First generation games for OpenPandora?

[WizardStan]

my Quad Core PC with GTX460 GFX Card runs Minecraft at around 40-80FPS. It just never could run decent on the Pandora under that circumstances. We would need the mobile (java free) version.

Quad core means nothing, Minecraft is single threaded.


I'm also guessing that you're running Windows. The Windows implementation of Java doesn't run Minecraft as well as the Linux version. A coworker thinks it's because Linux java runs as a server by default which does memory management differently from client mode which is run in Windows. I easily get a 20% increase just running it in Linux vs Windows on the same system.


I'm also guessing you're not sacrificing any of the graphic settings, so it is rendering far. I make no promises that it will absolutely run great, even with settings turned down, but as far as I got in getting it to run I don't see any major stopping points. Really, the biggest stopping point is likely to be insufficient RAM, not CPU. I was able to get it generating and running a world on 128MB, but actually loading the textures to display it is probably going to give a hard time.

 

[milkshake]

yes html5 can have hardware excelleration I.E.9 for example does this so if we could get hardware excelleration for browsers on pandora it might be something that could work.

 

[pmprog]

The other problem with HTML5 is the browser chrome. You won't be able to get rid of it (well, okay, I understand there's a fullscreen mode, but having to toggle it on and off might get annoying)


I often pondered about handling the keyboard. What if I wanted C to attack and Alt to jump, what would happen in HTML5? The answer will probably be the HTML5 fully captures the keyboard, but at that point, you won't be able to Ctrl+T to open a new tab (which happens on YouTube after you click play and then try and Ctrl+T), which is most frustrating.

 

[fusion_power]

Quad core means nothing, Minecraft is single threaded.


I'm also guessing that you're running Windows. The Windows implementation of Java doesn't run Minecraft as well as the Linux version. A coworker thinks it's because Linux java runs as a server by default which does memory management differently from client mode which is run in Windows. I easily get a 20% increase just running it in Linux vs Windows on the same system.


I'm also guessing you're not sacrificing any of the graphic settings, so it is rendering far. I make no promises that it will absolutely run great, even with settings turned down, but as far as I got in getting it to run I don't see any major stopping points. Really, the biggest stopping point is likely to be insufficient RAM, not CPU. I was able to get it generating and running a world on 128MB, but actually loading the textures to display it is probably going to give a hard time.

Even only one Core has 2.66GHz so it actualy needs alot to make Minecraft run decent. I don't even use High Res Texture Packs or any Mods. Yes, rendering is "far" but I doubt that this would have an impact because the difference between normal and far seems quite small. It is more likeley that my res makes the CPU sweat, I usualy play Minecraft in full screen at 1920x1200 pixel.


No clue if MC runs better in Linux. I just heared of much more trouble with MC unter Linux. MC crashes every few minutes under Linux at a player I know, maybe because he uses 32 bit version, maybe because lack of RAM, we never found out. Now he has a new Windows Laptop and MC just runs fine.


Same for me, since I use the 64Bit Java version, MC runs without crashes.

 

[WizardStan]

Well yeah, with that many pixels of course it's going to struggle. Shrink the window to 800x480, or even 400x240 if needed, and measure your CPU then.


The only crashing I'm aware of is trying to run the 32 bit Java on 64 bit systems. This is a bug in both Linux and Windows and disappears when you stop trying to do this silly thing.

 

[Exophase]

Why would the higher resolution stress the CPU more? It'd stress the GPU but I doubt his machine is GPU limited with such a simple looking game. If this is the case CPU utilization will actually go up with the lower resolution (but so will performance)

 

[WizardStan]

Couldn't tell you, all I know is that it does. My 1.6Ghz laptop doesn't struggle to run Minecraft at a not unreasonable 20-30 frames (even with far rendering) which gets better when the window is shrunk and worse when made full screen. Which isn't to say it isn't CPU limited. It's constantly pegged at near 100% but I can attribute that as much to questionable design decision as to it actually requiring that much power. I'm just trying to emphasize that "my beefy computer can barely keep up" should not be a reasonable argument that it won't work and there's no point in even trying.

 

[skeezix]

And yet, a few days have passed.. and no Minecraft port! Wiz, you let us all down!


I move to have Wiz banned!


jeff