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| 16-10-08 / 23:19 : Jedi Knight on Intel mac without Windows ? (cjed) |
| On a 233 Mhz G3 from 98 fitted with a 3dfx Voodoo 1, we were able to play, thanks to Virtual PC 2, Jedi Knight (Dark Forces 2) at 20 fps, without really any slowdown (only a slight one every few seconds). The gaming experience was huge in terms of rendering and smoothness compared with the software rendering (if no 3Dfx card) : the later provided very poor graphics and only one or two fps. Virtual PC 3 then added stereo sound (mono sound in VPC 2) while keeping same performance. All that video performance was possible thanks to the 3Dfx endian ordering, the same as for PC processors (then game's code), that avoided translating (PowerPC endian was opposite). On Intel mac, if we don't want to install Windows (so no BootCamp nor Parallels/Fusion) we have the choice to use CrossOver (derived from WINE, that is a from scratch implementation of Windows APIs) or Cider. However Jedi Knight is said to perform really bad under CrossOver (perhaps even worse than on a G3 under VPC in software mode) : Star Wars Jedi Knight (Dark Forces 2): Installed fine. Menu UI doesn't update properly and becomes unreadable very quickly and cutscene video renders wrong. 3D support does not work, only software rendering. I can navigate the menus somewhat blindly and get into a new game. The framerate is maybe 1-2 fps - unplayable. This seems strange as some more recent (more complex) games perform well with these software compatibility layers : Half Life 2, etc. |
| Comments |
It would be nice to test JK under VPC 3 on a G4 (MacOS9) with the 3Dfx Voodoo 1 card installed. The limiting factor would then likely be the 3D card bandwith, so we might reach 30 fps at best. |
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