Everybody beware that it can be a B#@% to download. I tried overnight and I kept on getting network errors. I read an FAQ that said to use a cabled connection to download it, which I will try later. That blasted download manager seemed like a piece of crap because i was only getting about 90k max on the download over a 6Mb connection.
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Red Alert 3 on Mac / Bootcamp
- Thread starter n33d
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Yes it's cider. Package content is a dead givaway.
Not sure about the cider build (honestly not sure where to look).
Open info.plist and look for a 4 digit number. If you're unsure, just upload a sceen shot of the info.plist, or the file it self, or paste whats in there here.
Thanks!Mac vs Windows
I just bought the macversion on a MacPro 8 core 2008 with a 8800 GT.
to my surprise i got framrates like 0.1 FPS when i tried to play it Fullres 1920x1200 and everything maxed up.
Shader Quality is the culprit. This needs to be LOW. Or i need to set the resulution way down. Still not the fastest on earth.
Just for my interest i installed the windows Version on the same machine, trying it under bootcamp. Here i can max everything at Full Res, even with 2x AA and Shaderquality Ultrahigh. No Problems. Smooth as silk.
I don´t know the framerates, cause i don´t know how to find that info.
I just bought the macversion on a MacPro 8 core 2008 with a 8800 GT.
to my surprise i got framrates like 0.1 FPS when i tried to play it Fullres 1920x1200 and everything maxed up.
Shader Quality is the culprit. This needs to be LOW. Or i need to set the resulution way down. Still not the fastest on earth.
Just for my interest i installed the windows Version on the same machine, trying it under bootcamp. Here i can max everything at Full Res, even with 2x AA and Shaderquality Ultrahigh. No Problems. Smooth as silk.
I don´t know the framerates, cause i don´t know how to find that info.
The game is run through cider, and cider makes the game more demanding because of this. If you go into the app contents, you'll find the windows version inside.
Anybody else taking a day and a half to download the game from GameTree? I have a 6Mb connection and I'm getting a 48k download speed. Considering it has taken maybe a couple of hours to download an iTunes HD movie for renting, this is bull puckey. At least I know next time to order the game elsewhere and just wait for the darn DVD.
I would like to refer this to all those in other forums who tout the uselessness of optical drives because you can download so much stuff. I could've driven to the next state, bought this thing in a run-down rat trap, and then drove back and played it before the download is complete.
A thought: Maybe Apple should get into being a conduit like it is for the App Store. Apple obviously has a better network of servers, and it's much nicer than skimming sites to download stuff. Had this not been on Macworld.com, I wouldn't have known about it nor trusted the site enough to download it.
I would like to refer this to all those in other forums who tout the uselessness of optical drives because you can download so much stuff. I could've driven to the next state, bought this thing in a run-down rat trap, and then drove back and played it before the download is complete.
A thought: Maybe Apple should get into being a conduit like it is for the App Store. Apple obviously has a better network of servers, and it's much nicer than skimming sites to download stuff. Had this not been on Macworld.com, I wouldn't have known about it nor trusted the site enough to download it.
I assume you mean 256MB RAM on the video card, not the system. I think you're fine with that video card because I have the 1600, which is the minimum requirement. I think basically you need at least a Core Duo and a non-Intel GMA graphics card. I think the system RAM is 512MB, but maybe 1 GB.
My machine:
MacBook Black 2008
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel X3100 144MB Shared
4GB RAM @ 667 MHz
Running XP Home via BootCamp. XP Home limits my RAM count to 3.2GB. XP also seems to think the X3100 chipset runs at 280MB (which I cannot explain).
Red Alert 3 runs amazingly well with all settings (minus water, shading, and anti-aliasing) at medium or high quality at full 1280x800 resolution. The only thing that sticks is the background to the main menu which becomes distorted and laggy, again with no explanation.
Hope that puts you MacBook owners in a good mood
MacBook Black 2008
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel X3100 144MB Shared
4GB RAM @ 667 MHz
Running XP Home via BootCamp. XP Home limits my RAM count to 3.2GB. XP also seems to think the X3100 chipset runs at 280MB (which I cannot explain).
Red Alert 3 runs amazingly well with all settings (minus water, shading, and anti-aliasing) at medium or high quality at full 1280x800 resolution. The only thing that sticks is the background to the main menu which becomes distorted and laggy, again with no explanation.
Hope that puts you MacBook owners in a good mood
For what it's worth, I figured out that my uber-slow download was, well, my fault. I recently moved my DSL modem and router to a different phone jack. I guess all that splicing we did kills DSL speed because a speed check revealed my DL speed to be 400k tops. I move it back and get 5Mb+ tops.
Game downloaded. Gotta figure out how to back it up to a DVD, but the gameplay seemed pretty nice. There seems to be a bug if I zoom out too much at the screen's edge, at least on one skirmish map. But everything else looked fine. They seem to have a top-notch cast of people I have seen before in movies and TV.
