Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Tomster · Oct 29, 2003, 04:46 PM

I'm downloading now. Supposed to be faster but more importantly, NO MORE SUPID CD CHECK! Just like the Win version. Anyone have benchmarks yet?

Tomster · Oct 29, 2003, 05:05 PM

OK, it's much faster. Just ran BenchUT2003 and got the following

Score: 23.825743
Min FPS: 2.205683
Average FPS: 23.807878
Max FPS: 59.249718

This is on a rev B 17" Powerbook - 1 gig ram.

Overall, things feel faster. Great update.

Tomster · Oct 29, 2003, 05:06 PM

Duh! Forgot to mention what map that was.

Botmatch - Antalus

Jowy · Oct 29, 2003, 05:49 PM

Haven't done any hard number crunching tests, but it does have an overall faster feel to it. Maps that would lag horribly now feel somewhat more playable. I think the rest of the lack of speed is just in my fast aging machine (QS 867 Single Processor, 768 mb RAM, Radeon 8500), and that only upgrading will allow me to see other improvements. Still nice not to be required to insert that darn cd anymore.

Eug · Oct 29, 2003, 06:42 PM

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/29/ut2k3/

By the way, will this work with the demo?

Horsepoo!!! · Oct 29, 2003, 07:12 PM

Originally posted by Eug:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/29/ut2k3/

By the way, will this work with the demo?

Doesn't work with the demo...but I'm glad to hear there are up to 25% speed gains in certain cases.

a2daj · Oct 29, 2003, 07:23 PM

Originally posted by Horsepoo!!!:
Doesn't work with the demo...but I'm glad to hear there are up to 25% speed gains in certain cases.

Which won't work? The OpenAL lib? That's where most of the performance boost is coming from. The retail version has a replaceable OpenAL lib. The demo should as well, but I haven't tried.

Vash · Oct 29, 2003, 07:28 PM

Now the game jams and quits without an error message after short amounts of play...

Also, I noticed the sound quality has GREATLY reduced, it seems as though dolby digital surround no longer works and the center speaker is greatly boosted and other speakers very quiet. But it does seem as though there is a performance boost. Anyone else have the patch on a dual 2ghz G5 w/Radeon 9800? I trashed the .ini files for ut2k3 and it stilled jammed....Why does this have to happen to me

joe · Oct 29, 2003, 08:08 PM

Originally posted by Tomster:
Supposed to be faster but more importantly, NO MORE SUPID CD CHECK!

Faster and no CD check?! IMHO UT2K3 just became the standard by which all other Mac games should be judged! This is the type of game I want to spend my hard earned money on.....joe

DBvader · Oct 29, 2003, 09:03 PM

i only played it for a second, so i cant really tell whether it was much faster than it was in panther. Im glad that things are getting the optimizations, and we are finally starting to see optimized games...

BZ · Oct 29, 2003, 09:17 PM

Much better.... I smoother, higher frame rates...

Thanks Ryan!

BZ

G-Force · Oct 30, 2003, 12:49 AM

I agree, not having the CD check is great! Thank you so much Ryan!

Luca Rescigno · Oct 30, 2003, 03:03 AM

Wow, this was a HUGE improvement for me. I used to have to play at the minimum settings possible - 640x480, 16-bit color, all detail settings at minimum, all effects off, low quality sound. Even then it was bordering on unplayable. Now I can go to 800x600, 32-bit color, detail settings in the middle, some of the effects on, and high quality sound, and it's about 2-3x as smooth as before with those higher settings. This is on a 1 GHz eMac with the 32 MB Radeon 7500 graphics - an amazing boost in speed here!

druber · Oct 30, 2003, 11:38 AM

Amazon has UT2k3 for $20 right now, too. I've been holding out until it dropped below $45 or whatever, but now I'm all in. Any good Mac-friendly servers out there? Anyone know if MacAddict has a 2k3 server up?

xylon · Oct 30, 2003, 03:30 PM

Originally posted by druber:
Amazon has UT2k3 for $20 right now, too. I've been holding out until it dropped below $45 or whatever, but now I'm all in. Any good Mac-friendly servers out there? Anyone know if MacAddict has a 2k3 server up?

