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*LTD*

macrumors G4
Original poster
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
I wonder how no anti-aliasing, no shadows, bad lighting got by their crack team of testers.

sims3.tif
 

alkar

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2008
166
22
translation : we will try to kick Transgaming's asses and hopefully they'll fix it for us one day. Since EA has nothing to do with Cider...
 

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Original poster
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
translation : we will try to kick Transgaming's asses and hopefully they'll fix it for us one day. Since EA has nothing to do with Cider...

EA is responsible for what they put their name to.

Again, even a minute of testing would have revealed these problems.

EA is just plain lazy.
 

alkar

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2008
166
22
EA is responsible for hiring the Transgaming devs to port their games, but they have nothing to do with the testing imo.

I really think the Cider guys thought the port was ok enough for EA... Anyway, bare in mind that Spore was the same and so was Red Alert 3, although I think the shadows were fine, there was no FSAA at all, while the windows version had options about this.... and they never fixed it...

SO i doubt it s gonna happen with Sims 3, at least for FSAA I mean... We will see.
 

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Original poster
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
EA is responsible for hiring the Transgaming devs to port their games, but they have nothing to do with the testing imo.

I really think the Cider guys thought the port was ok enough for EA... Anyway, bare in mind that Spore was the same and so was Red Alert 3, although I think the shadows were fine, there was no FSAA at all, while the windows version had options about this.... and they never fixed it...

SO i doubt it s gonna happen with Sims 3, at least for FSAA I mean... We will see.

It's scary, though, that EA doesn't simply test Transgaming's work.

What really bothers me, however, is the attitude of Mac users on the Sims 3 boards. Like it doesn't really matter, and that EA can release the fix (whatever that will entail) whenever they feel like it. No wonder developers think it's Ok to write half-assed ports for the Mac. Most of us shell out the money and we don't even care when we're getting ripped off.

If you look at the thread I started (as CRS77), I'm being told that EA knew about this issue but didn't release any information about it. They apparently disabled anti-aliasing, shadows, and lighting effects for "compatibility reasons", and then happily went on promoting this version as the same as the Windows version. They kept quiet about it in order to ride thr hype wave and grab the entire potential user base early on. A later-released Mac version would have been a much lesser event, especially in the wake of possible lukewarm reviews for the Windows version.

Gross misrepresentation by EA.
 

alkar

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2008
166
22
This is true.. I'm not sure about Shadows problem being known, but for sure about FSAA since the dialog box in game about this was simply REMOVED when running the game on OSX, so for sure they didnt want you to try to enable it.

Personally I tried to force it with OpenGL Profiler (works for some games) but in this case it makes a black screen....
 

rasmasyean

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2008
810
1
Well, not saying that they are not wrong to be so quiet about the differences but technically, you could have read some reviews on this before you bought the game. If you never knew of the Vista version, then you would not be so upset I guess.

But I'm surprised you can't get an exchange. I would write to EA and tell them how you feel about this and see what they do. Since they are aware of the issue, maybe might give you a new download.
 

MacAndy74

macrumors 65816
Mar 19, 2009
1,050
0
Australia
I'm sorry but that's a pretty poor effort by EA. Twittered @TheSims3 with my disappointment. :mad:

I've also posted my disgust on the EA Forums. Looks like I'll be playing Sims 3 in Boot Camp.
 

luffytubby

macrumors 6502a
Jan 22, 2008
684
0
Nobody cares about native Mac gaming. It's a lost cause. Just Bootcamp, and pretend Mac games do not exsist.
 

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Original poster
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
Currently Bootcamping it, playing it on XP SP2.

Totally different game. Really. Makes the Mac version look like an Alpha.

This should hold me over for a while until I want back in on EVE Online. I almost had an EVE relapse today but I was able to hold back. Too many commitments, can't allow MMOs to interefere with life. But it was sooo hard not to reactivate my accounts. I hope they'll be on the EVE servers for a while longer.
 

aki

macrumors 6502a
Mar 2, 2004
688
0
Japan
Totally different game. Really. Makes the Mac version look like an Alpha.

agree....sadly

if you already have bootcamp set up you should definitely install the windows version

if you havent you should think about free windows 7 demo and setting up bootcamp
 

doh123

macrumors 65816
Dec 28, 2009
1,304
2
some people don't care because they simply do not cate for bits of eye candy when the game is just fine for them... not surprising.

