MBP & WoW

[zepharus]

Mac Client or Windows Client and why.......

[design-is]

very good question... my MBP arrives soon and I plan on keeping all my gaming to windows. Is there likely to be any drawbacks to this?

but maybe this would be better suited in the 'games on mac' or 'windows on mac' threads?

[zepharus]

very good question... my MBP arrives soon and I plan on keeping all my gaming to windows. Is there likely to be any drawbacks to this?

but maybe this would be better suited in the 'games on mac' or 'windows on mac' threads?

Perhaps both.. but im curious as to the MBP not other machines.

[BklynKid]

I don't play WoW but as a general notion, I think I'd go with the Mac client. I mean the game isn't that demanding graphically, so what little advantage a Windows client might get in performance (again that might be some bias there) would be negligible at best. Plus with the Mac client, you won't have to leave the beauty that is OSX ;)

[merc669]

Mac and Windows Client on same CD. I run the Mac Client and it runs very well with my MBP and 2G Ram...

Bill.....:apple:

[limeybast]

Mac client so you get the iTunes controls and movie recording. (Plus the Blizzard Mac Forums and associated CM's are so much better than the windows ones)

Given that the MBP is more powerful than my Dual G5 and the G5 runs WoW at 2560x1600 on the 30" ACD, performance isn't a problem at all.

[Milfin]

I'm using Mac Version.
As someone else stated the itunes / movie recording is really nice.


I don't play music while playing but the recording feature is great to capture arena games. I set it up for high resolution and had no lag. Plus after you stop your recording it converts the video while your playing.

I just switched over from Windows to Mac last week so I'm still learning all the hot keys. felt kinda stupid spamming in orgimarr how do I Alt+Tab on a MAC. lol


If you have questions pm me.

[bbotte]

I have a buddy who plays on his MBP and gets really frustrated. Every time he gets to a certain point in the game it locks up. He says it is because of the ****** video card in the MBP.

[design-is]

Do all the add ons and mods that are available to windows WoW work the same on the mac client? Do you need to download a different version? or do the same files work?

And what this about movie recording?

Thanks for info all :)

[MascisMan]

I have a buddy who plays on his MBP and gets really frustrated. Every time he gets to a certain point in the game it locks up. He says it is because of the ****** video card in the MBP.

Which videocard does he have in the MBP?

[Animalk]

Apparently, the the game runs significantly better through Windows then through OS X. I play it through OS X and I'm doing alright but its quite obvious that it is not taking complete advantage of the hardware for whatever reasons.

I highly suggest you take a look into the official World of Warcraft Mac Support Forums so you get a sense of what kind of problems and performance issues people may be having.

[oseary]

Do all the add ons and mods that are available to windows WoW work the same on the mac client? Do you need to download a different version? or do the same files work?

They do work the same... The awesome thing about Bliz is that they developed the clients alongside each other (and have since the original Warcraft days) so that every addon works in the same directory as it does on the PC version.

interface-->addons

I used the Windows client for a year or so, then switched when I got my MBP and dumped my Win box (gave it to my bro), and found that I can WoW with the same settings (I have all mine maxed) I had on my PC, and the game runs the same... even connecting to my wireless (n) connection from when I'm sitting in my living room a level below.

I didn't know you could record video though, I'm gonna have some fun with that! :-)

[design-is]

They do work the same...

cool thanks very much :)

[topgunn]

I know that I can get better performance on the Windows side of things but...
1) I don't want to reboot into Windows when I can get acceptable performance in Mac OS.
2) I like the ability to Cmd-M out of full screen to go to windowed when I need to do something else.
3) Everything else I use is already in Mac OS so it is more cumbersome to play in Windows and try to get other things done as well.

Now, if I am going to be raiding or spending a lot of time in a CPU/GPU intensive area, I will consider playing in Windows instead of Mac OS.

[RUFiO795]

I run WOW in OSX on my Macbook Pro and haven't had any performance issues...I have all of the graphics and video processing cranked all the way up and it runs perfectly smoothly and looks beautiful. The only thing I've noticed is an almost total absence of weather effects, but this may be just because I haven't come across any (I am assured that they are simply very rare for some reason).

I haven't played WOW on Windows before, though, so I don't know how it compares.

[dumb terminal]

I play WoW on my MBP (Penryn), and don't have any problems. I'm still trying to remap my hotkeys that I had on my G4, but so far, so good :cool: The only compliant I have so far is that's its somewhat uncomfortable using the keyboard for long periods of time (especially when I have all my spells keyed).

And as has already been stated, the ingame iTunes control and movie recording is more reason to use the Mac version.

[luffx]

Mac Client for one major reason....

