Yes, your iMac is more than powerful enough. You can run it max settings easily.
Regarding your second question, look here. (Spoiler: it's not compatible, for a seemingly silly reason.)
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Can I play Dragon Age 2 in Bootcamp on my particular Mac? Details inside:
- Thread starter Ovenall
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Yes, your iMac is more than powerful enough. You can run it max settings easily.
Regarding your second question, look here. (Spoiler: it's not compatible, for a seemingly silly reason.)
Well, I was a bit surprised by this, but I wonder what the High Graphics setting on the Mac version compares to. Unlike the Windows version, when running the game on the Mac side, there's only 2 selections. Low and High.
On my 13" MBA late 2010, it actually runs pretty well on High. If you bump up the resolution to 1280x800, it does have minor frame-rate fluctuations, but is playable, and the realtime cinematics do play at a higher framerate than trying to run the same game with the first DX11 mode in Direct X.
On the other hand, I wonder if the Mac version does any of the graphical stuff that is shown with the DX11 graphics or is it always DX9-quality? If the latter, it explains why the MBA would run it relatively well with the settings turned up. Though true, it's not quite as speedy as the High graphic option in DA1, which runs quite smooth at 1280x800, even though I would imagine DA2 is doing a lot more than DA1 did, graphically.
I just can't tell at this time. Yes, the character models seem to look better, but in DA1, my saves have my mage boosting party members with magical enchantments with all sorts of magical particle effects on them, I don't have that setup this early in DA2.
On my 13" MBA late 2010, it actually runs pretty well on High. If you bump up the resolution to 1280x800, it does have minor frame-rate fluctuations, but is playable, and the realtime cinematics do play at a higher framerate than trying to run the same game with the first DX11 mode in Direct X.
On the other hand, I wonder if the Mac version does any of the graphical stuff that is shown with the DX11 graphics or is it always DX9-quality? If the latter, it explains why the MBA would run it relatively well with the settings turned up. Though true, it's not quite as speedy as the High graphic option in DA1, which runs quite smooth at 1280x800, even though I would imagine DA2 is doing a lot more than DA1 did, graphically.
I just can't tell at this time. Yes, the character models seem to look better, but in DA1, my saves have my mage boosting party members with magical enchantments with all sorts of magical particle effects on them, I don't have that setup this early in DA2.
Did someone else try it? I have 2010 21.5 iMac. Should i buy it and instal it in OS X or forget about that?
Seems good, hopefully it will run perfect on my 2010 Macbook Pro with high settings at 1680x1050!
Well the wife played ALL day while I was at work slaving 
I got on after dinner and played till bedtime. No lockups at all. The only thing I noticed detrimental was the cinematics tend to shimmer sometimes. Overall I am really happy with the cider port.
I got on after dinner and played till bedtime. No lockups at all. The only thing I noticed detrimental was the cinematics tend to shimmer sometimes. Overall I am really happy with the cider port.
Anybody got opinions about the game itself? Maybe this isn't the right thread for me to whine about DA2's content, but my excitement has dropped somewhat after watching some of it on Youtube. It's never a good thing when the main character rubs you the wrong way, particularly LOLz-Hawke and his/her annoying accented Alisitar 2.0 snark.
Also not terribly impressed by how you fast forward through time in the beginning; it seems like really lazy storytelling and a bad portent for how the rest of the game was going to unfold. (x years later you kick lots of ass and take names and become really famous but you don't see or do any of that, you just have to take my word for it.)
Also not terribly impressed by how you fast forward through time in the beginning; it seems like really lazy storytelling and a bad portent for how the rest of the game was going to unfold. (x years later you kick lots of ass and take names and become really famous but you don't see or do any of that, you just have to take my word for it.)
I'm going to create my character -- ok, MODIFY their character -- later today when I get some more work out the way, but I've only gone through the hoops of installing the game and redeeming the DLC BS, since it's timestamped.
I've been listening to the soundtrack though and I noticed that some songs have an oriental influence. Is this the case for the game?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I'M REALLY TICKED OFF AT BIOWARE RIGHT NOW AND IT'S MY OWN FAULT!! SO I'm just venting!
The lack of tactical camera SUCKS ON AN EPIC SCALE!
MY RAGE IS ENOUGH, that if I ever meet up with the pin-head FRUITCAKE over at Bioware, or EA, that made this call, I'll spit on their face.
So far the game is just like the demo! It has a stupid click fest opening, then the long narrow trail! I DID NOT LIKE PLAYING THE FIRST PART AT ALL and it's enough that after I finish this game -- which I will, as it cost me $60, I'm not going to play it again.
