Left 4 Dead on Mac using Parallels

[thereal-o187em]

so i had just finished installing a fresh new copy of Windows 7 RC on my mac via boot camp and i was testing my kids games to make sure they still worked using Parallels when i decided to click on my left 4 dead icon and the game started up. i had tried it before using Vista but it would always crash. the movie played a little choppy at first but then fine default setting were low it was running @ 640x480 which left the window way to small to even play i tried upping the resolution but then the game crashed so i upped the ram to the virtual machine from 1.5 gigs to 2.5 and upped the video ram from 128 to 256. i could run the 1280x960 with everything set to low and its pretty playable even though it seems to be running in the low teens frames wise most of the time. i even played online. the only problem ive had is with the lighting. its a pretty dark game but looks even darker running on parallels and sometimes the flashlight seems like its not even on even though it is. ive played it for about 2 hours now. it works better if you use parallels in full screen mode, windowed does something to the controls and you cant move. im thinking about installing a virtual machine copy of windows 7 to see how it runs vs boot camp. if it runs better i might just stop playing on boot camp since i cant seem to get the sound driver working right anyway.

[thereal-o187em]

here are a few more pics

[Dagless]

Strange that it would crash under Vista, also a shame you have to lower the settings down. It sounds like you have a fairly powerful system, my 2006 iMac runs L4D in 1440x900 with the settings on low (and the card overclocked) for a smooth 50+fps.

For the best performance I recommend XP on Bootcamp. I don't have any crashing problems with L4D there.

[thereal-o187em]

Oh no it runs fine via boot camp no problems. I'm talking about running it through Parallels 4.0 virtual desktop for mac

[kntgsp]

Oh no it runs fine via boot camp no problems. I'm talking about running it through Parallels 4.0 virtual desktop for mac

Have you tried it via Crossover or Cider?

Also, what are your system specs, just for reference?

I'm going to be playing L4D on my 2.93 Quad with GTX285 when it comes, but under Boot Camp. If it runs well under Crossover/Parallels/Cider though, I may do that. Would be nice not to have to reboot to play it.

[Rodus]

^^Doesn't work on Crossover, there are no menus of HUD, might work on Cider.

[Dagless]

But if you run on Cider won't you lose the multiplayer, since you skip out Steam and Steam Servers? Single player L4D is worthless, multiplayer L4D is the best thing since sliced cheese on toast.

[eleven2brett]

That's crazy! Nice discovery. I wonder if VMware would be able to yield anything similar?

[Rodus]

VMware won't under X.5.7, 3D support is broken.

[toolbox]

i remember using cross over with left for dead, it was so choppy even turning the graphics down to the minimum.

[ayeying]

VMware won't under X.5.7, 3D support is broken.

Only for ATi video cards.