OS X Sims 4 Mac - System Requirements

That-Guy · Feb 8, 2015

Well Sims 4 will be released on 17th of Feb for Mac.

The minimum system requirements are:

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.7.5 Lion
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz Processor or better
RAM: 4GB of RAM
Hard Drive: 10GB of free space, plus extra 1GB for custom content/game saves
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro or better
Video RAM: 256MB

The problem I have now is I have promised this game to my partner as a late Christmas present but am now unsure if my Mac Mini will even run the game due to graphics performance.

You can see the main specs of my Mac Mini in my signature below, but the graphics are Intel HD 4000 1024mb of RAM. Will the onboard graphics be powerful enough?

Or is anyone else already running Sims 4 on a Mac Mini through Bootcamp?

saturnotaku · Feb 8, 2015

The HD4000 is more powerful than the GeForce 9600. You should be fine running at 720p resolution and medium details.

sleek881 · Feb 8, 2015

I ran Sims 4 on my 2011 Air and it only has Intel HD Graphics 3000 and it ran fine, no slowing down at all. That was through Bootcamp.

Solomani · Feb 9, 2015

Been an on-again-off-again Sims fan since the beginning. I just hope that EA actually took this LOOOOONG delay time to do a proper MacOSX port.

Curse them to Hell if they did the same thing like in TS3 for Mac . a crap-tastic sluggish and bug-ridden Cider port.

There is a reason why Electronic Arts had been voted "Worst (US) Company of the Year" several times in a row.

P.S. OP thanks for listing the System Reqs.

That-Guy · Feb 11, 2015

Do I need to download Origin and install it on my Mac to be able to purchase and download Sims 4 for Mac?

or

Do I just need an EA account to download from the EA site?

or

Do I need an Origin Account and download from the Origin Site?

Can you tell I'm not a gamer

cerote · Feb 11, 2015

That-Guy said:
Do I need to download Origin and install it on my Mac to be able to purchase and download Sims 4 for Mac?

or

Do I just need an EA account to download from the EA site?

or

Do I need an Origin Account and download from the Origin Site?

Can you tell I'm not a gamer

You will need Origin is my guess. EA distributes games through Origin.

bmac89 · Feb 11, 2015

EA distributes its games using Origin. However if the game comes to the Mac App Store - which I assume it eventually will at some stage in the future... you won't need Origin for that version.

cerote · Feb 11, 2015

Since it is allowing cross platform buy then I would grab it now for cheaper price. Origin is having a sale on Sims games right now and you can get the digital deluxe version of Sims 4 for $46.66.

Sale is going on for 1 more day.

Solomani · Feb 11, 2015

bmac89 said:
EA distributes its games using Origin. However if the game comes to the Mac App Store - which I assume it eventually will at some stage in the future... you won't need Origin for that version.

It's possible that EA may release a Mac App Store version, but that is highly unlikely any time soon. Currently, all the "Sims" games on the Mac App Store are Aspyr ports. They are not Electronic Arts releases.

So in summary: If Aspyr had done this TS4 Mac port, then a MAS version would be supported when it was released. EA, on the other hand, usually ignores the MAS. The last time EA ever uploaded any Mac games to the MAS was in 2012. The game was Real Racing 2.

bmac89 · Feb 12, 2015

Solomani said:
It's possible that EA may release a Mac App Store version, but that is highly unlikely any time soon. Currently, all the "Sims" games on the Mac App Store are Aspyr ports. They are not Electronic Arts releases.

So in summary: If Aspyr had done this TS4 Mac port, then a MAS version would be supported when it was released. EA, on the other hand, usually ignores the MAS. The last time EA ever uploaded any Mac games to the MAS was in 2012. The game was Real Racing 2.

Thanks for the clarification. I just assumed Aspyr might port it as I have seen Sims 2 on MAS.

Janichsan · Feb 12, 2015

Solomani said:
It's possible that EA may release a Mac App Store version, but that is highly unlikely any time soon. Currently, all the "Sims" games on the Mac App Store are Aspyr ports. They are not Electronic Arts releases.