I turned off ALL tactics, but there's NO way to tell a character, STAY!!! Don't charge over there you MORON, I'm attacking with an area effect FIREBALL! I'm playing on nightmare, so I have to be careful where I attack.
And on this BS! The STUPID area spells like to lock on to the nearest foe -- even if they're 15 FEET AWAY, which makes it difficult to place it exactly where I want it. And this is on top of the ASINE SH*** CAMERA, that's attached to the characters like it was on the dumbed down console version. What a DUMB way to control things.
And since EVERYONE and anybody are running around like ************* NINJAS, It's difficult to keep them safe when nuking. I pull out my bow, then a second later, the darkspawn is upon me, so I have to switch back to my daggers -- by GOING INTO THE INVENTORY SCREEN. What happened to the dual-weapon slot? What dip made this STUPID call?
The character creation isn't as good as the first DA, it's been simplified, when it shouldn't have been.
Oh, and I'm playing this under Windows 7 on my PC, which is on its own drive, because my XP 64 drive is getting full, and the game quit on me during the 4th battle -- good thing I save allot! DA:O HAS NEVER FREAKING QUIT ON ME and I played that game for all its was worth on nightmare.
Bioware is turning into s CRAP developer! And I'm an a*s, because I'll probably buy this vomit again -- yay for Mass Effect 3 and its default soldier emphasis -- thinking that maybe this time it won't be as bad. But once again, I've paid full price for a game I knew wasn't complete. yay...
OK, I'm done raging for now! GRRRRR!!!
-- later today when I get some more work out the way, but I've only gone through the hoops of installing the game and redeeming the DLC BS, since it's timestamped.I've been listening to the soundtrack though and I noticed that some songs have an oriental influence. Is this the case for the game?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I'M REALLY TICKED OFF AT BIOWARE RIGHT NOW AND IT'S MY OWN FAULT!! SO I'm just venting!
The lack of tactical camera SUCKS ON AN EPIC SCALE!
MY RAGE IS ENOUGH, that if I ever meet up with the pin-head FRUITCAKE over at Bioware, or EA, that made this call, I'll spit on their face.
So far the game is just like the demo! It has a stupid click fest opening, then the long narrow trail! I DID NOT LIKE PLAYING THE FIRST PART AT ALL and it's enough that after I finish this game -- which I will, as it cost me $60, I'm not going to play it again.
I turned off ALL tactics, but there's NO way to tell a character, STAY!!! Don't charge over there you MORON, I'm attacking with an area effect FIREBALL! I'm playing on nightmare, so I have to be careful where I attack.
And on this BS! The STUPID area spells like to lock on to the nearest foe -- even if they're 15 FEET AWAY, which makes it difficult to place it exactly where I want it. And this is on top of the ASINE SH*** CAMERA, that's attached to the characters like it was on the dumbed down console version. What a DUMB way to control things.
And since EVERYONE and anybody are running around like ************* NINJAS, It's difficult to keep them safe when nuking. I pull out my bow, then a second later, the darkspawn is upon me, so I have to switch back to my daggers -- by GOING INTO THE INVENTORY SCREEN. What happened to the dual-weapon slot? What dip made this STUPID call?
The character creation isn't as good as the first DA, it's been simplified, when it shouldn't have been.
Oh, and I'm playing this under Windows 7 on my PC, which is on its own drive, because my XP 64 drive is getting full, and the game quit on me during the 4th battle -- good thing I save allot! DA:O HAS NEVER FREAKING QUIT ON ME and I played that game for all its was worth on nightmare.
Bioware is turning into s CRAP developer! And I'm an a*s, because I'll probably buy this vomit again -- yay for Mass Effect 3 and its default soldier emphasis
-- thinking that maybe this time it won't be as bad. But once again, I've paid full price for a game I knew wasn't complete. yay...OK, I'm done raging for now! GRRRRR!!!
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Oof... this game CHUGS on my Mac in OSX..
No matter what I do my computer heats up to 100+ degrees with the fans spinning at 6200rpm+
I tried playing this on Low at the lowest res and low at the highest res and only the only thing that changes is the graphics. It's equally slow across the board..
Can't Bootcamp because Mass Effect 2's sucking up all the space and it seems very complicated to add more space to my Bootcamp partition
Hurry up Sandy Bridge iMacs!!
No matter what I do my computer heats up to 100+ degrees with the fans spinning at 6200rpm+
I tried playing this on Low at the lowest res and low at the highest res and only the only thing that changes is the graphics. It's equally slow across the board..
Can't Bootcamp because Mass Effect 2's sucking up all the space and it seems very complicated to add more space to my Bootcamp partition
Hurry up Sandy Bridge iMacs!!
