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Doom/Quake problem on MacPro 8800GT

B

barnowl66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 22, 2008
10
0
Hi there, hope someone can help me out! I'm not really a gamer but I thought I'd purchase Doom 3 to play now and then and to show off my lovely new 23" ACD and my new Mac Pro :D Anyway when I'm in the game and moving around I get lines running horizontally through the screen? I can only describe it as sort of a tv interference? I've tried the game on all the various settings etc all to no avail. I've just downloaded the Quake 4 demo and it's the same problem with that as well :confused: Apart from the strange lines the games look wonderful. I've nothing nearby like speakers etc that might be causing interference and I've checked my that my software updates are all up to date.

Do you think it's a compatibility issue with the 8800 card?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Mac Pro 10.5.2, 2 x 2.8 Quad Core, 4GB, 8800GT.
 
First thing I'd do is make sure you have the newest versions of Doom 3 and Quake 4. Doom 3 should be at 1.3.1 Rev A. Quake 4 should be at version 1.4.2. Also, are you running them at the native resolution of your display?
 
Yes Doom is the latest version and Quake is the demo version so I'm assuming that's the latest version? And yes I've tried running it at 1920x1200 as well as all other available resolutions but the lines remain.
 
HMmmm...


My first guess would be a problem with the game version (as both Quake and Doom were initially PPC games). If you've solved that, though, the other possibilities are more likely.

Have you played the games in a window? If you haven't, do so and see if you get lines all over the screen or just in the area that the game is displayed in. THis will help us know if it's a problem with the game itself or a problem around the game's installation/setup. My guess is for the second one - and it may be that some important files got lost or damaged while setting up the game.

What really confuses me is how you get the same problem with both games. Initially I wouldn't be so surprised, as both games share the same basic engine type and are from the same developper, as well as both being PPC based. Still, it makes me think that it's an issue with your games compatability with the 8800GT.

I've played both games on the 7300GT, the X1900XT, and the new 2600 pro - all with exceptional graphical performance.

I'm just guessing here, but maybe a) some drivers are missing for your card, resulting in this weird performance issue, b) the games themselves are so dated that they are running into weird transport/input issues with your card, or c) it's a bit of both.

I'm not sure, though. My suggestion would be to uninstall both copies of the games and try a new install, as well as rebooting your computer.. If the problems persist then you can be sure that it's not a specific case of a bad game.. (though it could still be something wrong with the card).


Sorry if I'm not much help, as I don't really have any experience fixing this kind of problem with the newer cards. I'm really just guessing here, but something might work.
 
Both games use the Doom 3 engine. I'd be interested if the game Prey has that problem on your computer too.

I've run Quake 4 on my 20" display using my laptop with an 8600GT card with no problems. Are you running the game on Ultra Quality? Also is multiprocessing turned on in the advanced options? I'd try fooling with the settings since there's not much you can do about drivers. Send an e-mail to Aspyr tech support if you haven't already. They should at least know that there is a problem.
 
voyagerd said:
Both games use the Doom 3 engine. I'd be interested if the game Prey has that problem on your computer too.

QUOTE]

If quake is experiencing these problems then it's *very* likely that so is Prey, considering that Prey uses exactly the same engine as Doom 3, while Quake at least had some modifications.. (although they didn't change it where it most needed it (i.e. the overly scripted NPC behaviors)).
Click to expand...
 
Hit Ctrl+Alt+~, type com_showFPS 1 and see what you current FPS is

It's posable, if your using the default settings your FPS is too high and your getting the classic tearing effect :)


Basically, most screens these days can display 60 FPS (60hz refresh), if the FPS of the game is over that you often get parts of 2 frames on the screen at once which of course appear as horizontal lines



If the FPS is well over 60 turn up the graphic settings a bit, or turn on VSync and all should be well :cool:
 
Ok I checked the FPS and it just stays at 60fps? I tried turning on VSync as well as running it on Ultra Quality (i was previously on high) but neither had any effect on the lines.

I think I may just give up and install bootcamp/windows and run games from that.

I'll let you know what Aspyr say when they get back to me.

Thanks.
 
Have you tried running another game?

If you have the time and feel up to it how about downloading the Call of Duty 2 demo to see what happens. I would assume the Demos are the old versions which may be the cause of your problems. When I first bought my Mac and my Games, back in July, the game didn't work properly until they were updated to the current versions. I assume this has to do with game developers updating their games to jive with current hardware.

For example, Rise of Nations runs like a champ on my 2.2 MBP but apparently will not run on the new model IMacs (I'm guessing the video card is the culprit as they are similar machines). Rise of Nations has been known to crash and have weird sound problems with the version of the game that ships, but if you download the update the problems go away.

On a side note, I have the Mac version of Call of Duty 2, which runs like a dog. At 1028/76whatever, AA off, settings on low or medium, it lags something fierce. When I play Call of Duty 4 on XP on my bootcamp partition, it runs exceedingly well (1028xwhatever, settings on medium/high), with not an ounce of lag. Having said that, not all my old PC games work on my XP partition (older games like the original Call of Duty or Blitzkrieg), and I suspect this has to do with the video drivers.
 
I tried the CoD2 demo last night and it looked great - there seemed a few of the 'lines' appearing now and then but quite difficult to tell what's what with all that's going on in the game, still certainly not as bad as Doom/Quake. One thing it didn't seem to run quite as smooth as Doom but still very playable - actually I preferred it over Doom :)
 
Reply from my email to Aspyr:

"Thank you for contacting Aspyr Media Tech Support.

We are currently working diligently with Apple to get these issues resolved. Since none of our titles were ever tested or approved for play on The NVIDIA Geforce 8800, we cannot support any of our games running on this video card at this time.

However, I can make some general suggestions that could help you with this issue:

Check your Apple Software Update. Ordinarily, this occurs automatically (through a prompt you receive every so often), but it's important to check these often. Updates, including Quicktime updates (which can affect many games) are also available on Apple.com.

Try repairing your disk permissions (if you have not done so already). To do this, open up your hard drive, open the Applications folder, go to Utilities, and launch 'Disk Utility'. Under 'First Aid', select your main hard drive volume (usually labeled 'Macintosh HD') and hit 'Repair Disk Permissions'. Once this is complete, reboot your Mac.


Again, I assure you that we are working hard with Apple to get these issues worked out.

Thanks for your patience.

Aspyr Tech Support"
 
I have the same problem :( It isn't playable! The horizontal lines drives me crazy!

So I just wondered if you ever solved it?

Edit: I have ET Quake Wars to. And the troubles aren't there. But ETQW sure is slow... Looks like nothing is optimized for GeForce 8800GT. All new games nowadays use Cider which make my Mac Pro into a Power Mac G3 in speed...
 
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