OS X Europa Universalis 4

Wasd9595 said:

Hi

Has anyone tried EU4 on their Mac? How does it run?

Im asking because I'm on a Macbook Pro 13" mid 2012 and wondering if i should buy the game. My problem is, that Europa Universalis 4 doesn't support Intel HD 4000 which my Mac runs.

Im not expecting the best super awesome graphics but a smooth with low-mid graphics.

Would you recommend me to buy?

Thanks!

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I would recommend you hold off buying until a few people with HD4000 graphics have commented that it does work fine.

Yes, there are LOTS of examples of recent Mac games where the publisher (like Feral or Aspyr) initially did not include HD4000 as supported graphic card, but the game worked fine anyways. In those cases, the game publisher was simply "playing it safe" by only listing the (stronger) cards that they know would work very well on the game, but de-listed the cards that they were unsure about or had not got around to testing.

I'm interested in buying EU4 also, but I personally would wait until a couple of patches. Having known the Europa Universalis games since the original, I know that initial versions are released full of bugs, and in desperate need of game balancing. Maybe it's just me, but I get annoyed by bugs that allow things to happen like the Holy Roman Empire ends up electing (shogun) Tokugawa Ieyasu of Japan as the next Holy Roman Emperor.

Solomani said:

...but I get annoyed by bugs that allow things to happen like the Holy Roman Empire ends up electing (shogun) Tokugawa Ieyasu of Japan as the next Holy Roman Emperor.

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Dunno why. That sounds like it'd be an awesome thing to watch happen.

how does this compare to civ?

Solomani said:

Yes, there are LOTS of examples of recent Mac games where the publisher (like Feral or Aspyr) initially did not include HD4000 as supported graphic card, but the game worked fine anyways.

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FYI, all Feral games support the HD4000 we haven't shipped a game without supporting the HD4000 so far.

That will start to change later this year I expect as the HD4000 is an integrated card and it has some limitations compared to dedicated hardware.

We have done the same as Solomani mentioned with the HD3000 however.

A good rule of thumb is if it is not on a supported list for a Feral title you might still be able to play but not at a consistent level thought out the entire game. We only officially support a card if the game is to a good standard from level 1 to the final level. If you are willing to love with the odd stutter or low frame rate in large areas quite a few games that are not supported can be played.

Best to check first however as some might be completely unplayable.

Edwin

madeirabhoy said:

how does this compare to civ?

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Europa Universalis (from the original to the current version 4) is far more "historical". Hundreds (thousands) of little events will "guide" the gameplay towards a generally historical outcome.

This does not mean the games play exactly like a history book. The player certainly has TONS of choices to make, and even little choices can alter the future history of the game (for example, it is possible for the Byzantine Empire to have defeated the early Seljuk/Ottoman Turks so that the Ottoman Empire never established a grand empire in Constantinople/Istanbul.)

For example, I once played a game as the Austrian Empire. At some point in the mid-16th century, the huge Kingdom of Spain (played by the AI) launched a massive armada to invade Protestant England. This is similar to how it happened in history. The English fleet and the English defense armies had much better technology and morale and were ready to defend. I watched the invasion, and saw that the Spanish fleet was completely obliterated on their first invasion attempt at coastal England. At that point, the AI may have done the reasonable thing... surrender because it would have been futile and wasteful and very expensive to continue. But before the AI Spanish Kingdom could give up, I had my Austrian Empire send a HUGE GIFT of money to the Spanish Kingdom (Spain was my soso-ally) while they were still at war with England. What did the Spanish AI do? It immediately used my money to rebuild another HUGE ARMADA in the next turn. Once the fleets were completed, Spanish Kingdom again attempted to land a huge army in coastal England and Ireland. The second invasion resulted in the Spanish armies temporarily capturing London and looting the city. Soon after, the English Kingdom (also AI controlled) immediately offered to surrender to Spain by ceding several of its Catholic Irish provinces to Spain. The war thus ended.
Hence, during that war between two AI-controlled nations, I was able to influence the outcome simply by dumping tons of money towards one side or another.

Unlike Civ 5, Europa Universalis mostly comes with a historically accurate map. The learning curve is a little steeper for EUIV than with Civ5. If you want a more casual gaming experience of conquer the world, then Civ5 is probably the better option. If you want something more historical, Europa is the game that does it best.

EUIV ending game date is typically 1821 (the end of the Napoleonic Age). Civ 5 goes into the Nuclear Age (with atomic weapons, etc).

Well Solomani, you've just sold me on the game. I'll be picking it up next week when I have a little more time to play it.

Solomani said:

I would recommend you hold off buying until a few people with HD4000 graphics have commented that it does work fine.

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(Complete edit of previous bump)
My iMac's Radeon HD 2600 Pro is equivalent to the Intel HD 4000. Apple’s store wouldn’t let me order EU4 so I gave up long ago. Recently somebody suggested Steam. Through Nov. 25th Steam has a 50% off ($20) EU4 and better yet, let me download and play EU4
THANK YOU Steam THANK YOU!!

This iMac played 1 game year of EU3W in under a minute.
EU4 takes 20 minutes per game year.
Opening settings.txt because it has more options than the Video Options in the main menu, I set everything to “no” except terrain, borders, and tooltips.
6 minutes per game year.
I gutted all but a handful of provinces from the provinces folder.
In EU3 this would reduce the game year from 1 minute to about 15 seconds. (75% decrease).
In EU4 this reduced the game year from 6 minutes to 5 minutes (18% decrease).

Clearly the bottleneck is not even the 6 year old 2.4ghz Core 2 Duo.
Clearly the bottleneck is the Radeon HD 2600 Pro
Radeon HD 6630M+ “might” play EU4. The Geforce 650M and Iris Pro should. Though Intel HD 3000, 4000, and 5000 will NOT play EU4 until somebody makes a “low res” mod. Still, I HIGHLY recommend picking up EU4 for $20 this weekend. It is fun to play with, especially if you tinker with backed up save, history, and common files.