Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 02:28:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gregg Eshelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Marathon?
In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
What sort of Macintosh can run the game Marathon?
What sort of Macintosh does it run really well on?
Heh, heh. I have a group of friends who gather, network their Macs
and play Marathon every holiday season when their in town. We've
been doing this for over ten years. We started with multi-player
Spaceward Ho!.
Marathon is "supported" all the way back to the 68020, but I've
played it on a IIci and it's painfully slow. Even with a Turbo601
acceleratior (PPC601/66 or 100) it's painfully slow. The graphics
demands quickly saturate the graphics capabilities even with a "fast"
NuBus card such as the Radius Thunder IV GX.
In other words, the CPU isn't the bottleneck, the graphics system is
the bottleneck.
The game is okay on a Quadra 605. Better on a Q63x family machine
because there's special support in Marathon for the Valkyrie graphics
chip in those machines.
It's surprising slow on the NuBus PowerMacs when played through the
built-in DRAM graphics port or a NuBus card. If you use an X100
machine for Marathon, play it on a PDS based VRAM card (not the AV
card). It's quite nice on an X100 machine through the PDS VRAM card.
Anything with PCI will play it more than fast enough.
LocalTalk networking is a bit slow for multi-player. Ethernet is
really needed.
So I'd say that the minimum for acceptable play is a 68040 based
machine and even then, the Q605 family (LC 475/6, P475/6) may be a
bit slow. NuBus graphics cards may be too slow. If play is going to
be acceptable, it will be on the built-in graphics. If it's too
slow on the buitl-in then it will probably be slower on a NuBus card.
The game is not a 3-D game. It came before 3-D APIs.
Now its predecessor, "Pathways into Darkness", that will run nicely
on a IIci. It's not a multi-player game, but it's a good one. There
are some fun puzzles in PID. But it doesn't have the frenetic pace
many folks prefer in 1st person shooters.
Jeff Walther
--
Vintage Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...
Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A |
-- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! |
Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>
Vintage Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml>
--> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]>
To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/vintage.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
iPod Accessories for Less
at 1-800-iPOD.COM
Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal
www.1800ipod.com
