Aco4bn187inf Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 I just got CMAK, and when I try to start it up, I get a black screen and the computer freezes up. Hitting the escape key doesn't help. Force quit doesn't help (sometimes I can get the force quit dialogue box, sometimes not) My video card is ATI Rage128Pro. The computer is an old original-type imac G3. I run only OS 9.1 (The CMAK demo worked fine for me, as does CMBB) In the troubleshooting guide it suggests turning off anti-aliasing but I can't seem to find how to do that. Is it possible to turn off anti aliasing on a mac? If that's not the solution, can someone recommend a better video card for me to use? A recommendation for, or a warning against, an updated driver? Also, can the video card even be replaced on an imac? Any help will be much appreciated! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 As far as I'm aware you can't upgrade the video on the iMacs. If CMBB works fine on this same iMac, I'm not sure why CMAK would have a problem. Can you run the full-version of CMBB right now with the way your computer is currently configured (or were you only able to run the demos of both products) ? How much RAM do you have in your machine ? Typically the most common way to get driver updates for the ATI Rage series on the Mac is to do an OS 9.x update, though OS 9.2.x has the 'Classic RAVE' extension which causes some problems and needs to be removed/disabled in order for CM to work properly. Strangely, ATI does not directly offer any drivers for the built-in chips on the Mac (but they do for the ATI-branded PCI/AGP videocards for the Mac). Tome Viewer is one way to extract newer drivers from later OS 9.x updates, if you have access to the update files/CDs. The Rage 128 Pro that is built-into your iMac has 8Mb of VRAM, is that correct ? I don't believe that this card does anti-aliasing, so there's no setting to enable/disable it (this was a problem primarily with some PC-based videocards and their anti-aliasing capability). The only thing I can recommend is to run at 800x600 @ 16-bit ("thousands") color; minimize the number of extensions that are loading up (inlcuding any for videocards that you don't have installed), etc. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aco4bn187inf Posted September 27, 2004 Author Share Posted September 27, 2004 Yes, the full version of CMBB runs perfectly just as the machine is now. Checking the CMAK demo, I notice that a few of the terrain tiles and the walls of one house are black in the first scenario...perhaps I should have taken that as a warning. I have 320 MB of RAM. Yes, the Rage Pro has 8MB of VRAM. I changed to "thousands" of colors, and on an impulse upgraded to CMAK version 1.1. Still no effect on the problem. Any more ideas before I consider upgrading to OS 9.2, which may cause problems for my CMBB without guaranteeing a fix for CMAK? Thanks for the consultation, schrullenhaft. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Can you copy the Prefs file from the CMAK Demo to the full CMAK install ? I'm wondering if this will help at all. It's possible that CMAK may have more high-resolution textures than CMBB to cause problems with your 8Mb videocard. However I would have expected the problems to appear in the 3D screen rather than when CMAK first loads-up (the 2D screens should show fine). Which particular iMac model do you have ? Your videocard gives the impression of something a little newer than the absolute original iMacs. Here's a Table of iMacs that may list your particular model. You could probably just extract any of the driver updates (for whatever may exist in 9.2.x, beyond what 9.1 may already have) rather than updating to 9.2.x if that is a problem. Download and install Tome Viewer and then download the OS 9.2.1 and 9.2.2 Updates (the ATI driver updates probably exist in only one of them). There will probably be several extensions that you'll need to extract, but this can still be a less painful way to experiment with a potential solution than a full OS update. To be honest, a video driver update may not solve your problem (if one even exists). It's possible that the textures used in the CMAK Demo are of a lower-resolution than the full version. However if texture resolutions were the only reason for your problem, then I would have expected that you should be able to get everything but the 3D screen. Try the Prefs file copying and see if that does anything. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aco4bn187inf Posted September 28, 2004 Author Share Posted September 28, 2004 I found the problem! I just found a thread by rmorton from Jan/Feb '04 in which he had the same problem, and realized that the installer for some reason had not done a complete install. So I deleted CMAK and reinstalled it (this time in the German version, in case the English had some flaw on my CD) and now it runs fine. I've got those Matilda's crawling like snails all over the desert landscape and I'm perfectly happy. I guess the lesson here is - don't take the installer's performance for granted. Many many thanks, Schrullenhaft, for your generous assistance! Your diligence and expertise are much appreciated. Cheers, A co 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.