So you don't get wicky-wacked by a keylogger and log into your account the next morning to find all of yer phat purplz were sharded.



http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o66/chibiferretgod/katshardzpurplz.jpg

[kwjohns]

What is this recording feature everyone keeps talking about besides SnapzProX?

[dumb terminal]

What is this recording feature everyone keeps talking about besides SnapzProX?

It works kinda like Fraps on Windows...it'll record your gameplay into a movie...I don't remember exactly what format it uses, but I think it saves it in QT format (.mov?) I haven't used it yet, so I don't know the specifics

[jjahshik32]

Play it on OSX, I played it on a core duo 1.83ghz just fine and now the new mbp can handle it with ease!:D

[SSerino]

I played WOW on my new Penryn 2.4 with all the settings to the max, 1600/1050 on my external monitor, and I was getting like 20-30 fps. If I turned off "Spectacle lighting" I think it was called, I was getting a constant 50-60, even in cities. The new MBP plays wow perfect.

[zepharus]

I'm using Mac Version.
As someone else stated the itunes / movie recording is really nice.


I don't play music while playing but the recording feature is great to capture arena games. I set it up for high resolution and had no lag. Plus after you stop your recording it converts the video while your playing.

I just switched over from Windows to Mac last week so I'm still learning all the hot keys. felt kinda stupid spamming in orgimarr how do I Alt+Tab on a MAC. lol


If you have questions pm me.

LOL PM me Im curious about al the hotkeys

[Cudadown]

mine is ALOT better under OS X.

[paleck]

My macbook pro averages 60fps in open areas and 30 in the major cities. I have the details, etc turned all the way up.

[tast01]

for anyone that uses teamspeak/ventrilo with wow

Im not sure if this is an issue anymore, but I think i remember some Ventrilo codecs could not run on Mac...anyone know?

[brandonshough]

Alt-Tab for blizzard games on the mac is Apple-M.

"Toggles Full Screen"

[whateverandever]

Pre Leopard Graphics Update I would have told you to go with Windows. Before that, my 2.2GHz last gen MBP ran WoW much better in windows.

Honestly, it probably is still a little faster in Windows... but I can get 60FPS in most areas with maxed settings full screen in Mac OS now.

I'm sure the Penryn systems are even snappier with the extra video ram at higher res.

I'd stick with the Mac client unless you're doing more than just WoW.

[pento]

If you want to run vent(ventrillo) on the mac, you've got to make sure the vent server is using the speex codec. The other codec(I forget the name atm) doesn't work with the mac client.

[thejadedmonkey]

If you're going to use the MBP's trackpad, definitely use the OS X version because it's so much easier to right click on OS X then it is with the Windows drivers Apple provides for XP/Vista.

[BrianKonarsMac]

I don't dual boot on my computer but I have a 24" iMac at home and a Dell XPS at work.

Playing on my iMac under OS X is significantly more enjoyable (and it looks way better but my work XPS has an aging graphics card).

[Lyshen]

Playing WoW with Mac client as well on Penryn MBP.

But I also got a laptop cooler for the MBP though so the fans don't ever really spin up. Nice to way to help keep the MBP cool.

[zepharus]

Playing WoW with Mac client as well on Penryn MBP.

But I also got a laptop cooler for the MBP though so the fans don't ever really spin up. Nice to way to help keep the MBP cool.

Hmmm Im not sure my Bot works on the Mac client tho.....

[citisin]

go with osx, youll be getting around 35 fps in open land and around 50 fps in cities (default settings). temps might get hot, i use smcFancontrol to amp up fan speed so things dont get hot. trackpad takes some getting used to play with, but no worries. though imo dont waste your life with WoW. enjoy :)

and if you havent already read this, it might help http://guides.macrumors.com/World_of_Warcraft

[McBeats]

I use both all the time back n forth.... i have both NOT in windowed mode at 1440x900, settings are ALL THE WAY UP, except for anti aliasing, which is at 0 (none)....

I've noticed, graphically, that OSX looks just slightly better, crisper colors.
only slightly tho...

frankly what it comes down to, is a disc space question and how often u use that operating system. (for example: my mac side of my hd is at 88 gigs, where as my windows vista is 32 gigs, so i installed wow on osx.... but then i noticed i used windows a lot more than mac, so i installed it on there)

[luffx]

If you want to run vent(ventrillo) on the mac, you've got to make sure the vent server is using the speex codec. The other codec(I forget the name atm) doesn't work with the mac client.

This is a big one. GSM 6.10 is the standard, and doesn't work with the Mac Ventrilo Client. Nothing is worse than being excluded from arenas b/c you can't talk to your team, or not being able to raid b/c you can't hear your Raid Leader.

I prefer playing on the Mac, but when you join a guild/arena, ask them to change their codec to Speex, or host your own server.

[Echinda]

I use the Mac client for the same reason as others. it's just easier to switch to other apps when I need to.

