CFBundleSignature. Replace ???? with UnT4 in both files. Save.

4. Now here's the party I'm not 100% sure about. How to definitively make the change work. I tried launching and then quitting UT2K4 to 'register' the app after the change. That didn't immediately work so I ended up restarting since I had a system update going on in the background anyway. I didn't try restarting the USBOD configuration app or just logging out. After the restart, I could create a unique profile for UT2K4 in USBOD.

FYI, there are actually quite a number of OS X games that do not have the app signature filled in correctly. All of Omni's game ports are missing them (I've already emailed them about it... all of their non-game apps have signatures). NWN didn't originally have one but one of their patches did just for the client app.

mac freak · Feb 12, 2004, 04:17 PM

The demo doesn't run at all for me. I double-click, see a splash screen for 10 seconds, and then nothing happens.

DP1.8, OS X 10.3.2, Radeon 9800, 1.5GB RAM

It seems like some people here have had similar issues... anyone have a fix?

Vash · Feb 12, 2004, 04:41 PM

Disconnect your iSight if you've got one.

mac freak · Feb 12, 2004, 05:27 PM

Don't have one

Hydra · Feb 12, 2004, 05:48 PM

a2daj- thanks allot - I'll try that.

Also if you have a microphone diconnect it and try - I know someone who was getting the same crash on start-up too and he disconnected the microphone and it worked. I think the Voice over IP is not quite ready for prime-time and may be causing some weird hardware conflicts.

-Jerry C.

a2daj · Feb 12, 2004, 06:00 PM

FWIW, I have a Mic plugged into my Revo 7.1 audio card and it works fine with UT2K3. Maybe USB/Firewire mics cause problems?

EdipisReks · Feb 12, 2004, 06:45 PM

well, the game runs terribly on my 15" AlBook. UT2k3 ran great at 1024x768 everything set to high or normal (50ish FPS), but this sucker is awful. 800x600, 16 bit, normal, half of the extra turned off, i get 30-40 indoors and 10-15 outside. maybe there will be some extra optimization for the release, as there was between the demo and full version of UT2K3. or maybe i should go from 512 to 1 gb or RAM a little soon than i had planned.

Horsepoo!!! · Feb 12, 2004, 07:32 PM

It's a little unfair to want UT2k4 to run like UT2k3.

I understand that it's basically the same engine but the visuals have gone up a small notch and the map sizes quite a bit more than a notch.

Do you also expect Doom 3 to run on your Macintosh LC III?

Cadaver · Feb 12, 2004, 07:36 PM

Wont launch on my machine. Bummer.
Don't know why, but the disk image checksum was OK, so it must be something else.

Dual 2.0, 1.5GB Crucial + Apple RAM, stock Radeon 9600, 10.3.2, 22" Cinema, Adaptec 4-port USB 2.0 PCI card (cheaper than a USB 2.0 hub, and no wall-wart!)

a2daj · Feb 12, 2004, 07:51 PM

Originally posted by Cadaver:
Wont launch on my machine. Bummer.
Don't know why, but the disk image checksum was OK, so it must be something else.

Dual 2.0, 1.5GB Crucial + Apple RAM, stock Radeon 9600, 10.3.2, 22" Cinema, Adaptec 4-port USB 2.0 PCI card (cheaper than a USB 2.0 hub, and no wall-wart!)

Do you have any Firewire or USB devices which have a microphone? If so, unplug.

Peter · Feb 12, 2004, 07:53 PM

Originally posted by Steb Mad:
I understand that you're unable to download it but please stay on the topic. I want to hear feedbacks from people who have actually played it.

Thanks

yes sir!

I like UT2004, the Vehicle controls are perfect. You know you can change the controls...

Cadaver · Feb 12, 2004, 07:53 PM

Originally posted by Cadaver:
Wont launch on my machine. Bummer.
Don't know why, but the disk image checksum was OK, so it must be something else.

Dual 2.0, 1.5GB Crucial + Apple RAM, stock Radeon 9600, 10.3.2, 22" Cinema, Adaptec 4-port USB 2.0 PCI card (cheaper than a USB 2.0 hub, and no wall-wart!)

Disconnecting audio input devices did the trick...!

Fun. Runs very decently at 1024x768, settings at Normal. I'll trying going up.

RooneyX · Feb 12, 2004, 08:43 PM

Originally posted by Horsepoo!!!:
It's a little unfair to want UT2k4 to run like UT2k3.

I understand that it's basically the same engine but the visuals have gone up a small notch and the map sizes quite a bit more than a notch.

Obviously the amount of triangles being thrown around is far more than before. These games are developed with 3Ghz PCs in mind so complaining about performance on a G4-867 or something is silly. The minimum specs here should be a G4-1Ghz with 64MB card. Minimum.

Arkham_c · Feb 12, 2004, 10:51 PM

Ok, granted my machine rocks (G5/2GHz/9800/1GB RAM), but I am pretty impressed by the game. It's 40+fps at 1280x1024 with all options turned on high.

Vehicles are very fast. Some handle ok, others poorly. I like the flying ones. The overall game play is very fast, maybe too much so.

