Macintosh port by Darrell Walisser. <dwaliss1@purdue.edu>
GL Tron on the web: http://www.gltron.org/
Welcome to GL Tron for Macintosh! This document attempts to cover all bases concerning the Macintosh version of this cross-platform game. You will find information for installation, troubleshooting, and performance tweaking. If you feel there is something missing in this document, please notify me, as I strive to make this readme as informative as possible.
System Requirements:
Unlike most recent 3D games, GL Tron does not push every component of your system to the max. It should be playable at 640x480 on most PowerPC machines. It will be insanely fast on new G3’s and G4’s.
Required Software:
MacOS 8.1 or later (Apple suggests this for OpenGL).
• At least 200mhz for Software Rendered OpenGL (No Textures/Alpha Blending)
• 32 MB RAM
Typical System (Get around 20-30 fps)
• 200 mhz 603/ 180 mhz 604 / old G3
• ATI Rage Pro / 3dfx voodoo 1 graphics accelerator with full OpenGL drivers
• 32 MB RAM
Awesome System (Get around 60 - 100+ fps)
• G3 233 or better
• ATI Rage 128 / 3dfx voodoo 2/3 with full OpenGL drivers
• 64 MB RAM
Known Bugs:
• Mouse cursor hidden in fullscreen mode.
• Screen-capture function results in corrupted PNG files (currently disabled, use command-shift-3 instead).
• Possible hard crash in audio code
Gameplay Issues:
Controls
'q' exits the game immediately (a panic button, just in case...)
Press space to start/restart/pause the game
Controls for Player 1:
turn left: 'a'
turn right: 's'
Controls for Player 2:
turn left: 'k'
turn right: 'l'
Controls for Player 3:
turn left: '5'
turn right: '6'
Controls for Player 4:
turn left: Cursor left
turn right: Cursor right
Change View:
'F1': Single player view
'F2': Two player view
'F3': Four player view
'F10': Change Camera movement
'F12': Save screen to a PNG file (currently disabled)
Misc:
Save settings: 'F5'
Cheats:
show 2D-Bitmap: 'd' toggles a 2D-bitmap
General Trouble-shooting tips:
Try changing display depth to 16 bit (thousands of colors), if you have OpenGL acceleration but less than 6MB VRAM.
Try running with extensions disabled (start up with shift key). This will let you know if some pesky extension is causing trouble.
A nice site for debugging graphics cards and drivers is http://www.xlr8yourmac.com.
Technical Notes:
I suggest you check out the official glTron website first if you can’t find what you’re looking for in here:
http://www.gltron.org/
Full-Screen Mode
The full-screen mode will attempt to use the bit-depth of your main monitor (for example, as configured in Monitors Control Panel).
If you have a 32 bit(millons of colors) capable accelerator card, you will want to run it in 32 bit mode, since it will look better without all that dithering.
Software Rendering
Software rendering may be acceptable on some systems. For example, on a G3/233 I get about 15 fps with textures disabled at 512x384.
OpenGL is actually faster in 16bit (thousands of colors) software mode than 8bit (256 colors) software mode.
3dfx Users
Always use the latest drivers from 3dfx (with the exception of revA iMac with GameWizard Voodoo2, see below), and no Mesa3dfx extension (ok, I lied: if you are up to the challenge, you _can_ try running under mesa, but the fact remains that you can’t use mesa and 3dfx drivers at the same time)
ATI / Others
Should run with no problems on mulitple monitor/multiple OpenGL card systems and all in-a-window capable OpenGL drivers. If it doesn’t, please let me know!
If you want a nice floor texture, set the depth of the main screen to 32 bits (millions of colors).
Advanced Options
You can specify advanced runtime options by holding down the command(apple) key while starting up. Here are the available command line options:
-O optimize for software rendering (SLOWER on 3D cards!)
Verified Systems
The video setup code in 0.6 is unlike the other releases of GL Tron. It is possible that your system worked fine in 0.59, but will not work properly in 0.6. Please report to me your bugs if this is the case!
Here are some example systems that have run older versions of gltron. If you have one of these systems and it doesn’t work, contact me immediately! Most of these stats come from user reports, I just don’t have a huge array of Macs to test on! If you don’t have one of these systems, I would still like to know if you are having any problems!
G3/450 ATI Rage 128 / OS 8.6
iMac/350 Rage 128
iMac/233 GameWizard
G3/233 Voodoo3 2k / OS 9 / 70-80 fps @ 1024x768 / 16 bit
G3/233 6 MB Rage Pro / OS 9 / 30-40 fps @ 640x480 / 32 bit
4400/200 Voodoo3 2k / OS 8.6
8500/132 Voodoo3 2k / n/a / 30-60 fps
Troubleshooting Tips
Most often, problems are due to software configuration glitches on your system. Verify that your software is the latest version available, or at least the version specified in this document.
iMac with GameWizard Voodoo2
I have reports of this running with iMac equipped with GameWizard card, here is what you need to do (based on a user report, I have no iMac):
You should be able to get it working using 3dfx beta 5 or later Generic Voodoo2 drivers. Remember to disable the “OpenGL Renderer ATI” extension if you want to ensure that the voodoo card is always used. (This does not require a restart, by the way).
You can obtain the beta drivers at www.mac3dfx.com.
History
to 0.6:
•gltron is now a 100% SDL application
•many bugs fixed
•mouse controlled menus
•plug-in art pack support
•3d sound
to 0.59:
•configurable keys
•all new graphics elements (uses PNG format now)
•memory requirement is a bit higher now
•gltron will run a bit slower due to more detailed cycle models
to 0.54 (Internal release):
•added nicer textures (Contributed by Nicolas Zimmermann)
•added a custom icon suite (Contributed by Nicolas Zimmermann)
•gltron.ini file is by default not included, fixes a problem some people were
having starting up the game for the first time.
•fixed a crashing bug when quitting on some systems
•full-screen code is completely re-worked - DrawSprocket is not required for 3dfx mode
•revised this Readme
•Sound Effects and Music via SDL/SDL Mixer - OpenGL is still using GLUT