If I'm in a raid and they are using ventrillo and the non-mac codec, though, I bootcamp into Windows out of necessity.

[peskaa]

I played WoW pretty much maxed on my old 2.16GHz Core Duo Macbook Pro and it ran reasonably well. Nothing to complain about performance wise.

[Senor360]

I have the 24" alu 2.4ghz with 4gb of ram. I find myself jealous of the fps others are posting for this game. I always get a steady 30fps in outdoor locations, and 60fps inside buildings.. I have all options cranked. Should there be something else I should check on to make sure I get maximum performance?

[dizastor]

I prefer to run under OSX.
I really don't want to lose my whole operating system just to play WoW.

Alt-Tabbing out to Windows would be jarring.

[design-is]

I have the 24" alu 2.4ghz with 4gb of ram. I find myself jealous of the fps others are posting for this game. I always get a steady 30fps in outdoor locations, and 60fps inside buildings.. I have all options cranked. Should there be something else I should check on to make sure I get maximum performance?

If you have told it to sink vertical frame rates (or whatever the option is) then it is being restricted to multiples of your monitors refresh rate. Really though, 30 or 60 should be fine for playing. A monitors refresh rate is 60 so there's really no point in wasting more frames than can be shown :)

[e²Studios]

I run WOW in OSX on my Macbook Pro and haven't had any performance issues...I have all of the graphics and video processing cranked all the way up and it runs perfectly smoothly and looks beautiful. The only thing I've noticed is an almost total absence of weather effects, but this may be just because I haven't come across any (I am assured that they are simply very rare for some reason).

I haven't played WOW on Windows before, though, so I don't know how it compares.

You must be playing on the native 15" screen then? I have my MBP hooked up to a 24" display and unless I turn the settings WAY down I dont get past 7-15 FPS in crossroads, or maybe 18 if I am lucky outdoors. Mind you I have the 128mb X1600 card in my MBP, and its at 2GB of ram but it cannot support WoW too well at 1920x1200 with much of anything turned up to even medium. Windowed mode its playable, full screen forget it. Now if I just use the 15" laptop screen I can play with most everything enabled high.

Now my PC is a C2D E4400 with 2GB of Ram and a 8500GTS OC with 512MB and it can run at full 1920x1200 with no issues. Consistant 60-100+ FPS depending on the area. Of course there is a huge diffference in video cards there.

Both displays are the same, Samsung 245BW's.

[kwjohns]

It works kinda like Fraps on Windows...it'll record your gameplay into a movie...I don't remember exactly what format it uses, but I think it saves it in QT format (.mov?) I haven't used it yet, so I don't know the specifics

Well that's what I was asking. Are people just talking about Snapz or something that comes with Mac OS X?

[ctishue]

Well that's what I was asking. Are people just talking about Snapz or something that comes with Mac OS X?

It's a feature built into the game itself.

http://wellknownmeats.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/option-screen.png

http://www.blizzplanet.com/content/burning-crusade/mac/wow-mac-video-capture.jpg

[design-is]

Well that's what I was asking. Are people just talking about Snapz or something that comes with Mac OS X?

Its built into the game. Options and settings are available within the game.

-EDIT- ^he beat me to it.

[Azmordean]

go with osx, youll be getting around 35 fps in open land and around 50 fps in cities (default settings). temps might get hot, i use smcFancontrol to amp up fan speed so things dont get hot. trackpad takes some getting used to play with, but no worries. though imo dont waste your life with WoW. enjoy :)

and if you havent already read this, it might help http://guides.macrumors.com/World_of_Warcraft

I hope this is wrong. My 5 year old PC gets better FPS than that, with high settings. Every time I think about pulling the trigger on a MBP, I see a post like this and I hesitate. Do you have full screen glow on?

[kwjohns]

It's a feature built into the game itself.

http://wellknownmeats.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/option-screen.png

http://www.blizzplanet.com/content/burning-crusade/mac/wow-mac-video-capture.jpg

Ah, gotcha. Thanks.

That's convenient.

[whateverandever]

I hope this is wrong. My 5 year old PC gets better FPS than that, with high settings. Every time I think about pulling the trigger on a MBP, I see a post like this and I hesitate. Do you have full screen glow on?

I have maxed settings on my MBP, full screen. Get 60FPS solid inside most areas. Drops down to maybe 45FPS in some locations.

With Leopard Graphics update, things run very smoothly. Not sure what's wrong with his computer... maybe he's got a pre-SR MBP. The 8600M w/ 128MB of VRAM runs WoW wonderfully in Mac OS.

Hmmm Im not sure my Bot works on the Mac client tho.....

You're a glider, eh? Hope you get banned.

[yellow]

Do we need 2 of these threads?
Nope, we don't. Merged.