I'd assume extreme color precision loss from multiple detail texture layers blended in 16bpp without dithering. That red tint is most concerning, like it's pulling a RIVA128 here. Maybe there's a PowerPlay factor behind this mucking with texture depth/formats/blending as well, as it's a mobility chipset and does that to save battery/temp...

Well, in 16bit i can clearly see dithering. And there are no powerplay things. This chip works on maximum clock all the time.

To be clear that it's not a rosetta-thing we need someone to play it in OS9.
I have several machines with OS9 but I do not have a ATI 9550.
The most easiest way should be installing os9.2.2 native on macmini G4 with r9200.

have you tried this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJQ99Rdg7G8

OS9 can be installed with some hacks on older ibook with ati 9200. 9550 is not presented in os9 drivers so it won't work. But already waiting for older ibook so i'll be able to test the game under classic environment with older gpu and install os9

Let's talk about the colors, which would you prefer?

I can confirm this happens on OS 9.2.2 also.

RAVE 32-bit textures:

RAVE 16-bit textures:

Software rendering 16-bit textures:

I've also tried playing Deus Ex on a Power Mac G4 with an ATi Rage Pro 128 and OS 9 and a Powerbook G4 with a Radeon Mobility 9200(?) with OS X 10.4, all the same results. It'd be interesting to see if this issue continues if rendering with Glide through a 3DFX card, they're expensive these days though.

This issue persists in other games too, regardless of renderer. Quake II and Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation are affected.

As before, but Deus Ex this time.

Ignoring the common "dark" bug from the Windows version, here's a screenshot with the right colouring.

looks like both picture may not be ok
apart from obvious artifacts on both pictures
notice that red picture looks like having more post-processing on the floor, hence the plants reflections are barely visible, while gray has almost mirror-like reflective ground.
may be a result of different gfx settings in game or buggy/not backwards compatible display drivers

That seems a "RAVE" issue that can be seen on the RAVE Version of QUAKE1 too.....(red tint)

It's interesting to note that Unreal (OSX on PPC) and Undying look the same as on Windows. But i think they both use OGL, not RAVE. It's sad there was no native OSX version of Deus Ex, or at least some fanmade port.

There was an unofficial? OSX PPC Port of unreal but it lacked the music because the soundroutine was never ported to OSX/PPC....AFAIK.
You can play it native in OS9 with a fast PPC/Macmini with the hacked OS9 version...but OS9 lacks of a popper vsync so no big deal here,
but I still like the OS9/Rave Vesions on the some Unreal1 Engine Games, especially the rave renderer...because it looks different!

I'm pretty convinced that this issue is related to something in OS 9.2.2. I need someone to test Deus Ex in system 7 or 8 and see if this "red tint" issue goes away. I've tried an ATi Rage 128, 7500, 9000, and a GeForce MX440, two different G4 machines running OS 9.2.2 stock and universal and two G4/G5 machines running OS X 10.4 with 9.2.2 Classic and there has not been a single bit of difference between any of those configurations.

I spoke to Rebecca Heineman of Logicware (she did the Quake 2 port amongst other games) and showed her these shots and she said she never had this issue.

None of these games shown or mentioned were specifically designed for OS 9 in the first place, and 9.2.2 is the common denominator here, hence my theory.

red tint is a rave issue, same on quake1.

dr.zeissler wrote on 2024-03-09, 08:55:

red tint is a rave issue, same on quake1.

At what point did it start becoming an issue though? Is there a way to roll back to an earlier version of RAVE? Was Deus Ex drenched in red while running on Mac OS 8 too?