48 replies to this topic

[sillek]

I searched the forums, but couldn't find any solutions.  There were some threads with problems, but they are old and don't give any solutions.

Anyway, my problem is the following:  I install NOLF2, completely clean.  I double click the application, and it brings up an "OmniGroup Crash Catcher".  It wants me to send in the crashlog.  I'd be happy to do so, except it does nothing but load Mail.  I could never get my e-mail working with Mail [Don't know why...], so I can't send in the log.  I've tried the patch on the MacPlay support page, and that does the same thing.  I deleted NOLF, the preferences, and the [empty] folder inside of Application Support.  I re-installed, and the same thing happened.

Any suggestions ?  This is probably the only worthwhile single player FPS game on Mac outside of NOLF1, which I've beaten three times.

iMac G4, 15" FP
800MHz
512MB RAM
nVidia Ge Force 2 MX
OS 10.3.8
QuickTime 6.5.2 [QT seemed to be a problem for others]

If somebody wants the crashlog that OmniGroup Crash Catcher gives me, I'll be glad to send it.

[The iMac Man]

sillek, on April 7th 2005, 01:02 PM, said:

This is probably the only worthwhile single player FPS game on Mac outside of NOLF1, which I've beaten three times.

iMac G4, 15" FP
800MHz
512MB RAM
nVidia Ge Force 2 MX
OS 10.3.8
QuickTime 6.5.2 [QT seemed to be a problem for others]

You must be crazy!  There are a lot if worthwhile SP FPS games on the Mac...

Call of Duty
Medal of Honor
Soldier of Fortune II
etc, etc

Anyway, I have the exact same iMac as you, and I can play NOLF2, so it's gotta be something with your system...

Do you have any haxies enabled?

Try creating a new user and see if you can run the game under that user.

[sillek]

The iMac Man, on April 7th 2005, 11:19 AM, said:

You must be crazy!  There are a lot if worthwhile SP FPS games on the Mac...
Call of Duty

I played through this at about 3-8FPS.  It wasn't that exciting.  Taking over the town was good with the squad, but it only lasted about six minutes.  My clan has a multiplayer server of this, but it's useless to try and play with 3FPS.

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Medal of Honor
Soldier of Fortune II

I did try MoH.  I got to the point in Spearhead where you're in some tracked vehicle or something [bad memory.  Anyway, it halted to about 0.5FPS and was impossible to get past.  Of course this was all past the loading bug thing in that mission.  There were tanks that you had to place bombs on.  I died a million times.  Only problem being was that it wouldn't load any saves.  I'd die, and it'd put me back at the start.  Even worse, the level took...oh man..it had to be five minutes to load.

I tried MoH mp, as well.  It ran ok for awhile, then my FPS died.  I had everything on Off or Low, even resolution.  I was getting horrible FPS.  sometimes as low as 3.  I'd get 40-60 indoors, but if I ran outside on a map, even a small map, like that marketplace in Holland.  It was one of the maps that was a third party map for AA but was ported to SH with extra features.  It had a church on one side.  Anyway, it was quite small but still killed my FPS.

I'd re-install [again], but I don't feel like spending a month trying to find a decent server.

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Anyway, I have the exact same iMac as you, and I can play NOLF2, so it's gotta be something with your system...

Good news- Bad news.

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Do you have any haxies enabled?

haxies ? what ?

Quote

Try creating a new user and see if you can run the game under that user.

Err, ok.  I'll try that.


*EDIT*:

OK, I created a new user and launched NOLF2.
I got an error:

'Unable to create temporary file.  See the console log for more details'
Console log in HD/Lib/Logs [not users Lib] says this:

2005-04-07 12:48:28.282 NOLF2[568] Unable to freopen stdout to '/Applications/No One Lives Forever 2/Data/../Data/NOLF2.log'

[The iMac Man]

I dunno man, sounds like your system is really messed up.

I have the exact same iMac, and I play CoD online competetively.  I've also passed the SP several times, with no lag issues.

Same with MoH, it should run really well actually.  Spearhead though, runs like garbage.

Try selecting the NOLF2 folder, and get info on it (Apple+I), then set all permissions to Read&Write.  See if you still have problems with the new user.

[The iMac Man]

I should also mention, if CoD lags on your iMac, NOLF2 definitely will too.

