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Red Alert 3 on Mac / Bootcamp

N

n33d

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 26, 2008
4
0
Since a short time i am a Mac user, and i know there is a way to play windows games on OS X.

I've read many topics about it on this forum, but no topics or reply's about Red Alert 3. It's a new game that sure needs pretty good graphics-card.

This is my Macbook Pro:
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Graphicscard:
Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
VRAM (Total): 512 MB

Is it possible to play a game like Red Alert 3 on windows(bootcamp)?
 
I also want to know in case this game never makes it to Mac OS. Does anyone think it will come out soon for Mac?
 
i want to know the same... i absolutley love the CnC series, and i plan to get a copy of RA3 as soon as it hits the stores, but i would prefer not to hav to install Windows just to play one single game...


n33d, I have almost the same specs as you, and i run CnC3:KW (on OS X via Ciderport) on high with no problems, so RA3 will probably work out just fine for you ;)
 
These are the official system requirements:

OS Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista (32-bit)
CPU Any Intel Core Duo machine, XP: Intel Pentium 4 2.2 GHz or better, AMD Athlon XP 2100+ or better, VISTA: Intel Pentium 4 2.6 GHz or better, AMD Athlon XP 2800+ or better
RAM 1GB or more
VIDEO NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or better, ATI Radeon X800 or better
SOUND DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
DISC DRIVE 8x DVD drive or better
HARD DRIVE At least 10 GB of free space

Your Macbook Pro will be able run this:p. I hope it will work on my 2.1 Macbook though. I was able to run Kane's Wrath (cider port). It worked really well on low settings, so I hope Red Alert 3 is going to work aswell. I don't mind if the graphics are a bit off, I just want to play this game on my Macbook and not on my 360:p. Maybe the game is compatible with Crossover?
 
n33d said:
Since a short time i am a Mac user, and i know there is a way to play windows games on OS X.

I've read many topics about it on this forum, but no topics or reply's about Red Alert 3. It's a new game that sure needs pretty good graphics-card.

This is my Macbook Pro:
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Graphicscard:
Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
VRAM (Total): 512 MB

Is it possible to play a game like Red Alert 3 on windows(bootcamp)?
Click to expand...

I have the same MBP you do. Under bootcamped 64-bit Vista, I haven't tried Red Alert 3, but I did play the demo for Command and Conquer 3, which uses the same engine.

Command and Conquer 3 ran perfectly. Absolutely flawless performace, and all of the settings were maxed. If you're worried, download the CnC3 demo and try it for yourself.
 
actually Red Alert 3 uses a different engine. C&C3 was developed using the Sage engine as opposed to RNA, the new engine in RA3 (unless they are the same, correct me if I'm wrong).

I have tested Red Alert 3 on my MBP running Vista 32bit. The performance is fairly decent, as long as the water, shadow are set to low and no Anti aliasing. I could get decent frame rate even at 1440 x 900 with all other settings maxed out, the rate would slightly drop if there were too many units on the battlefield but nothing dramatic, the game is absolutely playable on the 8600M GT.
 
I've got the baseline MBP (mid-08, 2.4 Ghz, 2 gigs ram, 256mb 8600gt) and I run this in vista home premium 64-bit without any problems at all. That said I have everything on highest quality minus shadows, water, and with aa turned down a bit. Just in case anyone was wondering about running on 64-bit. :rolleyes:

If anyone runs this on a MBA rev A or B please post your results, I'd be very interested and grateful.
 
This is my Macbook Pro:
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Graphicscard:
Chipset Model: GeForce 8600M GT
VRAM (Total): 512 MB

I use vista ultimate 64bit. I can play the game only with medium quality preset using 1440x900 resolution and I get 17-20 fps using fraps when I play the second tutorial. I don't know what will happen if I start a real mission. The game gives me for my configuration a low preset as default setting! I can't believe that this game is playable with high settings! Or is there something wrong with my mbp? OMG!!! If anyone has any other opinion please give us your exact settings and your fps using fraps or any other program you like! Don't say something without proof. Please somebody write an answer real quick! Because on my mbp this game's performance sucks!
 
