Virtual PC 6 and gaming

[Foxer]

My wife wants to buy virtual pc so that she can run some sort of stats program that she uses at work. I've heard how slow the emulator is, so am I deluding myself if I think I'll be able to any type of gaming (C&C 2 type stuff) on the machine? FYI, since it probably matters, we've got a dp 1.4 powermac maxed out on RAM.

[Dont Hurt Me]

Not really unless its a very basic game. If you want to game on the mac you should simply buy games made for it. I read the other day where a dual 1.25 running virtual pc was = to about a 666 p3. Not much juice for gaming. On the otherhand any game made for the mac will scream on that machine.

[menoinjun]

It's not so much the speed that's the problem. Virtual PC has to emulate a PC graphics card, and I believe that right now it only emulates a cheap SIS chip with about 8 megs of video ram. 2D games should run decently, but any heavy direct x 3D game will not run well at all.

Basically, buy mac games.

[macktheknife]

Don't even try it--VPC is built as an emulator to for the Mac to run simple PC programs. Don't expect to run any complex games smoothly, if at all. As much as it saddens me to say this, if you truly want to play games, get a PC or a console. :(

[Foxer]

That's what i thought. Don't get me wrong, I'm not pining away for all these PC games. I'm quite satisfied with the selection available (once Simcity is ported over). In the two years since I switched, I've never looked back. I was just hoping that I would personally get some benefit out of this $250 program. oh well.

[Omad0n]

I heard that VPC 6 emulated a 16meg graphics card. Still though not good for most games

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by ptrauber
It's not so much the speed that's the problem. Virtual PC has to emulate a PC graphics card, and I believe that right now it only emulates a cheap SIS chip with about 8 megs of video ram. 2D games should run decently, but any heavy direct x 3D game will not run well at all.

Basically, buy mac games.

Acually VPC 6 can emulate 16 MB of video. 2D games run... well okay. 3D games are well not very usable.

Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
Not really unless its a very basic game. If you want to game on the mac you should simply buy games made for it. I read the other day where a dual 1.25 running virtual pc was = to about a 666 p3. Not much juice for gaming. On the otherhand any game made for the mac will scream on that machine.
Yes you took the 1.25 dual comparison from me.

The stats program (I'm not sure how processor intense) should run. C&C 2... there are so many C&C games that it will be hard to know which you are specifically addressing.
Comand & Conquor: Original
C&C Red Alert
C&C Red Alert 2 <---- probably the one your talking about
C&C Tiberian Sun....
And finally C&C Generals. <----- will never run till VPC 8 (guessing... comeon VPC didn't do a great job on speed)

[Falleron]

Originally posted by Foxer
My wife wants to buy virtual pc so that she can run some sort of stats program that she uses at work. I've heard how slow the emulator is, so am I deluding myself if I think I'll be able to any type of gaming (C&C 2 type stuff) on the machine? FYI, since it probably matters, we've got a dp 1.4 powermac maxed out on RAM.
I have tried to run Tiberium Sun on my Dual 1Ghz PowerMac + suggest that you dont bother trying to use VPC for games. It does run, just about anyway. However, as soon as you get a large battle you will be struggling.

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by Falleron
I have tried to run Tiberium Sun on my Dual 1Ghz PowerMac + suggest that you dont bother trying to use VPC for games. It does run, just about anyway. However, as soon as you get a large battle you will be struggling.

Isn't Tiberian (sp) sun a set above C&C Red Alert 2's graphics?

[bobindashadows]

I run an 867 G4 with only 512 MB of ram... probably CL3, since i have 256 that shipped with it and i think apple only uses CL3 (3-2-3 ram). I can, under OS 9, get about 10-20 fps on Half-Life, which is the only game for Windows that I really want to be able to play (counter-strike as well). That's without any players... If i throw in a rather detailed sp level plus 3 computer controlled enemies, it drops to about 10. Not bad, really. I get at most 5-15 on OS X. It emulates a 566 Pentium 2 w/ MMX (I think), might be 533. I have GeForce 3 64MB card in it... hope that helps. Haven't tried many other games, since I don't have many.

[MrMacMan]

So you get more frames under Os 9 than os X?

Really... :confused:

[bobindashadows]

Originally posted by MrMacman
So you get more frames under Os 9 than os X?

Really... :confused:

Hell yes... OS 9 is actually quite a manageable environment while running VPC. I haven't tried playing against other people with the game under VPC - that is going to be a joke! but single player is quite pleasant under OS 9.

[SilvorX]

i was able to play the sims (win version) on vpc, although it was laggy, but it still worked...

[jadam]

try vpc 3 with a voodoo2, you can probally get like 30+ fps on CS on multiplayer.

[Jaykay]

Originally posted by jadam
try vpc 3 with a voodoo2, you can probally get like 30+ fps on CS on multiplayer.

Ha, i tried that before and it was like 1 fps or something, it was never going to be anywhere near that, did you get 30+ on that setup?

[MrMacMan]

WTF VPC 3 IS BETTER?
:looks at unopened VPC 3 box behind him:

YES!!! :D I can't believe that. Really you got it to work?
I'd be willing to stop my current 5 day uptime to test if you say it works, :)

[jadam]

vpc 3 supports hardware 3d acceleration, so the games can potentially run much faster. someone supposedly got around 20fps on a dual 500 with a voodoo2 if i remember correctly...

but you have to run on an empty OS 9 installation, meaning absoultetly nothing running other then VPC, not even finder lol.

[MrMacMan]

Bah!

I think I'll check how much VPC6 sucks before upgrading to VPC3

[kiwi_the_iwik]

I'm betting there's a bunch of Microsoft employees out there at the moment, breaking down Connectix's code for VPC, and working on how they can implement control to the graphics card from the emulator to offload screen redraw instructions from the CPU for their next build...




...just a thought.



(Wouldn't it be NICE, though?!? Faster games in Virtual PC!!!!)

;)

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by kiwi_the_iwik
I'm betting there's a bunch of Microsoft employees out there at the moment, breaking down Connectix's code for VPC, and working on how they can implement control to the graphics card from the emulator to offload screen redraw instructions from the CPU for their next build...




...just a thought.



(Wouldn't it be NICE, though?!? Faster games in Virtual PC!!!!)

;)

Yes it would. Microsofts Mac dept. aint really so bad. They make decent quality stuff, execpt Word 5 and every Windows media player, but that aint a glitch it is crappy quality format. :D