PPC Mac Gaming Thread

[sasho648]

Did you have any luck with that?

Via MacMame on my Sawtooth:

Found myself well and truly out of practice with this - even with the difficulty set to normal. I'd love to compile an up to date Mac PPC command line release of MAME that is compatible with Tiger that could be shared for all to enjoy. This isn't my field but I'm willing to give it a try. Would anyone be prepared to give me guidance if I decided to take a stab at it?

About the Amnesia's.

Well I really tried hard(all the beta builds available to me of leopard) - in the early ones the game doesn't open at all and in the later - it crashes after the title screen and when the actual game should begin. Then the next build behave exactly the same as the latest 10.5.8.

I just upgraded to Geforce 6800 Ultra and although now the game doesn't hard freeze any few minutes it hard lags any few minutes with not fully utilized CPU (max at 75%) so it looks like it needs even more powerful GPU. I've ordered one BFG 7800gs for cheap but I don't know if it'll work since it's untested and then I've to flash it.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I've ordered one BFG 7800gs for cheap but I don't know if it'll work since it's untested and then I've to flash it.

How have you gotten on with this?

 

[sasho648]

How have you gotten on with this?

Still not arrived - is expected 27th this month earliest. But btw I was a bit overexagerating with the Geforce Ultra - it's actually not that bad - I played some custom stories and yeah playable.

However I still intend on trying the faster 7800gs when arrives if it ain't broken so no worries there.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Cool, let us know how you get on. I for one would definitely be interested to see what the outcome is.

 

[sasho648]

Cool, let us know how you get on. I for one would definitely be interested to see what the outcome is.

So I gave the card to be tested in an IT Shop (since my intel AGP motherboard was surely dead) - they said it isn't working but I insisted it may be the BIOS since it gave me a fan spin at least on my mb and I get it back plus the motherboard they tested it on and a bunch of AGP GPUs to memorize the boot sequence - my plan was to directly flash it - working on not and then test it on my MAC. Turns out it was actually directly working on the same motherboard they sold me.

However it seems the cooler is way unscrewed - so I think I'm going to another shop to fix the cooling first. Also I get robbed for an power cable extender/splitter for the card 4 pin which I'm not sure will be able to extend from the DVD tray.

But overall seems promising so far.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Played on my iMac G3/350:

These can be found at the Mac Garden and also the Retrospec website, which is hosted by the programmers responsible for these and several other remakes of 80s UK classics. It's evident that they've invested a great deal of time and passion into these titles. My only niggle is that it's impossible to run either of them in full screen mode: only a window of varying size is available to you - unless someone knows of a trick that could force them to switch to full screen... I'll ask the Retrospec people and see what they have to say.

 

[sasho648]

Another update - after the time it worked and I went to the shop to screw it - the IT guy said it didn't need any screwing (and that was it - I never gave him the card) - it has stopped worked since. I have no idea why - it simply doesn't want to boot with it (so I can't even flash it with the keyboard) - it hangs.

Now what are my options - if it did boot up once I assume the card is OK - however I don't want this to change by doing something stupid.

I'm thinking maybe put up some of my old flashed cards (with PPC rom in them) so the AGP slot get initialized but the dummy rom prevent any incompatible bios code to harm my card. Then I swap the card with my BFG 7800gs, while it's running, and then (after I've memorized the keyboard inputs) - I flash it.

Or I can boot up without any card in the slot and then plug it in.

I will appreciate any help here.

TheShortTimer - I think I do - for Amnesia The Dark Descent - I ran it into a window (so I can get lower resolution working) and then used magnifier to zoom in into it. It does the trick and even the mouse is captured correctly.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I will appreciate any help here.

Flashing graphics cards aren't my field, unfortunately. I've got one that I want to get working with my Quicksilver and haven't made much headway. Hopefully someone can offer the benefit of their wisdom and experience.

TheShortTimer - I think I do - for Amnesia The Dark Descent - I ran it into a window (so I can get lower resolution working) and then used magnifier to zoom in into it. It does the trick and even the mouse is captured correctly.

I'll try that. Thanks.

Here's OIDS.X - downloaded from the Garden and played on my iMac G3/350. Great fun it is too, especially once you get used to the control system. If you remember the likes of Thrust, you'll be right at home here!

 

[z970]

@TheShortTimer What card do you have that you want in your Quicksilver?

 

[TheShortTimer]

@TheShortTimer What card do you have that you want in your QuickSilver?

