Plan in place for Intel based macs?

The following are some numbers I came up with while testing the initial build (1.8.3.9(0)) of the Universal Binary. Note that the PPC Mac / Universal Binary build is not listed... it wouldn't launch initally! That bug has been fixed and we're nearing a public beta release! I wanted to share these numbers with you to get you all frothing at the mouth

Scene: Lusk with 26 agents in the region, ~12 of which are visible in the scene. Everyone but my two agents (one on PPC and one on Intel) were wearing lots of attachments:

PPC Mac / PPC build (benchmark)
FPS: 5.3
Ping sim/user: 194/167 ms
ktris /fr: 349
ktris /sec: 2314

Intel Mac / PPC build
FPS: 1.7
Ping sim/user: 566/556 ms
ktris /fr: 372
ktris /sec: 659

Intel Mac / Universal Binary build
FPS: 10.7
Ping sim/user: 92/95 ms
ktris /fr: 282.3
ktris /sec: 3148

Duly frothing. Fror the truly noob among us, can you say what ktris are and how we should interpret the number?
Also the fps seems to be more or less the inverse of the ping time...I guess this is not coincidence.
Finally, can you say what your PPC and Intel seteps were? Specifically, processor speed/graphics card/RAM? Was it the Intel iMac you were using?

And thanks!

Is the beta going to be released before the Macbook Pro's hit peoples doorsteps?

In order to support both Intel and Power PC Macs, we need to increase the minimum required Mac version to OS X 10.3.9.

I wanted to give everyone here fair warning as our data shows about 100 of you have logged in with 10.3.8 since January 1, 2006. You will need to upgrade at least 10.3.9 to continue to run the Power PC version once the Universal Binary ships.

10.4.4 on both my PPC Mac (PowerBook G4) and my Intel Mac (iMac 17"

Ready here!!

its unlikely as MacBook Pros started shipping to customers on the 17th, so if they dont have it out by Tuesday... it wont happen

According to FedEx tracking, my MacBook is in transit from Shanghai, Tuesday is a good bet for the day it shows up here..

Thank you, Brent. BTW, what about PPC Mac / Universal Binary build?

I have just stumbled on this thread whilst I was contemplating upgrading my Powerbook G4 12" for a new Intel based Powerbook. I am a bit disappointed they dont do the 12" version yet, or even if they will.

My question is in relation to the graphics. I can get SL running acceptable on the Powerbook G4 which has a GeForce FXGo 5200 I believe. How will the ATI Radeon X1600 in the Intel Powerbook behave in comparison. I have always kept away from Radeon cards due to the incompatability with SL that I keep reading about.

Well I can tell you this on my PowerBook G4 with the ATi Radeon 9700 it runs very well, 20ish FPS. The X1600 is more then twice as powerful as the 9700 and the CPU is faster too so I am hoping for 30 FPS in my iMac.

iMac in the mail!!! Downloaded and ran the current version of SL on the store model without a hitch.

ok im here on my new Macbook Pro right now.... typing up this post... wheres my universal binary?

How's it running on that? I'm seriously thinking of jumping, though I don't want to give up the 17" display on my current PB.

I get 1.5 ~ 2.0 fps on my 17" iMac with an Intel CPU.

So like CRAP untill they give us the Universial Binary they are hoarding. We will QA it for you LL

maybe depends on your ingame settings.. i was getting much more than that except when its rezzing a new area... just hanging out talking to people was perfectly smooth... could be better...

if you have "disable far clip" enabled (default setting), disable it and put the draw distance down to like 128 meters.

or the fact mine is the dual 2ghz.. radeon X1600 256mb.. and i have 2GB of ram... rosetta loves using lotsa ram... but its very playable under rosetta for me

I have turned off disable far clip and have the draw distance set to 128. Its fine if I just sit and chat but soon as I start shopping or anything its TERRIBLE. I have 1 Gig of ram on my iMac. But my PowerBook G4 rigth now is SOOOOO much faster (15" 1.67GHz, 1Gb DDR2) its not even funny. iget 15 - 20 FPS on that. Very smooth. So I am not even playing it on my iMac at all untill they get the Universal out.

universal will be sweet.


my machine runs it in rosetta aboutt he same as a G4 1ghz with about 512 mb of ram on a low end video card... its playable but sucky... Should run nice and fast when they get that universal out...