Yes I have it on a new Macbook pro and it runs ace i use it and tiberium wars it runs flawlessly with everything maxed out except when my mac overheats and shuts down but that seems to be an isolates issue
 
RA3 works on VMWare Fusion 2 with little lag. The people on Insanley Mac forums are working on an unofficial cider port and it works flawlessly in WINE except for the animated curosor problem but that will take a long time to fix.

So yes you can play this just fine in OS X via Fusion and Parallels 4 ( Ithink) and WINE at a later date. And your MBP should be able to handle Fusion 2 fine
 
Anyone played it on an iMac 2.4, 2.6, ...?
I hope to install my bootcamp setup again and start playing some games. (COD4 was rather disappointing on MacOS)
 
Do you really believe that xp or vista will give better performance for gaming? Can you tell us the gpu of your graphics card?

As for red alert 3 I still see that some of you say something without giving any numbers! Is it so hard to use fraps? I beg you! Give us details about the settings and the fps that you get, playing this game using fraps! I really can't accept that all of you say that a mbp play this game like a champ with a 8600M GT! It seems impossible because 8600M GT is a middle range laptop GPU. The desktop version of 8600 GT has the double processors and even this card is a middle range desktop card! Due to this fact I can't believe that this game needs only a 8600M GT for Ultra High presets! Now if you use low presets, then yes this game runs very smoothly!

I also tried the game under vista 64 with middle preset. The game is playable, although fraps give me 11 fps. But I noticed, that when I scroll the map, I get 17 fps! But I don't think that this game can perform any better with a mbp!

P.S. Oh boy if 8600M GT is so powerful after all, then I need to contact technical support really soon!

P.S.2. I will test this game under xp using vmware fusion 2 and I'll tell you my results! But I don't expect something good. After all fusion is a virtual machine and logically can't compete native installations.
 
One more thing I forgot! Please if anyone has vista ultimate 64 under bootcamp on a mbp please run the game, go to options -> settings and press default. What is the default preset you get? Low, Medium, or High? My machine gives a low preset!
 
iatropoul said:
Do you really believe that xp or vista will give better performance for gaming? Can you tell us the gpu of your graphics card?

As for red alert 3 I still see that some of you say something without giving any numbers! Is it so hard to use fraps? I beg you! Give us details about the settings and the fps that you get, playing this game using fraps! I really can't accept that all of you say that a mbp play this game like a champ with a 8600M GT! It seems impossible because 8600M GT is a middle range laptop GPU. The desktop version of 8600 GT has the double processors and even this card is a middle range desktop card! Due to this fact I can't believe that this game needs only a 8600M GT for Ultra High presets! Now if you use low presets, then yes this game runs very smoothly!

I also tried the game under vista 64 with middle preset. The game is playable, although fraps give me 11 fps. But I noticed, that when I scroll the map, I get 17 fps! But I don't think that this game can perform any better with a mbp!

P.S. Oh boy if 8600M GT is so powerful after all, then I need to contact technical support really soon!

P.S.2. I will test this game under xp using vmware fusion 2 and I'll tell you my results! But I don't expect something good. After all fusion is a virtual machine and logically can't compete native installations.
Click to expand...