I don't know of any Mac-friendly servers, but let me know if you find one. I typically go to the gibgames servers, but now that I'm back on the east coast, my lag is substantially worse.

I haven't done any real number crunching either, but the game just feels smooth. Also, it's nice being able to see the logos, wasn't really a problem before, but it's being able to see all aspects of the game.

On a side note, is anyone else noticing that their timing is off now? My skills were getting pretty honed, but now after the update it seems that I'm a bit off. Can't dodge as fast, aiming off, depth perception off, hmmm, maybe it was just an off day...

RooneyX · Oct 30, 2003, 05:15 PM

Originally posted by Luca Rescigno:
Wow, this was a HUGE improvement for me. I used to have to play at the minimum settings possible - 640x480, 16-bit color, all detail settings at minimum, all effects off, low quality sound. Even then it was bordering on unplayable. Now I can go to 800x600, 32-bit color, detail settings in the middle, some of the effects on, and high quality sound, and it's about 2-3x as smooth as before with those higher settings. This is on a 1 GHz eMac with the 32 MB Radeon 7500 graphics - an amazing boost in speed here!

I don't get it. Why were you using such low settings?

My cousin runs the demo on his Ti-800 at 1280x854 @ 16bit. I run it on my Alu17 at 1400x900 @ 16bit too. We both play fast paced network games at this setting with all details at defaults. I never purchased the full game but now I've heard of the improvements I might because I should be able to get it to run at full res on my 23 inch Cinema Display now.

xylon · Oct 31, 2003, 01:04 PM

Originally posted by RooneyX:
I don't get it. Why were you using such low settings?

My cousin runs the demo on his Ti-800 at 1280x854 @ 16bit. I run it on my Alu17 at 1400x900 @ 16bit too. We both play fast paced network games at this setting with all details at defaults. I never purchased the full game but now I've heard of the improvements I might because I should be able to get it to run at full res on my 23 inch Cinema Display now.

You run it at 1400 x 900 on your 17"? Did I miss that resolution? I'll have to look for that. I remember playing at 1280 x 854 and it was no problem, any trouble running the resolution at 1400 x 900?

Also, kind of on a side note, I was told by some of my gamin buddies that they decrease their resolution so that it's easier to aim, especially with the LG and the shock rifle.

dennis88 · Oct 31, 2003, 04:10 PM

Does the performance get increased in panther also, or do you guys use jaguar?

Thanks!

xylon · Oct 31, 2003, 05:35 PM

Originally posted by dennis88:
Does the performance get increased in panther also, or do you guys use jaguar?

Thanks!

Still in Jaguar, but my roommate picked up Panther so maybe I'll be testing it out soon.

Also, I think the gamespeed will be independent of the operating system you're currently using, or at least it will be negligibly affected. Not too sure of that, but that's my guess.

Hydra · Oct 31, 2003, 06:26 PM

Originally posted by xylon:
Still in Jaguar, but my roommate picked up Panther so maybe I'll be testing it out soon.

Also, I think the gamespeed will be independent of the operating system you're currently using, or at least it will be negligibly affected. Not too sure of that, but that's my guess.

I've seen many reports that Panther alone improves UT2003. With the UT2003 patch and 10.3 comming at the same time most people won't really be able to tell how much a boost is comming from upgrading one or the other.

-Jerry C.

RooneyX · Oct 31, 2003, 08:32 PM

Originally posted by xylon:
You run it at 1400 x 900 on your 17"? Did I miss that resolution? I'll have to look for that. I remember playing at 1280 x 854 and it was no problem, any trouble running the resolution at 1400 x 900?

You have to edit the .ini file in the Unreal Tournament folder. Use the Finder's search field.

