MoM Universal Binary and new Mac Mini
09/23/2006 (4:36 pm) by Prairie Games
We've released a Universal Binary for Minions of Mirth. I'm glad we waited for a number of development issues on the platform to sort themselves out. It went quite smoothly and gives us a good reason to make some new noise about the game.
A rambling tale which is probably only interesting to me:
My first Mac was a G5 desktop purchased in 2004
1. The G5 cost $2000 and performed far worse than my $700 Dell box. The computer was physically HUGE and had the annoying habit of making whining noises until I shut it off and left it off. Ouch.
2. It came with a very flakey "SuperDrive". I spent over an hour with Apple trying to convince them that it was a hardware problem, that I had just received the computer, and that I didn't need to reinstall the OS as per their instructions. I finally gave up in disgust.
3. I was working with XCode 2.0, which was buggy as hell and a real pain. Compiles took an insane amount of time (and remained insane all the way through 10.4 and XCode 2.4).
4. Once I got MoM running on OSX, the performance was TERRIBLE. The hardware was really weak, the compiler didn't optimize worth a damn, and the bus speed sucked.
5. The stupid single button Apple mouse made me code numerous special controls to support the platform.
6. I had to pay $150 for a minor upgrade from 10.3 to 10.4... charging $150 for OS service packs/patches means that users are SLOW to adopt... this turns into a support nightmare and is *really* frustrating.
7. Somewhere in my worsening opinion of Apple, they announced the move to Intel. I couldn't believe that they hadn't switched to Intel processors when they launched OSX. I have to support 10.3, 10.4, G4, G5, and Intel on this "platform"???? Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
Enter the Mac Mini
The Mini showed up one day in a very small box. Inside the very small box was a very small computer. I couldn't help it, I smiled. Though, I was still very suspicious. I looked around for the keyboard and mouse and realized they weren't included. I had ordered the mini expecting these... I think many people ordering minis will expect them too. I really think Apple needs to go out of their way, with flashing/pulsing warnings, that you don't get a mouse or keyboard with this computer.
The good thing is that I don't have another stupid single button mouse to throw away.
1. I fired it up, installed the software I needed, and noticed immediately that it performed way, way, way better than my G5 box. It runs silently as opposed to the whining G5. It has a nifty remote for controlling iTunes. This is pretty nice I thought, but I hadn't starting working with it quite yet.
2. I checked out the MoM sources, snagged TGE 1.42 from HEAD so I could see the improved platform support (and snag framework versions of a couple libraries), got things compiled in short order (much better compile times!), and the damned game ran! At least to the menu...
I could use the mouse, but when I hit a key it would crash. Ok, there had to be at least a few problems... I kicked off a debug build and trapped the crash in the TGE memory manager. Though, the strange thing was that Carbon internals were calling into it. I puzzled over this for awhile and figured I had some settings wrong, or the dual core was messing with the event loop, or something. I sent an email to Paul Scott at GG and he quickly replied that he also had a similar problem, only on Intel Macs. The solution was to disable the memory manager... this worked and I could now type inside the game.
There were a few endian issues that I needed to fix, also an OpenAL issue that only appeared on the Intel Mac, and that was about it. We had a Universal Binary build of pytorque.so and life was good.
3. Python 2.5 was just released and it's very slick in terms of Universal Binaries. I just snagged the dependencies, compiled with Python distutils (which generates UB automatically), generated our application bundle with Py2App 3.4 and voila. No pain, zero pain, I like that... :)
4. I patched the new binaries into the game with our Live Update feature. I also generated a new installer so we have Universal Binary support out of the box. Done! Woohoo!
After this experience, I don't forgive Apple the suffering of the last 2 years. However, I really like my new Mac Mini and am much more enthusiastic about MoM on the OSX platform! The game runs MUCH better and I'm looking forward to getting the word out about it!
I like my new Mac and it's development tools...
Obligatory screenshot of MoM running natively on the Mac Mini
-Josh Ritter
President
Prairie Games, Inc
A rambling tale which is probably only interesting to me:
My first Mac was a G5 desktop purchased in 2004
1. The G5 cost $2000 and performed far worse than my $700 Dell box. The computer was physically HUGE and had the annoying habit of making whining noises until I shut it off and left it off. Ouch.
2. It came with a very flakey "SuperDrive". I spent over an hour with Apple trying to convince them that it was a hardware problem, that I had just received the computer, and that I didn't need to reinstall the OS as per their instructions. I finally gave up in disgust.
3. I was working with XCode 2.0, which was buggy as hell and a real pain. Compiles took an insane amount of time (and remained insane all the way through 10.4 and XCode 2.4).
4. Once I got MoM running on OSX, the performance was TERRIBLE. The hardware was really weak, the compiler didn't optimize worth a damn, and the bus speed sucked.
5. The stupid single button Apple mouse made me code numerous special controls to support the platform.
6. I had to pay $150 for a minor upgrade from 10.3 to 10.4... charging $150 for OS service packs/patches means that users are SLOW to adopt... this turns into a support nightmare and is *really* frustrating.
7. Somewhere in my worsening opinion of Apple, they announced the move to Intel. I couldn't believe that they hadn't switched to Intel processors when they launched OSX. I have to support 10.3, 10.4, G4, G5, and Intel on this "platform"???? Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
Enter the Mac Mini
The Mini showed up one day in a very small box. Inside the very small box was a very small computer. I couldn't help it, I smiled. Though, I was still very suspicious. I looked around for the keyboard and mouse and realized they weren't included. I had ordered the mini expecting these... I think many people ordering minis will expect them too. I really think Apple needs to go out of their way, with flashing/pulsing warnings, that you don't get a mouse or keyboard with this computer.
