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Aspyr Talks about more Universal Binary Games

LimeiBook86

LimeiBook86

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 4, 2002
8,003
54
Go Vegan
Here's a little part of the Aspyr newsletter I recieved in my e-mail today. It has to do with some games being released as a Universal Binary so they can run on a PowerPC or Intel Macintoshes. :D

"Having completed a thorough test of all our
older games on Intel Macs, we'll now move to some of the other titles.
Some of the games most likely to have Universal updates are Rollercoaster
Tycoon 3, SimCity(TM) 4, Call of Duty(TM), and Command & Conquer(TM)
Generals. Exact details will be announced soon.

One of the other interesting projects we've recently undertaken has been
moving the SMP (multi-processor) support for Quake 4(TM) from the beta
patch released for Windows to the OS X version. Our initial work has shown
amazing results, and we hope to have the dual processor aware version of
Quake 4(TM) Mac ready to release in late March. Historically it has been
difficult for many games to get a speed boost from dual processors, but
having access to a very well engineered codebase that is SMP aware on the
PC has really helped in this case. Keep an eye on your favorite Mac games
sites for the Quake 4(TM) SMP patch!

Patches
Universal patches for Shrek 2(TM) and Spiderman 2(TM) were released in
early March. These allow the games to have much better performance on
Intel Macs. The Sims(TM) 2 Universal patch and Civ� 3 Complete Universal
patches should also be available about the time you read this. These
patches and other updates can be found at http://www.aspyr.com/support"

It seems like they are trying to port more games to the Intel Macs. Nothing is set in stone yet but, it looks like they're trying to get as many games as possible out as a Universal Binary. Looks like it's time to update the Mac Guides section of Universal Binary Games.;)

Update: I've updated the Mac Guides UB Game list but, if I made any mistakes feel free to edit them ;)
 
That's great news. I'll be glad to see how COD plays on my new Intel iMac. It runs good under Rosetta but I'd like to see how it will run once the binary is out.
 
hi, i see this "universal binary" thing said a lot round here, but i don't know what it means :/

can anyone help me out? i feel (yet again) stupid! : ]



peace
 
cartoonfox said:
hi, i see this "universal binary" thing said a lot round here, but i don't know what it means :/

can anyone help me out? i feel (yet again) stupid! : ]



peace
Click to expand...
It means that the application is compiled so that it runs at full speed on both a Mac with an Intel processor and on a Mac with a PowerPC processor.

If an application isn't a universal binary, it is compiled for the PowerPC processor and will only run full speed on a PowerPC based Mac. Mac OS X includes a technology called Rosetta that lets Intel based Macs run most non-universal apps by translating the PowerPC machine language to Intel machine language as needed. This will slow down the application.
 
Hopefully they will have RCT3 Universal by the time I get an intel Mac. :D One of the several things that stopped me from getting a MBP. (that is NOT the most important reason though)
 
LimeiBook86 said:
. The Sims(TM) 2 Universal patch and Civ� 3 Complete Universal
patches should also be available about the time you read this. These
patches and other updates can be found at http://www.aspyr.com/support[/i]"
Click to expand...



This topic was started a long time ago, and it states The Sims 2 Universal patch should be available, but I can't seem to find this anywhere??
 
same here. i also do not see any patches for the sims2. I have the game and and very anxious to play it on my MBP at full speed. Hurry ASPYR!

-JoE
 
United Offensive

I assume that if they release a UB for Call of Duty, that they'd do the same for it's divine expansion pack, United Offensive. Just got my 1.83 Duo Core today and I can't wait. UO plays fine but have to turn down the settings.
 
sim city 4

I been using simcity 4 it seems to be work good for me on my intel macbook pro
 
The Universal patch has been available since mid-May.*

On the Sims 2 page, click "The Sims 2 Universal Binary Update." You have to download it from MacGameFiles.

*I only mention this because it's really annoying how Aspyr didn't mention a thing.
 
C&C patch before Christmas?

"We do plan to provide a UB patch for this title, but since we have very many patches in the works, and this is only one of them, I really can't give you any release dates. The best way to keep informed about patch updates is to sign up for our newsletter [...]"

This is a response by Aspyr to an enquiry as to when we might see a UB patch for C&C as well as Zero.

Will this patch ever arrive???!!!
 
I bought my imac in Jan, bought Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 same time, i'm still waiting for universal version 6 months later :rolleyes:
 
Laser47 said:
Maybe they will finally fix the problem of Sim City 4 not working right on 10.4.
Click to expand...

I've also been waiting for some kind of Sim City 4 patch. There were several earlier threads talking about people asking Asyr to fix the PowerPC problems, but getting responses like "Not going to happen". I've given up on the game, as well as Asyr, but this new universal patch movement has me thinking.

What are the chances that a universal patch for SC4 would also fix issues with PowerPC? If the problems were 10.4 specific, perhaps they'll have to be addressed cross platform? Does anyone have a more informed opinion about this? Is there a possibility a universal patch would fix the horrible problems for the rest of us lowly PowerPC users?
 
Well, the Civ 3 complete UB patch isn't out yet... so I guess they weren't right. But it's good to see Aspyr fixing up some good games.
 
I too am waiting for the Civ 3 complete UB patch. The game won't even play on my MB with 2GB ram. It crashes less than 5 minutes in. Maybe I have bad RAM?
 
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