I have a MBP 2.4Ghz 2gigs 667Mhz ram 8600gt w/ 256mb vram and the 200gig 5400rpm hdd <- all standard base-line MBP, just purchased about 2 weeks before the new systems came out and happy about it. I run vista 64-bit Home Premium which game wise really shouldn't be any different from the others (buisness or ultimate). I didn't download fraps so sry about that but I can say that i have everything grafically turned up as high as it can go (don't use the presets the will usually screw you in any game because of aa, etc unless you have a beastly rig of a pc) with the EXCEPTION of AA which is turned off, water detail which is set to medium, and shadows which are set to low. With these settings, and no new/edited drivers from what came with bootcamp and MS updates the game runs perfectly smoothly online, in skirmish, campain, co-op etc with no issues whatsoever. In addition to this it will load any of those modes on any map, # of players, etc. in about 5 seconds (that doesn't include how long it takes other players systems to load an online game) flat which is an indicator to me that it runs fast and probably at least a decent framerate since i don't visibly notice any slowdown, etc at all even when big particle effects like superweapons go off. If your new MBP with "better" mid-line hardware and a "better" "ultimate" os can't handle this as well as mine can with the same settings than i don't really have anything to offer you other than if vista has less than a certain amount of hdd space free it slows down which it hasn't for me with around 6 GB's free in it's partition of 32 GB's. The only other thing I can think of if you're still having problems is that potentially (and I have no knowledge of this so don't flame me for it) the 9600m gt that the new MBP's run has a driver that hasn't been updated as much as the 8600 gt over it's lifetime so maybe it's not as fast/faster in real world applications; something that i'd highly doubt. Just my 2 cents, hope it helps you because I love this series and I'm sure you do too.:D

And I'm almost positive mine gave me a low preset initially too, don't fret over it, presets typically suck in my experience with running great visual games on cheaper hardware.
 
Thank you for your answer! At least you said that you also get a low preset! My mbp has also a 8600M GT card like yours! Just my cpu is a little more faster. I just found that using 8600 GT drivers from nvidia boosts my gpu and practically doubles its power! Odd? With middle preset I now get 30 fps instead of 12 that apple drivers gave me before! Impressive? And my gpu runs at the same clocks. No overclocking here. Actually our 8600M GT is underclocked and locked! Why Apple? I also tested the game using fusion 2 and xp. 27 fps with medium graphics but fusion 2's virtual gpu produces artifacts!
 
Regarding the new mbp with the 9600 GT gpu, I think that this kind of cpu is not stronger than the 8600 GT. Maybe 9600 GT gives some more horse power but I think that practically is the same gpu!
 
The default settings on my MBP were also on low. But the game runs surprisingly well even with everything at ultra high (apart from water/shadow and AA).

I should be constantly getting more or less 30FPS, I can't really tell the exact figures but lagging is very minimal.
 
This little lag you say is very annoying for a rts! I use now 1440:900, no aa all set to high and ultra high, shadows low, water medium and fraps gives me 17 fps, which is playable but very annoying for me! And all these with nvidia 8600 GT drivers (desktop) not apple's 8600M GT (see the difference above). Is there anyone who can overclock mbp's graphics card? I did it once with apple's drivers using ntune but now I can't! Everytime I try to give manual settings it returns to its defaults automatically. Is there any way to unlock apple's 8600M GT? Know that our gpu runs at 375 MHz (core) and 502 MHz (memory) and a regular nvidia 8600M GT operates at 475 MHz and 700 MHz respectively.
 
????

Resurrecting this thread, but bear with me. I'm looking to purchase my first ever game for a Mac, and it RA3.... I still swear by RA, RA2 and Starcraft.

But I have only and old school MBP with X4600 GPU (128 Megs). Can I possibly run it under Bootcamp Win XP, even at low settings, or is a lost cause?

How is it playing the game on XBox 360 or PS3.... it's my second choice to buy a console. But would prefer the MBP, even if runs at XGA resolution.

Gracias!
 
Pak^Man said:
Resurrecting this thread, but bear with me. I'm looking to purchase my first ever game for a Mac, and it RA3.... I still swear by RA, RA2 and Starcraft.

But I have only and old school MBP with X4600 GPU (128 Megs). Can I possibly run it under Bootcamp Win XP, even at low settings, or is a lost cause?

How is it playing the game on XBox 360 or PS3.... it's my second choice to buy a console. But would prefer the MBP, even if runs at XGA resolution.

Gracias!
Click to expand...

Why don't you download the demo and try?
 
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