A PC version of the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. The main problem is that I'm unable to see what's going on once the card is installed into the QuickSilver so that I can flash it with Graphiccelerator. I set up Chicken of the VNC so I could remote access the QS' desktop from another Mac but this doesn't quite work because the remote access doesn't start up on the QS at boot up. ?

 

[z970]

@TheShortTimer You will need to attach a display to a Mac-compatible PCI card installed into an available PCI slot, with the PC card (in this case being the 9800) inserted in the AGP slot, connected to a spare molex cable.

Common options include a Rage 128, Radeon 7000, Radeon Mac Edition, and Radeon 9200.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Thanks so much @z970mp. That is amazingly so much more easier!

Time to start scouring eBay.

 

[TheShortTimer]

A double bill of River Raid.

First via the Stella (Atari 2600/VCS) emulator on my G3/350:

This ran at about 60% of the speed of an actual Atari 2600/VCS. I suppose it would've helped if I'd paid closer attention to the documentation, because it lists a 500 Mhz G4 as the minimum CPU requirement!

Moving onto River Raid on the Atari 400/800 via Atari800MacX V.4.6.0 - again on a G3/350:

Surprisingly, the performance is slightly faster but still slower than the actual machine. I'll need to revisit both of these emulators (which are superbly put together and very easy to use) on a more powerful machine. I recently acquired a G3/800 so it will be interesting to see if it's possible to push the limits and achieve good emulation results at the sub G4 level.

 

[1042686]

My oldest son has shown interest in my vintage consoles *gulp*, so in anticipation of this, I have set up my ibook g4 with Nestopia, Snes9x, stella & Dgen and a USB snes controller. He has a imacg3 but per the above post, a little more cpu grunt does wonders, so the ibook it is. Before I let him loose on this though, I think I'll set him up with a more rudimentary controller - something like this:

Atari® Style USB® Controller for PC / Mac® (Black)

<p><span style="color: #000000;">• Compatible with PC and MAC®</span><br /><span style="color: #000000;"> • Nearly 6 feet in cable length</span><br /><span style="color: #000000;"> • A new way to play games on your PC and MAC®!</span></p> <p><a title="Atari 2600 USB Joystick"...

retro-bit.com

Anyhow, it works well - played through a number of titles during set up. Anyone know of a second dock app that will work on leopard by chance? - something like os9 A-dock?

 

[TheShortTimer]

I'll need to revisit both of these emulators (which are superbly put together and very easy to use) on a more powerful machine. I recently acquired a G3/800 so it will be interesting to see if it's possible to push the limits and achieve good emulation results at the sub G4 level.

Update time, Stella appears to run full speed on my G3/800 - so does Atari800MacX but the scrolling is rather jerky: it could be an incompatibility with the GPU or that I need to play around with adjusting the settings specifically for that machine. Both emulators work great on my 1Ghz eMac and I cannot recommend Atari800MacX enough - it's very easy to set up and get working within a few minutes and has extensive array of options. I was even able to choose between using the analogue stick and the hat on my gamepad.

Anyone know of a second dock app that will work on leopard by chance? - something like os9 A-dock?

Nope but if you do manage to track one down, please share the information.

 

[wicknix]

Anyone know of a second dock app that will work on leopard by chance?

It's not a dock, but more like a "start menu". I use this and really like it. Just create folders (music / photos / video / etc) and drop and drag your apps in to each folder. https://mac.majorgeeks.com/files/details/alaunch_was_alunch.html

Cheers

 

[TheShortTimer]

Its been a while since I've updated this thread - so there's no time like the present.

I came across this pretty cool site that appears to have been created by a Mac fan and in addition to hosting MAME ROMs, they also have a page that details setting up a dedicated arcade cabinet that's powered by a Mac Mini and a PowerBook. It definitely makes for interesting reading.

 

[sasho648]

Another update on the 7800 GS - so I tried plugging it in while it's running on an external PCI card while in DOS with the flash utility ready but it just freezes - maybe I could do a batch script or something to flash automatically.

 

[Project Alice]

I'm surprised I haven't seen this on here yet. A developer named gruz made a new game for mac based off flappybird. It's called flappymac. It isn't technically PPC because it written for 68k macs but I think it still belongs here since it plays on PPC obviously.

