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mac freak · 02:31 PM

Just downloaded the UT2003 demo onto my spankin' new DP1.8/9800 and did some playing. I noticed right away, however, that I was running at less than 60 fps (this is obvious to a heavy gamer). A quick check yielded a framerate of 40. I was running max settings at 1600x1200. 40 seemed rather low, but I played a few games (NEVER noticing any frame drops, even in very intense action... which is fishy, since light action SHOULD feel smoother than heavy action), and then decided to see what would happen if I ran at 640x480. Sure enough, my framerate continued to refuse to rise above 40. I switched back to 1600x1200 and stared at a wall for a while, alone, and my fps simply would not budge. 40, 40, 40.

So here's my question:
How do I disable the framerate cap in the UT2003 demo? I couldn't find it in any of the ini files. But I'm sure it exists.

G5 DP1800, Radeon 9800 Pro, 1.5 GB RAM, OS X 10.3.2.

Thanks!

dennis88 · Dec 25, 2003, 07:26 PM

Same problem here.

mac freak · Dec 25, 2003, 10:02 PM

Anyone have a fix?

emark · Dec 27, 2003, 01:53 AM

the patch that unleashes the performance doesn't work for the demo - it is relatively recent, perhaps they will recompile a demo w/ that enhancement....

buy the game, and, if need be turn down the settings a bit, though with the rig in the initial post you probably shouldn't need to do that too much...,

good luck

mac freak · Dec 27, 2003, 02:16 AM

So I have to buy it to do a simple fps test?

All I wanted to do was see how performance compared to my PC...
oh well.

a2daj · Dec 27, 2003, 07:57 AM

If you replace the OpenAL lib that comes with the demo with one of the newer versions you should be able to get most of the performance boost from the patch.

You can check out more info about it at http://www.icculus.org

A slower, faster OpenAL lib (in the America's Army section)

Newer version w/ details

If you have developer tools installed, you can grab the latest code and compile it (really easy) and get the fastest version. Or if someone is really nice, they could post the OpenAL lib that comes with the UT2K3 patch.

mac freak · Dec 27, 2003, 12:40 PM

Originally posted by a2daj:

Or if someone is really nice, they could post the OpenAL lib that comes with the UT2K3 patch.

Anyone feel like being Really Nice?

dennis88 · Dec 27, 2003, 05:13 PM

Just search for "frame" in the text file, and you can take the fps cap on false instead of true.

mac freak · Dec 28, 2003, 12:21 PM

There we go! I knew it had to be in that ini somewhere...
thanks.

ambush · Dec 28, 2003, 12:57 PM

how does it compare to a PC??

details plz

mac freak · Dec 28, 2003, 08:28 PM

Okay, I'll post benchmarks in a bit

davidflas · Dec 28, 2003, 08:53 PM

I have a MDD 1.25 Ghz Powermac with the Radeon 9000 card and 1.25GB of ram. UT2K3 is a real dog even at 800x600 when I have most of the eye candy on. How much will a Radeon 9800 help?

I hope a lot because its a real dog now and a new Mac is a while off..

mac freak · Dec 29, 2003, 01:47 PM

Ok, benchmarks are in!
Game settings are the max the demo allows, so I had to turn down texture quality and character detail on the PC side (since I own the retail version there). Benchmarks were taken at 1600x1200x32.

MACHINE 1: Power Mac G5 dual-1.8 GHz, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, 1.5 GB PC3200, OS X 10.3.2 // UT2003 Mac Demo.

MACHINE 2: Pentium IV 3.06 GHz, HT on, ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, 512 MB PC2700, Windows XP Home SP1, ATI Catalyst 3.10 (Omega) // UT2003 Retail with latest patch.

Asbestos flyby:
G5 --> 70.008690 / 151.083893 / 435.620758 fps -- Score = 80.013878
PC --> 102.695534 / 190.758224 / 459.655548 fps -- Score = 190.915710

Asbestos botmatch:
G5 --> 23.618790 / 57.229946 / 126.947594 fps -- Score = 56.862793
PC --> 24.448990 / 60.761543 / 132.010773 fps -- Score = 60.792503

Antalus flyby:
G5 --> 53.464119 / 98.919083 / 253.397141 fps -- Score = 79.196793
PC --> 80.643585 / 124.449745 / 310.935913 fps -- Score = 124.502220

Antalus botmatch:
G5 --> 16.990173 / 38.446232 / 90.747894 fps -- Score = 38.471039
PC --> 24.349386 / 60.808006 / 120.347626 fps -- Score = 60.869720

Overall, the only really comparable score is the asbestos botmatch. I get the feeling that something is holding the Mac back in the flybys, since the scores are so radically different, and the Mac has a better video card and more RAM.

If I ever get my hands on a patched Mac retail UT2003, I'll run the benchmarks again; from what I've heard, there was a patch or something that boosted performance considerably

Overall, though, I feel like the PC I caved in and bought last year for gaming is serving its purpose well... and of course, the G5 royally whomps it in Photoshop and AE, which is where it gets its use anyway

Hydra · Dec 29, 2003, 02:42 PM

The latest retail patch is much better performing but how does UT2003 actually compile those scores?

"Asbestos flyby:
G5 --> 70.008690 / 151.083893 / 435.620758 fps -- Score = 80.013878
PC --> 102.695534 / 190.758224 / 459.655548 fps -- Score = 190.915710"

The Mac loses by 30 and 40 in the test figures 1 and 2 and then almost equals the PC in the Max number but in the final score it is less than half? How do those tests work when the Mac is far above half the fps of the PC in all the numbers but is much less than half in the final score? I'm not calling into question the validity of the results but only am asking how the final score is arrived at.

-Jerry C.

mac freak · Dec 29, 2003, 08:27 PM

I have a feeling it has to do with consistency -- how long the test maintained a certain framerate. Even if the two machines reach similar maxes and mins, one might stick at 200 fps for 10 seconds while the other sticks at 100 during those same 10 seconds. To be entirely honest, though, I'm NOT totally sure how the scores are compiled.

Also interesting to note is that, while the flybys look the same on both platforms, the botmatches are actually different scripts depending on the platform; I assume they're equal, but you never know.

Maybe I'll "borrow" retail Mac UT2003 to make some more definitive tests.

dennis88 · Dec 30, 2003, 04:30 PM

The great on my pb 15" 1,25ghz with 1280x754 rez, medium settings ++ on antalus multiplayer.
Never drops under 30 fps

It runs at 35-100 fps in antalus with alot of players on internet multiplayer.
When it's a bunch of people on the screen it runs at about 35-40fps, and when it's few or none, it runs at 40-100 fps.
I'm very happy with this.
I use the ut2003 demo, with the new openal file.