Civilization V for Mac Now Available

[50548]

This is my experience as well. The early game runs well enough but once you get the world reveal and have my players visible it's a turn waiting CPU chugfest.

TechSpot appears to have a history of doing CPU and GPU scaling tests with main new games. The recommend a quad core and a desktop HD 5750 or GTS 450 for an enjoyable experience.

It is an all around hardware consuming game. Surprisingly enough for a turn based strategy one. My friend running on a Core 2 Duo with Crossfire 4800s wants to upgrade just to run the game more smoothly.

This is probably due to the fact that it handles/renders many thousand little units at the same time, even though gfx don't look that astounding in their own right. Starcraft II faces the same situation...but seriously, a quad-core required to play a game? Ridiculous.

 

[panos20]

Minimum System Requirements
Operating System: 10.6.4 (Snow Leopard)
CPU Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (Dual-Core)
CPU Speed: 2.4 GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 8 GB
Video Card (ATI): Radeon HD 2600
Video Card (NVidia): Geforce 8600
Video Memory (VRam): 256MB
Media Required: DVD-ROM
Peripherals: Macintosh mouse & keyboard

Recommended System Requirements
CPU Processor: Intel Quad Core
CPU Speed: 2.6 GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Video Memory (VRam): 512MB
Apple original CPU’s only, CPU upgrades not supported.

Supported Video Cards:
NVIDIA GeForce® 8600, 8800, 9600M, GT 120, 320M
ATI Radeon HD 2600, HD 3870, HD 4670, HD 4850, HD 5670, HD 5750

Notices:
Apple Intel Chipsets only. Power PC Processors (G4 and G5) are not supported.
Intel® integrated video chipsets are not supported.
This game is not supported on volumes formatted as Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive)

 

[Timur]

Is it native this time or just an overprices Wine based version again?

 

[Eidorian]

Edit: Re-reading comments, it is definitely NOT an issue of AI processing time. The game is very heavily bottlenecked on graphics, whether that will be a CPU or video card choke will vary on your systems and settings, but the kind of slowness we're talking about is choppiness when scrolling, zooming, flipping between screens, etc. The AI is going to take its sweet time regardless of your rig, it's just how Civ rolls.

It's a pretty game that does need quite the bit of hardware. Look at my TechSpot link as well.

Aspyr said they may do one early next year. But Civ games usually play fine for the first part of the game, and bog down your computer towards the end, so I'm not sure how good the demo would be as an indication of how well it'll run.

The PC demo was 4 GB. I wonder why if it's so limited, only 100 turns of play, and 3 playable Civs with a handful of opponents. Sounds like textures

 

[Ferazel]

This is probably due to the fact that it handles/renders many thousand little units at the same time, even though gfx don't look that astounding in their own right. Starcraft II faces the same situation...but seriously, a quad-core required to play a game? Ridiculous.

It's not rendering thousands at a time... only what is visible on the screen is rendered. This game is a beast on even the PC side (can bring my desktop 4870 down). Macs which are notorious for underpowered GPU hardware are going to struglge with this game.

Recommended is not minimum. Aspyr also noted that they upped the specs because Mac users have a higher standard of what is playable.

If you buy it through GameAgent you should still have the game via Steam. The advantage is you give more money to Aspyr, and given the fact that this is Apsyr's ONLY Steam (or Steamplay) title, you should try to reward them if you can.

 

[omenatarhuri]

Aspyr posted a FAQ on this: http://blog.gameagent.com/2010/11/22/civilization-v-mac-faqs-v3/

According to Aspyr you should now have access to the Mac version on your Steam account. So all you need to do is install Steam for OSX.

Excellent, thanks for clarifying this. So now I have both L4D and Civ5 waiting for a better specced Mac. Damn these front page ads!

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

Civilization V for Mac. Includes bonus obsolete graphics driver for intense 640x480 gameplay with amazing minimum graphic settings!

Waah.

Really, this is great news, and a def buy for me after the holiday season. Only reason I was holding out on buying it on Steam was to make sure they would release a SteamPlay version.

 

[capoeirista]

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I'll wait to see someone post how it runs on 13" MBP before I pull the trigger. If it runs ok, even on low, in the endgame then I buy. After that it's goodbye gainful employment and significant other

 

[chrisS]

Is this a Cider port ?

I've had issues running Cider ports in the past on setups with multiple monitors.

Anyone know if this is a Cider port ?

Anyone successfully run Civ 5 Mac with 3 monitors ?

 

[TonyLukes3]

I'm wondering how well this would run on my month old iMac 27" i3 (4gb, 1TB hd, 5670HD card/512MB). Any thoughts?

 

[Cougarcat]

Like all Aspyr games, it's a native port.

 

[donlphi]

My mistake...

I wish I had read the requirements. I figured it would work if Steam allowed me to download it. Here are my specs...

