A KotOR Valentine
Ages ago, I opened a bug with Apple about a performance problem with Knights of the Old Republic. In brief, on the outdoor Dantooine levels, performance would tank starting with 10.3.7 (it was fine with 10.3.6 and earlier). It was basically caused by KOTOR's unique use of dynamic VBOs, which somehow confounded OpenGL and killed performance starting with 10.3.7.
Anyway, we've had a workaround in place for ages - basically you disable VBOs in KOTOR and the Dantooine level runs faster -- the other levels are, of course, slower. It's not ideal, but it does work.
The bug I've had with Apple (4405051) has sat around for years now, and not much has happened -- until today, when I got an e-mail update. Apple recently updated my bug report with the following info:
Engineering has provided the following feedback regarding this issue:
Please reference the following link
http://support.aspyr.com/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&id=56
Also, in the Finder, a suggestion would be to go to your home folder, open the Library/Preferences/Knights of the Old Republic folder. Double click the 'swkotor.ini' file to edit it in TextEdit Scroll down to the section [Graphics Options], and add the line "Disable Vertex Buffer Objects=1" (without quotes) Save the swkotor.ini file and close it.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
And before the blog fills up with KOTOR questions, yes - it's still planned to be a Universal Binary. I've just wrapped up my latest project and am investigating replacement sound libraries for KOTOR (believe it or not, the main holdup all this time). We had investigated an OpenAL replacement, but KOTOR does some unusual things (like wrap mp3 files inside wav files) that made that very troublesome. Since I don't want to risk the wrath of any 3rd party sound library makers, I'll just say that I think we've got an Intel-native library that will finally do what KOTOR needs.
Comments
The way I parse that, after 2 years they say "yah, there's a bug" and provide no information you didn't already know or indicate if they ever plan to fix it. Boo. I guess it's at least a reference for any gamer who has problems and checks the Apple support site rather than Aspyr's but that gamer should be slapped for assuming a random bug affecting a small part of a given game is the fault of the OS and not the game. Truly, this was an odd one.
Looking forward to the UB version too, glad to see it's in the works.
Posted by: Jimmy | February 18, 2007 07:23 AM
The thing is, this information will not appear on Apple's support site. It's an Apple engineer response to an external engineer entirely contained within Radar. By the nature of Radar no-one else can see this information.
Brad, I hope you don't mind me having linked this post in a small rant of mine on my own blog.
http://gamenian.blogspot.com/2007/02/theres-something-about-radar.html
Posted by: hotblack | February 24, 2007 09:16 AM
Any Updates on KotOR? I saw that Lego SW got a Universal update? Do you need people to try out patches?
Posted by: Fabio Rojas | April 9, 2007 05:46 PM
"Any Updates on KotOR? I saw that Lego SW got a Universal update? Do you need people to try out patches?"
KotOR is getting close. I've got all of the sounds working now, but it has some annoying "buzzing" noises that I need to track down (not unlike the bug that exists in Civ4). We'll probably release it as an unsupported "beta" patch at some point in the very near future.
Posted by: Brad Oliver | April 10, 2007 11:21 AM
You rock Brad! I look forward to the patch.
Posted by: Fabio Rojas | April 10, 2007 12:46 PM
any news?
Posted by: Joe Millsaps | April 27, 2007 07:46 PM
What ^^he^^ said.
Hopefully this patch will get rid of some of the annoying sound bugs in the latest Leopard seed.
And why is ground mist so slow? Things like caves (Korriban, Dantooine) and the Kashyyyk forest floor really hurt the framerate when there's mist in the frame. Also, the Manaan steam vents do the same thing.
Posted by: Jon | May 1, 2007 02:07 PM
You might have made a mistake by telling us the patch would be released soon. Now you have all us anxiously awaiting news of it.
Posted by: Fabio Rojas | May 1, 2007 05:35 PM
How's it going with the KOTOR patch? I can't wait to test the beta...this game is gonna fly on my MBP! Keep up the good work, and I hope to hear some good news soon!
Posted by: Colin O'Brien | May 8, 2007 09:54 AM
Any news?
Posted by: Fabio Rojas | May 22, 2007 06:12 PM
I'm anxiously waiting for this patch since it's the only thing holding me back from buying an Intel Mac...
;-)
Posted by: Kaarlo Moran | May 27, 2007 07:17 PM
I'm anxiously waiting for this patch since it's the only thing holding me back from buying an Intel Mac...
;-)
Posted by: Kaarlo Moran | May 27, 2007 07:18 PM
Some update on the whole patch issue would be really great! Anything?!
Posted by: Fäb | June 1, 2007 01:55 PM
Please, make this fantastic game awesome also on MacIntel ;-)
Posted by: Daneel Olivaw | June 6, 2007 03:06 AM
But the patch will be for Intel Macs only, right? I guess that us with Power Macs will be stuck with that Dantooine bug, are we?
BTW, it is funny how that Apple engineer gave you as an answer exactly what you've been telling us to do for quite some time... Heh.
Posted by: ladyjaye | June 12, 2007 11:29 AM
Congrats on the new job Brad.
Can you comment on this thread on the Bioware forums stating that there will be no Universal patch for KotOR:
http://swforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=565137&forum=27&sp=0
Also I've loaded saved games at various points in the game on my MacBook Pro. So far I can't seem to find a spot that is unplayable. This is with all settings set to the lowest possible values though.
Posted by: Fabio Rojas | July 2, 2007 05:39 PM
I hope to God this isn't true! I've been waiting for a long for this, especially with Aspyr saying that it's being worked on.
Posted by: Kaarlo | July 9, 2007 05:10 PM