Game downloaded. Gotta figure out how to back it up to a DVD, but the gameplay seemed pretty nice. There seems to be a bug if I zoom out too much at the screen's edge, at least on one skirmish map. But everything else looked fine. They seem to have a top-notch cast of people I have seen before in movies and TV.
It lists as "sold out"
How can a digital download sell out?
In the past every EA game title I've bought will NOT work over our network, but other games (Age of empires) work w/o problem.
Can anyone here verify that you can play head to head over a LAN with this new release?
How can a digital download sell out?
In the past every EA game title I've bought will NOT work over our network, but other games (Age of empires) work w/o problem.
Can anyone here verify that you can play head to head over a LAN with this new release?
I find it hilarious that the "unofficial" Cider port probably runs better than the "official" one and was delivered 3 months earlier.
I have the same setup and the same problems!
It's ridiculous! How can they release a game that doesn't run on a Mac Pro?
I emailed their support team, but so far all they said was that I had too many background tasks running (the background tasks take approx. 1% of CPU usage and 400 MB of memory...).
The game actually crashes because of low performance in a later mission of the soviet campaign - with the video settings set to 1024x768!!!
I can only recommend everybody to wait and see if they patch the game for better performance or to head straight to the PC verison and use bootcamp!
The game runs great on my Mac Pro 2.8 / NVidia 8800. Just played a skirmish match with everything on ultra-high at 1280x1024 and was getting 20-25 fps. If there is a particular level or map you're having problems with, let support know.
Note that there's an NVidia driver bug which can cause things to slow down in fullscreen mode after a lot of gameplay. Switching between fullscreen mode and windowed mode (cmd-enter), then back will restore performance. Or just running in windowed mode throughout. That's fixed in an upcoming OS release.
gavriels, since it seems you are a Transgaming guy, let me expose you the current problems with Cider and 8800 GT.
As you said, sometimes the game runs at like 1fps, I think that's the nvidia problem you are talking about... But sometimes, when loading a savegame (it's rare), the screen will just get blank or graphics can be messed up : I need to relaunch the game completely.
And the game isn't running at 20-25fps constant : in big maps when a lot is happening, it's slows horribly as if there are disk access (but my hdd is silent and not working and i have 4GB of ram) but as somebody mentioned there, running the game with Low shaders helps A LOT (the game is as smooth as on Windows)... But shaders in Ultra High in most missions make the game run like crap sometimes, and the gameplay is skipping a lot rendering the game unplayable, i think that's what they are speaking about.
And since you are there : grats on the PoP port, it's overall a great port, so keep up the good work, but on my 8800 GT, sometimes it seems the game runs at 1fps when I enable fsaa and I need to relaunch it (just like red alert it seems) to make it run at an OK speed... But if i disable FSAA, it's always running at its correct speed...
Finally, is 10.5.7 helping with all these issues ? Is 10.5.7 the future build you are talking about ?
Thanks in advance.
As you said, sometimes the game runs at like 1fps, I think that's the nvidia problem you are talking about... But sometimes, when loading a savegame (it's rare), the screen will just get blank or graphics can be messed up : I need to relaunch the game completely.
And the game isn't running at 20-25fps constant : in big maps when a lot is happening, it's slows horribly as if there are disk access (but my hdd is silent and not working and i have 4GB of ram) but as somebody mentioned there, running the game with Low shaders helps A LOT (the game is as smooth as on Windows)... But shaders in Ultra High in most missions make the game run like crap sometimes, and the gameplay is skipping a lot rendering the game unplayable, i think that's what they are speaking about.
And since you are there : grats on the PoP port, it's overall a great port, so keep up the good work, but on my 8800 GT, sometimes it seems the game runs at 1fps when I enable fsaa and I need to relaunch it (just like red alert it seems) to make it run at an OK speed... But if i disable FSAA, it's always running at its correct speed...
Finally, is 10.5.7 helping with all these issues ? Is 10.5.7 the future build you are talking about ?
Thanks in advance.
If you can reproduce this problem reliably let us know. Is it only with certain saved games?
The slowdown you describe sounds like the NVidia fullscreen VRAM issue. Try running it in Windowed mode (command-enter). Or you can reduce texture/effect details to reduce VRAM pressure.
Can't comment on that, I'm afraid.
About the saved game issues, it isn't due to save games : even if you start a new game, it happens sometimes, I can't manage to reproduce it every time I play the game (although it seems to happen more in complex maps, i'm not sure, it's really random).
I'll try to reduce my GFX details, but it's a shame i have to do so while it runs fine on Windows.
EDIT : actually I never reproduce it with Shaders set to Low, but with UltraHigh (and maybe High, MEdium etc) it sometimes occurs.
Once, I even got the water to be green, really weird !
