Valve Teases Team Fortress 2 Release for Mac Tomorrow, Delays Portal 2 to 2011

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

Ah, so a single user's experience extrapolated to be universal.

I've not had HL2 or portal crashes in osX. I get pretty comparable FPS in both OS.

I'm enjoying them without any crashes with the same settings without having to reboot and quit all my other apps, and have deleted them from my Windows partition.

My recommendation would be "if you're having problems with the osX versions or demand slightly better performance, install them in bootcamp instead."

It also seems that running a game whilst other tasks are going on is smoother in osX (than win7-64). I know a lot of people would tell you not to do that, but sometimes its handy to run games in a window whilst other things are going on.

Certainly on my Macs there just isn't this night-and-day difference some people seem to be experiencing.

I wouldn't say its single user experience - lol... Just check the Steam forums and you will see...

Saying all that I am still on 10.5.8 and I hear that performance is much better under 10.6 - however, still no where near close to performance under Windows / Direct X...

In any case - I couldn't justify updating my OS just so I can play a game with way inferior quality than I can do under BootCamp

So, enjoy your Mac gaming experience and I will my Windows one...

 

[star-affinity]

for those of you wondering, 10.6.4 does improve performance by a good amount, to the tune of 70% improvement over 10.6.3.

25-35 fps max everything in ep2 mutual friend on 10.6.3
55-75 fps max everything ep2 mutual friend on 10.6.4

CoD4 beginning of act1:the bog which was barely playable at 10fps is now a solid 35fps, night and day pretty much.

so ya, 10.6.4 helps

If that's anywhere near true it's awesome!
Looking forward to 10.6.4 even more now...

 

[R.R.Mac]

You have to love Valve time *sigh*

 

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

While I agree many games are currently experienced best in Windows I'm sure this will change. We're talking about software here – it's not static.

Oh don't get me wrong...

I am sure performance will improve with the time - no doubt!

However, as things are today, if you care about your gaming then you will be much, and I mean M.U.C.H., better served with the BootCamp approach...

Not to mention the huge catalogue of other games not available for Mac as yet...

 

[wetnap]

Ok, where'd you pull those facts from? Some lost fps I agree with, though it's getting better, but I'd are the osX games really crashing more..?

I've seen a lot more crashes in Windows running the same games. KF particularly.

the graphics are inferior so far, its not just the fps. theres a haziness..lack of crispness in the osx graphics so far.

 

[mixel]

I wouldn't say its single user experience - lol... Just check the Steam forums and you will see…

I do, but people are more likely to post if they have problems than if they're happy.. and a lot more people are having problems with the windows versions.. (probably by virtue of there being a lot more of them..)

I'm not dissing windows/bootcamp btw - I do enjoy the windows/bootcamp experience, it is the best answer for anyone who already has a windows license and a library of PC games.. Not worth the money to boost the performance of the steam osX releases though. I run most of my games in Bootcamp too. Just not the ones that have good osX versions.

In any case - I couldn't justify updating my OS just so I can play a game with way inferior quality than I can do under BootCamp

I dont really understand anyone not paying the £30 for Snow Leopard, especially if performance is important to them.

I'm just not seeing this "way inferior" quality.. Unless..

the graphics are inferior so far, its not just the fps. theres a haziness..lack of crispness in the osx graphics so far.

- Has me intrigued. I'd like to see screenshots to back that up as I've not noticed any difference sofar.

KF has some odd graphical differences which will hopefully be addressed but the valve games have seemed identical cross-system?

 

[MathijsDelva]

for those of you wondering, 10.6.4 does improve performance by a good amount, to the tune of 70% improvement over 10.6.3.

25-35 fps max everything in ep2 mutual friend on 10.6.3
55-75 fps max everything ep2 mutual friend on 10.6.4

CoD4 beginning of act1:the bog which was barely playable at 10fps is now a solid 35fps, night and day pretty much.

so ya, 10.6.4 helps

Hard for me to believe.. Is this true?

 

[ajmetz]

Will I be able to play multiplayer with PC-owning friends? Or will I only be able to play with other Mac users?

 

[temetrepo]

You will be able to play with both, Mac, and PC users

 

[Karvel]

If that's anywhere near true it's awesome!
Looking forward to 10.6.4 even more now...

Yeah has any other software update seen such an improvement in graphics??

 

[wetnap]

- Has me intrigued. I'd like to see screenshots to back that up as I've not noticed any difference sofar.

KF has some odd graphical differences which will hopefully be addressed but the valve games have seemed identical cross-system?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3759/...-life-2-episode-2-still-slower-than-windows/2
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3726/quick-look-mac-os-x-portal-performance

 

[roadbloc]

Honestly Valve?

No one cares about gaming on the Mac, give us EP3 please not more bad ports.

I respectfully disagree.

 

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3759/...-life-2-episode-2-still-slower-than-windows/2
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3726/quick-look-mac-os-x-portal-performance

And don't forget that they were testing it on latest OS X with latest hardware...

