[sinjunkie]

Hello... Peter did you even play Age of Mythology or did you just copy and paste what MacSoft sent you?
To say " ....Flawless Mac conversion..." is a bit of a stretch .
First there's miss information of the system requirements printed on the box, saying it will run on a 450MHz processor with 16MB, when it won't even run on a 600Mhz with 16MB.
Then there's the system freeze during play, no problem MacSoft says just turn off one of the processors in the terminal before you play... You call that " ....Flawless Mac conversion..."
By the way the "work around " doesn't work either it stills freezes.
Don't get me started on customer service ... Remember "turn off one of the processors in the terminal before you play", what's up with that?
This game shows some great potential but needs work , and MacSoft needs to be more honest in the way they market their product.
Do some research for ZEUS sake

[d00d]

What "processor" are you turning off? What exactly did they tell you to do in the terminal?

[Peter Cohen]

Didn't have any trouble like what you described with my copy. As far as system requirements go, I go with what the publisher tells me is the minimum system requirement when it comes time to publish specs for the review. My machine, however, clocks in at 1GHz, so I can't tell at any given point how it's going to run on a slower system.

[RonAnnArbor]

I have been using the program flawlessly on my Powerbook G4 1 Ghz since the day it came out...
We've had a lot of grumbling online lately about games that don't seem to run right on lower powered systems...but to me, the miracle is that the new software IS running on higher power mac systems...especially since the ported code is based on software that only runs on higher-powered PC systems (that has long been a bane of the PC gaming workd too -- the best games usually won't run on your home PC unless you have a gamers system, add a lot of video cards, speed, or memory, or have an otherwise top-of-the-line system)
I've been happy with Age of Mythology, Halo, and Indiana Jones lately, none of which I thought would ever get ported due to the high system demands to run them.

[sinjunkie]

here is what the macsoft guy sent me
(also I am using a G5 duel 1.8 2-Gig ram, GeForce FX 5200
and of course it won't run on my iMac 600 even though it's over the min system requirements on the box. I know that games are taxing on the system but I would expect them to work on the minimum system stated)

Hi,
Here are the commands. Let me know how it goes.
To disable... (using terminal)
sudo nvram boot-args="cpus=1"

To enable both processors again
sudo nvram boot-args=""

Sincerely,

Greg Grimes
MacSoft Technical Support

[Peter Cohen]

MacSoft tells me this problem is not endemic to all dual-processor Power Macs -- in fact, they've only seen the problem on a small percentage of their customers' systems, and haven't actually been able to reproduce it on their own dual-processor test machines.
As near as MacSoft and its development parter Westlake Interactive can tell, this problem has something to do with a third-party sound library called the Miles Sound System that this game and others depend on. They're hoping that a forthcoming Age of Mythology patch will address this; Westlake Interactive is working on it presently. The recommendation to turn off one processor when playing the game is offered as a temporary fix. That patch hasn't been released yet but MacCentral will post news when it is available.
This solution doesn't result in a dramatic performance hit for the game, either -- very few Mac games ported from PC versions make any use at all of a second processor at all. Dual processor systems aren't very common in the PC desktop space and are relatively unknown among PC gamers, so the games themselves aren't programmed to take advantage of the added horsepower.

[MacCheetah3]

Hi

In reply to:

---

First there's miss information of the system requirements printed on the box, saying it will run on a 450MHz processor with 16MB, when it won't even run on a 600Mhz with 16MB.

---

I can't remember what it says on the box but that is a 450MHz G4 processor with a 16MB RADEON or GeForce2. You're machine is sporting a 600MHz G3 and 16MB Rage128 Ultra. The 600MHz G3 could probably handle the CPU requirement but the Rage128 is deathly old technology.

In reply to:

---

of course it won't run on my iMac 600 even though it's over the min system requirements on the box.

---

See above

In reply to:

---

I know that games are taxing on the system but I would expect them to work on the minimum system stated)

---

Remember, the key is minimum. That means it is playable (tolerable) at the lowest possible settings on a system meeting the minimum requirements.
As for the dual processor problem...It is very hard to squash bugs unless you do a somewhat open beta testing program since there are sssooo many possible system configurations, software and hardware wise.
MacCheetah3
Apple PowerBook G4 Titanium 1GHz, 1GB, 60GB, SuperDrive, Airport, Mac OS X
Apple Power Mac G4 Sawtooth 400MHz, 768MB, 80GB, DVD, Mac OS X
15GB iPod
Debug Computer Services http://www.click2debug.com

[Peter Cohen]

So MacSoft released a 1.0.1 update to Age of Mythology today -- read all about it over at MacCentral -- and the update reportedly fixes problems running on dual-processor Macs, as long as those Macs have been upgraded to QuickTime 6.5 as well. Just FYI.