[swimp]

Hey,
I'm using a Radeon 9800 Pro on my G4 and I can't seem to get smooth gameplay in games like Quake 3 or Medal of Honor. I've tried testing with the different settings but nothing.. and it was the same before I installed Panther..

Any ideas?

Thanks

[xylon]

Originally posted by swimp:
Hey,
I'm using a Radeon 9800 Pro on my G4 and I can't seem to get smooth gameplay in games like Quake 3 or Medal of Honor. I've tried testing with the different settings but nothing.. and it was the same before I installed Panther..

Any ideas?

Thanks

Check your background processes. I used to have the same problem with UT2k3, would constantly stutter even through the most mundane parts of the level. Turns out there was a processor hog (a stupid Lexmark printer driver) that was just killing my machine.

In case you have no idea how to check your processes, here's how.

1. Open up Terminal (Applications -> Utilities)
2. Type "top" (without quotation marks) and hit enter

At this point you should see a constantly refreshing list of the processes running on your computer. You should see "CPU usage" at the top of the screen followed by the percentages used by different aspects of the system (there should be user, sys, and idle). If the percentage for "user" seems abnormally large (ie only app running is Finder and the user percentage is 95%) scroll down and see if you can identify which app/process is tying up your processor.

Before I tell you how to get rid of the hog, it is important to note that there are processes which are integral to the operating system. Ending these may end your computer session. Namely, you will see a process called "idle_thread" which is consistently taking up a large portion of your processor. DO NOT end this. When in doubt about any process, do not kill it...you may just be screwing yourself. That being said, if you see an app/process running that is killing your processor, here's how to get rid of it.

If it's an app, just quit the app. Easy

If it's a process (ie you don't know how to quit it through the Finder) you'll need to type in another command.

1. Open another Terminal window (open apple+N)
2. Type "kill PID"

You will replace the PID above in italics with the number corresponding to the process in the PID column in the "top" window.

3. Hit enter.

Process gone.

If you don't see a process hog, then all of this was in vain and your problem lies elsewhere.

[Hydra]

How much RAM you got?

-Jerry C.

[swimp]

Hydra: 768 Mb
Xylon: Thanks for the tip, I'll see if what it gives. It can't be something to do with drivers for the graphic card?

[proton]

Originally posted by xylon:
At this point you should see a constantly refreshing list of the processes running on your computer. You should see "CPU usage" at the top of the screen followed by the percentages used by different aspects of the system (there should be user, sys, and idle). If the percentage for "user" seems abnormally large (ie only app running is Finder and the user percentage is 95%) scroll down and see if you can identify which app/process is tying up your processor.

You can sort the display of top by CPU usage by invoking it as top -u.

- proton

[Leonard]

Does this stuttering happen in online play or single player play? Could be an online (internet) connection problem if it is online play.

Just for the sake of having more info, what is the speed (MHz) of the G4?

[swimp]

Originally posted by Leonard:
Does this stuttering happen in online play or single player play? Could be an online (internet) connection problem if it is online play.

Just for the sake of having more info, what is the speed (MHz) of the G4?

Speed: 1,25 GHz

Haven't tried so much multiplayer but it happens in single player games...