StarWars:The Old Republic

[SlickShoes]

I am a fairly new Mac user. I intend on bootcamping windows to play SWTOR. I just had a couple of questions. First, is there any known performance issues when playing in bootcamp as compared to playing on a PC? My second question is more of a hardware issues. I have a 27" iMac i7 quad core 2.93. with 4G of RAM. I know my system meets specs, but my vid card is a Radeon HD 5750. Which I understand is a fairly low end card for this game. I guess I just need some reassurance that I will be able to utilize the 27" monitor and have better than average visuals, since I doubt I can upgrade an iMAC like I could with a PC. I'm also thinking of installing another 4 gigs of memory.

The game will run fine with that iMac, I would imagine you would be best playing at 1920x1080 res though as anything higher will be very demanding on your current video card with the game.

Running Windows on your mac, basically makes it a PC. bootcamp is just a tool to help you partition the hard drive, once you have done that you install windows as normal.

I have 4Gb of Ram currently too and I don't know whether its worth upgrading, if you have a £50 lying around spare with nothing to spend it on then sure go ahead. The game is a 32bit app so it won't use 4GB of your memory it all depends what other tasks your computer is doing at the same time.

 

[zaush]

The game will run fine with that iMac, I would imagine you would be best playing at 1920x1080 res though as anything higher will be very demanding on your current video card with the game.

Running Windows on your mac, basically makes it a PC. bootcamp is just a tool to help you partition the hard drive, once you have done that you install windows as normal.

I have 4Gb of Ram currently too and I don't know whether its worth upgrading, if you have a £50 lying around spare with nothing to spend it on then sure go ahead. The game is a 32bit app so it won't use 4GB of your memory it all depends what other tasks your computer is doing at the same time.

Thanks for your response. I am always concerned with how much memory windows takes up. I think will get set up next weekend apply for beta to see how it runs.

 

[doh123]

Thanks for your response. I am always concerned with how much memory windows takes up. I think will get set up next weekend apply for beta to see how it runs.

how will applying for beta help? I've been applied for like 2 years and not in

you don't get in unless you get randomly selected during a selection time.

Supposedly the game is around 40gb... along with Windows and free space, I'd say you need around an 80gb partition to run it at least. or your system RAM, 4gb should be plenty for Windows and TOR

 

[Huntn]

Supposedly the game is around 40gb... along with Windows and free space, I'd say you need around an 80gb partition to run it at least. or your system RAM, 4gb should be plenty for Windows and TOR

My MBP came with a 750GB HD. Knowing that I have an external portable 1 TB drive (for Mac stuff) and a 500GB drive (for PC stuff), on the internal drive I devoted 250 to Windows, leaving 500GB for Mac. The game in question (approx 30GB) is installed on my internal drive, and with that, 64bit Windows, and some Steam games, I'm showing 59GB used and 182GB available. A 80GB Windows partition would be enough if you have to.

 

[zaush]

how will applying for beta help? I've been applied for like 2 years and not in

you don't get in unless you get randomly selected during a selection time.

Supposedly the game is around 40gb... along with Windows and free space, I'd say you need around an 80gb partition to run it at least. or your system RAM, 4gb should be plenty for Windows and TOR

Well it seems like they will be starting up the weekend betas again soon. I just want to see how my system performs at different settings etc. I have 1TB on the iMac. I was thinking along the lines 50-60g partition. I don't plan on doing much else in windows, but then you never know.

 

[MasterTick]

Well it seems like they will be starting up the weekend betas again soon. I just want to see how my system performs at different settings etc. I have 1TB on the iMac. I was thinking along the lines 50-60g partition. I don't plan on doing much else in windows, but then you never know.

64bit version of Windows 7 needs 20GB by itself.

 

[Huntn]

Well it seems like they will be starting up the weekend betas again soon. I just want to see how my system performs at different settings etc. I have 1TB on the iMac. I was thinking along the lines 50-60g partition. I don't plan on doing much else in windows, but then you never know.

I think 80GB would be better to give you some breathing room.

 

[SlickShoes]

I think 80GB would be better to give you some breathing room.

