Transcendence Port to Linux and Mac

Fri Apr 17, 2009 4:51 am

Glad to hear that! Tell your friends! Heck, tell your enemies! :)

CFG · Sun May 24, 2009 11:56 am

Its gotten a bit quiet - not only in this thread, but in the forum in general...

I know we're all waiting for 1.0

but is there any progress on the remaining (minor) graphical issues? Id especially like the 'black = transparent' thing being fixed.

Fri Jun 19, 2009 10:17 pm

I was wondering if it could be possible to provide a version of the executable that runs in debug mode by default. It would be mighty mainly for us many modders using linux. I do run Transcendence through wine also, but the fonts in the console are all messed up (ie. not really usable).

I hope it would be an easier thing to accomplish than having to enable the flags at runtime. Pretty please?

Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:00 am

Making the console work again is actually my only major remaining task, besides the occasional color matching issue. I'm hoping to get more time soon, really to support you happy modders :)

Retroactive · Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:50 pm

I have a Mac running 10.5 and could probably compile a Mac version with a little hand-holding. Can I help in any way?

Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:53 pm

Okay, second-to-last major task :)

My wife just got a macbook, so at least I have a machine available. It shouldn't be toooo much work to do the port to at least a comparable level of functionality, just a matter of prying it out of her hands for long enough :)

Thanks, though!
--G

Nate879 · Thu Jul 16, 2009 2:07 am

Why does this version of Transcendence use so much memory? On my computer, it takes up hundreds of MB. My computer has only 256 MB of RAM, and I'm planning to upgrade. Until then, is there any way to reduce its memory usage?

[Edit] I posted this here instead of the bugs forum because this only happens with the port to Linux. The Windows version can be run with Wine, and takes only ~130 MB. Unfortunately, that version is very slow when I run it with Wine.

schilcote · Thu Jul 16, 2009 2:54 am

Either that post came from the distant past, or you have one REALLY outdated computer. I don't thinky you can buy 256M of ram. The smallest stick I've seen is 512, and the largest is 4GB per stick.

It's an old rule: don't complain about performance when you're using a crappy computer.

Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:43 am

look at the post date

Runs fine on my older laptop (5-6 years old?), and that has a measly 256mb or ram too.

Nate879 · Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:49 am

Either that post came from the distant past, or you have one REALLY outdated computer. I don't thinky you can buy 256M of ram. The smallest stick I've seen is 512, and the largest is 4GB per stick.

Yes, I know the computer is old. That's why I want to upgrade the RAM! But 256 MB is sufficient for almost every program I use. I can only think of two programs that use that much RAM: Transcendence and the C++ compiler.

I'm using Linux, and Linux doesn't require a powerful computer. For example, I'm using less than 8 GB of hard drive space, and when I first installed Linux I used less than 4.

Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:36 am

Hm, last time I checked it used about the same amount of RAM as the windows version, which was around 130MB either way. Do you have any numbers for further details?

Aeonic · Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:44 am

I had 256 RAM until just a few months ago when I upgraded to four sticks of 512 (courtesy of yard sale). The only thing it has helped me with is handling those 16000x400 pre-shrunk ship animation graphics.

Now I can have a bunch of 'em open at once!

schilcote · Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:43 pm

Darn, I didn't realise how fortunate I was to have 3 GB of ram and 500 GB of HD...

Nate879 · Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:25 pm

GambitDash wrote:Hm, last time I checked it used about the same amount of RAM as the windows version, which was around 130MB either way. Do you have any numbers for further details?

After checking both versions again, it appears that the Linux version uses 180MB while starting up, then lowers to around 130. But when I play the game for a long time, memory usage gradually increases (I haven't tried that with the Windows version). This causes it to use a large amount of swap space.

Transcendence also takes a long time to start up. Could this use of swap space cause that?

schilcote · Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:06 pm

Well, how long are we talking? If you have a large number of mods, then that will definitely slow it down a bit, but then again, I have almost every working mod available for download, and external XMLs (no transcendence.tld or whatever it is) and I only have to wait for a minute for Transcendence to start.