Oof... this game CHUGS on my Mac in OSX..
No matter what I do my computer heats up to 100+ degrees with the fans spinning at 6200rpm+
I tried playing this on Low at the lowest res and low at the highest res and only the only thing that changes is the graphics. It's equally slow across the board..
Can't Bootcamp because Mass Effect 2's sucking up all the space and it seems very complicated to add more space to my Bootcamp partition
Hurry up Sandy Bridge iMacs!!
I have the 17" MBP with similar specs to the MBP listed in your profile. I played on Medium settings at 1920x1200 and only had 1 slowdown (during an area where there was extensive overhead lighting, similar to the Haven cave cathedral in Origins). Get a new hard drive and bootcamp it or don't play on your 24" display.
...
I'M REALLY TICKED OFF AT BIOWARE RIGHT NOW AND IT'S MY OWN FAULT!! SO I'm just venting!
The lack of tactical camera SUCKS ON AN EPIC SCALE!
The topdown tactical camera was terrible in DA:O; I repeatedly had to zoom in to switch to the standard view. I am more than satisfied with the the DA2 camera setup in delivering combat visibility.
Anger issues, amirite?
DA:O was a clickfest and had way too much awkward combat movement. At least they added the ability to close quickly and made combat much more dynamic. The PC has auto-attack enabled so the clicking isn't even that bad.
Bottom left. You see the button that tells them to hold position? Tactics. You see the options for Passive/Default to avoid melee or hold position?
You play on nightmare but can't figure out basic things?
What are you on about? The AOE targeting system is ridiculous easy, it does have a "grid" lock where it likes to jump to individual enemies but it's not that hard to place when you have the game paused.
You're switching between archery and dual weapons? You took points in both talent trees? Lol? Learn to stealth btw.
Customization is still there and the presets are actually decent this time. Beyond the lack of individual origins, it offers enough ability to change your character's look without making it overly complex. Why don't we just let import 3DS Max models while we're at it.
Bioware is turning into s CRAP developer! And I'm an a*s, because I'll probably buy this vomit again -- yay for Mass Effect 3 and its default soldier emphasis
OK, I'm done raging for now! GRRRRR!!!
Bioware did copy a lot of the Mass Effect 2 stuff but most of it has been reasonable. The biggest issue with DA2 (I guess it says something that you missed it) is the unacceptable amount of zone recycling. All the outdoor environments look amazing but there's simply not variety. I was in the same cave at least 5 times.
so they removed tactical camera angle from PC/Mac versions? I used that a lot... hope it still has the same feel as the original.. meh screw it I probably won't get it. I enjoyed the DAO a lot though. WOn't bother with the console version as it seems to change the gameplay style a lot.
I only used the tactical camera when there was an item I couldn't seem to click on without it...
Opinions are fun, but nope, I'm not with you on this one. I put in up towards 100 hours in DA:O on nightmare difficulty. I like archers, range. The tactical view is an absolute must on this difficulty -- the same goes for DA 2 -- and it's one of the things I really liked about Origins.
And wait, you had to repeatedly zoom in and out? So you're not doing that on DA2? Are you playing on easy? Or just controlling your character and none other?
When it comes to a rushed game like DA 2... Absolutely. Did I not say I'm venting? Yep, I did done did-eh-fied. And I even used TWO of the little mad happies!
Honestly, did you play Origions on easy?
I turned off all tactics in DA:O so that no one did anything without my command. I unchecked them in DA 2, but there's no way to disable them completely. On nightmare, the game is not a click-fest, it's non-stop micro-management fun, if you're into that sort of thing, which I'm guessing no?
In Origins if you were to try and play it as a click-fest on nightmare, you wold have never finished the game. So I'm going to take the high-ground here, because what you're saying, doesn't line up with the facts.
And your definitions of click-fest must be different than mine. Diablo is a click fest, DA2 is border lining on a click-fest -- at least so far, because they sped up the action to to NINJA SPEED. I guess they're going after the Saturday morning cartoon crowd with these changes?
Oh, you mean the "H KEY"? Yep, I know about that and it's not what I need.
What would be great, is if your advice were actually useful. You'd get a big happy face from me and a HUGE THANKS, but as is, I'm in meh-mode.
Here's what I want to know: How would I go about telling just ONE of my party members to hold? I did say this; "but there's NO way to tell a character, STAY!!". Not characters!
I'd like the option BACK that was available in Origins. With this new RUSHED Dragon game, pressing "H" tells everyone else that's not selected to HOLD. It's all others or none. This is crap, when I don't want my mage and archer to hold, but just my tanks -- it's called tactics.