The good thing is that I don't have another stupid single button mouse to throw away.
1. I fired it up, installed the software I needed, and noticed immediately that it performed way, way, way better than my G5 box. It runs silently as opposed to the whining G5. It has a nifty remote for controlling iTunes. This is pretty nice I thought, but I hadn't starting working with it quite yet.
2. I checked out the MoM sources, snagged TGE 1.42 from HEAD so I could see the improved platform support (and snag framework versions of a couple libraries), got things compiled in short order (much better compile times!), and the damned game ran! At least to the menu...
I could use the mouse, but when I hit a key it would crash. Ok, there had to be at least a few problems... I kicked off a debug build and trapped the crash in the TGE memory manager. Though, the strange thing was that Carbon internals were calling into it. I puzzled over this for awhile and figured I had some settings wrong, or the dual core was messing with the event loop, or something. I sent an email to Paul Scott at GG and he quickly replied that he also had a similar problem, only on Intel Macs. The solution was to disable the memory manager... this worked and I could now type inside the game.
There were a few endian issues that I needed to fix, also an OpenAL issue that only appeared on the Intel Mac, and that was about it. We had a Universal Binary build of pytorque.so and life was good.
3. Python 2.5 was just released and it's very slick in terms of Universal Binaries. I just snagged the dependencies, compiled with Python distutils (which generates UB automatically), generated our application bundle with Py2App 3.4 and voila. No pain, zero pain, I like that... :)
4. I patched the new binaries into the game with our Live Update feature. I also generated a new installer so we have Universal Binary support out of the box. Done! Woohoo!
After this experience, I don't forgive Apple the suffering of the last 2 years. However, I really like my new Mac Mini and am much more enthusiastic about MoM on the OSX platform! The game runs MUCH better and I'm looking forward to getting the word out about it!
I like my new Mac and it's development tools...
Obligatory screenshot of MoM running natively on the Mac Mini
-Josh Ritter
President
Prairie Games, Inc
About the author
Prairie Games, Inc is an independent game company dedicated to creating fresh and innovative role-playing games and technology. Minions of Mirth, its debut title, is available on Windows and OSX. The company\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s website is: http://www.PrairieGames.com. Contact is: Info@PrairieGames.com. view profile »
#2
09/23/2006 (6:33 pm)
Awesome! I've been waiting for a UB for a while now. Although, just for the record, MoM Free version actually ran just fine in Rosetta on my (Single Core) Mini. Go figure.
#3
But... dual core? woooo..
09/23/2006 (7:28 pm)
Hmm, I'm ALMOST tempted to buy one.. apart from I still have a 15 inch powerbook that started dying about 1 year and 1picosecond after I bought it *picosecond after the warranty ran out of course*But... dual core? woooo..
#4
09/23/2006 (9:43 pm)
Funny that you started the blog with 'probably only interesting to me'. These kinds of blogs are actually the most enjoyable reads to me. An opinion based on facts about something I may need to know in the near future.
#5
you can go out of your way for mac client but still can deliver a linux client?
09/23/2006 (11:07 pm)
Wow,you can go out of your way for mac client but still can deliver a linux client?
#6
Thanks for the Mini info Josh. I have been on the fence about using one for Torque Mac Development.
09/24/2006 (1:28 am)
@ Charles I believe Josh mentioned at one point that the linux market is way to small for his small team to put that kind of effort in.Thanks for the Mini info Josh. I have been on the fence about using one for Torque Mac Development.
#7
I have used many PCs that are at least twice as noisy as the G5 I used at work. And my own built PC is almost 10 times worst.
As for MoM perfomance on a Mac, I got it running on my iBook 14" with a G4 cpu, and it was good. Sure I had to turn off some details settings, but the kids and I enjoyed the demo and then the free version.
One mouse button, one needs to be a real Mac user to understand the coolness of a single button mouse. The new Mighty Mouse is even 4 buttons now, with the same design. Apple made the switch to multi-button mice.
iMac and missing keyboard and mouse: you should read better sales description before buying, don't blame Apple for that. YOU missed the point.
Anyway, great to hear there is a UB vesion of MOM now.
STef
09/24/2006 (7:29 am)
@Josh: I really don't understand people complaining about G5 being noisy.I have used many PCs that are at least twice as noisy as the G5 I used at work. And my own built PC is almost 10 times worst.
As for MoM perfomance on a Mac, I got it running on my iBook 14" with a G4 cpu, and it was good. Sure I had to turn off some details settings, but the kids and I enjoyed the demo and then the free version.
One mouse button, one needs to be a real Mac user to understand the coolness of a single button mouse. The new Mighty Mouse is even 4 buttons now, with the same design. Apple made the switch to multi-button mice.
iMac and missing keyboard and mouse: you should read better sales description before buying, don't blame Apple for that. YOU missed the point.
Anyway, great to hear there is a UB vesion of MOM now.
STef
#8
09/24/2006 (9:58 am)
Yeah, those mac minis are pretty sweet. Got one myself a couple of months ago for game builds. Doubles up as an entertainment centre, plugged into hifi/TV system and running over VNC with no need for the mouse, keyboard or monitor!
#9
09/24/2006 (4:22 pm)
How well do Minis perform, when running games like MoM or other Torque driven games?
Torque Owner Evan Furchtgott