Dead Space

[zao8350]

Hey, has anyone tried playing Dead Space via bootcamp? I have the UMP 2.8ghz with the 512 9600gt card and wanted to try the game out, looked like a pretty good follow up for me after playing Doom 3. thanks!

 

[Winni]

My recommendation is to buy an Xbox 360 for gaming. Dead Space is awesome on the Xbox, by the way.

However, how well this well run in Boot Camp depends - as always - on your hardware. And Mac hardware usually is average at best when it comes to gaming.

If you have a Mac Pro with at least an nVidia 8800 GT, Dead Space will probably run quite nice.

If you have a MacBook or an iMac, it might not run at all because there are several games who do not support notebook chipsets -- For example, I could run Unreal Tournament 3 only at the lowest possible resolution on my old iMac Core Duo 20"; the game looked like an old Apple II game.

I was no longer willing to always upgrade my computer just to be able to play the newest games, and I was no longer willing to put up with copy protection or DRM issues, so I bought an Xbox 360 and can finally enjoy playing computer games again.

The Xbox 360 was the best investment in entertainment hardware that I've ever made.

 

[Rodus]

Dead Space runs surprisingly well on my below-the-minimum-spec GPU (128 MB X1600), all settings on medium. It should run very nicely on your machine, just make sure you have the latest drivers.

 

[JackAxe]

Hey, has anyone tried playing Dead Space via bootcamp? I have the UMP 2.8ghz with the 512 9600gt card and wanted to try the game out, looked like a pretty good follow up for me after playing Doom 3. thanks!

I originally played Dead Space on my Core 2 Quad 2.66 with a 9600 GT under XP64. It only needed about 110% out of the 400% CPU available. With that video card, DS NEVER droped below 60 fps(vsync on) with all game settings on max. The game was balanced for the 360, so your UMB exceeds the requirements.

Here are a few things you'll need to address on the PC side to counter some intentional crippling put in by the developers, if you decide to pick it up:

First off, do not use the game's vsync option. leave it set to off(It caps the framerate at 30 fps and jacks up the mouse tracking). Instead use the Nvidia Control panel's option. This will lock the game's framerate to your screen's Hz and greatly improve the mouse tracking issue that's present in this game.

Secondly, consider a gaming mouse that has on the fly DPI switching. The developers took the easy way out for the PC version -- OK not really. Instead of balancing the game for a mouse, they intentionally slow down the mouse speed when aiming. This is to try and mimic the sluggishness of a thumb-stick. I use a Logitech G9 and keep it on max. This gives me the turn speed that I'm used to on a PC, so I can aim as fast as I can react.

Dead Space is a great game, it's well worth getting. It's just a tad too easy, even on impossible-difficulty mode. I recommend starting the game on Hard-difficulty and playing the game without using Stasis(Time slow) on anything that can be killed by normal means. It really makes the game overly easy, given your mouse tracking is under control.

Anyways, I'm playing DS again right now. I just finished Dead Space:Extraction on the Wii, which was actually quite good. I've upgraded to a newer GPU since my play through, but this game doesn't need it.

 

[zao8350]

thanks for the replies!

this makes me happy it should run fine. i need to get a legit version of windows because im using the windows 7 beta and it wont let me install teh snow leopard drivers for some reason.
as for the mouse, i have a razer deathadder and it has on the fly dpi so im set there. thanks for all the advice jack.

and winni, if i had the cash i would do that. ive considered it so many times.

 

[Blair230]

The windows 7 rc wont let you install bootcamp drivers because apple doesn't support it officially yet. Its actually the vista (32 or 64 bit depending on which one you have) drivers you are installing.

If you look at this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/785924/

the last post in it will tell you how to install the bootcamp drivers. Its not too difficult, and they work great.

The other thing to do, is you can update your video card's drivers from the nvidia website. They have windows 7 drivers on there.

 

[lewdvig]

I played Dead Space on my old gaming notebook (it had a 9800m GTS which is about 40% faster than the 9600m GT).

Dead Space was not even remotely challenging for that setup - I was looking for more sliders to push to the max. It will run great on a MacBook Pro - I am 100% certain.

It's freaking scary IMO. I hate having stuff sneak up on me. Way scarier than Doom 3.

 

[lewdvig]

The windows 7 rc wont let you install bootcamp drivers because apple doesn't support it officially yet. Its actually the vista (32 or 64 bit depending on which one you have) drivers you are installing.

If you look at this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/785924/

the last post in it will tell you how to install the bootcamp drivers. Its not too difficult, and they work great.

The other thing to do, is you can update your video card's drivers from the nvidia website. They have windows 7 drivers on there.

Werd. I plan to use the RC as long as I can. I use the 64 bit flavor with great results on my MBP.

I switch between Boot Camp and Fusion, and that necessitates re-activating frequently. I have not had a problem yet.