Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

BioShock for Mac announced

Eddeduck-

One other question-I have a 24" imac, 2.8EE processor, and 2GB of ram (not sure on the video card, but I can check-I know it's the ATI brand). If I play this with everything maxed, there is significant stutter. If I took the easy way out and bumped the ram up to the maximum allowable 6GB, would that be the edge needed to play this game with ll of the detail turned up? Or do I simply need a better graphics card, and by default, a new imac?

Thanks in advance.
 
Just finished playing through the demo on my 3 GHz iMac with 8800 GS running 10.6.1 -- I'll post my first impressions here as someone who's played through the entire PC version on this machine in boot camp (Vista).

I maxed all settings and the resolution (1920x1200). Framerate wise, on the PC side with maxed settings I get very smooth gameplay with few (if any) noticeable slowdowns in combat sequences. In the Mac version, the demo was perfectly playable (never slideshowing), but was consistently laggy and didn't give me a framerate I would play the full game with. Hopefully this is just a factor of the NVidia drivers and will be cleared up when 10.6.2 comes out.

Graphically, looked pretty much exactly like the PC version, and I didn't have any graphical glitches. This was nice, since I had to deal with a variety of driver-related glitches when I played the PC version.

The one graphics-related disappointment is the lack of DirectX 10 effects. Most of the time these are minor, but they are definitely noticeable in particle effects -- primarily water (like in the flooded corridor in the demo and splashes as NPCs walk in water) and also dust/fog (like when the big daddy in the demo runs). The particle effects look fine in the Mac version, but definitely not as nice as the PC version with DirectX 10 goodies enabled. You can see screenshots of the difference if you google for a DirectX 9 vs. 10 comparison of the PC version.

Other thoughts -- demo didn't have the 'Disable Vita Chamber' option that the PC version has, though that might be present in the full game. Loading logos are skippable, which is nice (since they aren't in the PC version). Also, the demo is the actual first level from the game, rather than the somewhat modified first level that comprises the PC demo.

Haven't decided yet if I'll buy the full game (would primarily to support Feral, since I bought the PC version off Steam for $5 awhile ago), but looks to be a solid port overall.
 
Rich1963 said:
Eddeduck-

One other question-I have a 24" imac, 2.8EE processor, and 2GB of ram (not sure on the video card, but I can check-I know it's the ATI brand). If I play this with everything maxed, there is significant stutter. If I took the easy way out and bumped the ram up to the maximum allowable 6GB, would that be the edge needed to play this game with ll of the detail turned up? Or do I simply need a better graphics card, and by default, a new imac?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Have you tried knocking down the graphics( resolution) a notch? 2nd step is to turn off a few things AA etc. Adding memory will gain you some frames. 6 is overkill unless you need it elsewhere. 4 would be good. Sounds like you have a 2600 pro in your machine.
Support mac gaming and kickout Boot camp. and no im not eddeduck but your welcome.
 
Demo looks really smooth on medium settings, though i wonder would 4GB ram help in getting the game to run with the high end shaders turned on. I tried it out and while a little choppy on my Geforce 9400 the difference was night and day in the visual experience.
 
Magic Mouse

I noticed that someone asked about the Magic Mouse. I'm sure if you got the game by now and the mouse (both came on the same day for me. Christmas in November!) then you don't need this update but it works fine. I had some problems with switching weapons when it would shoot bullets instead of switch but for the most part everything works great.
 
Rich1963 said:
I have a 24" imac, 2.8EE processor, and 2GB of ram (not sure on the video card, but I can check-I know it's the ATI brand). If I play this with everything maxed, there is significant stutter.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Your machine does not have a card that can handle the high end effects at huge resolutions. This game in extremely complex and trying to play native resolution on a 24" display just plain overwhelms the graphics card you have. If you drop the resolution a bit and use the default settings the game first starts with you should get the best mixture of graphics and performance.

Zortrium said:
this is just a factor of the NVidia drivers and will be cleared up when 10.6.2 comes out.
Click to expand...

Yes, you are noticing the driver bug. 10.6.2 should fix that up.

Zortrium said:
Other thoughts -- demo didn't have the 'Disable Vita Chamber' option that the PC version.
Click to expand...

The full game does but the Mac (and PC) demo do not have this option as the demo has disabled saved games so the vita chamber option is not really useful. (The vita chamber option was added to the PC in a patch).

Zortrium said:
looks to be a solid port overall.
Click to expand...

Thanks! :)

babyjenniferLB said:
Demo looks really smooth on medium settings, though i wonder would 4GB ram help in getting the game to run with the high end shaders turned on. I tried it out and while a little choppy on my Geforce 9400 the difference was night and day in the visual experience.
Click to expand...

You are playing with an integrated graphics card (it has no real VRAM just shared RAM) so their is a limit to how much it can do. The 9400 card is a replacement for the GMA series and is not really meant for gaming. More RAM will always help but I would recommend medium settings for the best overall experience. You can always try turning on different options high resolutions and shadows are the big performance killers.