[sillek]

The iMac Man, on April 7th 2005, 12:50 PM, said:

I dunno man, sounds like your system is really messed up.

I have the exact same iMac, and I play CoD online competetively.  I've also passed the SP several times, with no lag issues.

Same with MoH, it should run really well actually.  Spearhead though, runs like garbage.

Try selecting the NOLF2 folder, and get info on it (Apple+I), then set all permissions to Read&Write.  See if you still have problems with the new user.

Well, nothing I can do about about a "really messed up system"-It's always been like this.

I am set to Read & Write on every file in the NOLF2 folder.  It still brings up the OmniGroup CrashCatcher.  This game used to run under Jaguar albeit cutscenes being ruined.  


Well, I guess I'm back to the only game that runs above 20FPS on my system:  Myth II.
Hell, even NOLF1 lagged bad.

[The iMac Man]

You should try finding out why your system is lagging so badly.

Like I said, I have the same iMac, and I play CoD on it fine.  NOLF1 ran like butter, and NOLF2 runs playably.

Creating a new user for gaming only is a good idea.  That way you know that it's as trimmed down as it can be, and there shouldn't be anything running in the background.

Remove all menu bar items.

Repair Permissions and run all the cron scripts.  Maybe even repair your disk directory... if you haven't done any of these things, that could be a major cause of a slow system.

[c15zyx]

Dunno about your other problems, but the MoH problems are confirmed by many people, the half-track mission is particularly infamous. CoD even runs some more complicated levels better than MoH, whether this is the map design, or coding of the engine, MoH just runs like a dog. There are even some multiplayer MoH maps where if you look at a certain building at a certain angle, there is extreme mouse lag, and the only way to avoid the lag is to set r_finish to 1, which unfortunately kills a large chunk of fps. With a GF2MX, I could only imagine what playin MoH on that setup would be like.

[The iMac Man]

Huh?

I played MoH for years, on this iMac, and it ran fine.  I played MoH competitively too....

Maybe the new patches have caused the lag?  Cause, it certainly wasn't laggy back when I was playing it regularly.

Or, maybe there is some setting I have turned off that you guys have turned on which is causing the lag....

[sillek]

The iMac Man, on April 7th 2005, 01:25 PM, said:

Creating a new user for gaming only is a good idea.  That way you know that it's as trimmed down as it can be, and there shouldn't be anything running in the background.

Well, for whatever reason I didn't have whatever access it said [see above post] to write to the directory.  Anyway, I don't really have that much running in the background.  

I have Logitech Control Center.  This is needed to use my mouse properly.
I have WeatherPop, which puts the temperature/weather in my menu bar.  I can quit this while starting games.  I'll try that, but don't think it's taking that much RAM/CPU.  Just for your information, I didn';t use WeatherPop when I tried CoD/MoH.

That's about all that's running besides stuff I don't know what are.  ATSServer, SystemUIServer, System Events, pbs, iTunes Helper

Remove all menu bar items.

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Repair Permissions and run all the cron scripts.  Maybe even repair your disk directory... if you haven't done any of these things, that could be a major cause of a slow system.

A week ago I initialized my hard drive completely clean and re-installed OS X.  I patched up to 10.3.8.  I have like five third party applications installed, and two games- Myth II and Wolf: ET [which runs like crap.  I get like 60-90 FPS indoors and like 10fps outdoors]

I actually repaired permissions before I played NOLF2.  I installed.  Restarted.  Repaired permissions.  Restarted.  Ran NOLF2.

I guess I could re-install an old game that run slowly to see if it runs better after initialization, but I don't think it's worth the effort.  Unless you yourself have a clan server or a place to play, I don't feel like sorting through 2000 servers to find one that works.  I've already played it plenty, as well.  Sick of taking an hour to get five kills because people headshot me with sniper rifles from a mile away when they are running, jumping, and falling off a bridge at same time and only my head and neck are exposed.

Basically NOLF2 was *the* game I wanted to try after initialization because I like the NOLF series so much.  But, obviously..it doesn't work.  ET still runs like crap, so it's useless to play on my order's server for it.  They're all running 3GHz PCs with 256meg graphics card.  Oh, and I have to take a daily pounding on how "mac sux"

Anyway, sorry for the big run on post.  I know this is supposed to be my "tech support" thread.