MacBook Pro
2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
3GB Memory
ATI Radeon X1600

It is asking for 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (minimum) and a better graphics card.

I got through the introduction and it freezes on a low resolution screen. I can hear the soundtrack.

Hopefully my MacPro can handle it or I've just wasted $60 However, I didn't really want to sit in my office to play it.

 

[Cougarcat]

I wish I had read the requirements. I figured it would work if Steam allowed me to download it. Here are my specs...

MacBook Pro
2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
3GB Memory
ATI Radeon X1600

Your X1600 is the problem. Way too weak.

I don't think Steam can check for system specs. Bad, but that's the way it is...

 

[foobarbaz]

Is it just the AppStore, or does 50 bucks for a game suddenly sounds like a lot of money?

 

[Cougarcat]

Is it just the AppStore, or does 50 bucks for a game suddenly sounds like a lot of money?

Cheaper than consoles. Since it's SteamPlay you can buy the PC version for less and have it run on the Mac. It's $40 on Amazon and I'm sure there will be some deals this thanksgiving week.

 

[donlphi]

Your X1600 is the problem. Way too weak.

I don't think Steam can check for system specs. Bad, but that's the way it is...

Anybody know if they have a return policy? I really don't want to keep this.

As I look back at the Civ V Steam page, I don't even see the system requirements. I guess I figured I would be able to dumb down the graphics or something. It is just a strategy game. I never dreamed it would be that demanding.

 

[Stridder44]

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If you get it from Aspyr is it still going to link back up with Steam on the other end? It's a little confusing with the Steamworks backend and Asypr offering it on their own distribution.

I purchased the DVD version on sale from Amazon last week for $35 on PC. It installed off of the DVD and pulled a 100 MB update. Now I can get it from Steam any time without the disc. I have Steam Play back to Mac too?!

I was wondering this same thing. Supposedly if you already own the game you can indeed run it on OS X as well. It is confusing.

 

[HLdan]

Anybody know if they have a return policy? I really don't want to keep this.

As I look back at the Civ V Steam page, I don't even see the system requirements. I guess I figured I would be able to dumb down the graphics or something. It is just a strategy game. I never dreamed it would be that demanding.

Well these are the PC system requirements but the GPU's are some of the same ones in the Macs. The i3's Integrated GPU certainly isn't powerful.

 

[milbournosphere]

Cool. I'll go get it off Steam just after I finish this one last turn...

 

[donlphi]

Well these are the PC system requirements but the GPU's are some of the same ones in the Macs. The i3's Integrated GPU certainly isn't powerful.

Yeah, I think I saw the Minimum requirements = 1.8Ghz and the integrated GPU and figured I was okay.

 

[Blair230]

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I was wondering this same thing. Supposedly if you already own the game you can indeed run it on OS X as well. It is confusing.

According to Aspyr I think Steam has to be installed (even if you didn't purchase it through Steam.) Steam is being used for DRM.

Aspyr stated that it will support the steam cloud, and will eventually support SteamPlay. So even if you have never purchased anything on steam, it has to be installed to play Civ5.

You are correct though that if you only purchase one copy (on PC or Mac) you can play it on either platform. I am guessing if you bought a retail box version for PC, if you install steam on the Mac side, sign in with your account, steam will allow you to download the mac version for free.

I hope someone can confirm all of this!

 

[Eidorian]

Is it just the AppStore, or does 50 bucks for a game suddenly sounds like a lot of money?

It's a AAA title for the PC and only a few months old. I was lucky enough to get it for $35 off of an Amazon lightning deal last week. I'm expecting a Steam sale this week, plenty of retail disc vendors online, and Aspyr appears to be enticing their own crowd as well. You pick it up for two platforms as well. Killer deal with SteamPlay if you have the Mac that can play it.

Cross platform multiplayer and DLC patches are in the making. You might want to head over to the Windows side if you want the latest and greatest but Aspyr should be able to ramp up the updates.

Steamworks is the DRM for the retail discs and the GameAgent purchases. It doesn't matter where you get it. I don't know how GameAgent handles repeat downloads but once you're activated on Steam you just have to remember your account details unless Steam goes belly up. (Unlikely.)

Another generation lost to this game. I've already spent about 10 hours playing in the past day...

 

[justflie]

Excellent news. I've been playing Civ V via steam on my bootcamp partition (Win 7) since it came out. I'm looking forward to not have to reboot every time I want to play. I just hope the graphics umph in OS X is comparable to what I'm getting in Windows with updated drivers for my GTX 285.

 

[Timur]

Is it just the AppStore, or does 50 bucks for a game suddenly sounds like a lot of money?

So it's still overpriced. Bt is it native OS X this time, not just Wine based like Civ 4?

 

[ChazUK]

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SteamPlay? That is fantastic!

Enjoy Civ gamers, I know I will!