[Bjornbro]

Unreal Tournament 2003, so is this available for sale yet? I've heard UT2K4 is supposed to be released this fall, maybe as a hybrid CD! Whaddyahear, whaddyaknow? Anybody buying? Any online ehMac game nights this fall?

 

[VertiGoGo]

Hey Bjornbro! I have UT2003 and I love it. I keep hoping that soon there will be an ehMac tournament or something.

One thing to note though is that UT2003 is a processor and memory whore. I'm on an 800MHz eMac with extra memory and it is still quite slow unless you turn graphics and video down.

However...it is an AWESOME game though.

I know nothing of any UT2004.

 

[RubberGorilla]

I've played it on a Single 1.8 GHz G5 with everything turned on at 1280x960 resolution and was still only pushing about 35-45 FPS.

 

[kps]

Excuse a non gamer here, but....

What's so special about high frame rates, considering the human eye perceives motion at only 24fps? Why are high frame rates so much more desirable?

BTW, I do have UT for OS 9 running on a 350MHz G4, I have enough problems playing with that setup.

 

[monokitty]

What's so special about high frame rates, considering the human eye perceives motion at only 24fps? Why are high frame rates so much more desirable?

Actually, the human eye can see the difference up to 50 frames-per-second, but not above the 50 mark.

 

[RicktheChemist]

I can't meet the minimum specs with my Powerbook g4 400.. I might be able to play a few rounds from work once in a while..

I should upgrade my PB to play UT 2K3 eh..

I should start a fund...

Cheers,

RtC a.k.a fodder_boy

 

[monokitty]

I should upgrade my PB to play UT 2K3 eh..

I should start a fund...

You'd need a 17" Powerbook 1.33 GHz to play UT2k3 on a Apple portable...

 

[Kosh]

What's so special about high frame rates, considering the human eye perceives motion at only 24fps? Why are high frame rates so much more desirable?

As Lars already said, the human eye can see the difference up to 50 fps. I've heard some say up 60 fps.

From a gaming point of view higher fps are desirable because:

- as you have more action on the screen (more players or bots) the fps is going to drop, if your at 50fps before the action, your going to be down to 20 or 30 with a lot of action. No good.

- the higher fps you get, the more eye candy in a game you can turn on and the more you can play at a higher resolution which may chew up some of those fps.

- some players say higher fps allow you to have better reaction time or advantage in games. Ie. you can turn quicker, you can see enemies quicker.

 

[Chealion]

I don't have UT 2K3, but if we want to do a normal UT game, I'm in, or we could always just play the demo

(Or even play Halo when it arrives).

The higher the FPS, the smoother the gameplay, and the easier it is to play. Choppy gameplay is hard to play because things are jumping around. Higher FPS is always better, although once above 50, the difference becomes less and less.

 

[kps]

Thanks for the imput, folks.

 

[mojoprofilms]

I've just bought UT2003, I'm finding the graphics to be pretty awesome even at "Normal" mode, 16-bit colour. I've only got characters turned up to "High". It seems to play smootly like that on my 17" 1.25 gig imac, but I have a question. How can I get stats on what frame rate I'm getting so I know if I can push it further or need to bring it down.

 

[moonsocket]

why not just build a cheap PC to play UT2003? I had it on my PC and it flew!


DONT KILL ME!!! PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS!!!!

I no longer have a pc BTW

 

[sputnik]

I have to agree with moonsocket here.I just got back from a 13 person "Counterstrike" LAN game last night and it was awesome fun.Seems the only thing they(pc man.) can do right is games.

 

[monokitty]

I have a question... is the Pentium 4 a faster processor than the G5 in games?

In CompuSmart, they had a PC setup running UT2k3, and it was making far more frames-per-second than a 1.8 GHz G5 would, and it was a P4 1.8 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 64 MB NVIDIA (I think it also had a 533 or 800 FSB) - all graphics cranked to highest, 1280x1024 resolution - liquid smooth. And then some G5/1.8 owners can't even play at all high settings without shuttering. Explain to me please?

 

[moonsocket]

Lars,
In my experience with PC's UT2003 runs best on a 128meg video card. I have a feeling the card in the pc you saw was 128meg. Maybe not but most 64meg cards ive seen running UT2003 are a bit choppy.
As far as i know the G5's in the compusmarts have all had 64meg cards

 

[monokitty]

I've come to the conclusion that UT2k3 is a VRAM hog more than a processor hog. I say this because...

My friend has a dual-processor G4 1.25 GHz with the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB DDR graphics card - and makes way, way more frames-per-second in UT2k3 than a G5/1.6 GHz with the standard Geforce FX 5200 or ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 64 MB according to people who tested the two machines playing UT2k3. And the G4 has a far slower bus and slower AGP bus on top of that.

That's why I think UT2k3 needs VRAM for speed, and is more dependant on excellent graphics cards rather than fast front-side buses and processors.