OS Neutral XCOM 2!

[Renzatic]

The reviews are looking excellent, it's out the day after tomorrow, already up for preloading, and it's available for everyone with a computer type machine.

...so why are we not talking about XCOM 2?

 

[Cougarcat]

for me, backlog, and Firaxis always comes out with expansions that make the base game way better. So I'm exited for it, but I'll catch it next year.

 

[Renzatic]

That's true of the Civ games, but XCOM was excellent even before Enemy Within came out. The expansion merely gave me another excuse to fire it up again.

Eh, I guess you can live vicariously through me for the time being.

I should also add that this marks the first time I've paid full price for a Feral game, since I'll be playing this on Linux first and foremost. They deserve some thanks, considering all the games that have conveniently showed up in my Steam catalog there because of their effort and hard work.

 

[txa1265]

I am in 'limited time' mode right now, so while I am excited and will buy and play ... I am not rushing out right now to grab it. Loved the first one as well.

 

[Renzatic]

Fortunately for me, I've got a free weekend. I'm gonna go over to an old friend's house (who also likes XCOM), order a pizza, hook the computer up to the big screen, and nerd out for hours on end.

 

[Renzatic]

AND IT'S OUT! I'm currently in the process of updating my purchase to the full release.

Oh man, I'm so excited. My nethers are tingly...

 

[dazcox5181]

Oh well won't work on my 2013 macbook air anyway... Time to upgrade I think

 

[nkarafo]

Hello. Has anyone tried this game on 5k retina iMac ? I will buy it some day (maybe on summer) because I don't have too much free time but I was wondering how is the frame rate. Some pc users already are complaining for performance issues and it needs definitely a patch.
I loved the first one and it's the second best turn based strategy after Fire Emblem on Wii. Maybe the sequel will the best of all..

 

[Renzatic]

It could use a patch or two. Runs pretty alright for me in Windows, but it's more than a bit rough in Linux. I vaguely recall hearing that the Mac version is in about the same boat.

Shame, too. Cuz it's very obviously a really damn good game from what I've seen of it thus far.

 

[Cougarcat]

I perused this thread: http://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/412446292763672578/#p5

Not too many Mac reports, but none of them are good. 2 min loading times, unplayable on 5K iMac with settings low...yikes.

 

[Ursadorable]

I tried playing it tonight... for about 20 minutes.

It was painful how slow it performed, and I agree with the steam forums.. it's desperately in need of optimization right now.

I'll try messing around with graphic options tomorrow, but it's bedtime for now.

 

[Renzatic]

Read through this. Yeah, I know. It's nearly three years old by this point, but it seems to be the universal go-to tweak guide for all Unreal Engine 3 based games, up to and including both XCOM 1 & 2. Using it, and (weirdly enough) switching to an earlier driver rev, I've managed to push the Linux version from nigh unplayable, to perfectly solid, if not absolutely astounding, with everything turned up, saved for texture resolution and draw distance at 1080p. I'd say I'm getting about 30-40 FPS during the base scenes, and about 45-60 in missions.

 

[TheGreatWumpus]

Read through this. Yeah, I know. It's nearly three years old by this point, but it seems to be the universal go-to tweak guide for all Unreal Engine 3 based games, up to and including both XCOM 1 & 2. Using it, and (weirdly enough) switching to an earlier driver rev, I've managed to push the Linux version from nigh unplayable, to perfectly solid, if not absolutely astounding, with everything turned up, saved for texture resolution and draw distance at 1080p. I'd say I'm getting about 30-40 FPS during the base scenes, and about 45-60 in missions.

Which file did you actually modify that worked out for you? I'm finding at least 3 instances of xcomengine.ini which all seem to have the same settings. 1 is in documents..the other 2 are in the xcom 2 steam folder.
[doublepost=1454944645][/doublepost]On another note, if anyone is interested in some Mac gameplay, here's a video I made:

 

[Renzatic]

In Linux, it's under (deep breath) /home/.local/share/feral-interactive/XCOM2/VFS/Local/my games/XCOM2/Xcomgame/Config.

On OSX, I think it's under /Library/Application Support/Feral Interactive/XCOM2

 

[imacken]

Not too many Mac reports, but none of them are good. 2 min loading times, unplayable on 5K iMac with settings low...yikes.

Well, all I can say is that I am playing it on my late 2015 5k iMac @ 2560x1440 on high settings, and it is silky smooth!
Not sure what the 2 minutes loading is measuring, but it takes 35 secs to get to the main screen, and that's with some unavoidable intro movies.
Great job, as always, from the Feral guys!
EDIT: 22 secs to load to main screen after disabling intro movies.

 

[hackintosh5]

Also the game is running silky smooth for me @ 1080p max Setting (Smooth Video off and v sync off) on Mac Pro 2013 Quad 3.7 GHz 12 GB Ram, D700 and Mac OS 10.11.3
I did notice a little hiccups here and there but not to often. Also I enabled the feral interactive FPS in advanced settings was right around 30 FPS but I feel it's more a capped FPS even though in the setting it shouldn't be capped that low. Also having the FPS counter will lower the FPS by a little.
Bravo Feral!

