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Ovenall

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
62
4
Chicago
I'm running a MacBook Pro with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM.

I have a Boot Camp installation of Windows Vista with SP2 and plenty of room to install the game, but I'm wondering how my specs shape up to the minimum/recommended specs that Bioware has listed for Dragon Age 2:

Recommended:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz Processor or equivalent
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 Triple core 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 2GB (4 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Video: ATI 3850 512 MB or greater
Video: NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 MB or greater
DirectX 11: ATI 5850 or greater
DirectX 11: NVIDIA 460 or greater

Minimum:
OS: Windows XP with SP3
OS: Windows Vista with SP2
OS: Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo (or equivalent) running at 1.8 GHz or greater
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 (or equivalent) running at 1.8 GHz or greater
RAM: 1 GB (1.5 GB Vista and Windows 7)
Video: Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256 MB cards
Disc Drive: DVD ROM drive required
Hard Drive: 7 GB
Sound: Direct X 9.0c Compatible Sound Card Windows Experience Index: 4.5

I don't need to play at maximum resolution. I just don't know how to translate the specs given to what graphics capabilities my Mac has. For what it's worth, I was able to install Oblivion and play it at fairly high settings. I never tried the original Dragon Age.

I'd rather not get the Mac version of the game as I read that Dragon Age 1 for the Mac was pretty poorly done compared to the PC version.

I realize this is somewhat speculative as the game is not released yet, but thanks for any help or insight you can give me.
 

Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
You need to list your graphics card. If it's a 320M, you should be OK on medium. If you have a 15" with the 330M, you should be good to go on high.

BTW, the game is looking like it'll be on a hybrid disc, so you'll be able to try it out on both OSes.
 
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Ovenall

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
62
4
Chicago
Groan. Sorry, forgot to add the graphics card...

It's a GeForce 8600M GT. My MacBook Pro is from early 2008, and might be a 2007 model.
 

Ovenall

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
62
4
Chicago
Thanks for the replies. Very much appreciated.

Anyone else have a different opinion on this? Just wondering.

I'll probably buy it anyway and try it out. I plan on getting a new MBP this year (15", highest specs) once they finally release a new batch of them. Then I can install it on that one and give it a try.
 

bismarrck

macrumors newbie
Jul 19, 2010
7
0
Macworld told us that DA2 runs even better than DAO. Interesting!

So your 8600mgt would be sure to handle it well as well as my 9600mgt.

I have preordered the retail version. Preying to get it earlier:p
 

Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
I'll probably buy it anyway and try it out. I plan on getting a new MBP this year (15", highest specs) once they finally release a new batch of them. Then I can install it on that one and give it a try.

In that case, you will definitely be fine. All signs are pointing to a MBP refresh around mid-March.
 

DoghouseMike

macrumors regular
Jan 18, 2011
159
13
UK
Yea, you're kinda falling between the minimum specs (ie "will barely run it") and the recommended specs (or "will run it pretty well"), so deffo playable, probably mediumish settings.
 

SuperMatt

Suspended
Mar 28, 2002
1,569
8,281
I'm running a MacBook Pro with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM.

I'd rather not get the Mac version of the game as I read that Dragon Age 1 for the Mac was pretty poorly done compared to the PC version.

I'm not sure where you read this, but I played through DA:O twice, and have installed all sorts of mods and downloadable content. I haven't had problems with it. I have a MBP 17" 2.8GHz. I also believe that DA 2 will be coming out on a hybrid install disk. You could install the mac version and try it out before doing the boot camp thing. I think it's much more convenient to play games in the OS X environment than it is to reboot every time you want to play. I have recently been playing Dead Space, and it really is inconvenient to reboot all the time. With Dragon Age, I could just open it for a quick gaming session, and jump back out to the Mac OS, or even go into windowed mode and check something on my mac without even quitting the game.

Matthew
 

Ovenall

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
62
4
Chicago
I'm not sure where you read this, but I played through DA:O twice, and have installed all sorts of mods and downloadable content. I haven't had problems with it. I have a MBP 17" 2.8GHz. I also believe that DA 2 will be coming out on a hybrid install disk. You could install the mac version and try it out before doing the boot camp thing. I think it's much more convenient to play games in the OS X environment than it is to reboot every time you want to play. I have recently been playing Dead Space, and it really is inconvenient to reboot all the time. With Dragon Age, I could just open it for a quick gaming session, and jump back out to the Mac OS, or even go into windowed mode and check something on my mac without even quitting the game.

Matthew

I'm glad to hear you had a good experience with DA1 on OSX. I can't remember where I read it, but I do remember reading more than once that the performance was really choppy on the Mac version even on higher end machines. I never tried it, so I cannot say for sure myself, only reporting what I had read.

It's great news that it's Mac and PC on one disc. I certainly will try the OSX install first (once I get my new machine) as I agree booting into Windows just to play a game is annoying.

Question - you WERE able to install mods for Dragon Age on the Mac version?
 

SuperMatt

Suspended
Mar 28, 2002
1,569
8,281
Question - you WERE able to install mods for Dragon Age on the Mac version?

Yes. Most of them are dazip files, which you can install using the Modazipin software. A few mods had to be manually placed in the famous "core/override" folder which, on the mac, is in the Bioware folder which is within the documents folder. I think one of them was an exe file, which I opened with Wine and it installed without issue. Each mod is different, but like I said, most are dazip files, and you should google "modazipin" and use that to manage all your mods.
 

foiden

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2008
809
13
Macworld told us that DA2 runs even better than DAO. Interesting!