LouiTheFish said:
I had some problems with switching weapons when it would shoot bullets instead of switch but for the most part everything works great.
Click to expand...

You need to remember to lift your left finger off the mouse when right clicking else it thinks you are left clicking and shoots. That is how the mighty and magic mouse work which make them a little harder to use in FPS games.

Cheers,

Edwin
 
Rich1963 said:
I'm not sure how much information you can impart on sales, but if it is at all possible...
Click to expand...

'Fraid we can't give information on sales. :( With regards to the size of the mac market though... well, it's tiny compared to the PC market, but that doesn't mean it's small! It's growing every day too as more PC and iPod owners decide to switch. I think the fact that we're releasing a game like Bioshock is proof that Mac gaming is looking pretty healthy right now! Glad you're loving the game.
 
The demo is huge, but I will download it eventually and the PC demo (unmetered) just to see how they compare, it sounds pretty good though.
 
Just got my copy of BioShock from the mailman! I'll play it in the evening and will post some thoughts later.

I've already played a tiny bit of the demo in the 1920x1200 resolution on my iMac with all the settings on maximum and everything runs smoothly with only one small hickup so far when you're descending down into rapture in the capsule (the bit when you're passing the silver statues). Great job so far! Thanks for an awesome-looking port! :)
 
On travel this week and stopped at a nearby :apple: store. They had Bioshock on the shelf so I bought it. Too bad I am on travel with my Macbook (2008). Will be home tomorrow and install it on my Mac Pro w/ the ATI4870 :D
 
Well I just got my copy:) First thing I did was turn everything on and set my resolution to 1600 x900. Now this is on a new iMac 21.5 with the 4670. Game looked great,really great and have put down a few splicers. Default setting seemed really low and perhaps when there is a lot of stuff going it may slow down but so far from what I have seen very playable at 1600 x 900 on the new iMac. Really just a great atmosphere being under water in this very strange city. Looks beautiful to say the least.
Couple of things there is a update for the game for those nvidia drivers and a few other things which I downloaded right away. Brings the game to 1.01 version. Looks terrific and thanks to Feral for bringing this one to the Mac! Going to take my sweet old time on this one for sure.
 
edddeduck said:
http://downloads.feralinteractive.com

Keep watching that link, you might just see a demo appear soon. ;) A patch for the full game (demo is already patched) adding in extra pad support will be going live at the same time.

Cheers,

Edwin

EDIT: The Demo is now live and so is the patch enjoy!
Click to expand...


Thank you for the link almost got it downloaded. I've always wanted to play this game and saw it once on my friend's
x-box ..... Thanks
 
Performance is complete turd on my 2.4GHz 4GB 9600GT MBP :( Turning off vsync helps a lot but then there's the unplayable tearing that comes with the engine.

And even then the FPS is not playable. Turning to medium is barely playable but looks quite bad compared to high.
 
SebZen said:
Performance is complete turd on my 2.4GHz 4GB 9600GT MBP
Click to expand...

NV have a big driver bug in 10.6 (for ALL NV cards) that is not fixed until 10.6.2. We tried to have the best work around possible which allows you to play on lower settings but the full performance cannot be regained until the drivers are updated in 10.6.2

Edwin

Feral Interactive
 
edddeduck said:
NV have a big driver bug in 10.6 (for ALL NV cards) that is not fixed until 10.6.2. We tried to have the best work around possible which allows you to play on lower settings but the full performance cannot be regained until the drivers are updated in 10.6.2

Edwin

Feral Interactive
Click to expand...

I didn't know about this bug! I'll wait for 10.6.2 to download the demo then... Thanks for the heads up!
 
Cool game and is just a tad on the freaked side. :) Playing now on my MP at 1920 x 1080 with zero issues. I didn't update/patch yet though. Just got to the Dental Ward.
 
Freaky is true, I kind of wish I could just sneak into some of these rooms and listen and watch what these freaks do just for fun, what a bunch of nuts but they all seem to want to come after you. Good old trusty pipe wrench. NO AMMO NEEDED.:)
 
Dont Hurt Me said:
Freaky is true, I kind of wish I could just sneak into some of these rooms and listen and watch what these freaks do just for fun, what a bunch of nuts but they all seem to want to come after you. Good old trusty pipe wrench. NO AMMO NEEDED.:)
Click to expand...

In the full game you can research the Hudini splicers with the research camera and if you get enough research points on them you to can learn to become invisible if you stay still for a few seconds. Lets you snoop on loads of weird conversations (and makes it a lot easier to survive on the harder modes).

Edwin
 
Just downloaded the demo. Looks great on my MP at 1920 with the 4870.

Now I need to find the full copy, hopefully apple has it near me.
 
Just thought I would mention I turned down the resolution to widescreen 1280 to get buttery smooth framerates. It was playable in 1600 but when you started dealing with multiple enemys at the same time the extra frames helped. Everything is on that can be turned on for the 4670 including vert sync. What a great game and a great looking game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back