VPC 7

[m.r.m.]

i´m not even that sure about running half life. ok, i agree that it may run, but what good is it if you only get 50-60 fps. many would say, better than not running at all, but if you´ve spent $3000 on a computer, i´m sure we all can agree that you want 100 fps, and yes that is a tremendous difference.

i guess we´ll just have to wait and see, since this is all speculation and gut feelings without any or with very little substance.

 

[ravenvii]

Heh, the human eye couldn't see any better than 60 fps, so there's no difference if it's 60fps or 1 million fps... lol... Yes I know it's an average, and higher means it's more likely to remain above 60 fps at all times... so I guess I'd hope for 70 fps.

And 3000 bucks just to run 70 fps? Sure, you gotta remember it's all emulated, and you get to run OS X plus all Windows programs you would want. If VPC7 is as Microsoft promised, I'm getting rid of my PC and getting a PowerMac.

 

[7on]

lol, and what most people forget is that Half-life isn't that much graphics demanding. It was realized in '99 and I even got the Day One demo with my Voodoo3500 card. And I honestly don't why people need above 60fps on games (I can even deal with 30). ID has said that they fixed this in the new DOOM3 engine, by setting up a mandatory frame limiter. It's all about the Quake3 fiasco where you can get 300+ FPS on today's machines.

Being good at a game doesn't mean you need awesome FPS, you just have to be good. Consoles even run at (on NTSC) 720x480 @ 60fps (though TVs are 29.97, the frames are interlaced meaning 2 frames in one).

You can already run HL1 on VPC6 @ 3fps so 30FPS isn't that far-fetched if MS has better GPU support.

 

[JzzTrump22]

If it does have graphic support, do you think you will be able to run less graphic intensive games like Civ3? I just bought the game a few months ago for pc and haven't played it because i got my PB shortly after. So it would be cool if i could use it in my mac.

 

[JOD8FY]

If it does have graphic support, do you think you will be able to run less graphic intensive games like Civ3?

I would think so. But does anyone know if it would be able to play Age of Mythology? If it could, that would be awesome.

Also, I have a 7200 RPM external HD. If I were to install VPC onto it, would it run better than on my 12" Rev. B HD? How would it affect gameplay?

Thanks,
JOD8FY

 

[FightTheFuture]

i could be wrong, but wasn't it connetix that developed VPC 6 - and then sold it to microsoft, who updated it from there on? maybe microsoft will definitely make this emulator fly better then before. i really hope so. it would give me a reason to ditch my dell and pick up a G5.

 

[JOD8FY]

i could be wrong, but wasn't it connetix that developed VPC 6 - and then sold it to microsoft, who updated it from there on?

That is correct. And I too am hoping that Microsoft will do a better job of creating VPC.

JOD8FY

 

[7on]

They could even tie in Windows to make it work better/faster (some PPC code even). Hopefully it'll be exponentially better.

 

[thatwendigo]

Why do people even want VirtualPC, rather than a full port of the operating system to PowerPC? The NT core, which is the basis for XP, had full support for the PowerPC architecture from NT4.0 (and I thnk 3.8) onwards because of a technology that they called the hardware abstraction layer.

The only thing you'd really need to emulate then are application APIs so that calls to the OS are flipped from their x86 origins and run as PowerPC code, then flipped back. The OS itself, and much of the other underpinnings, could be run natively. This wouldn't hurt Microsoft one bit because they could charge for Windows on the mac platform, and it would only help the market overall because people who needed windows compatibility but only wanted one machine could do it without kludgy emulation of an old processor and hardware.

 

[Nermal]

MS could release VPC with a special version of Windows that uses PowerPC code. The PowerPC code can be executed natively, and the CPU emulation will only be needed for any additional applications you install. By making the core OS PowerPC native, there should be a tremendous speed boost. It will also decrease piracy of Windows because people will want the faster "VPC version" of Windows, rather than using the copy that came with their Dull.

 

[Veldek]

I don’t want to shatter everyone’s dream, but I read in a German magazine, that tested the VPC7 beta, that it’s too slow to run even older games. I hope that’s because it’s a beta, but you should perhaps make yourself comfortable with a disappointment.

 

[jsw]

Why do people even want VirtualPC, rather than a full port of the operating system to PowerPC? ....

MS could release VPC with a special version of Windows that uses PowerPC code.

I don't think anyone would rather have VPC (emulator) than a true port - except for those who wanted to run something other than Windows on their emulated PC (but why would they? the Mac is already a UNIX system... perhaps to run old DOS games? ).

I just don't think MS is willing to dedicate the resources to it. Plus, unlike VPC, MS would have to port each of the OSs it wanted to sell, as opposed to just an emulator underneath. Pretty expensive proposition for what they see as a tiny market.

 

[JOD8FY]

I don’t want to shatter everyone’s dream, but I read in a German magazine, that tested the VPC7 beta, that it’s too slow to run even older games. I hope that’s because it’s a beta, but you should perhaps make yourself comfortable with a disappointment.

I hope you're wrong... . Did that article say anything else about VPC 7? Maybe a release date?

Thanks,
JOD8FY

 

[yamabushi]

Free upgrade available

If you buy MS Office X Professional before the end of the month you can get MS Office 2000 Professional (including VPC 7) for free when it ships. Do a search for "ms office x" at the
Apple online store.