I feel like i'm going crazy!!!!! HELP!!!!!! Beam NG/Bootcamp on Mac

[mozzatron]

Sorry for the dramatic title, but i'm literally about to lose the plot

My son really wants to play a game called Beam NG (Windows only) which is on Steam, so i gave him my old iMac for Christmas with the intention of installing bootcamp and getting it set up on there.

After a couple of weeks p1ssing around, it became clear that due to the age of the iMac (2010), it was an absolute nightmare trying to get bootcamp installed on there. So i reluctantly gave up

I've just got myself a new M1 Max Macbook Pro (fully specd), so i thought i'd give my son my old Macbook Pro (2015) and get Bootcamp installed on there as it was less of a mess around than the iMac

Turns out that was a bit of a nightmare also, as whenever i tried to partition the HD for Bootcamp, it kept telling me there wasn't enough space to create the partition (even though i did have enough space). Ended up deleting nearly everything on the laptop until it allowed me to create the partition and install bootcamp.

Thought that was the end of my issues, but when i finally got windows installed, i then installed Steam and then installed the Beam NG game...... only to find that the game won't run on this laptop. It was increadibly slow and was completly unplayable. It tells me that i shouldn't use the Intel graphics card and should switch to the dedicated graphics card..... but there's only the Intel graphics card on this laptop (i think - see attachment for spec).

At this point i'm ready to throw the teddy out the pram, but being the stubborn bugger that i am, i can't give up.

So i tell myself that i'll install bootcamp on my new M1 Max MBP seeing as it's got the most powerful GPU and all the bells and whistles, surely that can't fail me. But then i read that you can't install bootcamp on the M1 Macs!?!?!?!?!

Can someone please tell me the best way to get Steam NG playing on either the old MBP (spec attached).... can i upgrade the graphics card (if so, how much), can i change the sttings on the laptop? or is there some way that i can run a Windows game on the new M! Max MBP without Bootcamp????


TIA

 

[opeter]

You can try to install Windows on the Intel Mac with the following procedure:
1.) insert the DVD or USB media, that has the Windows installation files
2.) hold ALT at restart or when you turn on you computer
3.) choose Windows installation media and follow the messages

At least it worked this way for me on a 2012 Mac mini.

You can also try this procedure:

How to Install Windows 10 on a Mac computer

Here are the steps to follow to install Windows 10 on your Mac computer.

www.onmsft.com

or this:

 

[opeter]

Not sure, if this is the same procedure as these above, but you can try:

 

[BrianBaughn]

Installing Windows is one thing. I don't know the answer to running the game but if there is one I'd be surprised. Minimum System Requirements for the game:

• OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1
• Processor: AMD FX 6300 3.5Ghz / Intel Core i3-6300 3.8Ghz
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Radeon HD 7750 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 25 GB available space

On both of your old Macs the graphics appear to fall well short.

 

[Boyd01]

You can try to install Windows on the Intel Mac with the following procedure

I don't see how that would help, the OP says the problem is that the game needs a dedicated video card, but his Mac does not have one.

MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.2 15" Mid-2015 (IG) Specs (Retina Mid-2015 15", MJLQ2LL/A, MacBookPro11,4, A1398, 2909): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.2 15" Mid-2015 (IG). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.

everymac.com

Seems like the best course of action would just be to get your son a PC, if this game is really so important, as @BrianBaughn says...

On both of your old Macs the graphics appear to fall well short.

 

[opeter]

Sorry, I didn't check what hardware he (original poster) has, I just replied or tried to write some options on how to install Windows on a Mac with Intel CPU.

Actually, the Iris Pro 5200 should be enough for low settings.
Here is a video of someone, who tried the game to run on Intel HD4000 (Iris Pro is more powerfull).

 

[Toutou]

Can someone please tell me the best way to get Steam NG playing on either the old MBP (spec attached).... can i upgrade the graphics card (if so, how much), can i change the sttings on the laptop? or is there some way that i can run a Windows game on the new M! Max MBP without Bootcamp????

Neither the iMac nor the MBP will be able to run the game comfortably, BeamNG is pretty resource intensive.
You can't upgrade the GPU, sorry.

The reason why you can't install normal Windows via Bootcamp on your M1 is that it's an Apple Silicon machine, the CPU implements a different architecture (called arm64) than older Intel Macs (that one is called x86_64).

Since BeamNG is a x86_64 application written for Windows, there are two incompatibility steps you need to solve: Windows -> macOS and x86_64 -> arm64.

There is an ARM version of Windows, but you can only get it if you register as a Windows Insider, and then, instead of installing the OS via Bootcamp, you can install it inside a VM (virtual machine) using Parallels.

If you try to run BeamNG inside the ARM version of Windows, it will get executed via the Windows equivalent of Rosetta 2 (the x86_64->arm64 step) and it will actually run, taking performance hits both from running inside a VM and running on a different architecture.

There's also a commercial piece of software called CrossOver, which handles the Windows -> macOS step (it makes the app think it's running inside Windows) with just a tiny performance hit, and allows macOS' own Rosetta 2 to handle the x86_64 -> arm64 step (and Rosetta 2 is really good at it), which together makes most games run surprisingly well.

According to this, it should be possible to run BeamNG from Steam via CrossOver, and I'd say it's also the most straightforward option. You may not like the price of CrossOver ($49 for the current version + 1 year of upgrades), but they're pretty good guys, doing a lot of good for macOS and Linux gaming. And it's cheaper than Parallels.

Here is a video of someone, who tried the game to run on Intel HD4000

That video is from 2015, the game is still being updated and the hardware requirements are not what they were in 2015.

 

[mozzatron]

Thanks for everyone taking the time to provide me with some insights

Toutou - sounds like Crossover is the way to go. Would also prefer to do something like that rather than dedicate a substantial amount of my HD to partition for Bootcamp (assuming this isn't the case for Crossover?!)

Will have a look now. Thanks again everybody

 

[wonderings]

If you really want him to be able to place some PC games why not sell the old laptop and iMac and get a moderately pricing gaming PC?

 

[pmiles]

Odds are pretty good your son will want to play more than just BeamNG in the near future. You're creating quite a bit of a headache for yourself in the short term. Crossover is yet another emulation tool... as such it's hit and miss as to performance/compatibility. If you want to play PC games, the solution is to get a PC. Far far cheaper and easier than to try and turn a Mac into a PC.

I don't understand why people avoid getting a PC. The right tool for the right job. It's like insisting on trying to pound a square peg into a round hole because you refuse to get a round peg. Sure you might be able to get it in, but you made it 10 times harder than it needed to be. Imagine if you approached everything with that mindset?

 

[wonderings]

I don't understand why people avoid getting a PC. The right tool for the right job. It's like insisting on trying to pound a square peg into a round hole because you refuse to get a round peg. Sure you might be able to get it in, but you made it 10 times harder than it needed to be. Imagine if you approached everything with that mindset?

I wonder the same. If you want to really game a PC if a better choice. Generally cheaper, they are upgradeable (which can be fun and interesting in itself) and way more flexible with options for everything. I have both Mac's and PC's, they serve different purposes and both do their thing well.

 

[opeter]

That video is from 2015, the game is still being updated and the hardware requirements are not what they were in 2015.

Thanks for the information.

Didn't know, the game is constantly getting updates. I just found some videos about it and read the system requirements on a website, that seems wasn't updated a long time ago.