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Problem with gameplay - won't run on G5
Hi,
my computer won't run a game I installed yesterday. It's a 3D game called "realMYST" by Ubisoft. The system requirements are: G3 300Mhz OS 8.6 or later / 64 MB RAM OS 10.1 or later / 128 MB RAM 3D Video Card / 16 MB Memory My system: G5 1.8 Ghz uniprocessor OS 10.3.9 1,25 GB RAM Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 (64MB) I installed the game without problems, but when I double-click the icon, it appears in the dock, hops up and down two times, and vanishes. I looked in the console, and it says: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 688 name: realMYST What worries me most is that this game ran perfectly on three other computers: an iMac G3 (OS 9), an iBook G3 (OS X) and a powerbook G4. I also had a problem with another game, Myst 5 End of Ages (yes, I am a Myst-addict :o) Although I was inside the recommended specs, it was practically unplayable on my system, even with the lowest graphics settings and classic point-and-click navigation. But on a powerbook G4 with 1.33 ghz and merely 256MB RAM it ran much better. How is this possible? I blamed the graphics card, and a friend of mine gave me his card for trying. Unfortunately I can't remember the exact name of the card, but it was an ATI with 256MB V-RAM. The performance improved, but was still far from perfect. I'm really worried that there is something seriously wrong with my computer! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! |
Sounds to me like you need to apply an updater or a patch. Can you check VersionTracker or the publisher's website? They would have more info, but in my experience any CD out of the box is usually an older version that almost always needs to be updated. |
I e-mailed the publisher for support.
Still, I hope to get feedback here as well. :) |
Your Mac is almost certainly ok, it's just that a game written for OS X 10.1 probably makes calls no longer working in 10.3.9.
The editor should be able to come up with a working version with minimal fuss and a recompilation. |
Hmm, I checked three different file download sites and Ubisoft's site. There weren't any available patches for realMyst. The only download I found was the realMyst demo 1.0. In fact I couldn't even locate realMyst on the Ubisoft sight. Looks like getting support for this game is going to be a challenge for you. |
I tried to run the game in OS 9, but it's not working.
The powerbook I mentioned above, that ran the game perfectly, also had 10.3.9 ... that's what makes me so uneasy. And how is it possible that a powerbook G4 with min. RAM runs Myst 5 better then a G5 with four times as much RAM ? :confused: These are the specs for Myst 5 End of Ages: • Mac OS X® 10.2.8–10.3.9 • 1 GHz G4 (1.6 GHz G4 or faster recommended) • RAM: 256 MB (512 MB recommended) • Graphics card: 32 MB VRAM)* • QuickTime: required for bonus material • DVD: 4x DVD or faster • supported graphics cards: ATI® Radeon™ 7000/8000/9000/X series, NVIDIA® GeForce™ 256/2/3/4/FX/6000 series |
I suspect that there might be something wrong with your system, so some troubleshooting might be in order.
1) You should try the standard troubleshooting suggestions: http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/ (see the "My Mac needs help" section) http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...04011205473937 http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewtopic.php?t=7269 http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html In particular, be sure to try logging in as a different user to see if the problem exists there. (Create a new user via the Accounts preference panel if you only have the one user account so far.) Also be sure to do both permission repair and filesystem repair. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214 2) Launch the "Console" application (under /Applications/Utilities) and look for relevant error messages. Note that messages are labeled with the date & time so you can use that to locate the part of the log to look at. Copy & paste the relevant messages back here so we can see them. Be sure to look at system.log as well as console.log (Use the "Logs" button (top-left) to see the various logs available - note that you will probably need to be an "admin" user to see the system.log) If the log refers to a crash log, press the "Logs" button (top-left) and go into the ~/Library/Logs section to find that particular crash log. Copy & paste back here the last portion of that crash log - the part that gives details about the last crash (or preferably attach it as a plain text file (".txt"), using the "Manage Attachments" button at the bottom when you reply). |
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The sheer amount of information found in those help links can be daunting… |
I'm so sorry ... I should have mentioned straight away that I know next to nothing about computers, and I'm not very brave with trying to do things. I'm really sorry that you put so much effort in helping me! But I don't understand half of what you are saying, and the links are ... well, too much.
