Mac OSX speed issues (G4 processor)

[Wessex_Electric_Nut]

Long time since I logged into the forums, oh well.
Anyway, I've had a few problems with OTTD recently, Build 0.3.8 was great on my Mac, when I got it in February, travelling from home to college on the train and sneeking in 15mins of OTTD. But I now found I have a problem.

0.4.8 when I downloaded it for multiplayer reasons started giving me issues, mainly speed issues. I checked the site, no update and I haven't tried the nightly build, but with the builds I've tried,
10.3 build seems to be the same
the Universal build is the same
Nightly build is the same.
Whats the problem? Well, Open TTD doesn't want to run smoothly on my Powerbook, which jerks around, i.e. its down to 1fps and slow in responding. I've tried other suggestions, lowing the resolution, colour depth and closing all programs (I only had Windows Media player open at the time on my last tryout), still the same result.
I even reformatted my disk and I still got the same result.

The system specs are:
15" Powerbook G4
1.67ghz G4 processor
2GB ram
ATI Radeon 9700 64mb
120gb hard drive
EDIT: Mac OSX 10.4.7
1280x854 screen (sept 05 versoin)
Apple Superdrive

So, as you can see, its more than enough to play open TTD at a decent speed, but anyone know why it can't?

I'll be interested in your suggestions.

[Bjarni]

maybe it's powersettings and running on battery. Maybe it's NPF (new path finder), that uses more CPU power than the old one. I can't think of anything else.


Any G4 is fast enough to play the game. I tried (0.4.5 I think) on a 266 MHz G3... it was playable, but not in big resolutions, but you got something way more powerful

[Wessex_Electric_Nut]

maybe it's powersettings and running on battery. Maybe it's NPF (new path finder), that uses more CPU power than the old one. I can't think of anything else.


Any G4 is fast enough to play the game. I tried (0.4.5 I think) on a 266 MHz G3... it was playable, but not in big resolutions, but you got something way more powerful

Hmm, changed the settings, not much difference. I usually have it underclocked since when I have the lid closed, it could overheat, not what I want, but even then, it still overheats.

Anyway, what G3 Mac do you use may I ask?

[Bjarni]

Anyway, what G3 Mac do you use may I ask?

on rare occasions, I use a beige 266 Mhz G3, mainly to test OSX 10.2 compability (which is currently broken).

I have no idea why it would be slow for you

[Wessex_Electric_Nut]

Anyway, what G3 Mac do you use may I ask?

on rare occasions, I use a beige 266 Mhz G3, mainly to test OSX 10.2 compability (which is currently broken).

I have no idea why it would be slow for you

Ibook?

Perhaps we need a G3/4 and a G5 version.

[Bjarni]

Anyway, what G3 Mac do you use may I ask?

on rare occasions, I use a beige 266 Mhz G3, mainly to test OSX 10.2 compability (which is currently broken).

Ibook?

The iBook was not invented at that date. It was the first series of desktop G3 (1997 or 1998, can't remember). It was when MacOS 8 was new.

Perhaps we need a G3/4 and a G5 version.

We already got that. The universal binary contains G3/G4 code, G5 code and i386 code.

Test your computer speed with other software and ensure that you didn't fill up the HD (which makes slow swap space access)

[Wessex_Electric_Nut]

Test your computer speed with other software and ensure that you didn't fill up the HD (which makes slow swap space access)

I have no other problem with software, I have to be careful here as the program I am testing, I am under an NDA (Mac Trainz that is, hence the Powerbook), I have no problem speed wise with other programs, just OTTD for some reason

[Bjarni]

try to rename openttd.cfg (to whatever you want) and see if the game runs faster without changing any settings. If it does, then it's a result of a poorly configured setup.

[Wessex_Electric_Nut]

try to rename openttd.cfg (to whatever you want) and see if the game runs faster without changing any settings. If it does, then it's a result of a poorly configured setup.

Tried, no result....

[Asterix]

Another question: do the speed-issues appear for new games or do you try to load a saved game?

If its a saved game, are there ships in it?

[Wessex_Electric_Nut]

Another question: do the speed-issues appear for new games or do you try to load a saved game?

If its a saved game, are there ships in it?

Nether, on menu, on startup, multiplayer, new game, saved game, etc.

[Bjarni]

(I only had Windows Media player open at the time on my last tryout)

It's possible that this could be the reason (two apps trying to draw fast at the same time). Try to quit every single application before trying. Also fullscreen is faster than window mode.

[Wessex_Electric_Nut]

(I only had Windows Media player open at the time on my last tryout)

It's possible that this could be the reason (two apps trying to draw fast at the same time). Try to quit every single application before trying. Also fullscreen is faster than window mode.

Even with nothing open, it is still the same story, so I am not sure what it is TBH.

[Bjarni]

try to open terminal and run the game from CLI. cd into the right directory and start the game with

Code: Select all

OpenTTD.app/Contents/MacOS/openttd -m null -s null

Now it will start without music or sounds to rule out this possibility

Also the binary might be borked. Try an md5 sum on it and post it here

Code: Select all

md5 OpenTTD.app/Contents/MacOS/openttd

to get it. It should hopefully say

MD5 (OpenTTD.app/Contents/MacOS/openttd) = 75e487603302b76008c5c8a21a4721a4

Since nobody else have reported any speed issues, it have to be something regarding your computer, configureation, borked download or something like that. You can also check the md5 sum of the dmg file and compare it here http://www.openttd.org/downloads.php

If there is a mismatch in the numbers, then your game is broken.

[Toni Babelony]

I have an eMac (yes, the noisy one):

Machine Model: PowerMac4,4
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.3)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.6.4f1

That's about it... I have about 60GB of free diskspace. It runs MiniIN quite smoothly, so OpenTTD 4.x should run fine.

Your specs are higher than mine, so it must be something in your mac itself *I'm no expert, but I grew up with Macintosh... So...

[Bjarni]

no reply... either he gave up or got it working without telling us.

[Wessex_Electric_Nut]

no reply... either he gave up or got it working without telling us.

Actually, I ended up putting it aside while I get more urgent things done first.
(Unfortuately, some trainz members are fussing me to get an object released, in my case, the Class 141)

Some members are quite fussy and I have been trying to fix the remaining errors (believe me, theres a lot in that 3D model)

[Wessex_Electric_Nut]

UPDATE:
Ok, it was 3 months comming. I finally bit the bulliet and went back to Open TTD on the mac, like I need it anyway, as I seem to be swamped with lappies! :S
The bad news is that the nightly version (r7321) crashes (which I tried first, considering my then bad experiences with 0.4., then redownloaded 0.4.8, put it on my mac, started it up in a new folder, lo and behold, it starts without a single problem, no jerkiness noticiable either. I was supprised!
Plus I have god knows how many windows open on other desktops, Virtual PC is one, my favourite game, the other.)
Has 0.4.8 been updated recently since I last posted may I ask?

Only one slight problem when I tried 0.4.8, look below. I started it again while writing this message and it seems to be fine now.

HTHs and thank you to everyone for all their help.

(Time to close it?)