Oh..and I've tried all three MoH patches heavily.  I don't see how I could have an option enabled that you don't as I had everything set to the minimum.  The only thing I ever changed was the resolution.  I ran it at 1024*768 but also tried 640*480 which didn't help at all.

Actually, MoH ran in OS 9 at like 40FPS....for about two days.  For some reason, after a few days..the OS 9 performance died and went down to crap like on OS X.

[sillek]

Well, I re-installed MoH hoping that my newly initialized/clean HD would make it perform better.  Boy, was I wrong.  I immediately went to options and set everything to mininum.  I then loaded up the first mission, and was getting all red FPS.  The soldier wouldn't even respond to most of my commands because of the lag.

Looks like I have to find a game with less than half of my specs as requirements.  [MoH is 400MHz vs my 800, 16mb VRAM vs my 32mb].  Only problem is going back that far requires OS 9, and I don't want to install it.  ):

I guess I'll stick to Myth II.

[Brad Oliver]

sillek, on April 11th 2005, 02:29 AM, said:

Well, I re-installed MoH hoping that my newly initialized/clean HD would make it perform better.  Boy, was I wrong.  I immediately went to options and set everything to mininum.  I then loaded up the first mission, and was getting all red FPS.  The soldier wouldn't even respond to most of my commands because of the lag.

Trash your MOHAA prefs, then install and run the latest patch. It'll auto-configure its settings for much better performance.

[sillek]

Brad Oliver, on April 11th 2005, 04:04 PM, said:

Trash your MOHAA prefs, then install and run the latest patch. It'll auto-configure its settings for much better performance.

I just now deleted MOH and deleted the prefs/app support folder.  I installed the game, patched to 1.14a, and ran it.  I left the settings at default.  I was getting about 5-10fps on the first mission.

[Brad Oliver]

sillek, on April 12th 2005, 11:03 AM, said:

I just now deleted MOH and deleted the prefs/app support folder.  I installed the game, patched to 1.14a, and ran it.  I left the settings at default.  I was getting about 5-10fps on the first mission.

That's definitely not right for an 800 MHz G4 with a GeForce 2MX. I'll echo what others are saying - there's some other factor at play in your setup that is probably contributing to this.

It's a bit of a longshot, but if you launch and run MOHAA in a window, then switch over to the terminal and run "top", I wonder if you'll see another app taking up a large amount of CPU time.

[sillek]

Brad Oliver, on April 13th 2005, 07:01 AM, said:

It's a bit of a longshot, but if you launch and run MOHAA in a window, then switch over to the terminal and run "top", I wonder if you'll see another app taking up a large amount of CPU time.

I ran MOH.  At the main menu, I pressed Command + H to run in a window.  I then opened Terminal and got this:

PhysMem:  48.7M wired, 78.3M active, 85.8M inactive,  212M used,  299M free
370 mohaa       28.7%  0:48.52   8   156   391  31.7M+ 16.8M  39.6M+  167M

No other application was using any %CPU except for "top" ..so I had 299megs of RAM and plenty of CPU.

I then quit Terminal and loaded the first level, and got this:

370 mohaa       86.8%  2:05.48   8   156   993   102M  19.4M   105M   236M
Load Avg:  1.37, 0.86, 0.42     CPU usage:  74.6% user, 25.4% sys, 0.0% idle
PhysMem:  77.7M wired, 75.4M active,  342M inactive,  495M used, 16.7M free

So the difference between in-game and in-menu is 280 or so megs of RAM ?  That can't be..
And my %idle CPU is......gone.  Again, the only other things listed in Terminal as using any CPU were "top" and sometimes "Terminal".  It fluctuated a little.  Generally they were using less than 1%, and sometimes top used 2%.

Right now I have Safari, Terminal, and TextEdit open.  I have 152megs of RAM and 60-90% idle CPU.


I remember when I got the game when it came out.  I was running everything on High, because I remember trying to lower the settings when I got the big / hectic Normandy/Omaha/whatever beach it was mission because it was lagging with everything on High.  After that mission, I set them back on High settings.  Not completely, High, but "Highish".

And all other games run poorly, too.  So what could be wrong with my computer ?  I just initialized a week or two ago, so my HD is nice and clean.

Thank you for any suggestions/help.  Atleast now I know that I can't blame MoH for it.

