Parallels and Civ4

[crag]

I just got Parallels 3.0. Which is supose to have Direct X and OpenGL support. I am now installing Civ4. Wil post there if the game runs well. I'll include my machines specs.

So far so good. Direct X 9 installed fine from the Civ4 installation. I've been plahying Civ4 in dual boot mode. Cause the Windows version is just SO much better.

Anyway will let ya know.

[AlanH]

There's a comment in the Parallels forum indicating that Civ4 runs in Parallels version 3, as long as you remember to enable DirectX in the VM properties. However, it was stated to be unplayable on a MacBook Pro C2D with 2 GBytes RAM. My guess is the hardware acceleration implementation is DirectX v8, like the Fusion beta, and all the high end shaders and stuff is software emulated.

[crag]

yeah I made a post about it in the Parallels forums. Civ4 is not playable through Paralels. It can run, but it crashes on the menu. Several people have seen this. So I guess it's back to Boot Camp.

[AlanH]

Have you enabled DirectX support in the VM video configuration options screen? Someone reported the crash on the menu until they enabled DirectX. Then it ran, but was too slow.

[LanceWeber]

SlowDuck's follow up post seemed to indicate he crashes right after the intro. I don't think anyone has gotten to the game map yet.

And yes, long time lurker, first post!

[AlanH]

Yes, I saw his follow-up post, but I didn't connect it back to the previous one where he seemed to indicate he had started a game.

So it looks as if Civ4's graphics demands are way too heavy for Parallels at its present level of development. Not really a great surprise, given the problems it's had previously with straight hardware GPUs.

[crag]

Actually not many games are working at all with Parallels. Looks like vaporware. people can't even get the games that came with Vista to load or run.

I advise anyone looking to buy Parallels for gaming to avoid it. You will just lose money.

[AlanH]

There's another thread in the Parallels forums where they mention that Parallels v3 uses WINE dlls to translate DirectX into OpenGL, which is presumably how Crossover supports DirectX. If so, the list of supported games for Parallels will be less than or equal to that for Crossover.

[Bazzalisk]

Originally Posted by crag

Actually not many games are working at all with Parallels. Looks like vaporware. people can't even get the games that came with Vista to load or run.

That's not what vapourware means.

[crag]

Originally Posted by Bazzalisk

That's not what vapourware means.

True. They did ship the product. Just doesn't work as advertised. But, given some time there's hope. I gotta a feeling Fusion will reach it first.

Actually I doubt any company will get Civ4 for windows running well in emulation. I've already gone back to Boot Camp. I wish Aspy would get on their toes and make Civ4 stable for the mac. I mean, use the Windows version of Civ4. It's a whole different world.

I'm actually not that bad at writing Python and XML. Been thinking of taking a few of the scripts (like SmartMaps) that are popular on the windows side and "porting" them to the Mac side. Make playing Civ4 mac so much better.

I'd also like to port the Revolution Mod over to mac. I love that mod. I'll look into it. I'll send an email to the author asking him (or her) if he'd mind if I ported his mod.

[Brad Oliver]

Originally Posted by crag

Actually I doubt any company will get Civ4 for windows running well in emulation. I've already gone back to Boot Camp. I wish Aspy would get on their toes and make Civ4 stable for the mac. I mean, use the Windows version of Civ4. It's a whole different world.

is the main issue the instability and crashes in CoreAudio?

[5150]

The main issues for me are all the graphics bugs, the ever-increasing slowness/lag, and the general lack of polish. I keep the sound turned off, simply because it's unreliable and I'd rather not have it if it doesn't work.

[crag]

I doubt it. You are talking about the Mac version right?

heh.

Edited: What the guy above me said. When i played Civ4 on Windows i was stunned at the difference. Really.. Load up Boot Camp and try it. If you on PPC, well, keep saving your games every 15 mins.

[Brad Oliver]

Originally Posted by crag

I doubt it. You are talking about the Mac version right?

heh.

Edited: What the guy above me said. When i played Civ4 on Windows i was stunned at the difference. Really.. Load up Boot Camp and try it. If you on PPC, well, keep saving your games every 15 mins.

When I play Civ4 in Boot Camp on my Intel iMac, it performs (more or less) the same as when booted in OS X, with roughly the same performance profile. Key differences are mainly in sound, and that's the main outstanding bug that I know about for Mac Civ4.