There are Native games not using anything Wine based that also have similar issues that never get fixed... so don't blame it on the fact that its Cider.

people crap on Cider and Wine stuff all the time, yet they don't realize that they wouldn't have had it any other way... they'd rather not have a game at all than have one with a couple of minor features not working... I find it absurd.
 

NeighborMike

macrumors newbie
Dec 29, 2010
23
0
I wonder how no anti-aliasing, no shadows, bad lighting got by their crack team of testers.

sims3.tif

the testers working on this project were a bunch of scrubs

the area that tests this game is filled with part time college students, its not like the other EA locations
 

archurban

macrumors 6502a
Aug 4, 2004
918
0
San Francisco, CA
wow, really? I have no idea. I never played Sim game in my life. it's just not my taste. anyway, that's really shock. normally the most games have video setting options for them. just wow. you know, you'd better play WOW.
 

Blondie :)

macrumors 6502a
May 12, 2010
698
3
Prescott, AZ
I think it's honestly the fact that mac games simply haven't been played around with enough. Programmers, testers, and developers are still trying to figure out how to make good ports for Mac games. Whilst some wouldn't think it should be that different, the differences between Unix and DOS bases are quite extensive. And when you think about it, games are practically destined to work better in windows. Because people have been designing games for windows for years. Mac games only truly started with Starcraft. And then died for years. Until just recently. So it will definitely take some time for Mac games to get up there, but they will eventually :)
 

rasmasyean

macrumors 6502a
Jul 11, 2008
810
1
I think it's honestly the fact that mac games simply haven't been played around with enough. Programmers, testers, and developers are still trying to figure out how to make good ports for Mac games. Whilst some wouldn't think it should be that different, the differences between Unix and DOS bases are quite extensive. And when you think about it, games are practically destined to work better in windows. Because people have been designing games for windows for years. Mac games only truly started with Starcraft. And then died for years. Until just recently. So it will definitely take some time for Mac games to get up there, but they will eventually :)

It's mostly the economic reasons though. Since Mac users don't fall deeply into the demographic of "gamers" there's hardly any money in it. Therefore, Steve Jobs as well as the game devs divert their resources elsewhere...wether it be new touch screen crap or advance DX crap. The only way Mac games will approach Windows games is when and IF they have a much huger market share that there are millions of potential gamers to sell to...or they somehow become so much better for gaming that it entices all the gamers to switch to Mac. And being that Mac's are not really customizable and don't accept all video cards, the latter is not likely to ever happen unless there is a disruptive change in the way we build GPU's.
 

agdeva

macrumors newbie
Jul 15, 2011
1
0
I'm sorry but that's a pretty poor effort by EA. Twittered @TheSims3 with my disappointment. :mad:

I've also posted my disgust on the EA Forums. Looks like I'll be playing Sims 3 in Boot Camp.

I've been attempting to run Sims 3 in Boot Camp, but after getting everything set up I get an error message saying "Unable to start game. Device0 cannot run this title. No supported video graphics card detected. Please check your system hardware." Any suggestions?
 

BlindSoul

macrumors 6502
May 30, 2010
466
0
Israel
Sims 3 on Mac OS Works badly! Like really bad compared to Windows, It's laggy, Shows gray objects and I don't get how it's related to shadows. o_O
 

doh123

macrumors 65816
Dec 28, 2009
1,304
2
I've been attempting to run Sims 3 in Boot Camp, but after getting everything set up I get an error message saying "Unable to start game. Device0 cannot run this title. No supported video graphics card detected. Please check your system hardware." Any suggestions?

sounds like you never installed the Bootcamp driver pack in Windows after you got done doing the Windows install... its on the main OSX disc, and installs a bunch of drivers and stuff in Windows, including graphics drivers. After that you may want to find even newer updated drivers for the card if its an nvidia to download and install in Windows.
 
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