[c15zyx]

Certain sections of MoH:AA run particularly poorly (Omaha is one), you just may be basing performance on these parts. For example, in the very beginning when leaving the truck ambush and heading up the hill, performance is pretty bad (compared to the rest of the level), both on my older Quicksilver/867 and on my PB/1.33. For this section I wouldn't be surprised to get a framerate of 10-15 fps, even on the default.

I've noticed a cosmetic bug with the 'dynamic' defaults in the new MoH:AA... particularly... if I fresh install (all prefs removed), then on the very first launch, the options panels have blanks in them for some of the options (ie, model complexity, texture quality, etc). However, exiting and restarting MoH again for the second time brings out the correct values.

[sillek]

c15zyx, on April 14th 2005, 10:43 AM, said:

Certain sections of MoH:AA run particularly poorly (Omaha is one), you just may be basing performance on these parts. For example, in the very beginning when leaving the truck ambush and heading up the hill, performance is pretty bad (compared to the rest of the level), both on my older Quicksilver/867 and on my PB/1.33. For this section I wouldn't be surprised to get a framerate of 10-15 fps, even on the default.

I've noticed a cosmetic bug with the 'dynamic' defaults in the new MoH:AA... particularly... if I fresh install (all prefs removed), then on the very first launch, the options panels have blanks in them for some of the options (ie, model complexity, texture quality, etc). However, exiting and restarting MoH again for the second time brings out the correct values.

Yes, certain places like the first mission lag very badly.  Performance is improved on the second level, but it's still not very good.  15FPS in a 1v1 firefight isn't 5FPS in a 1v1, but it's still bad.  Especially if it's multiplayer, and I am fighting some guy pulling 100+ FPS.  The only time performance is good is if I'm in a small room and not moving around.  If somebody runs in and fires at me, then I lag a little.

So, yes, some places do lag.  But I lag in every game [not just MoH], not just specific places.

I haven't had any blank graphics options panels.  I've had the console default to off with new prefs, and I've had it default to on with new prefs.  That's about it.

I've also noticed that my RAM seems to be disappearing.  I'll run a few apps, and my RAM will be down to five.  I'll quit every open application, and it will only go back up to 40-80.  I'll open up one or two small apps, and it will go down to 0-10 and everything will be very laggy.  Could this be faulty RAM ?  How could I do a test on my RAM to see if it's bad ?

[Tesseract]

Having all your RAM in use after running a few apps is normal. The OS uses any spare RAM as a disk cache. Bad RAM would almost certainly be causing crashes and/or data corruption rather than lag, but you can run memtest if you want to be sure.

[sillek]

Tesseract, on April 15th 2005, 12:19 PM, said:

Having all your RAM in use after running a few apps is normal. The OS uses any spare RAM as a disk cache. Bad RAM would almost certainly be causing crashes and/or data corruption rather than lag, but you can run memtest if you want to be sure.

Are there any instructions for this ?  None came with the application.

[Tesseract]

sillek, on April 21st 2005, 04:46 AM, said:

Are there any instructions for this ?  None came with the application.

I probably should have linked you to the actual home page rather than that download page, as there is documentation there. Unfortunately, it's timing out when I try to connect at the moment. So here is a quote from the file "READMEFIRST.rtf" which comes with the distribution:

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RUNNING MEMTEST VERSIONS 4.0x

Memtest 4.0x is invoked in exactly the same manner as in the earlier 2.9x releases. Assuming that the memtest folder resides in your Applications folder, open a terminal window and type the following command at the bash prompt:

PowerMacG4:~ tony$  /Applications/memtest-4.0xM/memtest all 1

where the lower-case "x" is the minor version number (i.e. 4 for 4.04M, 5 for 4.05M, etc.)

Alternatively, you can cd  into the memtest folder and run the program using the command ./memtest all 1. Either way, memtest will test all of the available free memory using a single pass of the test suite. As always, I recommend running with at least 3 or 4 passes rather than just a single pass to obtain better test coverage of marginal DIMMs.

To test less than all of the available free memory, simply replace the all option with the number of megabytes to test (e.g. 10, 100, 512, etc.) Don't put an M after the number as was done in the older 2.9x releases. The number entered is assumed to be in MB so the use of the M is no longer required.