Yeah, it's really easy to place my area spell, when I need it in exactly one location as not to effect other party members, but the lock-on is so "touchy," the freaking thing JUMPS to a Darkspawn that in real world, would be about 10 or 20 feet away.
Origins did not have this problem. And I play most of the time in a paused mode, I like tactics.
If I were playing in easy, or even normal, I wouldn't have to worry about this, since the lesser difficulties don't have friendly fire.
You've never played a rogue before, have you? :S
If I ever want poor advice from someone that doesn't have any experience that's relevant to how I LIKE TO PLAY, I know where to go. Thanks buddy, you'll be my go to person.
<---- Look, HAPPY FACE!I don't have a problem with the 3DS import. Want to join a petition?
They rushed it! Which is a shame. Anyways, off to look for a way to hex-edit back in, options that should not have been removed.
Yep, it's gone and there's no detachable camera either on the PC version -- which might be a bug, if I read things right.
So far DA 2 is very frustrating. It's a huge step towards the worse for supposedly being a sequel. This game should have been branded "DA:The Champion's NINJA adventure" and not called DA 2!
No, it is not. Battlefield visibility is better than with the isometric "tactical" view. Control your BG2 nostalgia.
And wait, you had to repeatedly zoom in and out? So you're not doing that on DA2? Are you playing on easy? Or just controlling your character and none other?
Zoom in and out switches the camera views. Isometric prevents you from seeing further out into the battlefield properly.
It's a game. Get over it and yourself.
Tactics don't take anyway from anything. Your commands will always override tactics. They do offer an alternative to having to pause every fight though just to micro it. In fact, they fixed one of the main issues with DA:O tactics: not enough tactics slots. Then again, a "hardcore" elitist is too busy raging over isometric view to notice the improvements.
Nice strawman. You claimed that the opener was a clickfest. If that's your definition of a clickfest, then DA:O is worse.
It's hardly a click fest. The encounters are more dynamic, yes, but the much streamlined combat movement reduces having to micro characters who have awkward positioning and terrible pathing.
Are you daft? I gave you two options to force party members to stay and you ignore the one that does exactly what you want. Oh wait, I forgot we were on the internet.
It's relatively polished, actually. I haven't had any crashes or encountered any major bugs, something that can't be said for DA:O. Again, see above.
You've never played a rogue before, have you? :S
If I ever want poor advice from someone that doesn't have any experience that's relevant to how I LIKE TO PLAY, I know where to go. Thanks buddy, you'll be my go to person.
Learn to powergame properly pls.
I could understand the whining about rushing it if there multiple major bugs or performance issues but the real issue is that they made a design decision, albeit a terrible one, to recycle the zones. It's less buggy than DA:O at release and has much better performance even though the graphics are superior. I understand whining is a cry for attention on the internet, but get over it.
Oof... this game CHUGS on my Mac in OSX..
No matter what I do my computer heats up to 100+ degrees with the fans spinning at 6200rpm+
I tried playing this on Low at the lowest res and low at the highest res and only the only thing that changes is the graphics. It's equally slow across the board..
Can't Bootcamp because Mass Effect 2's sucking up all the space and it seems very complicated to add more space to my Bootcamp partition
Hurry up Sandy Bridge iMacs!!
I wouldn't say it's complicated, just time consuming.
Required: Time machine back up HD with enough free space as your Bootcamp partition or a second hard drive that you can format HFS+.
Use Time Machine to make sure your Mac is fully up-to-date. Download Winclone. Use Winclone to image your Bootcamp partition (either to Time Machine HD if you have the space or second HD formatted as HFS+).
Boot from OSX install CD. Use Disk Utility to resize your internal HD. I think you can do this without deleting your OSX partition, but will require deleting your Bootcamp partition (pretty sure). If not, delete everything and repartition your hard drive with appropriate sizes. Now, instead of installing OSX, select Restore from Time Machine backup. Once OSX is restored, boot back into your computer as normal (though now with smaller OSX partition). Use Winclone to restore your Windows install to the now larger Boot Camp partition.
Restoring from Time Machine, backing up with Winclone, and restoring with Winclone, is all time consuming. Whole process could take upwards of 5 or 6 hours, depending on size of hard drives.
I might be doing this myself as I've gotten a few games recently and my Boot Camp free space (I've only got 35% free space left of an 88GB partition) is feeling a little snug.
So, has anyone tried the mac native version on a 2010 13 inch Macbook Pro?
If I could avoid re-bootcamping and still have a playable game, I'd be happy.
If I could avoid re-bootcamping and still have a playable game, I'd be happy.
