Another WAR Question- With a Twist!

[CLime]

Yes, another topic asking about the viability of the upcoming Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning on our beloved Macs. I realize multitudes of posters have posed similar inquiries, and I am not inept in the use of Google/forum search functions/what have you when it comes to finding these topics. However, none of the many posts were able to give me a definitive answer for my own inquiry.

Here's the hook: Will WAR be playable, not on a MacBook Pro, not on an iMac, but a regular old MacBook?

My current machine is approximately two years old, with the 2 gHz Intel dual-core processor and 1 gig memory. It has the original graphics cards, nothing else that I imagine would be relevant to performance has been replaced or upgraded from the factory-shipped state. Probably the best indicator of recent performance is that I can dualbox WoW (running two instances simultaneously) on low graphics settings reasonably well. I would be running WAR off of Windows XP through Bootcamp, obviously.

Of course, I realize WAR's system reqs are much greater than those of WoW, so I fear I'm being naive in thinking my faithful machine can run WAR with any decent performance. Graphics settings are a non-factor for me, I'll gladly move all the way down any and all sliders if it makes the difference between playablility and unplayability.

So the question is, does my regular old MacBook have any hope? If not, is there anything I can do, video card wise etc. to change that? Thanks for your time.

 

[Chilz0r]

I know for certain there is nothing you can do to upgrade your graphics chip set, however I think adding more RAM will help your cause.

 

[kahine]

If you mean the Macbook with the GMA 950 chipset/video card which I believe it would be, then no , it's not going to run it , even with graphics turned down all the way you're going to get less than 10fps -

I'm not even sure if the newer Macbooks will be able to have it run in actually playable framerates , but know the older ones can't run it

The min requirements are 128mb RAM and the following video cards (or higher/equivalent)

Supported Video Cards:

ATI Radeon(TM) series

· 9500, 9600, 9800
· X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
· X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
· 2400, 2600, 2900,
· 3650, 3850, 3870
· 4850, 4870

NVIDIA GeForce series

· FX 5900, FX 5950
· 6600, 6800,
· 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
· 8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
· 9400, 9500, 9600, 9800
· GTX 260, GTX 280

Intel(R) Extreme Graphics

· GMA X4500

 

[t19880821]

Before I got my mbp I used my sister's MacBook 2.16ghz c2d, 2gb ram, gma950. I decided to try the WoW trial on it. I ran it at 1280x800 w/ all settings down except texture detail. Highest I got was 40fps.. That was with no one around not even npcs. While fighting mobs it averaged 25fps. I never went to a heavily populated area.. but the lowest framerates went down to is 17fps. It's safe to assume that heavily populated areas would bring the MacBook down on its knees. Still, I was surprised the gma950 could even run WoW that well.

In your case with WAR, I don't think it would be able to run WAR.. Especially with the lack of shaders in the gma950. But it is surprising at how well the MacBook can run certain games. Even had it playing FEAR!

 

[CLime]

Yes, I am using the GMA 950. It runs WoW with no problems; even in heavily populated areas (AV, capital cities, etc.) the FPS can remain playable even with default graphics settings. Of course, since WoW still uses the same basic graphics engine it did in 2004, that's not much of an indicator.

Anyway, thanks for your responses, even if they did more or less confirm my fears. I might give it a try come Sept. 18 just for the hell of it, but I won't be expecting much. From what I've read, it seems that the video card, or lack thereof, is a bigger obstacle than the clock rate.

 

[kahine]

You probably want to try the open beta , I'm not even sure it will let you install it , before you spend the 50 bucks -

it requires hardware T/L on video and not sure if the 950 is true hardware support for T/L

 

[rittchard]

Some really excellent news I had to share: I just tried the OB client for WAR and was actually able to get it running on the MBA!! Granted I didn't do much and I had to turn all settings to the lowest/off, but this is a big step - earlier versions of the client would not even load in.