I don't have any problem running at 1400x900 but I do so at 16bit color. Honestly, I can't see much difference between 16 and 32. The game plays fast, not silky but not annoyingly jerky.

With the laptop hooked up to the 23 inch Cinema Display I use 1344x840 because the monitor doesn't support 1400x900. Now that there's a patch, I might buy the game and see if I can run it at 1920x1200 and still get good play.

dennis88 · Nov 1, 2003, 08:50 AM

This is what I got on Antalus botmatch benchmark:

6.557805 / 25.201025 / 64.210518 fps
Score = 25.222992

It's on a 1,25ghz 15" powerbook with 1024mb ram and the 5400rpm drive.
And it has panther installed.

I tested it on the demo version of unreal 2k3, so it's not with the new patch, but I have the new openal.dylib file instead of the old one.

The game runs vey good.

ShortcutToMoncton · Nov 1, 2003, 07:22 PM

Again, an average of 25 FPS....that's pretty much unplayable in any kind of online situatin, as far as I'm concerned.

Sigh. Guess I'll have to wait a couple years for my G5 before I get into online first-person's again...

greg

a2daj · Nov 1, 2003, 09:02 PM

Originally posted by ShortcutToMoncton:
Again, an average of 25 FPS....that's pretty much unplayable in any kind of online situatin, as far as I'm concerned.

Sigh. Guess I'll have to wait a couple years for my G5 before I get into online first-person's again...

greg

Do you understand the significance of the botmatch player tests? They're more CPU demanding than online play because the computer has to handle the AI. The standard botmatch benchmarks use 12 bots. Actual online play is typically significantly more than the average fps given in botmatches.

Vash · Nov 1, 2003, 11:19 PM

Yes, a2daj is right, each bot takes 2 fps off according to Ryan Gordon, who ported UT2k3. Also, dennis88 may have run with a large resolution and all detail settings maxed (which is probably true)

dennis88 · Nov 2, 2003, 06:02 AM

When I play online, the game runs much better, and I rarely go under 30 fps, and that's with alot of action on the screen in antalus.
In asbestos I have never seen it go under 30fps. And I run the game at 1280x854.

The game runs very good as I said.
And 25fps average on High settings with 12bots on antalus is not bad.

dennis88 · Nov 2, 2003, 06:12 AM

And by the way:

If you have 64mb on your geforce card, remember to change the varsize in the unreal.ini file to 64 instead of 32.
Go to library, then application support, then unreal, and then system.
Open the ut2003.ini file with textedit.
About half way down you will see "OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice"
And a bit longer down you will see "varsize=32"
Change it to 64 instead of 32.

Now the graphic card will use all the 64mb on your card instead of just 32mb.

Hope it helps.

cSurfr · Nov 2, 2003, 08:24 AM

Originally posted by dennis88:
When I play online, the game runs much better, and I rarely go under 30 fps, and that's with alot of action on the screen in antalus.
In asbestos I have never seen it go under 30fps. And I run the game at 1280x854.

The game runs very good as I said.
And 25fps average on High settings with 12bots on antalus is not bad.

How are you all changing the res to fit the widescreen powerbooks ? I thought i saw the res in the .ini, but that didn't fix it....what am i missing ?

cs

dennis88 · Nov 2, 2003, 11:06 AM

Originally posted by cSurfr:
How are you all changing the res to fit the widescreen powerbooks ? I thought i saw the res in the .ini, but that didn't fix it....what am i missing ?

cs

I change it in the .ini file.

RooneyX · Nov 2, 2003, 01:45 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cSurfr:
How are you all changing the res to fit the widescreen powerbooks ? I thought i saw the res in the .ini, but that didn't fix it....what am i missing ?

cs [/QUOTE

Library>Application Support>Unreal Tournament 2003>System>UT2003.ini

Open it with Textedit, do a search for the resolution it is currently fixed at, there are a couple of them, set your resolution and save it.