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Star Wars - Empire at War Unusable on new MBP
- Thread starter chelsel
- Start date
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![Screen capture 4 [1].png](/data/attachments/79/79345-25cb5817028bd060fe13c74070efe365.jpg)
That game was developed using that Cider technology that never works right. It is basically a way for developers to port over Windows games to the Mac but with unusable results. I have the new MBP and this unusable game. I'll never buy a Cider developed game again. Only native Mac games or native Windows games.
Empire at War works fine on my Intel iMac. Do you have the latest patch?
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32169
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32169
I don't think Empire at War uses cider, I can't find any mention of it on transgaming website and MacWorld says it's native.
http://www.macworld.com/article/59191/2007/07/starwarsempire.html
Back on topic, what mac are you running it on?
Reply from Aspyr - MacBook Pro UNSUPPORTED
Here is the response from Aspyr technical support concerning the game issues:
"...Thank you for contacting Aspyr Media.
The problem that you are describing has been reported before on computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 video card. Some people say that the menus look like barcodes.
Unfortunately for now the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 is unsupported.
We are currently working diligently with Apple to get these issues resolved. Since none of our titles were ever tested or approved for play on The Nvidia 8600 that is in the new Macbook Pros, we cannot support this game on these machines at this time.
For now all we can suggest is that you uninstall the game completely. Make sure to locate the folder named "StarWarsBattlefront" located in Home/Library/Application Support and drag it to the trash..."
Not the best news! I'm trying to see if a refund is possible.
Here is the response from Aspyr technical support concerning the game issues:
"...Thank you for contacting Aspyr Media.
The problem that you are describing has been reported before on computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 video card. Some people say that the menus look like barcodes.
Unfortunately for now the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 is unsupported.
We are currently working diligently with Apple to get these issues resolved. Since none of our titles were ever tested or approved for play on The Nvidia 8600 that is in the new Macbook Pros, we cannot support this game on these machines at this time.
For now all we can suggest is that you uninstall the game completely. Make sure to locate the folder named "StarWarsBattlefront" located in Home/Library/Application Support and drag it to the trash..."
Not the best news! I'm trying to see if a refund is possible.
Get the refund if you can.
I couldn't get the PC version of this game to work on a PC back in the day either. There are a ton of known issues like 'it can't work widescreen' and 'it can't work at resolutions higher than 1280x1024'. No patch was in sight for the PC version to fix any of these glaring problems. I did get it working at low resolution, but after all that work, it turned out to be a pretty crummy game, so I donated it to a thrift shop.
Terrible support.
I couldn't get the PC version of this game to work on a PC back in the day either. There are a ton of known issues like 'it can't work widescreen' and 'it can't work at resolutions higher than 1280x1024'. No patch was in sight for the PC version to fix any of these glaring problems. I did get it working at low resolution, but after all that work, it turned out to be a pretty crummy game, so I donated it to a thrift shop.
Terrible support.
Same problem- but demo worked??
I too have this same problem on a mid-2007 MBP with the 8600 graphics chip.
However, though the full game won't display text properly, I had previously installed the demo and it worked just fine!
I've emailed aspyr support. HOpefully they have figured out the issue- it looks like some kind of font conflict to me.
I too have this same problem on a mid-2007 MBP with the 8600 graphics chip.
However, though the full game won't display text properly, I had previously installed the demo and it worked just fine!
I've emailed aspyr support. HOpefully they have figured out the issue- it looks like some kind of font conflict to me.
For now I'd get the refund, Aspyr has terrible ports & poor support, in my experience. If they fix it in the future, buy it then.
...I mean, when the COMPANY's version of tech support is to tell you, "uninstall the game completely" and "we don't support it," that's grounds for money back. Ask for a refund, and if Amazon gives you a hard time, copy them on part or all of that email. Product is not as described (compatible with all Macs over a certain spec level).
...I mean, when the COMPANY's version of tech support is to tell you, "uninstall the game completely" and "we don't support it," that's grounds for money back. Ask for a refund, and if Amazon gives you a hard time, copy them on part or all of that email. Product is not as described (compatible with all Macs over a certain spec level).
I too have emailed Aspyr but they have not yet responded. I didn't buy it from Amazon- I got it from the
store- do you know what their refund policy is?What confuses me the most is why the demo ran. My only theory is that I used the demo pre-leopard, and tried the game post leopard- either leopard is the problem, or maybe the 1.05 rev a update I installed for the game... MacHipster, did you use that update? How about leopard?
I too have emailed Aspyr but they have not yet responded. I didn't buy it from Amazon- I got it from the
Actually, I was responding to the OP, but didn't see that this thread initially dated from December - it's amazing how these things get unearthed.
frenchie16, you can try an Apple Store return, but I'd expect them to be totally heartless & unyielding on this particular issue. It's Apple, so they'll be like "it's not our fault, talk to the software vendor for support."
You could TRY the argument that "I bought this based on stated requirements, it doesn't work as advertised, and Aspyr's response is 'unsupported, uninstall.'" It's actually a good argument. I just think Apple would be much less sympathetic and helpful than Amazon. They might say OK but try to hit you up with a restocking fee or other BS. Anyway, I'd say give it a try but be prepared for aggravation.
Heh...Aspyr. Yeah, their demos and their games are often night and day. Stubbs the Zombie demo? Runs fine on my eMac. Buy the full game? Runs like crap. And good like getting any patches, support, etc. You're lucky if you get one patch to fix the most egregious bugs out of them. Aspyr is/has defininitely become a "slap 'em together and get 'em out the door" operation.
Whenever I get an Intel Mac, I'll probably just buy Windows versions of anything Ass-pyre makes - rather than pay $50 for a years-old game that runs poorly and uses twice the resources as a PC counterpart.
I too have emailed Aspyr but they have not yet responded. I didn't buy it from Amazon- I got it from the
What confuses me the most is why the demo ran. My only theory is that I used the demo pre-leopard, and tried the game post leopard- either leopard is the problem, or maybe the 1.05 rev a update I installed for the game... MacHipster, did you use that update? How about leopard?
Yeah, I use that version as well as Leopard. No problems here.
Ok, this is strange, but I called aspyr support when they failed to respond to emails. The guy told me to try running the game WITHOUT the update. I ran appzapper, and deleted all relevant files- INCLUDING old files from the demo game- and did a fresh install (version 1.05 NOT rev a). For some reason the fresh install runs! It is either the old version, or as I suspect, the demo files, that cause the problem! Anyway, I'm installing the update now to see if that's the culprit. I'll report back soon.
