Unofficial Gaming MacBook Thread: Post Results Here

[TWLreal]

MacBook, 2.0 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, 80 GB 5400 RPM HDD under OS X 10.4.7:

The Sims 2, Mac version, without University and Nightlife expansion packs. Patched to Rev. E for Universal Binary.

• Game performance: The game is set to 800*600 and very low quality settings. It lags when moving the camera around. It is playable without losing smoothness but it is slow. I've upped the resolution to 1280*800 and it would only accept the lowest possible quality settings. It seems rather unplayable even with only two Sims in your house.
  
  Bottom line, I wouldn't want to play it at all. If you can bear the camera and movement lag though, I guess it's fine.
  
• Comments: I simply refuse to install Boot Camp and Windows just to play games, therefore I am only interested in OS X versions of games.
  
  I would have to say the amount and quality of OS X ports are rather disappointing. It's understandable of course, but very disappointing for us Mac users.
  
  With that said, back to The Sims 2. The Rev. E patch will help a small bit according to other users, I have never played the game prior to it but hey, it's there at least. Installing either or both University and Nightlife expansion packs will slow the game down even more.
  
  I was impressed that my Intel Mac running the game under Rosetta was able to pull up that kind of performance. It's impressive, it's playable if you have low standards but in the end, I wouldn't play it.

I also have Command & Conquer: Generals and Sim City 4 for OS X but have not installed them yet. I'm going to wait for the Universal Binary patch by Aspyr.

 

[maxrobertson]

I have just one question: can it play This Game?

 

[MRU]

I have just one question: can it play This Game?

Why the link to a zipped file ? That wont open on a mac ?

Please choose application to open this file.....

errrr..... the trash can !!!

 

[iProd]

Has anyone got Final Fantasy VII to work?

 

[bobber205]

Zip files open on a mac...

 

[sikkinixx]

Macbook 1.83Ghz, 512mb Ram, Bootcamp XP Pro

Max Payne II

While the game ran very smoothly with low/medium settings, the widescreen aspect messed things up since I don't think this game has a 16:9 mode I gotta reinstall it now that I have my Macbook back and give'r another go!

FFVIII

I can get it installed ok! but for some reason I get the blue screen of death when I try to play it.... Going to reinstall it and try again!

Freedom Fighters

Loads fine, looks pretty good but crashes when I move the character too much movements are really quick, almost like the game is running too fast...

 

[iProd]

I've gotten FFVII to work. I already had the XP patch, but what I also needed was the motion filter patch, which fixes the movies (that's what was wrong with it, I found out - movies didn't play). And Sikk, I dunno why yours is crashing...XP patch might help.

 

[sikkinixx]

I've gotten FFVII to work. I already had the XP patch, but what I also needed was the motion filter patch, which fixes the movies (that's what was wrong with it, I found out - movies didn't play). And Sikk, I dunno why yours is crashing...XP patch might help.

i tried FF8 not 7, im installing 7 right now

 

[iProd]

i tried FF8 not 7, im installing 7 right now

Oh, heh, sorry.

 

[sikkinixx]

Sim City 4 Deluxe doesnt work for me in Bootcamp it loads the EA logo then crashes each time....

 

[the7dwarfs]

-Halo - OS X (Rosetta)
-MacBook 1.83 - 2GB
-average 10.16 fsp in Time Demo mode
-i ran the Time Demo, which gave me a more detailed view on what was happening. Im pretty sure it gets higher than 10 fps during gameplay, except for when there are heaps of enemys. It's gonna be much better when the UB comes out, or if you played it on XP.

haha... I grammer the bad... lol ah well, im tired.

The universal binary is already out. http://http://www.destineerstudios.com/destineer/press/press_releases/halo_ub.html. unfortunately you have to pay since it is a whole new build not just a patch. It seems to play well, I will try and post fps later.

Edit: just noticed when you posted that comment, and the UB probably wasn't out, My bad

Edit 2: Ran halo universal binary version at 1280x800, vertex shaders only, no anti-aliasing everything else on high or medium

2.0Ghz, 1gb ram

averaged about 30fps and dropped to around 10 in heavy battles.

 

[Dale_Nx26]

Sims 2 Bootcamp

machine: Macbook 1.83GHz, 1.25GB ram.
game: Sims 2

result: works rather well, very playable. minor lag when up close, but when a good distance away, good fps even when 6 sims are present.

ps. I tried SimsCity 4 as well but unable to get it to work. possibly it's because of my attemp to install on external HD.

 

[maxrobertson]

Why the link to a zipped file ? That wont open on a mac ?

Please choose application to open this file.....

errrr..... the trash can !!!