I would agree, I split mine 250GB/250GB, from experience you will always end up installing more stuff in Windows even if all you are using it for is TOR, ventrillo, messenger, browsers, some downloads, patches and add ons for the game. I would say 100GB to be safe unless you want to format it and re partition when they bring out extra content.

You will probably end up installing a few other games too, I always end up buying some others to tide me over.

 

[Huntn]

I would agree, I split mine 250GB/250GB, from experience you will always end up installing more stuff in Windows even if all you are using it for is TOR, ventrillo, messenger, browsers, some downloads, patches and add ons for the game. I would say 100GB to be safe unless you want to format it and re partition when they bring out extra content.

You will probably end up installing a few other games too, I always end up buying some others to tide me over.

It has been 6 years since I've used Team Speak. That was in the original Planetside. I'm really glad I could get by with text chat in WoW although some of the raid guilds (of which I was not a member) required it. To clarify, I played WoW under MacOSX. I anticipate I'll be using TS or Ventrillo when I jump into Planetside 2.

 

[zaush]

I would agree, I split mine 250GB/250GB, from experience you will always end up installing more stuff in Windows even if all you are using it for is TOR, ventrillo, messenger, browsers, some downloads, patches and add ons for the game. I would say 100GB to be safe unless you want to format it and re partition when they bring out extra content.

You will probably end up installing a few other games too, I always end up buying some others to tide me over.

Great advice from everyone. I will go with 100 to be safe. Thanks again.

 

[SlickShoes]

It has been 6 years since I've used Team Speak. That was in the original Planetside. I'm really glad I could get by with text chat in WoW although some of the raid guilds (of which I was not a member) required it. To clarify, I played WoW under MacOSX. I anticipate I'll be using TS or Ventrillo when I jump into Planetside 2.

So, you won't be playing Star Wars then? Yes, I am still trying to find out about the beta!

I used Ventrillo on mac when i played WoW, it worked pretty well with the built in mic on the laptop. Just set up a PTT button and i was good to go!

 

[Huntn]

So, you won't be playing Star Wars then? Yes, I am still trying to find out about the beta!

I used Ventrillo on mac when i played WoW, it worked pretty well with the built in mic on the laptop. Just set up a PTT button and i was good to go!

I'll talk about it when I can. There are many good things.

 

[Rob.G]

I refuse to install Windows for this game. It's time LucasArts started supporting the Mac.

I wonder if there's any chance of a PS3 version.

Rob

 

[Meicyn]

Mac version will not happen until OpenGL support comes to HeroEngine. As far as a PS3 version, you may as well hope for SWTOR on the Super Nintendo.

 

[Mr.C]

I refuse to install Windows for this game. It's time LucasArts started supporting the Mac.

I wonder if there's any chance of a PS3 version.

Rob

Whilst Lucas Arts does normally develop/publish games based on the Star Wars franchise this is not one of them. They may well have some input but it's being developed by Bioware and published by EA both of which have a very sporadic support for Mac. I doubt Lucas Arts had any say in which plaforms the game was developed for. Regards a PS3 version I think it's highly unlikely as MMO's generally do not have a good history when it comes to consoles and are more suited to the computer platform. In short I wouldnt hold your breath for a console version.

 

[oxfordguy]

Would this game run (under bootcamp) respectably at all on mid-2011 Macbook Air (core i7) i.e. Intel HD Graphics 3000? What about on the lower-end 15" early 2011 Macbook Pro i.e. AMD Radeon HD 6490M with 256MB GDDR5?

Am thinking of buying on or other of these computers (though may wait for the next CPU speedbump if going for the MBP), can't really justify the extra £200+ to get the higher end Macbook Pro with the AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5, as am not *that* hard core a gamer, but would love be able to play this game on my Mac

 

[SlickShoes]

Would this game run (under bootcamp) respectably at all on mid-2011 Macbook Air (core i7) i.e. Intel HD Graphics 3000? What about on the lower-end 15" early 2011 Macbook Pro i.e. AMD Radeon HD 6490M with 256MB GDDR5?

Am thinking of buying on or other of these computers (though may wait for the next CPU speedbump if going for the MBP), can't really justify the extra £200+ to get the higher end Macbook Pro with the AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5, as am not *that* hard core a gamer, but would love be able to play this game on my Mac

Intel HD 3000 will probably play it on LOW settings, the 6490 will probably play it on Medium-Low settings, I am expecting to play on my 6750M High Settings at 1440x900.

