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Deus Ex Human Revolution

sentros said:
Hello guys! I just installed Deus Ex: Human Revolution on my Mac Mini 2011 and I'm having trouble getting the dolby digital sound to work. I have my mini connected to my home theater amplifier via an optical cable and the mini is running the latest Win 7.

When I launch the game I only get stereo sound. But in Windows I've tried the dolby digital test and windows plays the sound fine from every single channel so it's not a question of drivers(?). Any idea if this is a mac related issue (implying there's something about the hardware) or is this a universal problem with PC gamers alike?

Would appreciate any help, even an url to a helpful site would be much appreciated.
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Unfortunately when I did research on this I found that games only support surround audio with a sound card that provides analog 5.1 output. The reason being that a game would have to do some processing to convert the audio channels into a Dolby stream and this requires a little bit of CPU as well as Dolby approval.

There are some sound cards that do this with onboard processing but then you might as well just get one with analog outs because you still have to get a sound card anyway. I'm not sure how OSX would react to having an unrecognised PCI card present. I'd be very curious to hear if anyone has tried this.

There are USB ones but in the long run is it worth all the trouble? I tried The Witcher 2 in surround with an elcheapo usb thing from China and it worked intermittently. It was enough for me to realise that the surround did not add very much at all.

There are usb surround headphones that might be worth exploring.
 
I bit the bullet and bought DX:HR for PS3 in addition to PC so I could hear the surround sound and check it out on the big screen. Now it looks like I'll have to buy it for mac, too.
 
Judging on what people are saying about performance, given my comparatively lowly MBP, I think I'm going to get it on PS3 instead!
 
2006 Mac Pro (Quad Core 2.66Ghz) with Radeon 4870. The game runs very well, even at 2560x1440, and loading times are very short. I'm pretty happy with this 5 year old machine right now :)

I suppose that's really more of a side effect of how old the current generation of consoles is though -- the computing power of my old Mac Pro blows the consoles away, as does the upgraded GPU.
 
bratels said:
Join Date
Sep 13, 2011
Total Posts
2
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bratels said:
and Onlive runs Deus Ex on any mac, even an MBA.

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You can also play it on Onlive (www.onlive.com) on any intel mac by the way. I just started there and it is awesome, no worries about your specs, no messing around with boot camp, no PC necessary. I already play Deus Ex for 2 weeks now on my MBP and it is awesome.
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You registered on Macrumors just so you could promote onlive? That's pretty suspicious.
 
TinHead88 said:
Unfortunately when I did research on this I found that games only support surround audio with a sound card that provides analog 5.1 output. The reason being that a game would have to do some processing to convert the audio channels into a Dolby stream and this requires a little bit of CPU as well as Dolby approval.

There are some sound cards that do this with onboard processing but then you might as well just get one with analog outs because you still have to get a sound card anyway. I'm not sure how OSX would react to having an unrecognised PCI card present. I'd be very curious to hear if anyone has tried this.

There are USB ones but in the long run is it worth all the trouble? I tried The Witcher 2 in surround with an elcheapo usb thing from China and it worked intermittently. It was enough for me to realise that the surround did not add very much at all.

There are usb surround headphones that might be worth exploring.
Click to expand...

It's frustrating how surround sound in games is so un-standardized. I am really looking forward to playing the Mac port in surround sound.

I hope that Feral would be able to use Thunderbolt/ATI HDMI out for 5.1.
 
Icaras said:
It's frustrating how surround sound in games is so un-standardized. I am really looking forward to playing the Mac port in surround sound.

I hope that Feral would be able to use Thunderbolt/ATI HDMI out for 5.1.
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That wouldn't get around the problem that no game actually sends out encoded surround. The only way you might get surround out of the Mac version would be to have a 6 channel audio card and even then it's highly doubtful because while surround audio has been standardised to a degree on Windows, I am not aware of anything like it for Mac games.

As far as I know the only way you'll be playing Deus Ex in surround is in Windows with a suitable usb or pci audio device.
 
TinHead88 said:
That wouldn't get around the problem that no game actually sends out encoded surround. The only way you might get surround out of the Mac version would be to have a 6 channel audio card and even then it's highly doubtful because while surround audio has been standardised to a degree on Windows, I am not aware of anything like it for Mac games.

As far as I know the only way you'll be playing Deus Ex in surround is in Windows with a suitable usb or pci audio device.
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Newer games like Borderlands (and I believe DiRT 2) support 5.1 surround sound through the HDMI port, there is a thread on the Inside Mac Games forum about it.

I admit I am not an expert on the subject but some of the posters in that thread are :)

Edwin
 
Just finished my first run (on the medium difficulty), did the stealth, non-lethal, hack everything, and 'turn over every box and open every locker and drawer' method. It took a helluva long time, and I may have developed amnesia from playing it in marathon sessions.

I haven't played IW (don't think it got ported to OS X) but I've played the original several times through. The differences that I love the most coming from the original is the combat system. Although I miss having a true melee weapon (the crowbar and I have been through a lot), the new system really makes up for it. Although I did play the non lethal role, I got many chances to break from it when I accidentally alerted someone (going for ghost). I won't say much more other than: playing to ignore alarms and kill everyone is brilliant (and frankly, much easier), and the game balances it out.