Now I haven't been on this forum in many months, so I've perhaps missed months of . .. .. .. .. .ing, but I also have not heard of many bugs coming through our support line either (they do filter out bugs on unsupported hardware like the GMA 950 on some Intel Macs).

With that in mind, I'd like to hear more about the current issues with Civ4 - be as specific as possible (i.e. what type of Mac and what video card, what version of OSX). If you've got a prior post on here that you feel I should read, shove me in that direction.

[Brad Oliver]

Originally Posted by 5150

The main issues for me are all the graphics bugs, the ever-increasing slowness/lag, and the general lack of polish. I keep the sound turned off, simply because it's unreliable and I'd rather not have it if it doesn't work.

What Mac (and version of OSX) are you using? I'm particularly interested in the graphics card you have.

Also, what do you mean by lack of polish?

[5150]

I've got an original dual 2.0 G5, running 10.4.9 with 2GB of RAM. The video card is an Apple OEM ATI x850XT with 256MB of memory.

I regularly see all sorts of graphics anomalies. Beyond the usual black ice/units and "civ-leader on the world" I get other glitches, too. Yesterday a large area of the map was black (other than cities, units, and fish) when it should have been visible but shadowed (discovered and explored, but with none of my units present). Sometimes streaking when a unit moved (think of the "going to warp" effect in the Star Trek movies.

By lack of polish, I mean two specific things in particular. First, the in-game check for upgrade downloading the Windows patches. That should have been easy to get right. How many poor souls have been confused by that? Secondly, and more importantly, the in-game SMTP function for sending out PBEM games has never worked. That's very disappointing.

Along those lines, there's also an annoying difference between playing on my G5 and my (unsupported--I sure wish I knew how my G5 was "supported" in any way) MacBook. The unit promotion buttons are in different orders/locations. I can't see why the buttons can't be in the same order. If I'm playing a game on each system, it slows me down and I sometimes inadvertently click on the wrong promotion.

[Brad Oliver]

Originally Posted by 5150

By lack of polish, I mean two specific things in particular. First, the in-game check for upgrade downloading the Windows patches. That should have been easy to get right. How many poor souls have been confused by that?

OK, I understand. In our defense, there were never any Windows patches in the pipe during testing so it never came up. I believe we actually did remove this in the most recent patch...? I do recall it being mentioned by our support team post-release.

Secondly, and more importantly, the in-game SMTP function for sending out PBEM games has never worked. That's very disappointing.

OK, thanks for the info. I've never heard anything about this, so I didn't realize it was busted. I'll make sure we address this.

Along those lines, there's also an annoying difference between playing on my G5 and my (unsupported--I sure wish I knew how my G5 was "supported" in any way) MacBook. The unit promotion buttons are in different orders/locations. I can't see why the buttons can't be in the same order. If I'm playing a game on each system, it slows me down and I sometimes inadvertently click on the wrong promotion.

Could I trouble you for screenshots on this? That's just bizarre.

[dojoboy]

Originally Posted by Brad Oliver

OK, thanks for the info. I've never heard anything about this, so I didn't realize it was busted. I'll make sure we address this.

Brad, you need to send this through the pipeline at Aspyr, because someone in 'support' fumbled.

I'm in a couple PBEM games and this feature would be sweet if operable. Being able to email it directly from the app would allow a save and load of other personal games without going to the mail app.

Also, I've made several, well a few, tickets through Aspyr's support site regarding graphic glitches. The standard reply is, "Does the glitch go away after reloading or can it be reproduced?" The answers are "yes" and "no," respectively. Now, as to whether this is an issue for me, no. But, many consumers get really bent over it because they spent $50, plus shipping usually.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the game immensely!

Regarding crashes, I do sometimes experience them. But, from what I recall, it's usually when I'm running the HoF mod. Since it's third-party and it's very infrequent, I've not reported it. I know Alan, I apologize. the next time I get a HoF crash, I'll send you the log.

[5150]

Originally Posted by Brad Oliver

Could I trouble you for screenshots on this? That's just bizarre.

I'll grab a couple tonight. Would you like them sent to your Asypr e-mail address?

[Brad Oliver]

Originally Posted by 5150

I'll grab a couple tonight. Would you like them sent to your Asypr e-mail address?

That'd be fine : brad AT aspyr DOT com.