However, I did that disk utility thing, could not find a problem. About the log - when I try to start that game, I find this in the console: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 688 name: realMYST I posted it before, in my first post. I was hoping that this would make perfect sense for everybody who is clever with computers ;) I have other games, Myst IV revelation, for example. It runs fine. And Nanosaur II, that came with the mac, also runs fine, only a bit jerky (especially the third level), but I guess the graphics card is not up to the job, and 1 GB RAM is not much for gameplay. I would really like to find out where the problem lies, but I guess I will have to ask a professional admin. I mean, I don't die if I can't play that game, but maybe there is something wrong with my mac, and of course I would like to know. thank you very much for your help, and please don't be mad at me. :o |
Ha [lol], nobody is mad at you. If anything, this will be fun and challenging to troubleshoot through the forum. I am personally very curious now as to what the problem is exactly. |
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If anything isn't clear, then please ask specific questions about the part you don't understand. Quote:
It isn't clear what exactly you are referring to by "that disk utility thing" - did you do "Repair Disk" or "Repair Disk Permissions" ? Quote:
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The problem with "using many more words" is that my English is not that good, and it's very difficult for me to express these technical problems. What's more, my computer speaks german, and that makes it even more difficult to find the applications and files you are talking about on my system. And I don't want to change the language, because that would be even more confusing.
I think I did "repair disk permissions", and the analysis did not produce anything that hinted to an error or something, at least not for me to see. I created a new user account, and tried to install the game, but it said "no installation necessary, the data is already on your harddrive" (or something very similar to that). Maybe I did not understand correctly - was I supposed to uninstall first? I tried to launch the game, but it was the same as always. The complete log is: ===== Sun Aug 06 2006 ===== 19:19:09 Europe/Berlin ===== Aug 6 19:19:13 localhost crashdump: Unable to determine CPSProcessSerNum pid: 597 name: realMYST Aug 6 19:19:13 localhost crashdump: Started writing crash report to: /Users/claudia/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/realMYST.crash.log Aug 6 19:19:13 localhost crashdump: Finished writing crash report to: /Users/claudia/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/realMYST.crash.log Again, I can only apologize for being so thick, I should never have posted here, I understand completely that for people who are serious about computers someone like me must be ... well, hard to bear. |
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No, really, it's no good.
I certainly don't want to steal any more of anybodys time here. It's just not important enough, it's only a game! I will ask a professional admin to look at my mac, and maybe I can post what he came up with. Thank you again for trying to help! :) |
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claudia25, the publisher for RealMyst on the Mac is not Ubisoft, it is MacPlay. Check here for support and patches for RealMyst: Patches / Support
As for your problem with Myst V, I agree with hayne that you need to go through some steps for Troubleshooting. Just take them one at a time, carefully, and if you have any questions, you can ask here. Trevor |
@blb: I don't understand, sorry. What file? That was the complete system.log, there wasn't any more. At least, nothing that had to do with trying to launch the game. I deleted everything else first, and then tried to launch.
@trevor: I know, thanks. I wrote to macplay for support. That patch is no good for me, because it's meant only for duo-processor macs and certain graphic cards. |
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The crash.log gently noted where it went:
/Users/claudia/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/realMYST.crash.log Also note that you can switch languages very quickly: Go to Systemeinstellungen, open the Landeseinstellungen prefpane and drag English to the top of the list. For the Finder to take notice, you have to log out and in again (or just reboot if you use auto-login). Taking it back to german is just the other way around. To do a lot of useful system maintenance in one fell swoop, you may want to try applejack.sf.net. It looks scary at first when you boot into single user mode, but then just use auto-pilot and sit back... |
Guys, PLEASE !!! I'm sorry, I don't understand a word you are saying :) :o :) :o :)
It's so nice that you are trying to help me, but ... what good will it do if I force myself to do this by myself? It's just not the way my brain works :p It's scaring me to rummage around in my system! I will find a nice admin, and THEN I will sit back and relax and watch him fix my problem. Hey, these guys need to earn money, too. |
You have presumably been using the "Console" application to look at the logs.