This is all speculation though, the people in beta can't say anything and the rest of us just have to guess.

 

[oxfordguy]

Intel HD 3000 will probably play it on LOW settings, the 6490 will probably play it on Medium-Low settings, I am expecting to play on my 6750M High Settings at 1440x900.

This is all speculation though, the people in beta can't say anything and the rest of us just have to guess.

So you mean there's a Mac OS X native version in beta? I was assuming would have to play the Windows version under bootcamp...

 

[Huntn]

So you mean there's a Mac OS X native version in beta? I was assuming would have to play the Windows version under bootcamp...

No, and Yes.

 

[SlickShoes]

So you mean there's a Mac OS X native version in beta? I was assuming would have to play the Windows version under bootcamp...

This is a Windows game only, I dont think I implied anywhere that there is an OSX version.

There is a petition on the SW:TOR forums to get them to make one at some point but thats about as far as it goes sadly.

 

[oxfordguy]

No, and Yes.

So what did SlickShoes mean by?:

This is all speculation though, the people in beta can't say anything and the rest of us just have to guess.

 

[Huntn]

So what did SlickShoes mean by?:

I think he is just saying that those players participating in the beta can't talk about the game. No insinuations that there will/could be a Mac version. As of right now, there is no Mac version currently in beta, and Bioware has said nothing about a Mac native version as far as I know.

This is a big reason why Blizzard kicks butt in the gaming department. They developed their MMORPG and most (all?) of their games to run on both PC and Mac natively at the same time. That's why Mac users loves the frigid folks.

From Star Wars forums:

Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is currently being developed for the personal computer (PC) using the Microsoft® Windows® operating system. While we recognize that there are other operating systems and platforms available for games today, our development is specific to the personal computer using the Windows operating system at this time.

For the purposes of providing the most stable testing environment possible, we are limiting our testing participants to those using the Windows operating system on a personal computer. At some point we may be evaluating compatibility with the Macintosh (and possibly Linux boxes, running virtualized installations/emulators) running Windows and we may put out an additional call for testers at that time.

As far as your question about which Mac it will run on use this for a guide SWTOR FAQ- System Requirements. If I had a concern about a Mac Air, it would be regarding it's video support. I'm not saying it will not run the game, but my impression is that it uses integrated graphics vs a dedicated card. To play this game I think it would be preferable to use a mid range MacBookPro, like in my signature.

Processor:

* AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better
* Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz or better
* Operating System: Windows XP or later

RAM:

* Windows XP: 1.5GB RAM
* Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB RAM

Note: PCs using a built-in graphical chipset are recommended to have 2GB of RAM.

Star Wars: The Old Republic requires a video card that has a minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM as well as support for Shader 3.0 or better. Examples include:

* ATI X1800 or better
* nVidia 7800 or better
* Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better

DVD-ROM drive – 8x speed or better (required for installation from physical editions only) Internet connection required to play.

 

[doh123]

From Star Wars forums:

that quote doesn't imply anything about a Mac version... read it closer. It only implies that some Bioware people might be idiots.

Take out the thing about Linux in parenthesis and read it again...

At some point we may be evaluating compatibility with the Macintosh running Windows and we may put out an additional call for testers at that time.

It shows they won't even support Windows on a Mac.. but they might consider it. It shows they think making a Mac OS X version is useless since you can just run Windows.

 

[Huntn]

that quote doesn't imply anything about a Mac version... read it closer. It only implies that some Bioware people might be idiots.

Take out the thing about Linux in parenthesis and read it again...



It shows they won't even support Windows on a Mac.. but they might consider it. It shows they think making a Mac OS X version is useless since you can just run Windows.

I evoke your name: Doh! Well I'm running an impromptu evaluation of it right now with Windows on Mac. Thanks for reading more carefully than I did. I've corrected my previous post. That statement after careful evaluation is on the silly side, considering Macs run Windows natively...

 

[zaush]

I think 80GB would be better to give you some breathing room.

I'm all set. Easy as pie. I partitioned off 125 for windows. I"m only using a very small % of my TB as it is. This gives me some growing room. Thanks for everyone's help.,