sdlotu
Which vault is this again?
After reading various speculations on the 'white screen/black screen' at boot problem on Fallout 2 with Snow Leopard, I decided to try the game on several different Mac platforms. All the Intel systems were running fully updated 10.6.2, the PPC is running 10.5.8, which is the last OS supported on PPC. Here is my result:
PowerMac G5 early 2004, with ATI 9600 Pro video: Normal operation.
iMac CoreDuo 20", early 2006 with ATI x1600 video: White screen issue.
iMac Core2Duo 24", early 2008 with ATI HD2600 video: White screen issue.
MacBook Pro Core2Duo 15", early 2008 with nVidia 8600M GT video: Normal operation
MacBook Pro CoreDuo 15", late 2006 with ATI x1600 video: White screen issue
On the last model, I ran FO2 successfully before upgrading to 10.6. When upgraded to 10.6.0, it gave a black screen, and when updated to 10.6.2, it gave a white screen.
I actually tested a couple of models of each of the above, but only listed one example since the results were consistent. Also, I tested these models with FO2 original and killap's patch for Mac, and the results were identical.
My conclusion, from the admittedly limited testing shown above:
The black/white screen problem stems from graphic driver updates included in the 10.6 and 10.6.2 updates, and not from the OS update per se. These updates are apparently ATI drivers, since the nVidia systems continue to run the game with no issues. There were two different updates from ATI included in Snow Leopard, each with a different issue as seen with the last test model. I expect that FO2 will not run on any system with ATI cards and 10.6 or later.
From my testing it seems the nVidia cards, specifically the 8600M GT included with a large number of MacBook Pro systems in 2007 and 2008, were not updated via 10.6 and continue to work fine with FO2. It is possible that other nVidia cards were unaffected as well.
I invite other readers to indicate if their nVidia cards were affected, and which ones.
PowerMac G5 early 2004, with ATI 9600 Pro video: Normal operation.
iMac CoreDuo 20", early 2006 with ATI x1600 video: White screen issue.
iMac Core2Duo 24", early 2008 with ATI HD2600 video: White screen issue.
MacBook Pro Core2Duo 15", early 2008 with nVidia 8600M GT video: Normal operation
MacBook Pro CoreDuo 15", late 2006 with ATI x1600 video: White screen issue
On the last model, I ran FO2 successfully before upgrading to 10.6. When upgraded to 10.6.0, it gave a black screen, and when updated to 10.6.2, it gave a white screen.
I actually tested a couple of models of each of the above, but only listed one example since the results were consistent. Also, I tested these models with FO2 original and killap's patch for Mac, and the results were identical.
My conclusion, from the admittedly limited testing shown above:
The black/white screen problem stems from graphic driver updates included in the 10.6 and 10.6.2 updates, and not from the OS update per se. These updates are apparently ATI drivers, since the nVidia systems continue to run the game with no issues. There were two different updates from ATI included in Snow Leopard, each with a different issue as seen with the last test model. I expect that FO2 will not run on any system with ATI cards and 10.6 or later.
From my testing it seems the nVidia cards, specifically the 8600M GT included with a large number of MacBook Pro systems in 2007 and 2008, were not updated via 10.6 and continue to work fine with FO2. It is possible that other nVidia cards were unaffected as well.
I invite other readers to indicate if their nVidia cards were affected, and which ones.