So your 8600mgt would be sure to handle it well as well as my 9600mgt.

I have preordered the retail version. Preying to get it earlier:p

That would be fantastic if that is true. DAO ran very well on even the 2010 MBA 13' Ultimate in Windows 7. It's quite playable on all high settings in 1280x800. Very impressive to get nearly all bells and whistles on that thing and still watch it play quite smoothly.
 

Ovenall

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
62
4
Chicago
Bumping this one last time because I just lost my job, and won't be getting a new MacBook Pro any time soon.

So again... Anyone have opinions on how well it might play on my machine?:

Late 2007 MacBook Pro with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB RAM, GeForce 8600M GT

I'd just like to hear more opinions. I have a Boot Camp partition, so I could play in Windows or OSX. My point is, if it seems like it wouldn't run very well on my machine I'll get it for Xbox (though I'd rather not)

Thanks again for your help everyone.
 

Ovenall

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
62
4
Chicago
Huntn:

I'm looking for speculation on running Dragon Age 2 on my machine... I posted the system requirements for DA2 at the top of the thread. Thanks.
 

Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,393
30
if its the 512MB 8600 you will be running DA:2 on high under bootcamp, and low under MAC unless the mac code is native this time.

they haven't really changed the engine from last game, and i have both PC and MAC versions,

MAC version of DA:O is barely playable on the MBP with everything set to low.
PC Version under Windows 7 on bootcamp runs on very high ok, and High smooth as silk.


oh and the XboX version of DA:O was a laughing stock in terms of poor quality, low res over compressed textures and crapy graphics..
either play it under windows, or get a PS3
 
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Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,393
30
oh, and on a side note,

Dragon Age 2 has MAC and PC version on one disk.. so you can buy it once and install it under OSX and again under Windows on bootcamp and see how badly the MAC OS is lagging as a gaming platform.
 

doh123

macrumors 65816
Dec 28, 2009
1,304
2
oh, and on a side note,

Dragon Age 2 has MAC and PC version on one disk.. so you can buy it once and install it under OSX and again under Windows on bootcamp and see how badly the MAC OS is lagging as a gaming platform.

I wouldn't blame a Cider port performing poorly on just Mac OS X... its basically running the Windows version with an extra translation layer.
 

bluebomberman

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2005
919
0
Queens, NYC
Demo is now live, although the download speed isn't exactly stellar; might want to wait for a mirror to pop up somewhere.

Sadly, no Mac demo; Windows only. I'm going to try to Wineskin it, just for kicks. (Low expectations!)
 

Ovenall

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
62
4
Chicago
Good news!

I downloaded and played the demo last night on my MacBook Pro (see specs at very top of the thread, graphics card is GeForce 8600M GT)

It ran smoothly with Medium level graphics. High level graphics was locked out... not sure if it was just on my machine or not. There were some issues with pauses before and during cut scenes, but it has been acknowledged by Bioware that these are issues with the demo and will be fixed in the final game.

It's definitely a demo. Lots of stuff is locked out to keep the file size down I suppose. And possibly there will be some areas with more massive fights and performance might be worse, but I am very, very pleasantly surprised by how well it works so far.
 

DoghouseMike

macrumors regular
Jan 18, 2011
159
13
UK
For what it's worth, it runs pretty awesomely on a 2010 13inch MBP, under windows 7, with "Medium" settings.
High is blocked out unless you enable the DX11 renderer, which needed something else switching on too (full screen somethingorother), and after all that it was pretty jerky, and didn't, to my eyes, look much better. I think there were fancier shadows, and some things looked a bit shinier, but I didn't persevere much with high settings, to be honest. Perhaps the full game will offer "advanced" settings, so you can play with better textures but less detailed shadows and water, or something. Like most games do.
There is a thread on here to do with overclocking the the 320m though, so perhaps the extra performance gained from that would make "High" playable. I might have a bit more of a play when the full game is out, but only have the xbox version on preorder
 

Ovenall

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
62
4
Chicago
Regarding the Xbox version:

http://www.gamespot.com/shows/now-playing/?event=now_playing_dragon_age_ii20110222

This is a 30 minute video (!!) with an interview and tons of real gameplay footage of the Xbox version. I didn't watch the whole thing, but I have to say that after seeing the parts I saw I may just get it for Xbox, period.

OK, I'm seeing it on a small video window in an online vid, but it looks really damn good, better than DA1 for XBox by a long shot. And the camera control and angles looks the same as what they have in the PC demo. Also, some of the party control, selecting people, etc., seemed really clunky in the PC demo. I know a really high end PC with all the bells and whistles on will look and probably perform better, but I don't have a really high end PC.

I'm seriously considering just going for the Xbox version now.
 

ChronoIMG

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2003
196
0
San Francisco, CA
I've played all three versions of the DA2 demo (Xbox, PS3, and PC) and I'd rate them in the following order: Xbox 360 > PC > PS3

The game just feels really good with a controller due to it's faster paced combat although you can still pause and choose targets on all versions so the tactical combat option is still there.

I'll probably be buying it on all three platforms, again, so it won't matter either way but if I could only buy one version and I wanted it to perform well I'd vote Xbox 360.
 
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