EDIT2 : i just reproduced it, the problem aren't the shaders, it happens everytime i set VFX to at least Medium... and console says "03/04/09 20:09:42 kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! status = 0xffff info32 = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error"... Anyway if I set VFX to medium and move my mouse a lot (to see the whole map) in big missions like the Mount Fuji mission (soviet campaign), the game starts to lag a lot (like 1fps) and when I "look" at the water, it's 30fps again... But if I set VFX to Very Low, i'm safe, didn't try Low yet... And no, my GPU works fine, it's the only game that does this, other games ,even other Cider games don't do this.
EDIT3 : just tried with VFX set to Low and everything else in UltraHIgh (max details) and the bug is gone... But the game looks a lot nicer with VFX to medium (i miss bloom !)... Why do I have this bug ?
EDIT 4 : Just tried to set VFX to max but Shadows to Low now : the game is perfectly smooth and nice (i'd rather have all VFX than shadows)... So I guess you are right the problem is VRAM related and not specific to some effects. Isn't this fixable, I mean on Windows, 512MB of VRAM is enough for RA3 ! The same happens in fullscreen or windowed btw
I'll try to reduce my GFX details, but it's a shame i have to do so while it runs fine on Windows.
EDIT : actually I never reproduce it with Shaders set to Low, but with UltraHigh (and maybe High, MEdium etc) it sometimes occurs.
Once, I even got the water to be green, really weird !
EDIT2 : i just reproduced it, the problem aren't the shaders, it happens everytime i set VFX to at least Medium... and console says "03/04/09 20:09:42 kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! status = 0xffff info32 = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error"... Anyway if I set VFX to medium and move my mouse a lot (to see the whole map) in big missions like the Mount Fuji mission (soviet campaign), the game starts to lag a lot (like 1fps) and when I "look" at the water, it's 30fps again... But if I set VFX to Very Low, i'm safe, didn't try Low yet... And no, my GPU works fine, it's the only game that does this, other games ,even other Cider games don't do this.
EDIT3 : just tried with VFX set to Low and everything else in UltraHIgh (max details) and the bug is gone... But the game looks a lot nicer with VFX to medium (i miss bloom !)... Why do I have this bug ?
EDIT 4 : Just tried to set VFX to max but Shadows to Low now : the game is perfectly smooth and nice (i'd rather have all VFX than shadows)... So I guess you are right the problem is VRAM related and not specific to some effects. Isn't this fixable, I mean on Windows, 512MB of VRAM is enough for RA3 ! The same happens in fullscreen or windowed btw
Found It!
here is a place you can buy it, as far as i know you cant even get it torented ill continue my search
http://www.gametreeonline.com/ea/red-alert-3/
here is a place you can buy it, as far as i know you cant even get it torented
ill continue my searchhttp://www.gametreeonline.com/ea/red-alert-3/
No surprises you're getting poor performance from a Cider port, even with Mac Pros. Cider doesn't support multi-core processors + everything runs slower anyway because of all the Windows code being translated in the background. IMO, you pay more for less when buying Cider ports, that's why I refuse to buy them. FWIW, I only buy proper Mac-native games & I'll be getting Windows to Bootcamp it for the rest. Windows versions are much cheaper & better performance-wise than Cider ports.
Set shader detail to medium and you can run Red Alert 3 at full resolution and ultra high settings. I am playing it at 1440 x 960 and get 25 fps consistently which is smooth enough to enjoy the game. Well atleast for me.
As the member named gavriels mentioned, there is some driver issue which should *hopefully* be fixed in the next OS release.
And even the native ports have performance and stability issues. As long as developers don't target Macs from the start, it will be painful to match Windows.
Sometimes it comes close, sometimes it doesn't but don't expect to match it completely on AAA titles unless Apple buys Microsoft and makes DirectX illegal to use in any application
As the member named gavriels mentioned, there is some driver issue which should *hopefully* be fixed in the next OS release.
And even the native ports have performance and stability issues. As long as developers don't target Macs from the start, it will be painful to match Windows.
Sometimes it comes close, sometimes it doesn't but don't expect to match it completely on AAA titles unless Apple buys Microsoft and makes DirectX illegal to use in any application
with 10.5.7
Just updated to 10.5.7 and moreover there was a RA Patch to 1.10.
So this seems to improve speed a bit.
With everything set to as high as possible and 1920x1200 trying the first Tutorial, where three tanks talk ********, i no longer have 0.1 FPS.
Now its something like 5 FPS.
Everything maxed out and shaders to Medium seems to work.
Or, resolution down to 1344 x 800 (something like that) and Shaders maxed out.
Just made a small test, can´t say how that is in battle.
So, a little better but nowhere as good as the win version.
Just updated to 10.5.7 and moreover there was a RA Patch to 1.10.
So this seems to improve speed a bit.
With everything set to as high as possible and 1920x1200 trying the first Tutorial, where three tanks talk ********, i no longer have 0.1 FPS.
Now its something like 5 FPS.
Everything maxed out and shaders to Medium seems to work.
Or, resolution down to 1344 x 800 (something like that) and Shaders maxed out.
Just made a small test, can´t say how that is in battle.
So, a little better but nowhere as good as the win version.