Aspyr just recently released a modified version EA's own Mac port of the latest SimCity on the MAS, so I wouldn't completely rule out that TS4 will someday turn up there. But that probably won't be in the nearest future.

roadbloc · Feb 12, 2015

Sims 4 is a massive downgrade in comparison to Sims 3. I would encourage everyone to boycott Sims 4 and play Sims 3 instead. It is a much better game, much cheaper, available without EAs horrible DRM and will work on lesser hardware.

In my mind you're a fool if you buy Sims 4.

Paulyboy · Feb 12, 2015

roadbloc said:
Sims 4 is a massive downgrade in comparison to Sims 3. I would encourage everyone to boycott Sims 4 and play Sims 3 instead. It is a much better game, much cheaper, available without EAs horrible DRM and will work on lesser hardware.

In my mind you're a fool if you buy Sims 4.

Or just buy The Sims 2 Super Collection on the MAS. It's arguably the best title in the series, comes with a ton of extra content, and was ported by Aspyr so you know it's a native, well done port.

The Sims 3 may be a pretty good game but the Mac version is complete garbage and you simply won't get the same value from purchasing vanilla Sims 3 then you would from purchasing The Sims 2 Super Collection on the MAS.

We don't yet know if The Sims 4 Mac is even a decent port. However we do know even on sale it's pretty expensive by today's standards, and that's not even including the Outdoor Living DLC and the "Get Things Done" (or whatever it's called) expansion due out in a few months.

That-Guy · Feb 12, 2015

Just purchased the digital deluxe version for £39.99 which is a £20 saving.

Purchased for the better half so not too bothered how it compares to previous versions, all I know is I have saved 20 quid

Surfheart · Feb 16, 2015

This should be out today for the Mac?

That-Guy · Feb 16, 2015

6pm UK time according to origin

That-Guy · Feb 18, 2015

Well the gf has been playing for a few hours now and no issues with the game so far

Changed the graphics quality from Low/720p to Medium/1080p and seems pretty good!

cerote · Feb 18, 2015

Running better than Sims 3 on my late 2012 27in iMac.

luke lau · Feb 22, 2015

It's out? How did I miss this? Hopefully I'll get to try it out tomorrow, I've been waiting ages for this port

mattdanielc · Feb 24, 2015

hi guys....what spec is the Isis Pro?

I didn't buy my new imac for gaming, but I was wondering what it 'matches' so I can see if I can play any games or not.

So just wondering if I can play sims 4 or the like

Cheers

luke lau · Feb 24, 2015

mattdanielc said:
hi guys....what spec is the Isis Pro?

Didn't know Intel had a dedicated Islamic state graphics card

Surfheart · Feb 26, 2015

mattdanielc said:
hi guys....what spec is the Isis Pro?

I didn't buy my new imac for gaming, but I was wondering what it 'matches' so I can see if I can play any games or not.

So just wondering if I can play sims 4 or the like

Cheers

Runs fine on my retina macbook with Iris pro.. Mix of high/medium settings at 2560x1600. Just make sure you turn edge smoothing off.

mattdanielc · Feb 27, 2015

Surfheart said:
Runs fine on my retina macbook with Iris pro.. Mix of high/medium settings at 2560x1600. Just make sure you turn edge smoothing off.

Thank you.

Quick question though, and sorry if this is dumb... how can you play at that resolution on a 'small' screen of what 15"? My iMac 21.5" only has 1920x1080?

I noticed the settings when I tried to play starcraft that I could choose higher - but surely you're stuck by the size of the monitor? (so I didn't change it)

Surfheart · Mar 1, 2015

mattdanielc said:
Thank you.

Quick question though, and sorry if this is dumb... how can you play at that resolution on a 'small' screen of what 15"? My iMac 21.5" only has 1920x1080?

I noticed the settings when I tried to play starcraft that I could choose higher - but surely you're stuck by the size of the monitor? (so I didn't change it)

There is a "Retina Mode" in the Sims 4 settings that scales up user interface elements in the same way the OS X does.

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