And one more thing about the boss fights, love them. Even with a hacker/stealth build, I had no real problem taking them out (barring the first, they took me at least 30 minutes each). I had a fun time doing one of the boss' the hard way too.

And the ending? Meh.

Spoilers below:
Just a question: for the ending choices, did the 'self-destruct' option mention that the other antagonists are still in the building and would be also be killed if he took the option? All I remember Denton (oops, I forgot his name...Jenson) mentioning that he would have to sacrifice himself.
 
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sammich said:
You honestly think that I didn't go through them all already? :)
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Well, he can be forgiven since you said both "first playthrough" and "ending". Many people don't think that a save before a final choice and then running through all four possibilities is really a distinct playthrough.
 
edddeduck said:
If you had said "endings" I would have :p

Have not played them all (yet).

Edwin
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Ah, fair call. But I still prefer to call the multiple endings, just 'the ending', especially compared to the original. I won't say more for fear of making a spoiler (major spoilers below).

To be honest, the ending is lame. You are given all your choices in front of you, and you just press a button and you get a soppy, stock footage film (not all stock though, love the augmented foetus). The original at least makes work for your choice of ending, this one is just a button press. I know, maybe the story doesn't lend itself to that (lets do some video editing! yay!) but it's just a let down...and the final 'boss'...what hide in a corner until she dies? That was hard.

txa1265 said:
Well, he can be forgiven since you said both "first playthrough" and "ending". Many people don't think that a save before a final choice and then running through all four possibilities is really a distinct playthrough.
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Yup. But as a fan of the original, saving at every turn is normal. I must've quick saved/loaded about 2000 times before I got to the end. I wonder if I had an SSD the quick loads would be almost instant...
 
sammich said:
And one more thing about the boss fights, love them. Even with a hacker/stealth build, I had no real problem taking them out (barring the first, they took me at least 30 minutes each). I had a fun time doing one of the boss' the hard way too.
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The "easy" way of winning argument with first boss gives you more points. I didn't have to fight him.


txa1265 said:
Well, he can be forgiven since you said both "first playthrough" and "ending". Many people don't think that a save before a final choice and then running through all four possibilities is really a distinct playthrough.
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Some games do it that way. Thankfully so you don't "have" to play it different just for the endings.

Being late for one of the earlier levels has consequences. I have to do a playthrough without being late.
 
sammich said:
And one more thing about the boss fights, love them. Even with a hacker/stealth build, I had no real problem taking them out (barring the first, they took me at least 30 minutes each). I had a fun time doing one of the boss' the hard way too.
Click to expand...

I thought the boss fights were ridiculously easy tbh.

Throw a few self detonating explosives at their feet about 4-5 times and they all go down the same way. Took me about 1-2 minutes to defeat each one tops.
 
edddeduck said:
Newer games like Borderlands (and I believe DiRT 2) support 5.1 surround sound through the HDMI port, there is a thread on the Inside Mac Games forum about it.

I admit I am not an expert on the subject but some of the posters in that thread are :)

Edwin
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Yea, thanks for sharing that info with me on my other thread too.

I should also update this thread with an email reply from Feral the other day. I emailed them asking about possible surround sound support and I was told that although they didn't have the final specifications, that it was "likely" it would have support.

By the way, if it wasn't confirmed already, the rep confirmed to me that this will be a MAS release, as well as MacGameStore, Direct2Drive, and Amazon digital.

So anyway, heres hoping for 5.1 support :)
 
Icaras said:
I should also update this thread with an email reply from Feral the other day. I emailed them asking about possible surround sound support and I was told that although they didn't have the final specifications, that it was "likely" it would have support.
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Unless it proves extremely tricky it will be in we just don't want to be held to a promise if something appears that makes it hard to implement.

Edwin
 
What version of the Catalyst drivers are people running right now? I've tried 11.8 and am struggling to get above 8FPS on an early-2011 iMac (i7/overclocked 6970M/12GB RAM) @ 2560x1440 w/ edge AA, no SSAO and DX11 on.

Think it might just be a driver issue (updated to the latest BC drivers, uninstalled my old 11.6's, rebooted and installed 11.8) that might need some tweaking, but just want to confirm it's not the 11.8 drivers on their own.
 
edddeduck said:
Unless it proves extremely tricky it will be in we just don't want to be held to a promise if something appears that makes it hard to implement.

Edwin
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Hey Edwin - any decision on Steamplay? There has been a lot of chatter about it, but it would be good to get the official word to end the needless speculation.

(Hoping against hope that you are indeed thinking about it. I understand that the economics might suggest that you won't recoup your investment, but players who have already purchased on the PC wouldn't buy a second Mac copy anyway.)

Thanks!
 
allfunandgames said:
Hey Edwin - any decision on Steamplay? There has been a lot of chatter about it, but it would be good to get the official word to end the needless speculation.

(Hoping against hope that you are indeed thinking about it. I understand that the economics might suggest that you won't recoup your investment, but players who have already purchased on the PC wouldn't buy a second Mac copy anyway.)

Thanks!
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We still have no plans to support Steamplay at the current time in any of our titles however if circumstances change and we are able to have our games on Steam we will let everyone know.

Cheers,

Edwin
 
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