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X3 Reunion : Insane graphics requirements

MacBoobsPro

MacBoobsPro

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jan 10, 2006
5,114
6
Ive just spent 3 hours downloading (legally) X3 from vpltd.com to be informed that the game cannot be run on my system. I have a 1.8DP PMG5 with 2GB and 256MBVRAM. :eek:

To run X3 you need a PCI-X graphics card with 128MB VRAM. So basically 99% of the Mac community cannot run this game. Even brand new MacBooks, Minis and 17" iMacs have no chance whatsoever.

My mac is only 2 years old and the graphics card is only about a year old as I upgraded it to the X800XT.

The only mention about the game needing PCI-X cards is a tiny little line of text saying "Graphics cards must be PCI-X". Well I missed it and I bet many other have/will to.

This is just a warning to others really and to vent a bit of frustration. :mad:
 
Don't the requirements also pretty clearly call for an Intel processor? :confused:

Requirements
Supported OS: Mac OSX 10.4.8
Processor: 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo Processor or better
RAM: 512 MB or more
Video Card: ATI or NVIDIA graphics chipsets
Please note that video cards must be PCI express and have 128 MB or more memory
Hard Drive Space: 5.5 GB free
Display: 800 by 600 32 bit display
Click to expand...
 
I don't even bother trying to run games on my Macbook anymore. Not since the disappointment of Civ IV's performance on it.

Am looking to replace it with a MBP if the GPU is decent in the update. I won't hold my breath though.
 
This is the page I bought it from:

http://www.vpltd.com/index.php?main...id=213&zenid=557f169d80d87cb84368b2c2e481fa36

As you can see its not very clear that it is 'Intel' only. Infact I recall seeing a 'universal' icon somewhere but i cant seem to find it now.

Also note how inconspicuous the PCI-X card note is. I quickly scanned the requirements as my machine is by no means old or crap, so yes it is my fault but these two points should be much more clearly noted.
 
FWIW, the requirements tab of the same page is what I linked in my post. ;) But... it does stink, and I'm sorry you ended up with software you cannot play.

Have there already been a lot of Intel-only OS X games released so far? I think I've heard of a few.

Also, out of curiosity, is there a PC version, and is the PC version fine with DirectX compliance, or does it also require PCI-X? Not that you can run it in Windows on a PMG5, obviously, but....
 
I said from the beginning that it was bad that in XCode you can select to compile only for Intel because software vendors (especially games), would quickly make pseudo-universal Intel-only programs.

BTW, it's PCIe, not PCI-X.
 
mkrishnan said:
FWIW, the requirements tab of the same page is what I linked in my post. ;) But... it does stink, and I'm sorry you ended up with software you cannot play.

Have there already been a lot of Intel-only OS X games released so far? I think I've heard of a few.

Also, out of curiosity, is there a PC version, and is the PC version fine with DirectX compliance, or does it also require PCI-X? Not that you can run it in Windows on a PMG5, obviously, but....
Click to expand...

I believe it needs DirectX9 but thats crap all to me. I do realise it is very graphics intensive and that is what attracted me to it (as well as the previous versions) but just saying '1.8 Intel CoreDuo or better' does not say to me 'intel only'. I didnt even realise it was Intel only until it was mentioned here. I was talking about the PCI-X thing that also is not very distinguishable.

EDIT:
cube said:
BTW, it's PCIe, not PCI-X.
Click to expand...

Okeykokey
 
dmw007 said:
It is a shame not to support PowerPC G4/G5 processors. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

If thats a dig at me :p Im all for progression to Intel only. Im not bothered that its Intel only, I'm bothered that its not clearly stated.

I will be going OctoCore soon anyway so its not a big deal. I just wanted to make sure other people didnt have to waste 3 plus hours and find it will not run.
 
MacboobsPro said:
If thats a dig at me :p Im all for progression to Intel only. Im not bothered that its Intel only, I'm bothered that its not clearly stated.
Click to expand...

In your defense :p I did go to the developer's site, and it was just horribly constructed. Trying to understand for what platforms X3 had been released, what the requirements on those platforms were, what platforms were planned, etc, etc, was essentially impossible without googling for external reviews.
 
Thats a pretty sweet website, I had never heard of it before. It's a shame you got screwed over like that.
 
cube said:
I said from the beginning that it was bad that in XCode you can select to compile only for Intel because software vendors (especially games), would quickly make pseudo-universal Intel-only programs.
Click to expand...

Which has nothing to do with X3, which was made for the Mac by using Cider, which basically runs the Windows version. Hence it's impossible to support PPC, since it's not even really a port, per se.

--Eric
 
Gee said:
I'll buy it off you for £20 if you're interested.
Click to expand...

Im not going to give away £10 as easy as that mate. :rolleyes: Plus its a digital download that registers the machine you download from and locks the serial to that machine. That being said it does allow it to be registered on a second machine.

It bites even more that I am writing this on my MacBook but still cant run the bugger. :rolleyes:
 
No offense, but because of your complaint, I'm completely downloading this.

This game looks pretty sick. Nice to have a MBP.

I'll tell ya'll how it runs.
 
MacboobsPro said:
Im not going to give away £10 as easy as that mate. :rolleyes: Plus its a digital download that registers the machine you download from and locks the serial to that machine. That being said it does allow it to be registered on a second machine.

It bites even more that I am writing this on my MacBook but still cant run the bugger. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Ok, £25? :eek:
 
DMG not recognized.

Seriously. What the heck.


Ah, here's a good reason. The unarchiver wasn't exactly unzipping the file. It just says it was.
 

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MacboobsPro said:
Ive just spent 3 hours downloading (legally) X3 from vpltd.com to be informed that the game cannot be run on my system. I have a 1.8DP PMG5 with 2GB and 256MBVRAM. :eek:

To run X3 you need a PCI-X graphics card with 128MB VRAM. So basically 99% of the Mac community cannot run this game. Even brand new MacBooks, Minis and 17" iMacs have no chance whatsoever.

My mac is only 2 years old and the graphics card is only about a year old as I upgraded it to the X800XT.

The only mention about the game needing PCI-X cards is a tiny little line of text saying "Graphics cards must be PCI-X". Well I missed it and I bet many other have/will to.

This is just a warning to others really and to vent a bit of frustration. :mad:
Click to expand...

Nitpick; it demands a PCIe card, not a PCI-X. PCI-X is a very different thing.
Looks like only the $1299 17" iMac and above, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro can play this.
 
dmw007 said:
Anything is better than the integrated graphics in the MacBook. :p :cool: :)
Click to expand...

You know, it's really not that bad on 2 GB of RAM. Outperforms my old computer with a dedicated 128 MB Geforce FX 5200 (not the best card, but it ran all the games I played, albiet on lower settings).

At 1280x800, I can run most of my games on higher settings. I'm not running Half-Life 2 or anything (though I understand it'll run!) though.
 
While Intel-only requirements is bad for people who bought just at the end of PPC, the fact that companies can sell software exclusively for Intel Macs demonstrates evidence of a credible market.
It's better than Bootcamp-only games. ;)
 
Vidd said:
While Intel-only requirements is bad for people who bought just at the end of PPC, the fact that companies can sell software exclusively for Intel Macs demonstrates evidence of a credible market.
It's better than Bootcamp-only games. ;)
Click to expand...

Mac games are going intel only because cider makes porting games to intel macs childs play but it dosnt work with ppc macs. Cider makes it so that games publishers can port games to mac wile only concentrating on bug fixes and ui.
 
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