In reply to myself..... Yep, the mac port seems to work pretty well on the 320m, on "high" settings, native res, no AA. Been pretty smooth so far, not sure how it'll go later into the game when bigger spells are flashing around more, but so far, so good.
It's on the same disc as the PC version. This is released as dual version same as Sims 3 and Spore..
I've been playing it with maximum graphics settings settings on the new 15" with a 6750m. No problems during gameplay, but the game won't close when I'm finished. There is a thread about this on the bioware site, it seems to only happen to this particular model of MacBook.
Having played a bit more, there is some noticeable skipping, pretty regularly, but not too dreadful. I tend to pause a lot in combat anyway, so no biggie, and running around it's not that big an issue. I tried it on a lower res, and it looked pretty messy and didn't make a huge amount of difference. I gave it a go on "Low" settings too, and again, it was slightly jerky still, and as far as I could tell, only got rid of the lighting/shadows, so still didn't look dreadful.
Anyone know of anything like FRAPS but for mac, so I can keep an eye on the FPS? I've got ATMonitor, but the "always on top" monitor thing isn't visible when DA2 is running. Or is there some way to fire up the console, and a console command to show the frames? Like good ol cg_drawfps 1
Anyone know of anything like FRAPS but for mac, so I can keep an eye on the FPS? I've got ATMonitor, but the "always on top" monitor thing isn't visible when DA2 is running. Or is there some way to fire up the console, and a console command to show the frames? Like good ol cg_drawfps 1
I finished my first play-through - now I am sad that I bought the D2D (windows) version, because I want this on my Mac partition.
This game insane replayability.
This game insane replayability.
Bleach, too much of a hassle. Good to know though, thanks.
I'm playing DA2 on 1440x900 on Low and it seems to be playable. Great framerates when there's nothing to render
9.5 hours in and I've only had the game crash on me once
Following up:
On my laptop with the GE Force 8600 card (the rest of the specs are in the first post on this thread) I installed DA2 in Windows XP and have been playing it in Boot Camp.
It defaulted to minimum everything graphics-wise. I upped it to Medium (I can't access High) and the resolution to 1280x800. I even have the antialiasing to 4x. It runs perfectly, and looks really good. I'm sure the Higher res textures are better, but I'm very impressed by how well this game runs. I have played off and on for probably 10 hours and have not had a crash or noticeable bug of any kind.
On my laptop with the GE Force 8600 card (the rest of the specs are in the first post on this thread) I installed DA2 in Windows XP and have been playing it in Boot Camp.
It defaulted to minimum everything graphics-wise. I upped it to Medium (I can't access High) and the resolution to 1280x800. I even have the antialiasing to 4x. It runs perfectly, and looks really good. I'm sure the Higher res textures are better, but I'm very impressed by how well this game runs. I have played off and on for probably 10 hours and have not had a crash or noticeable bug of any kind.
Just because you're in tactical view, doesn't mean you can't move back into any other view to survey the whole area. Outside of cut-scenes, DA:O NEVER locked the camera into just one view, where as the other views weren't accessible, but your response assumes that it does.
DA:O "PC" has the same level of camera control as DA 2, but more so.
At this point, because this isn't the only "assumption" you've made, any further discussion -- if that's what this has been? -- with "YOU" on this matter is rather pointless. Your responses in general show a complete lack of experience when it comes the PC version of DA:O. What they line up with, is someone that played the original on the console.
And get over yourself. To be so presumptuous and arrogant that you assume your opinions, which are rooted in ignorance, are best for me and others that enjoyed the original. They're not. The only thing you bring to the plate is annoyance. AND BTW, I've never played BG2...
And learn the difference between RAGE and whining. Whiners are generally the ones that go out of their way to call out others.
And I'll leave POWERGAMING up to the likes of you. <-- found this on bioware's site, it's rather fitting from what I've gathered.
I installed this on my MacBook since it was barely above the minimum requirements. Runs smoothly on 800x600 all on low with a good framerate so I'm happy. But I think I'll be playing this on my PC though, for obvious reasons.
For those wondering, my MacBook's specs are:
C2D 2.0ghz
4gb DDR3 ram
Nvidia 9400m
(the minimum is 1.86ghz C2D, 2gb ram, and a 9400m/HD 2400)
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3379/screenshot20110315at124.png
I'm satisfied.
For those wondering, my MacBook's specs are:
C2D 2.0ghz
4gb DDR3 ram
Nvidia 9400m
(the minimum is 1.86ghz C2D, 2gb ram, and a 9400m/HD 2400)
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3379/screenshot20110315at124.png
I'm satisfied.