New Intel Mac not fast enough to play Planeshift?

[danveld]

Hello.

I used to play Planeshift on my old iBook G4, 1.2 Ghz, 512 MB ram and some ATI 64 MB card. On low settings one could barely play it, game experience was terrible (talking about new Planeshift with "updated graphic" - old Planeshift (3.0.12 etc.) was running smooth..).

So when I brought home this awesome piece of hardware (Macbook 2 Ghz Intel 2 Core Duo, 4 GB ram, NVIDIA 9400M 256 MB), I thought I would try Planeshift and see. Well I left settings as they were, except for resolution, which I switched to corespond with my widescreen and I ran the game. Game experience is again terrible, game barely playable... I just ran from inn to Hydlaa plaza and deleted Planeshift after.

I would like to point out what I did already in past. Before you start to object, that my Mac is not really so good, it runs WoW on max details smoothly not to mention other non online games. Now the point. Maybe its time to stop developing the new additions and finally do something with the game engine. As even Talad posted in one topic I read, this game cannot catch new MMORPGs in graphic quality, still it requires way better hardware than these games and thats probably.....wrong.

I still look back on old awesome 3.0.12 version, which ran smoothly even on old G4, had -fullbright and other positives... New Planeshift 5.0 release will probably need four processor computer with 4 graphic chips and 1 TB of RAM to run ok (while changes in graphic will be barely visible to me, like in case of PS 3 -> PS 4).

[Sen]

Hello

Did you do anything to figure out why it didn't run well - e.g. turn shadows off in options or some graphics enhancements in the setup?
Just setting the resolution up what would cause less performance and then say how bad it was and you deleted it again makes this post look like one belonging to the complaint department.

Sen

[player_of_games]

hello danveld,

I have the same macbook as you, actually with less RAM, the game runs absolutely smoothly outside hydlaa
(with visibility set to 200 in the 'graphics' and 'detail' submenu in ingame options) and inside hydlaa (switching to adaptive camera
with 30 frames per second minimum in the same submenu)

Therefore as Sen says, if you want to play Planeshift, you have to install the game again, get the updater to run,
make sure it is fully updated!, make sure the settings are ok and then if you play and still have problems post here again,
with a detailed description of your problem and what you tried to alleviate it.

You were a little impatient this far, make sure you try a bit more next time and people here will usually be able to help you
very quickly.

No offence, the game will look very nice on your mac!
player_of_games

[danveld]

So I installed anew to test your advices.

Settuped adaptive camera (or how it is called), 30 distance, 20 fps min. Turned shadows off. Resolution 1280x800. In Hydlaa still very far from being smooth...

So I guess I would have to lower the resolution as well... *shakes head*

[Thoss]

seems like there may be more opportunities for troubleshooting.  I run PS on an early '08 MacBook with 2GB RAM and the integrated Intel GMA X3100, which I hear isn't all that great.

But, I run around with my visibility maxed all the time (at 1000) and don't use adaptive at all.  Nice to be able to see across the landscape. 

I did go through the steps in the README-osx found in the contents of the PlaneShift app.  Perhaps some of that made a difference?

Game works well for me on average...occasional issue when switching maps, but that seems to be a known.  I just use the temporary "portals" whenever possible.

[player_of_games]

hi danveld, let me just make sure three things,

1. Your MacOS is fully updated via 'Software Update' and you did not mess with the drivers?

2. You ran the Planeshift updater after installing the right PS-package (not the one for 10.3.9),
and it reported "no updates available"? (http://www.planeshift.caarrie.org/updater.html)

3. You read the things in the read me and specifically tried the texture-compression fix?
(http://www.planeshift.caarrie.org/index.html --> read and go to 'Utilities' page)

these are just so basic, it would could be pointless to do anything beforehand

[danveld]

Texture compression solved it, good advice.

I didnt try it before because of readme text: "2) Some graphics cards have problems with texture compression. If you
experience problems loading the game......"

I didnt have problems loading the game, so I didnt thought of this fix...

Anyway thanks! PS now finally works in normal speed....

[player_of_games]

Great to hear that Danveld,

enjoy the game!