All the same, I'm gonna buy this one.

gperks · Feb 12, 2004, 11:48 PM

Excellent! I've only tried a couple of maps but fun fun fun. The intro to the map with the missile recovery is very impressive.

2004 isn't too fast like 2003 was. It's still frenetic but it seems I can keep up this time!

Which maps are the vehicles on?

jedi1yoda1 · Feb 13, 2004, 02:10 AM

I have a dual G5 2.0GHz with the ATI RADEON 9800 Pro and a 23" Cinema Display. UT2K4 seems to run just as well as UT2K3, although I hope the demo is a beta because there are lots of anomalies in the maps (i've fallen under them several times). I have it running at full resolution, which is more than I can say for Halo (god, I can't get halo above 1344xsomething and it still be playable). Vehicle control could be better, more like Halo or Metal of Honor, especially when driving the truck. And I agree, most vehicles go too slow, while the people move to fast. The menu system could use a little fixing. The map in onslaught when you die covers up all the buttons.

Overall, the new game types are awesome. They'll have to make some fixes though before I'll shell out for it like I did UT2k3

dantley · Feb 13, 2004, 02:44 AM

I compared my PowerBook 1.25ghz against the Dell Latitude Centrino 1.6ghz that I use for work. The AlBook has a Radeon 9600 and the Latitude has a Radeon 9000 with 32megs of ram.

AlBook running UT2K4 at 1024x768 - All settings on max
15 avg fps (ONSLAUGHT/TORLAN)

Dell Latitude running UT2K4 1024x768 - All settings on max
22 avg fps (ONSLAUGHT/TORLAN)

Both of these computers suck for gaming.

dantley · Feb 13, 2004, 02:46 AM

BTW - I get about 56 FPS on my Dual CPU G5 (Radeon 9600) and 108fps on my PC (Radeon 9800XT)

dantley · Feb 13, 2004, 02:55 AM

EdipisReks, I have a gig of ram in my AlBook 1.25 and I still get 15-19fps.

To the person mentioning their "kick ass machine", which isn't kick ass for gaming if you have a Radeon 9800 and only getting 40-50fps. My PC with a Radeon 9800XT is getting 108fps on average at 1600x1200.

This isn't a flame as I have a Dual G5 2ghz and use it as my main machine. Apple needs to get their s#it together and create a DirectX equivalent for game developers. This constant mediocre gaming performance on a $3k computer is ridiculous. And while I am ranting, I wish Apple would stop advertising the frame rates for a 3 year old game (Quake 3 Arena).

a2daj · Feb 13, 2004, 03:37 AM

Originally posted by dantley:
EdipisReks, I have a gig of ram in my AlBook 1.25 and I still get 15-19fps.

To the person mentioning their "kick ass machine", which isn't kick ass for gaming if you have a Radeon 9800 and only getting 40-50fps. My PC with a Radeon 9800XT is getting 108fps on average at 1600x1200.

This isn't a flame as I have a Dual G5 2ghz and use it as my main machine. Apple needs to get their s#it together and create a DirectX equivalent for game developers. This constant mediocre gaming performance on a $3k computer is ridiculous. And while I am ranting, I wish Apple would stop advertising the frame rates for a 3 year old game (Quake 3 Arena).

Their Direct3D equivalent is OpenGL. It's all in implementation and engine design. Sure, Apple could create a set of libraries mimicing the Direct3D API but it wouldn't mean crap since it's just an API. Direct3D is also built with the x86 architecture in mind as are many of the game engines. That can make a huge difference in performance.

a2daj · Feb 13, 2004, 03:39 AM

Originally posted by jedi1yoda1:
UT2K4 seems to run just as well as UT2K3, although I hope the demo is a beta because there are lots of anomalies in the maps (i've fallen under them several times).

Well... the Win version is called ut2004-betademo.exe. That should give a clue as to some of their reasons for releasing the demo.

Apfhex · Feb 13, 2004, 05:48 AM

Originally posted by Steb Mad:
�Vehicle controls BLOW BIG TIME.
�Vehicle in UT2k4 is nowhere near as fun to ride in as Halo
�Need some serious graphic optimizing. UT2k3 perform easily 10x better for me
�Snipe is almost useless because everyone are tiny and move insanely fast (UT1's speed is far better and more fair, IMO)

Didn't try the vehicle out yet, just did some CTF and DM, which I found a lot more fun than in UT2k3. The gameplay seems to have been improved a lot - I didn't like how UT2k3 played, but 2k4 is nice. Still doesn't beat the original game though.

Performance on my PowerBook G4 is much better than UT2k3, and looks nicer to boot. I was actually very surprised.

There are some really nifty looking little features here and there (i.e. 'Q' to view from the translocator and such), the game modes look fun, seems like an overall good game. If only I had a better gaming computer.

p.s. I really like the double assault rifle thing. That's awesome (dunno if that was in 2003 also).

dantley · Feb 13, 2004, 05:52 AM

^^^ what resolution are you running the game at? Do you have all the details set high?