How about us who have little bit older Macs!!?!?!

HL2, due to perpetual crashing, is literally UNPLAYABLE under 10.5.8 on late 2007 MBP - yet at the same time, under BootCamp, it runs as smooth as it can all maxed out...

Go figure...

 

[tkingart]

Yeah has any other software update seen such an improvement in graphics??

Yes, improvements in GPU drivers in Windows has yielded major jumps (or drops) in FPS. I would think, fine tuning graphics drivers in OS X for gaming, could potentially have a dramatic impact on fps.

I disagree with the notion that you can't game on Mac's, it's a notion being put to rest with Steam/Valve's and Apple's efforts, and many others. While it is in the humble beginnings, the potential for AAA gaming titles has been there. I can only see high-end gaming improving in OS X, and I am 100% behind Apple and Valve on this. They have brought OS X into the next big frontier, and gaming in OS X is a reality right now.

I am amazed by the performance of games on the iPhone/Touch, and can only imagine with what Apple will accomplish in gaming performance within OS X.

For the record, I'm not having any crashing or performance problems with any OS X games right now. I had some graphical issues with Killing Floor when it first came out, but that was due to one particular setting. However, there are several PC games I'm crashing in every time I get to a certain point.

 

[andrew086]

it takes 4 years to make a sequel to portal but 1 year to make a sequel to Left 4 Dead? I think the real reason is that they care more about the mainstream games.

 

[locust76]

Bastards got my hopes up with that silly reality game, only to dash my hopes when they announced that it wouldn't be until the end of the year before Portal 2 came out, and now they're just kicking me whilst I'm down. 2011? I mean, couldn't they have waited until they were at least almost done to start teasing us?

I bet this has to do with the Mac port, too.

 

[locust76]

it takes 4 years to make a sequel to portal but 1 year to make a sequel to Left 4 Dead? I think the real reason is that they care more about the mainstream games.

Mainstream? Portal not mainstream? Where have you been? Portal almost overshadowed HL2 EP2 in its popularity and awesomeness.

 

[nlr]

Hopefully it will perform well on our macs and lets hope that the new os update comes soon aswell!


All we need now is Counter Strike Source, Left 4 Dead 2 and big games like mw2..

 

[JordanNZ]

BootCamp rules!

While Steam works perfectly on OS X games are crashing and running rather poorly compared to Windows...

Simply have best of both worlds by installing BootCamp

My 2 cents and strong recommendation to all Mac users!

Oh really?... Because valve would say otherwise....
" Portal (with the same code base across platforms) is one fifth as likely to crash on a Mac than on Windows."

http://store.steampowered.com/news/3837/?loc=interstitialskip

 

[L-U-R-C-H]

Haha I'm not surprised one bit by the delay of Portal 2. Half Life 2 was delayed like 17 times before it finally came out.

 

[locust76]

Oh really?... Because valve would say otherwise....
" Portal (with the same code base across platforms) is one fifth as likely to crash on a Mac than on Windows."

http://store.steampowered.com/news/3837/?loc=interstitialskip

You'd have to wonder how those statistics are collected. Does that include the entire history of Windows-based Portal play, or just the time-period after the release of Portal for Mac?

Either way, it's kind of skewed. 4 years is a long time to generate a significant number of crashes. On the other hand, Windows players have all played Portal already, so there were, as a percentage of the user base, far fewer Windows users playing Portal than Mac users. Those Windows users are playing Portal either because:
1) Nostalgia
2) Their PCs are too old to play anything else

So when you basically say that ultra-modern Macs perform better than aging Windows machines... well... that's kind of an obvious point.

 

[commander.data]

for those of you wondering, 10.6.4 does improve performance by a good amount, to the tune of 70% improvement over 10.6.3.

25-35 fps max everything in ep2 mutual friend on 10.6.3
55-75 fps max everything ep2 mutual friend on 10.6.4

CoD4 beginning of act1:the bog which was barely playable at 10fps is now a solid 35fps, night and day pretty much.

so ya, 10.6.4 helps

I don't suppose your mutual friend could run GLView and see if 10.6.4 finally supports OpenGL 3.0 fully or possibly something even higher?

 

[wetnap]

it doesn't mean much, many pcs are built with dodgy psu's, or overclocked, there are just so many more factors when dealing with pc's as a whole, whereas macs are just homogeneous.

 

[mixel]

Those image quality comparisons are really interesting.. It'll all get tweaked I bet though. I'm still going to take a slightly less punchy image if it also comes with the convenience of less rebooting into windows.

I wonder if its a portal or a OpenGL issue.

 

[tkingart]

Haha I'm not surprised one bit by the delay of Portal 2. Half Life 2 was delayed like 17 times before it finally came out.

As I've mentioned in another thread, Valve should hire more talent. There are a lot of talented game developers out there right now looking, with so many smaller studios closing during this recession. A lot of studios cut back during this time, or backed out of plans to grow their studios; afraid to grow their roster for fear of just having to cut back again. Studios need to get over this fear, and allow growth.