Uh... Zips open on a Mac. The game is a PC game, though, so I guess I'm only asking people who have boot camp.

 

[soulatrium]

Call of Duty 2 DEMO / Mac OSX
White Macbook, 2GHz, 512MB RAM
FPS: 5-25 ish

I have COD2 on my Xbox 360, and so I know how this game CAN look and play. I was expecting the demo for Mac to be like utter crap. When you first get in the game, it is really choppy for about 3 seconds, with sound cutting in and out, and a few graphical hiccups. However, once you're moving around and whatnot, the game runs rather smooth. The demo is very action packed, and I know the full game doesn't throw much more on the screen. With my stock 512MB of Ram, I'm sure there is room for improvement. Also, it would probably run even better on Windoze. HOWEVER, if all the settings are low, and the res is low (automatic settings), the game is quite playable. And I'm used to the X360 version!

I believe that the COD2 Demo for Mac 1.0 runs in the Rosetta emulation layer, even though the commercial version of the game is Universal Binary.

 

[eXan]

I believe that the COD2 Demo for Mac 1.0 runs in the Rosetta emulation layer, even though the commercial version of the game is Universal Binary.

Why the hell would it? If it was non-UB, MacBook would be able to run it at 2 fps!!!

 

[soulatrium]

Why the hell would it? If it was non-UB, MacBook would be able to run it at 2 fps!!!

I believe that COD2 came out originally solely optimized for PPC, and then they came out with a UB patch, which would explaing a nonUB demo. And I'm not entirely sure why you're getting angry; I'm solely trying to shed some light on the situation.

 

[bobber205]

I'm so proud of this topic!

 

[lewion]

I'm so proud of this topic!

Can't you make a new one and basicly take all the existing information out of this one and start over... people are not doing any tests anymore it seems.. i really hoped that there was getting more info.. the topic start was actually very good

 

[bluetorch18]

If anyone has a copy of Oblivion, could they try it with the Oldblivion patch please? Just curious to see if it would run...

 

[0098386]

I wonder if Satan Sam runs?

Actually... even Titan Omega, though 2D can bring a machine to it's knees (... 3 years ago)

crap! sorry I thought this was for Bootcamp or whatever. well. these are PC only, just to warn.

 

[atmenterprises]

Same here.

Sim City 4 Deluxe doesnt work for me in Bootcamp it loads the EA logo then crashes each time....

 

[eXan]

I believe that COD2 came out originally solely optimized for PPC, and then they came out with a UB patch, which would explaing a nonUB demo. And I'm not entirely sure why you're getting angry; I'm solely trying to shed some light on the situation.

Because it seems to me that its clear whether the game is UB or non-UB when is run on intel-iMac.

 

[lmalave]

I second this. For me WoW framerates generally are around 15 fps when running around outside. Indoors in cities like Ironforge, it can go up to 30 fps. However in some cities with a lot of activity, it can drop to about 8 fps. Finally, the one time I tried to go into a dungeon with a large party (5 or 6 players and lots of monsters, it was just too much). I didn't have the framerate display on, but it must've been something like 5 fps or less because it was really jerky. If you're doing a dungeon or raid I would set setting slow (especially spell effects, horizon, etc.) and see if you get better framerates.

WoW
2GHz Macbook, 2MB Ram, 100GB 7200 Hitachi HD, OS 10.4.7
Min FPS 4/Max FPS 40/Average FPS 17-19FPS

WoW runs great, depending on where you are (i am not talking about open areas vs. the mailbox at IF). For instance, in ZF, the hallways drop my FPS to 4-5. In Gadgetztan, just in town, i get around 10FPS. I didnt have these problems until my character was high enough level to go to Gadgetztan and ZF (which also happened around the time the 1.11 patch went live). BTW, all my video settings are set to the lowest, running WoW fullscreen, with nothing else running in the background in OSX.

So pre Gadgetztan average FPS 22-25, average FPS in Gadgetztan, ZF, Mara 17-19. Using the stock UI, or using the Insonmiax compilation makes no difference in FPS.

 

[AHDuke99]

I tried Halo Universal Binary on my Black Macbook with 2.0GB RAM and it still ran like a dog with vertex and pixel shaders on with a 800x500 resolution. in face, it lagged at any point when you had covenant around. but thankfully, I got this for just $1100 + $300 for the RAM, and am selling it for $1830 on Ebay and buying a macbook pro next week when the meroms come out. Prais the Lord! I recommend not buying a macbook at all if you wish to run any 3D games what so ever. sure, you can turn off the shaders, but then the game looks like crap.

 

[bobber205]

I'm finding Halo to run pretty well so far under XP with only 512.