 

[imacken]

Also I enabled the feral interactive FPS in advanced settings

How did you do that?

 

[hackintosh5]

How did you do that?

You can enable the Feral fps counter by typing -showtestpanel in the advanced tab of the pre-game options screen. this will bring up a new tab with more option like show FPS.

 

[imacken]

You can enable the Feral fps counter by typing -showtestpanel in the advanced tab of the pre-game options screen. this will bring up a new tab with more option like show FPS.

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Where did you find out about that?
[doublepost=1455034226][/doublepost]

You can enable the Feral fps counter by typing -showtestpanel in the advanced tab of the pre-game options screen. this will bring up a new tab with more option like show FPS.

Hmmm... doesn't work for me! Do you have to activate it in game?

 

[hackintosh5]

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Where did you find out about that?
[doublepost=1455034226][/doublepost]
Hmmm... doesn't work for me! Do you have to activate it in game?

Make sure the box is checked and you might have to click play button first for the other tab to come up. I'll double check that is what I had when I get home. Feral had been using this for years on all games. I know was once posted at www.insidemacgames.com Hmm I just googled and this was the only place now http://www.maclife.de/forum/viewtopic.php?p=787115

 

[imacken]

Make sure the box is checked and you might have to click play button first for the other tab to come up. I'll double check that is what I had when I get home. Feral had been using this for years on all games. I know was once posted at www.insidemacgames.com Hmm I just googled and this was the only place now http://www.maclife.de/forum/viewtopic.php?p=787115

Hmm... strange. Doesn't work in any older Feral games for me either.
Must be something I'm not doing. All I do is check the 'Advanced options' box, and enter '-showtestpanel'. Game starts when I press Play and no panel shows!
EDIT: OK, got it! didn't realise it would add a new panel to the options! Duh!

 

[Renzatic]

Oh, that had to hurt.

 

[HumpYourWayUp]

I perused this thread: http://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/412446292763672578/#p5

Not too many Mac reports, but none of them are good. 2 min loading times, unplayable on 5K iMac with settings low...yikes.

My experience with XCom was ok on Mac.
I tried it on a 2013 Mac Pro 8c D700. Runs decent in 1080p mid/high settings and in 1440p with low to med settings.

Of course the game will run way better when you install windows and use Crossfire!
Installing windows on a Mac should be the way to go anyway. Just look at these charts an compare Tomb Raider running in OS X to running it in Windows!!!

Haven't tried it yet in Bootcamp because I could not take the crap anymore and bought a gaming PC over two years ago with a GTX980 and since then all the worries are gone...
I will try XCom on my 2015 15" Macbook Pro. Really curious how it will run on that machine.

 

[hiddenmarkov]

I will try XCom on my 2015 15" Macbook Pro. Really curious how it will run on that machine.

IMO, it doesn't run too bad. Its gets slow at some points but tbh...its the same points even windows clients are getting this. This is not the worst week 1 release I have fired up but its clear some optimization patching will be needed. Its not graphics slowdown its spin up of load files for say Central's thank you for stating the obvious cut in's.

Things that can slow the game down include voiceovers/pip stuff and cut screen cutovers. Some....well many it seems would like to turn off anyway. I am joining them.

As well if some out there are truly against save scumming....when you die (and you will) relying on save scumming to not see the same dialogue becomes a sanity measure.

Retaliation missions can be annoying for example with Central coming in every turn saying they are killing civi's, stop them. Thing is...you can't. Quite a few spawn by advent so you will lose a few in round 1 and 2 to advent executions for sure.

PLaywise its the same. They made it harder. even at veteran(guess normal). I tbh went to baby/noob mode as I was banging out 50% squad mortality rates basically every mission. And the cash was running low to replace them. I did the EU and EW on veteran and beat it little issues. This game checked my ego lol.

Its the adjusting to the timers. They seem more draconian to me then EW. You can't ignore them. Unlike in EW where tbh once I had a mech a modified soldier I said yay me...I am not losing a whole squad to rush the drops and die to get more if deemed a really bad idea. So I let special drops timers run out as needed. Here...you lose the mission, which loses money so you may as well go suicide rush style as screwed either way really.

 

[nkarafo]

With i5 retina late 2015 iMac 27'', 24gb ram and radeon m390, unfortunately I have medium performance, around 30 fps. The best results is around 40 but with resolution at 2048x1152. 1920x1080 is too ugly but whatever resolution more than 2048x1152 is laggy. I have done the trick with XComEngine.ini in both folders that I found it and I didn't see any difference. The game is playable BUT it has performance issues.

I have uploaded my settings.

Do we have on mac any similar like video graphics settings like on windows or direct x ?? Something to configure except the settings ingame ?

Thanks.