baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten) (12/06/90)
Well, I'm very disappointed in Casady & Greene. Sky Shadow is a total waste on a IIfx because it runs much too fast to be playable. Although I have a IIfx at home, I play it now mostly on the IIci we have at work. It runs fine on that machine, but at home the landscape zips by about 3 times faster -- making landings all but impossible. It also bombs with either 32-bit Quickdraw, the Apple 8.24 video card or the combination of the two (I think it might just be the card, but I'm not sure). There's a workaround for that, at least, but it's annoying: You have to start the game with the control key held down. I purchased version 1.0.6 and was assured that 1.0.8 (which I just got after having to mail them both my master disks and a self-addressed, stamped envelope) fixed at least the 32-bit QD/8.24 video problem. I also spoke to someone in tech support about the speed problem on the IIfx. When I told her that the game scrolled about 3 times faster on my IIfx than it did on the IIci at work, she said "Well, the IIfx is a faster machine." That didn't win the award for the week's stupidest answer, but it sure came close. I explained that it was pretty dumb to have a game that behaved differently (especially *that* differently) on the IIfx, since it ran at exactly the right speed on the IIci (from what I could tell). I suppose this means that it'll run like molasses on an LC... It seemed to me that they had some hard-coded timing loops that were written before the IIfx was released, so they don't take its greater speed into account. That's just a guess, but I think it does a reasonable job of explaining what's going on. So at this point I really feel ripped off. I got this game to play at home (though playing at work is always fun...), and there's really no way to do that, short of trading my IIfx for a IIci (sorry, I'm not taking offers...). Just thought I'd warn IIfx owners who might be considering buying Sky Shadow. I'm going to call tech support one more time and see if I can get them to *fix* this problem before I return the game altogether. -- Steve Baumgarten | "New York... when civilization falls apart, Davis Polk & Wardwell | remember, we were way ahead of you." baumgart@esquire.dpw.com | cmcl2!esquire!baumgart | - David Letterman
jeremy@horus.cem.msu.EDU (Stallion) (12/07/90)
From article <2898@esquire.dpw.com>, by baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten): > It also bombs with either 32-bit Quickdraw, the Apple 8.24 video card > or the combination of the two (I think it might just be the card, but > I'm not sure). There's a workaround for that, at least, but it's > annoying: You have to start the game with the control key held down. I am using Sky Shadow on a Mac II and the game is crashing out after about 2 seconds. The demos and menus work fine I just can't play the game. Now in reference to starting the game with the control key held is that when you open the application or when you click to start? this is a brand new game (Just got it yesterday) and this really has the potent- ial to become very frutstrating. (like maybe taking it out for a two hundred yard toss off the tallest nearby building!@!! I would apperciate any comments of a helpful nature!!! thanks -Stallion (jeremy@horus)
EHYOUNK@MTUS5.BITNET (12/08/90)
I believe that there is an init out there, the name of it I can't remember, that will wast a whole bunch of cpu cycles there by making the game playable. Another idea is to run sky shadow under multifinder, while having another program runing in the background. This doesn't work to well though, because the varing processor load tends to make the game speed up, then slow down, then speed up, then slow down...... Ed
baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten) (12/13/90)
In article <90341.120514EHYOUNK@MTUS5.BITNET>, EHYOUNK@MTUS5 writes: >I believe that there is an init out there, the name of it I can't remember, >that will wast a whole bunch of cpu cycles there by making the game playable. Yes, it's called Speed Chopper, and it does indeed slow things down by whatever percentage you specify. It can make your FX seem like a Plus. Unfortunately, it has no effect on Sky Shadow.... :-( -- Steve Baumgarten | "New York... when civilization falls apart, Davis Polk & Wardwell | remember, we were way ahead of you." baumgart@esquire.dpw.com | cmcl2!esquire!baumgart | - David Letterman