Sim 3 Blackbook with GMAbooster?

[ddeadserious]

Just picked up a Black Macbook witht he GMA950 in it.

My girlfriend would like to play the Sims 3 on it.

It is unsupported under OS X, but will evidently play in Windoze. She'd rather not install Windoze on it just to play the Sims.

GMABooster has the ability to boost the VRAM on the 950.

Curious if anyone has attempted to use GMABooster to boost the VRAM and run the Sims 3 on their Macbook properly.

Thanks!

 

[Buskape]

I don't think you will be able to play decently, it will be choppy, but if that doesn't bother your girlfriend, then have a go!

The GMA950 is really a crappy integrated graphic chip.

 

[mosx]

http://www.thesims3.com/game/systemreq

GMA 950 isn't supported at all.

You can thank Apple for that They went from using a relatively good GPU in the iBook (Radeon 9550) to the worst in recent memory. They went from modern at that time back to something that wasn't even as good as the original GeForce.

 

[ddeadserious]

Thanks for the input guys.

I'm aware it's specifically unsupported. I wasn't sure though, whether that was because of the chip itself or lack of memory allocated to it.

I guess I'll give it a try, nothing to lose, right?

 

[Kat King123]

Thanks for the input guys.

I'm aware it's specifically unsupported. I wasn't sure though, whether that was because of the chip itself or lack of memory allocated to it.

I guess I'll give it a try, nothing to lose, right?

yeah it pretty much just over clocks your GPU to its normal speed because apple has underclocked it for battery reason i would suspect but it still wont be anywhere close to a NVIDIA 9400m but it should be better than what u have now

 

[ddeadserious]

I haven't tried GMAbooster yet, will report back when I do.

So I hooked up the blackbook to my MBP, which has Sims 3 installed via Target Disk Mode.

I booted the Blackbook off of my MBP's HD.

It ran Sims 3 without any glitches or anything, it just ran slow(still on 1GB of RAM for another day). I don't see why it won't run the same or better after using GMAbooster...

 

[andalusia]

I haven't tried GMAbooster yet, will report back when I do.

So I hooked up the blackbook to my MBP, which has Sims 3 installed via Target Disk Mode.

I booted the Blackbook off of my MBP's HD.

It ran Sims 3 without any glitches or anything, it just ran slow(still on 1GB of RAM for another day). I don't see why it won't run the same or better after using GMAbooster...

It ran The Sims 3, after they stated that Intel GMA950 wasn't supported?...
Intriguing, either a clever strategy to get people to upgrade their computers before getting the Sims 3, or EA were actually wrong! :O

 

[matthewscott661]

It is unsupported under OS X, but will evidently play in Windoze.

Since when it is not able to run under OS X. The version I have says WIN/MAC right on the front of the DVD.

 

[andalusia]

Since when it is not able to run under OS X. The version I have says WIN/MAC right on the front of the DVD.

It is able to run under both operating systems, there is only one version of the disc, and it houses both installers on it. Check hidden files, you'll see it all there.

 

[matthewscott661]

It is able to run under both operating systems, there is only one version of the disc, and it houses both installers on it. Check hidden files, you'll see it all there.

Exactly. Which is why I don't understand why the OP thinks he needs to have windows to run it.

 

[andalusia]

Exactly. Which is why I don't understand why the OP thinks he needs to have windows to run it.

Just an early misconception I guess. We can't all know everything Well you all can't...

 

[jmaquarry]

It Works!

Since when it is not able to run under OS X. The version I have says WIN/MAC right on the front of the DVD.

I believe the OP means that the graphics chip is unsupported NOT the operating system

Incidentally i have just loaded sims 3 into my whitebook gma950 with GMABOOSTER set to 400mhz and it runs like a charm SLIGHTLY choppy but not a problem really - runs much better than my girlfriends 1 year old windows pc

(before installing gmabooster the sims 3 would not load on my whitebook thus proving that indeed the gma booster should help - especially considering the blackbook has a faster processor)

 

[andalusia]

I believe the OP means that the graphics chip is unsupported NOT the operating system

Incidentally i have just loaded sims 3 into my whitebook gma950 with GMABOOSTER set to 400mhz and it runs like a charm SLIGHTLY choppy but not a problem really - runs much better than my girlfriends 1 year old windows pc

(before installing gmabooster the sims 3 would not load on my whitebook thus proving that indeed the gma booster should help - especially considering the blackbook has a faster processor)

Interesting. So the game doesn't recognise all components of a graphics card, just it's speed, which is why Sims isn't supposed to run on GMA. Cool, didn't know that

 

[ddeadserious]

I was referring to the GMA950 graphics chip - it is supported under Windows(up to 244MB VRAM), and not under OS X.

I installed Sims 3 on the Blackbook and it started up and runs(although a little choppy). Overclocked the GPU and it ran a little less choppy. Should work out well..

Don't blame me if it doesn't work for you though.

 

[ddeadserious]

Ok update.

When I was testing before, it was with an already created Sim. When it gets to the "Create a Sim" part, even with the GPU overclocked to 400MHz, it displays the Sim being created as a completely black being with hair and eyes.

Once you get into actual gameplay, the sim looks fine. So I suppose you'll either have to deal with the default style of your Sim, or set up your Sim on a capable machine, and move it to your Macbook.

 

[andalusia]

Haha nice... got any screenshots?