In the "Console" application, there is a button at the top-left corner that is labeled "Logs" (in the English version). Click on the "Logs" button and a section of the window showing some folder names with little black triangles will appear. Go into the ~/Library/Logs section (by clicking on the appropriate little black triangle) and then into the CrashReporter section. Under the CrashReporter section you should see the realMYST crash log. Copy & paste back here the last portion of that crash log - the part that gives details about the last crash or just attach the whole log file to your next post by using the "Manage Attachments" button (at the bottom when you reply). |
I found it, but it's huge. I made sure that it's only the log from one launch attempt (I deleted everything and then tried to launch the game, and all this data showed up immediately)
I tried to attach it, but it's almost 600 KB. Do you really want me to post it here? |
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The best thing would be to copy the section of the crach log that shows the last crash and then paste it into a text editor like TextEdit and save that file and post it. Quote:
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ok.
I attached a .zip file. |
From that crash log, I can see that it is crashing while trying to load preferences.
Usually the preferences for an application are stored in a file named after the application and in the folder ~/Library/Preferences ( ~ = your home folder) Look in that folder to see if there is a file named after the game and if so, remove it, then try again to launch the game. But if this was the problem, I would have expected it to work when you logged in as a different user since that user wouldn't have any preference file for the game yet. One thing that is somewhat strange (and might be a clue) is the "Path" listed for this application in the crash log. It is listed as: /MacPlay Games/realMYST/realMYST which seems to indicate that it is under a folder "MacPlay Games" which is at the very top level of the drive. Usually applications on OS X are not installed at the top level of the drive - they usually go into the /Applications folder. It might help us to understand something if you showed us a screen capture of the MacPlay folder in Finder. You do this by holding down the Shift and Command (Apple) keys and then pressing the 4 key and then sweeping out the area to be captured with the mouse. The image file (named "Picture1") will be put on the Desktop. You can attach this image file to your next post using the "manage Attachments" button as before. |
I found a file in the preferences folder named
com.macplay.realmyst.plist I deleted it, and then tried to launch the game, but it was the same as ever. Then I took a screenshot of my finder, but the file is too big to upload. I used my newly-learned skills ;) to compress it into a .zip file, but it's still too big. How can I make it smaller? But I understand what you wrote (I guess) and can confirm that a MacPlayFolder is at the top level of the drive. |
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Otherwise you could reduce the quality of the image using an image-processing application like "Graphic Converter" (www.lemkesoft.com) to make the file smaller in size. |
It might help if you drag and drop the MacPlayFolder into the "Programme" (Applications in german) folder, ditch the prefs file once more, then give it another try.
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I dragged the MacPlayFolder into the applications folder, but I could not find that preferences file again. I mean, I looked in the right place, but it's not there anymore.
I tried to launch the game again, but without success. so - should I put the MacPlayFolder back, or can it stay in the applications folder? Here are the screenshots I took before I moved the MacplayFolder. As you can see, there are other games there, too. Those run ok. |
[eerie silence and minute sound of crickets chirping in the background] |
I have not heard from Macplay Games. I can try to send another mail, since they did not even confirm that they received my first one.
Do you really think I should install that patch? Could it perhaps do more harm than good? (10 Minutes later) WAY TO GO, MACPLAY !!! I installed the patch (feeling reckless today ;-) ) and the game runs !!!! ... only for duo-processor-macs, very funny ... You guys were so great! If only I had tried that patch from the beginning, but I was afraid it could be "dangerous", since it is not meant for my mac ... Thank you so much for all your help! Maybe I can come back, if I have problems again? :-)) |
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Well, installing the patch isn't going to break anything. You have all of the original CDs and the install codes, so you can always re-install if necessary. |
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Thank you!
:) :) :) |
Man, I am elated. What a relief to get this resolved. :p |
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I am a Myst addict as well, and I actually bought and played Myst V on a Windows computer before I even had my MacBook Pro. It was very resource-intensive (by "resource" I mean CPU & graphics card). You could play it with really, really simplistic graphics, but it's not nearly as much fun. When the Myst V worlds are rendered in real-time with high detail, it's gorgeous. When it works, it's definitely an improvement over the pre-rendered graphics of the previous games. |
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This might sound like a really stupid question, but if it is from a CD, are there any cracks or scratches from production on the CD, OR does the small pattern from the Data on the CD look misfigured, or is it in a very weird, choppy state?
P.S. Myst is a VERY addictive game, if you get it to work, make sure you give yourself many breaks from it, and FIGHT THE URGE, something that I wish I did when I started to play it, and WoW... *twitch* |
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