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Full report (during my break from spore)

MacBook 2.16Ghz, 2 GB Ram with the GMA 950

In Os X not so good, frankly Cider blows donkey nuts. Performance is choppy and some graphics glitches, namely in creature editor.

I'm getting sick of gaming companies releasing "OS X" version which are just cider ports. Why can't they just release a proper binary?

Anyway, back on topic, booted into Windows XP via Bootcamp(fresh install, no updates or service packs installed... standard bootcamp drivers). All settings set to medium on 1024x768.

Runs fantastic! nice graphics, smooth game play... and I'm addicted.

Hope this helps.
Is that really a solution - install XP?? :(
 
It's especially frustrating that if you click on options (while in the creature editor mode) the creature will be rendered in the background, but the moment you close the options menu, the creature goes back to black.
 
are we SURE it's the graphics card?

Same situation here, iMac with GMA950 graphics, but the disappearing creature just doesn't feel like a graphics problem to me. If I hover over the black area where the creature should be - he magically appears. if the graphics card can't drive it, how does it appear then? and of course in actual play the creature is completely visible and everything seems to render pretty well. Just doesn't smell like a graphics problem to me.
 
Spore on mac mini?

I have a mac mini version 10.5.5, intel core 2 duo and GMA 950. Will Spore still play on my computer? Please help!
 
I'm running Spore on a MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz, 2GB Ram, GMA 950 and Windows Vista (SP1).

It's running fine for me—although I did go to Intel's Web site and update the GMA driver like the game recommended upon install.

I'm already to Space.
 
I'm running Spore on a MacBook Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz, 2GB Ram, GMA 950 and Windows Vista (SP1).

It's running fine for me—although I did go to Intel's Web site and update the GMA driver like the game recommended upon install.

I'm already to Space.
Are you running it fine in boot camp or in Mac OS X? Because I didn't need to update my drivers for boot camp to get it to run.
 
What really stings...

...is being able to play Spore Origins on my 2005 iPod and I can't play the full game on my mid-2007 MacBook without *shudder* booting into XP.

I'm not a massive gamer but this really grabbed my attention and I've played the a**e off the iPod version.

Ho-hum.

Derwood
 
Are you running it fine in boot camp or in Mac OS X? Because I didn't need to update my drivers for boot camp to get it to run.

I'm running Spore in Windows Vista via Boot Camp. You may not have to update your drivers to get it to run, but it's silly not to stay updated. Intel releases integrated drivers updates fairly frequently.

The drivers on your Leopard disc are old, and Spore recommends you update to the latest graphics drivers before launching the game.
 
iMac with GMA950 left out in the cold too

tried the hack to set the plist to 850 so the 950 would work, but it didn't.
threw in some more memory (from 1GB to 2GB) to see if the graphics card could use more, but no.

Only answer I can see is Steve Jobs announces a new MacBook Pro soon, I buy it for me, and give my son my 2 yr 9 month old MacBook Pro with a Radeon X1600 as a Spore machine. sheesh.

Or, Apple could update the darn drivers for the GMA950 so it's as "good" as Windows!

Allison
NosillaCast at http://podfeet.com
A technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Macintosh bias!
 
Personally...

...I am massively disappointed that Apple don't appear to be able to turn out better drivers for their graphics hardware. For a company that prides themselves on the benefits of providing stable, integrated, top-to-bottom computer solutions for consumers, they are way off the pace with driver updates.

If they don't want to go to the hassle of producing optimized drivers then why can't they leverage their relationship with Intel and get them to do it? They obviously have enough clout - think of the reduced footprint C2D that made its way into the MacBookAir.

Still hammering Spore on my iPod...

Derwood
 
It's Working!

I have the trial of the Spore Creature Creator working on my late 2006 Macbook which has an intel GMA 950 chipset.

It's a little laggy but it is usable, i'm looking forward to buying the full game.
The rendering of the creature is a little slow but it does it without freezing or anything.
I test drove my creature and the gameplay isnt laggy at all.

You can d/l the trial of the creature creator here: http://www.spore.com/trial

Make sure to accept the update to ensure compatibility!
 
I have the MB with a GMA 950

It runs, but when I go into the creature builder I see blackness. the rest works..