It runs very good under Mac OS 9.2, I played it on my PB1400CS and my G3 Wallstreet. It is best played natively on Mac OS, not in classic on OS X though. It is playable, but under classic it is actually very slow for some reason and makes the game harder to play.

 

[Amethyst1]

Where’s the text-only implementation of Flappy Bird that runs directly in Open Firmware?

 

[TheShortTimer]

I'm surprised I haven't seen this on here yet. A developer named gruz made a new game for mac based off flappybird. It's called flappymac. It isn't technically PPC because it written for 68k macs but I think it still belongs here since it plays on PPC obviously.

I hadn't heard of it so thanks for bringing it to my attention.

It runs very good under Mac OS 9.2, I played it on my PB1400CS and my G3 Wallstreet. It is best played natively on Mac OS, not in classic on OS X though. It is playable, but under classic it is actually very slow for some reason and makes the game harder to play.

As is usually the case with Classic, it's really not up to the task of running games and that's a pity because it wasn't as if Apple lacked the resources to implement better support in this respect but they've never shown great enthusiasm in promoting the Mac as a gaming platform - which has been a huge blunder imho.

 

[Project Alice]

As is usually the case with Classic, it's really not up to the task of running games and that's a pity because it wasn't as if Apple lacked the resources to implement better support in this respect but they've never shown great enthusiasm in promoting the Mac as a gaming platform - which has been a huge blunder imho.

Yeah, I was just a little surprised though because in the past I've only had issues with 3D games.

Agreed. I'm not sure why they did that. They were obviously interested in games, the released the PIPPIN afterall. And now we even have Apple Arcade.

 

[Macbookprodude]

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Tbh I’m playing Warcraft 2 and 3 again, haven’t played games for decades, but as the nights draw in I have found myself engrossed again.

Just bought a quicksilver on eBay for £12.
I only intend to use Mac OS 9, and I’ll be pimping this rig, I’ll keep posting over the winter. ?

This is when Blizzard was friendly towards Mac and OS 9.. now they hate us.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Played on an iBook G4/1.42 via MacMame:

Shinobi: one of my top ten favourite arcade games and in my humble opinion, among Sega's finest titles. It's near faultless - challenging but fun gameplay, impressive player/enemy mechanics for the time, great music and nice attention to subtle details by the programmers. They even show the enemies scowling when their guns jam.

Granted that you can play this game through other means such as Nintendo's Virtual Console but that version has been revised to avoid copyright issues with Marvel and the estate of Andy Warhol. The gameplay is unaltered but it loses a little essence.

Less captivating than other contemporaneous Sega arcade titles but still entertaining. It probably has more appeal in the simultaneous two-player mode.

A legend! Its impact on gaming at home and in the arcades is immeasurable. I'd long wanted an arcade style controller primarily so that I could play this game as it was intended and recently I obtained one. To say the gameplay is difficult to get to grips with is an understatement. Adaptations for consoles and home computers simplified the control system and quite understandably.

Five buttons are used for acceleration, reversing direction, firing, activating a special weapon and triggering a rapid escape to another sector of the game area. Becoming adept at using this system requires a learning curve of persistence, perseverance - and of course in the real life environment of an actual arcade, a hefty financial investment.

I might need to use some stickers besides the buttons till I'm able to fully memorise the layout. An overlay would probably be even better but that's beyond my abilities...

 

[TheShortTimer]

Again, played on an iBook G4/1.42 but with MAME OS X instead of MacMame because it has greater compatibility with more recent ROM releases. It would be great if a more up to date version of MAME was available for PPC Macs but that would require someone to undertake the challenge and (for the time being) that's not my area of expertise unfortunately.

Usually I can finish this game with the settings on hardest but as you can see I've grown rusty. With a bit of practice that will change.

The arcade controller that I picked up recently was made for this game because all of the buttons are arranged exactly as they would have been on a coin-op and that makes selecting the varying degrees of attacks far less awkward then a joypad where some of the buttons would be placed in "shoulder" positions.

Continuing with CAPCOM titles...

Didn't like it. There just doesn't seem to be any fun factor. The difficulty doesn't incentivise you to return for further sessions.

This was much better! Challenging but enjoyable and the gameplay is tuned just right that a skilled player has the opportunity to thrive and improve over time - which is the essential quality of a good game on any platform. As is evident from the aspect ratio, the machine used a vertical display so I'll have to see if I can set up a 2nd monitor via VGA, tilt it sideways and rotate the image 90 degrees as I did with my 2010 MBA.