I have Windows XP installed on my MacBook Pro via Parallells. I'm considering buying GTA IV for XP and using it on my computer... has anybody else done this? Used Parallels to play this game?
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GTA IV + Parallels
- Thread starter Favenris
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Even parallels 6 will choke on GTA IV, it's an incredibly demanding game so Bootcamp is the only way to go.
Thanks a lot for the replies. Yeah, I think I'm going to just install Vista on my Mac, since everybody says the OS runs better in our hardware. 
And I figure since Vista runs better on Macbook Pro's, GTA IV should play better as well? :/
And as for specs, please excuse me, I'm still new to the computer world so I don't know a lot about them yet. Umm, let me see, I have:
"2.54 GhZ Intel Core 2 Duo"
4GB of Ram, and "1067 Mhz DDr3"
Do you guys think the game's going to play well on my computer? I already bought it, just waiting for it to get here in the mail....
And I figure since Vista runs better on Macbook Pro's, GTA IV should play better as well? :/
And as for specs, please excuse me, I'm still new to the computer world so I don't know a lot about them yet. Umm, let me see, I have:
"2.54 GhZ Intel Core 2 Duo"
4GB of Ram, and "1067 Mhz DDr3"
Do you guys think the game's going to play well on my computer? I already bought it, just waiting for it to get here in the mail....
Really... Windows 7 can be installed in Mac? I didn't know that. And here is my graphics information:
Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Type: GPU
Bus: PCI
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0863
Revision ID: 0x00b1
ROM Revision: 3448
Displays:
Color LCD:
Resolution: 1440 x 900
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Built-In: Yes
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected
Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Type: GPU
Bus: PCI
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0863
Revision ID: 0x00b1
ROM Revision: 3448
Displays:
Color LCD:
Resolution: 1440 x 900
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Built-In: Yes
Display Connector:
Status: No Display Connected
Yes, Windows 7 works fine with bootcamp.
The 9400M is not a great card, and it's integrated, so you aren't going to get great performance. That said, with everything on low, it looks like it will run fine.
The 9400M is not a great card, and it's integrated, so you aren't going to get great performance. That said, with everything on low, it looks like it will run fine.
Damn, I'm so ****ing excited already. And there's no way exactly to get a better graphics card without voiding the warranty, huh?
GTA IV PC will not run very well on anything less than a quad-core CPU. It's not a GPU-intensive game by any means (the graphics actually kinda suck), but that doesn't mean it will run on a crappy GPU. It does need a high-end CPU cause whoever developed it for PC copies over the console assets and didn't modify them in any way. The 360 was the lead platform and it has a 3 core CPU. If you have a quad-core this game will max out 3/4 cores even while idle.. And it refers to anti-aliasing as 'render quality' or something like that. Whomever ported this game did a horrible job and I recommend staying far away from it. No way is it going to run in parallels, vmware, wine, etc. for at least a decade. But by no means is it impressive, it's just a resource hog in every way imaginable.
Actually, i run GTA IV & The Episodes from LC on my 13" MBP 2.26 GHz with the same graphics card you have, On low to Medium, it runs extremely well, surprising for such a non-game oriented machine. Install Windows 7 (try to get 64 bit the more ram the better) But what these guys are saying about the graphics card being the bottle neck, is true
I would suggest installing windows 7 (64bit) through bootcamp, then playing the game and testing out different setting to get a good performance to graphic compromise
Have fun!
I would suggest installing windows 7 (64bit) through bootcamp, then playing the game and testing out different setting to get a good performance to graphic compromise
Have fun!
FYI, GTA IV runs faster on Windows 7 32 bits by a small margin. This has been tested multiple times.
I can confirm this game is more than playable in Windows 7 x64 in a Boot Camp installation. I've been thinking of testing this in Parallels 6 and will do so soon and post up results. I will say there are some issues with this game but I don't think I had any more issues than PC users with the same specs. This is on a slightly older iMac with 2.4Ghz Core2Duo, 3GB of RAM and the ATI 2600HD (256mb VRAM).
I think you Might Be Wrong Have A look At This Video People GTA IV WORKS ON PARAELLES 6!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKiIL-LOKSw
GTAIV has been a NIGHTMARE to get a decent FPS on my iMac, I actually unistalled it last night after masses of messing about.
I thought I had it solved, but the dreaded "Jerky" scrolling came back.
I can benchmark at 35-45 FPS at 1080p, but real world performance is terrible.
The only way to get a smooth experience is to drop the details and view distance to a level that just looks worse than my 360.
I think the game is badly optimized really, but anyway Good Luck!!
I thought I had it solved, but the dreaded "Jerky" scrolling came back.
I can benchmark at 35-45 FPS at 1080p, but real world performance is terrible.
The only way to get a smooth experience is to drop the details and view distance to a level that just looks worse than my 360.
I think the game is badly optimized really, but anyway Good Luck!!
To be completely honest, I wouldn't consider running GTA IV on that hardware.
I have a 21.5" iMac, 3 GHz, 4GB RAM with the ATI 4670 card (256 memory).
Steam had GTA on sale for $13, so I picked it up, and it runs TERRIBLY. Has to be fairly low res, with low texture quality and it just destroys the game. It's playable, and relatively smooth, but the graphics are so muddy that it distracts from the whole experience.
Luckily I got a 360 for Christmas, and GTA runs great on that.
I hate to say it, but console gaming gives the best bang for your buck. ~$300 device and games run great, vs. a $1300 iMac which has to compromise for most gaming.
I have a 21.5" iMac, 3 GHz, 4GB RAM with the ATI 4670 card (256 memory).
Steam had GTA on sale for $13, so I picked it up, and it runs TERRIBLY. Has to be fairly low res, with low texture quality and it just destroys the game. It's playable, and relatively smooth, but the graphics are so muddy that it distracts from the whole experience.
Luckily I got a 360 for Christmas, and GTA runs great on that.
I hate to say it, but console gaming gives the best bang for your buck. ~$300 device and games run great, vs. a $1300 iMac which has to compromise for most gaming.
When GTA IV came out for PC even very high end hardware choked on it because it was ported poorly from the console version. Part of the problem is the game itself, not the hardware it runs on. It's just poorly optimized for PCs. Will it run? Sure, but you won't have an Xbox 360 or PS3 experience with it. If you have either of those consoles then get that version.
iMacs as of late have been putting in decent graphics cards. Nothing super high end but decent mid-range graphics.
iMacs as of late have been putting in decent graphics cards. Nothing super high end but decent mid-range graphics.
PC gaming is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the graphics prowess of high-end rigs is phenomenal, but when you're basically required to pay upwards of $2,000, plus regular graphics cards upgrades (and others) at a few hundred each, console gaming looks better and better.
For $300 you can get an amazing playing experience, at a tenth the cost of a PC. Frankly, unless you're really into PC gaming, I don't understand why anyone would not buy a PS3/360.
It's just a shame that (aside from the Mac Pro) Apple's graphics card offerings are so limited. They're all midrange cards that can play current games (mostly), but get dated SO quickly.
For $300 you can get an amazing playing experience, at a tenth the cost of a PC. Frankly, unless you're really into PC gaming, I don't understand why anyone would not buy a PS3/360.
It's just a shame that (aside from the Mac Pro) Apple's graphics card offerings are so limited. They're all midrange cards that can play current games (mostly), but get dated SO quickly.