I'm installing it in my bootcamp partition tonight to see how that works.

Odd the requirements for windows are different than Mac. Windows is more forgiving for lower end graphics cards where Cider is not forgiving at all.

Why can't they develop native apps for Macs instead of emulation through crappy Cider?

Ditto for my Mac Mini. If ran under Boot Camp, well it won't even install... It throws a CRC error check.. yet when installing within Mac OS X it installs perfectly...
 
can we use trial creature creator for the real game?

I have the trial of the Spore Creature Creator working on my late 2006 Macbook which has an intel GMA 950 chipset.

It's a little laggy but it is usable, i'm looking forward to buying the full game.
The rendering of the creature is a little slow but it does it without freezing or anything.
I test drove my creature and the gameplay isnt laggy at all.

You can d/l the trial of the creature creator here: http://www.spore.com/trial

Make sure to accept the update to ensure compatibility!

Is it possible to create the creature with this creature creator and import the little bugger into the real game? That would solve the only problem we have - we can't see the creature in the builder of the real game.

Allison
NosillaCast at http://podfeet.com
A technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Macintosh bias!
 
Wow, the update for the Creature Creator actually makes it work on my GMA950 Macbook now! Does this mean the full version will be patched to work on it as well? Things are looking pretty good... I might go out and buy Spore soon.
 
All i need to know...

...is the full version of Spore laggy at all running on an Intel GMA 950 video card when the display is set to 1280x800 and not the standard 800x600?
 
full version update fixed the GMA 950 problem on iMac

today Spore had an update (the full game) which failed partway through but oddly when we brought the game back up we can now see the creature we're making in the builder! now we can put eyeballs on the butt on PURPOSE if we want to.

this was on a mid-2006 iMac with GMA 950 graphics.

btw, haven't tried it above 800x600 yet, but we did bump the machine up to 2GB to make it not jerky at all at that resolution (it did help).

Allison
NosillaCast at http://podfeet.com
A technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Macintosh bias!
 
Now Working

Spore will now work on a GMA 950 macbook with the first update to the game!
If you could not see the creature before in the editor, this problem is now solved. :D
 
Spore will now work on a GMA 950 macbook with the first update to the game!
If you could not see the creature before in the editor, this problem is now solved. :D

how are you running it through bootcamp or leopard? I can't even get the game to start running...:(
 
I went and picked up a copy of Spore at about 1:00 today. I sat down at my MacBook shortly after. It's now 9:00. :p

Spore rocks and was totally playable with the GMA 950 with the first patch installed. Yes, all the settings are on low. Yes, it's on Leopard. Yes, it looks like a first-gen N64 title like that. But I made it all the way to the Space stage.

I read a little bit about the patch and it sounds like for some it takes ~45 mins to an hour to install. On my Core Duo, it took about 25 minutes? Some people are saying it freezes their computer all together.

For people who are bound to ask more technical questions, I would say the frame rate was maybe 20-30 at most points? During FMVs, it dropped and was a little choppy. But I didn't notice any real "lag" per se. When I clicked something, it was selected. However, you could tell that the less graphically complex stages (cell stage, creature creator, communications in Civilization) were running faster. I consider it playable.

If you're okay running it on the lowest settings, it's definitely worth the investment.

EDIT: If anyone wants me to play around with the settings, let me know as I'll undoubtedly be playing this game more this week for sure. :p
 
how are you running it through bootcamp or leopard? I can't even get the game to start running...:(
I'm running it in OS 10.5.5
If you can't even get it to start running then you may not be playing it on an intel core 2 duo processor. So early 2006 macbooks/macbook pro/mac mini will not be playing spore.
 
I'm running it in OS 10.5.5
If you can't even get it to start running then you may not be playing it on an intel core 2 duo processor. So early 2006 macbooks/macbook pro/mac mini will not be playing spore.

Mac System Requirements clearly state "Core Duo" or greater. celestialgirl11, if you can't get it to start running, have you tried reinstalling and running the new patch?
 
I have a core duo...so i guess i'll try uninstalling and try again. I'll let you guys know how that works. (I REALLY hope it does...I've been anticipating this game since it was first announced...)
 
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