I wonder if they are really even making it, or just keep putting it off and teasing us with it...

I will cry if they are doing that

I just got a MacBook and just now decided to try SL out on it. I have the 2.0GHz Duo model w/2GB RAM and the 256MB X1600 graphics.

I used to have a 1.5 Powerbook G4 with 1GB of RAM w/64MB 9700 graphics.

I also run it on a Dual 2.3Ghz G5 PowerMac with a Radeon 9800 w/256MB and 3.5 GB RAM.

The PowerMac is quite fast, of course. I think the limitations are the video card; the x1600 should be a decent deal faster than the 9800 pro.

The G4 ran slower than the PowerMac, but quite smooth and playable.

My MacBook runs it virtually unusable. It is much too slow to really do anything. It is a slide show. (And like all versions of SL it runs in Rosetta under one processor.. the other is idle.)

The Universal Binary is not only something to look forward to because it seems it will be faster on Intel than on the PowerPC comparing native-to-native (i.e., quite smooth!), but it will also make SL actually usuable on intel Macs.

In short - until that Universal binary comes out I'd say if you have a new Intel Core Duo iMac or MacBook [or Mac Mini as of 2/28!] you can't really play SL at all (or if you can, it is a very limited experience). Thankfully I have the PowerMac, and I eagerly look forward to that Universal Binary! =)

There has been a deafening silence from Brent Linden on the progress of a Universal Binary since he published some promising speed comparisons a while back....can we have an update please Brent?

My Macbook is scheduled for delivery in three weeks

for anyone's interest, I'm running SL on a PB12-in 1.5 GHz 1.25 gigs Ram but only the 64meg graphics card (the bigger PBs have the 128 meg card). SL runs ok outside clubs and the WA with all the extras switched off except for high avatar detail. Strangely it suffers from pauses that last 1-3 seconds anywhere in SL...very frustrating in chat.

I notice the pauses also Brent and it seems to be something thats happened recently. Also the Powerbook seems a lot worse since a few upgrades ago.

I was contemplating one of the new Intel based Powerbooks, but after reading these threads I will give it a miss for a while.

Ya if you play a lot of SL don't upgrade untill they get the Universal Binary out. I was really glad I got an PowerBook G4 (because the MacBooks were not shipping yet and I didnt want to wait on it) and a CoreDuo iMac. The PowerBook G4 is running SL nice and smooth right now and is what I play it on. Kinda sad.

*grabs the Lindens* Hurry Up Please!

Need universal mac binary!

Something has to be better than nothing!

I also note that dev transition kits have been available since July 2005. WoW has a universal, maybe that is the place to be?

i agree, they should let us help beta test and report back errors, even if it crashes every 5 minutes... we could help narrow down issues faster.

Hey, I've been reading post after post of bad experiences for a lot of ppl with new intel Macs, and i'm truly sorry for you guys. I've had an intel iMac [2GHz, 2GB, 256MBVRAM-ATI] for over a month now, and compared to my powermac G4, it runs great! It's much faster, and I can now have SL, Skype, Yahoo and Safari all open and running at the same time
The only drawbacks I've noticed were some more frequent crashes in the beginning (since calmed down), and a tendency to not load textures properly in busy areas (again, since last update much improved).
Since this is so much faster than my old mac, I'm happy, though after reading other posts i now feel like I've been missing something big in the way of speed--perhaps playing a different game altogether? lol
I have faith the update will come, and when it does, I'll probably freak out at the dizzying speed with which my avie walks across the room