Roadbloc's Mac Gaming Guide

[roadbloc]

I'm doing this blog becuase I'm bored stiff and I can't sleep.

You guys probably already know this, but I'mm just trying to help people who are new to gaming on the mac.

If you game on a mac. YOUR A FOOL! I do it, and despite the mac OS X making everything else in the computing world easy, gaming it does not.

If you do own a mac, and you don't want to buy a gaming rig or have a second machine, buy a copy of Windows XP and use BootCamp, a feature in OS X, that allows you to dual boot and have two operating systems.

Or if you want to run Mac Applications and Windows Programs side by side... there are three great options.

1. Crossover Games. A windows emulator, no copy of windows needed. Current prices are £25.99, but be warned, don't expect everything to work. http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxgames/

2. Parallels. A virtual machine for mac. You can run windows full screen, in a windows or integrated, all within OS X. And t supports more than just Windows OS's. Linux can be also installed. However it is a little pricey at about £50, you do need your own OS install disc and it'll eat your hard disk space and ram. However, 99% of windows programs and games work on it. http://www.parallels.com/uk/
EDIT: I have also heard of several free Kernal Emulators 'Q' being one http://www.kju-app.org/ and Virtual Box being another http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VirtualBox. However, the free ones will be understandably not as refined as the professional ones.

3. Port WINE over to mac. This is the free option, the option that requires the most work and the option which is least likely be able to run your games. Wine (WinEmulator) is a free windows emulator for Linux, that can be ported over to mac with this guy's instructions http://davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/. You will have to learn how to use the commands through terminal and it won't be easy getting your game to work. Before you do install wine, just check if your application is supported in the Wine App Database

.


Now, if your adamant to stick with one OS like i am, without the complicated use of emulators or having half the amount of ram you would have, things have just got 100x harder. But here is how i get by.

1. For a mac xfire, use ifire. It supports quite a few games and I have found out a way of adding them yourself is ifire doesn't find it, which i will post in another blog if i can be arsed. It is a lot better than macfire and it supports all windows games being run through Crossover or Parallels. However it does have a lot of limitations. One click join, xfire in game, voice chats, group chats, file transfers, screenshots, movies and skins are not supported. But it's better than nothing. http://ifire.games4mac.de/us/index.shtml

2. http://www.aspyr.com/Keep an eye on this site. These guys do great ports of windows games for mac, at rip off prices. You can usually find a better deal on amazon.co.uk but it's good for news. ID games also do their games for mac as well which is good news.

3. For a teamspeak replacement, use TeamSpeax. It's unofficial, but it has all the same functionality as the Windows Version and it's a lot simpler to use in my opinion. http://www.teamspeak.com/?page=downloads Ventrillo users are sorted, Vent is available for mac officially.

4. DO NOT BOAST YOU GAME ON A MAC! This does not go down well with windows users, who all have got into the frame of mind that Micro$oft's way, is the only way, and that Mac's aren't proper machines. You will be abused.

5. It may seem obvious but... get a two buttoned USB mouse with a mouse wheel. First person shooters are IMPOSSIBLE to play without a second mouse button. I wouldn't recommend using the mighty mouse either, I had a big of a nightmare with the right click on mine....

Thanks for reading. Hoped it helped someone.

 

[roadbloc]

feedback appreciated

 

[uuaschbaer]

If you game on a mac, YOU'RE A FOOL! I do it, and despite the mac OS X making everything else in the computing world easy, gaming it does not.

There there... Now let us not, because of our temper, neglect our spelling, alright?
That's the most interesting feedback I can give you, I'm afraid.

 

[MindBrain]

Does Parallels work as fast as Crossover Games? I've tried Crossover Games trial running some source engine games, tf2, dods, css on aluminum macbook with pretty good performance. So anyone know how it compares to Parallels?

 

[Eric5h5]

feedback appreciated

You left out Feral, who do by far the biggest and most Mac ports (no semi-working Cider ports either). They are what Aspyr was years ago, maybe better. Also, Virtual Programming, who port a fair number of games, more on the obscure side than Feral, who go for the bigger names. Not to mention it's fairly common for the indie games like World of Goo, Braid, Aquaria, etc. to have Mac versions, and frankly I'm finding lately that these games often tend to interest me more than AAA stuff. Unless you game 24/7 or have a narrow range of tastes, there are actually more Mac-native games available than most people can reasonably play.

get a two buttoned USB mouse with a mouse wheel.

Why would you do that? Get a proper gaming mouse with lots o' buttons.

Edit: I should mention Mac Game Store and Mac Games Arcade, which is a bit like Steam. If you're into casual games (which personally I'm not really), there's tons of those which are Mac-native, and you don't have to worry about a thing.

--Eric

 

[roadbloc]

Does Parallels work as fast as Crossover Games? I've tried Crossover Games trial running some source engine games, tf2, dods, css on aluminum macbook with pretty good performance. So anyone know how it compares to Parallels?

Parallels is a virtual machine. You have to install a copy of Windows within it. It will take you your hard disk space and ram like anything going, but windows programs will almost certainly work. Having Parallels will require you to boot a copy of windows within a parallels window within os x.


Crossover Games is just an Emulator. No copy of windows is needed. Not all windows programs or games will work because it is an emulator. However it saves a lot of ram and hard disk space. It is also cheaper than parallels, so if all your games work fine in crossover... stick to it.

So in a nutshell... Parallels... 99% your game will work... it depends on your system resources and how much you are willing to spend.
Crossover Games.... only the games they support are guaranteed to work, but many more do and can be done with a few tweaks to your bottle settings.


Thanks for putting what I left out Eric.

 

[MythicFrost]

If you game on a mac. YOUR A FOOL!

Not so. If someone wants to game on OSX then that is their choice, it doesn't make them a fool. I've gamed on OSX, I'm not a fool.
Generally games in Boot Camp will get you more FPS and will run better, but not everyone wants to run Windows .

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

VMware Fusion has better graphics support than Parallels at this point.

 

[JollyRogers]

I tried Parallels 4 and performance was terrible compared to what I can get with Crossover Games 8.0.

Curious about VMware Fusion 3.0. May have to try their demo...

I know I hated parallels when It came to activating windows etc... It fubar my separate bootcamp install...

 

[Zortrium]

For the most part, graphical performance in Parallels or VMware is garbage compared to Crossover, which (if the game runs) usually provides quite decent performance. This shouldn't be terribly surprising, seeing as Crossover Game's primary goal is to make games run well, while for the VMs it's just an afterthought.

Also, Crossover is basically just Wine with better support and various improvements. If it doesn't work with Crossover, it's very unlikely to work in Wine.