Civ4 - Boot camp or OS X?

[Dtree]

Hey guys,

I am interested in purchasing civ4 but I have run into a problem. I was wondering whether the game would run faster if I were to buy the Mac version and run it on my 15" MBP (2.16, 1gig ram, 256 ati x1600) or run the PC version on the same notebook using Bootcamp. I have a copy of windows xp, so that is not a factor in my decision. I was simply wondering if I would see major performance differences. Thanks in advance for the help. Cheers.

 

[wiglaff]

faster in PC. not sure by how much. I have a very similar hardware configuration and it runs flawlessly on PC with most settings high or medium on large world maps. i think the mac version is less reliable right now. at the very least, it would probably have more strange glitches.

 

[Cougarcat]

The MacBook Pro is so fast that any speed games you'd see in the windows version would be negligibe. You're better off getting the Mac version. The rest of the glitches should be taken care of in the final patch pretty soon.

 

[wiglaff]

The MacBook Pro is so fast that any speed games you'd see in the windows version would be negligibe. You're better off getting the Mac version. The rest of the glitches should be taken care of in the final patch pretty soon.

but he loses modability, and warlords capability, and it's more expensive for civ4 mac, in addition to the glitches not in PC version. people are still trying to figure out mac multiplayer...

also I wouldn't be sure that the mac version runs as well on the same hardware, even a macbook pro. civ4 pc has been optimized over a period of nine months ...

 

[Helmling]

The MacBook Pro is so fast that any speed games you'd see in the windows version would be negligibe. You're better off getting the Mac version. The rest of the glitches should be taken care of in the final patch pretty soon.

Beg to differ. From what I've heard, the Mac version is still buggy as hell. If you aren't opposed to Boot Camp on principle (as I am) then your game experience would be far more pleasant that way. (Now, subsequent patches may improve the Mac version significantly, but it sounds nigh unplayable right now.)

 

[Cougarcat]

Beg to differ. From what I've heard, the Mac version is still buggy as hell. If you aren't opposed to Boot Camp on principle (as I am) then your game experience would be far more pleasant that way. (Now, subsequent patches may improve the Mac version significantly, but it sounds nigh unplayable right now.)

Nigh unplayable? I don't know where you're getting that...since after the patch, most issues have been resolved. True, some intel mac users have experienced kernel panics, but that can be eliminated with a few workarounds until the patch is released.

And sure, with the mac version you lose some modability, Warlords for the moment, and the multiplayer lobby but I'd gladly trade those for being able to run the game in OS X. But that's just me.

 

[AlanH]

If you guys are considering it "nigh unplayable" in OS X on Macs with multiple CPUs and high end graphics cards then I must be looking at different software!

My Mac is way off the bottom of Aspyr's scale of supported Macs, but, until other priorities struck, I was considering giving this month's GOTM a try, just to see what I could learn. Sure, it's jerky and the sound is "as and when", but it's a turn-based game, and as such I can live with it until I get a better Mac. But you guys have 4 times my CPU power, maybe 10 or more times my video card, more memory, faster bus speeds, bigger caches ...... I fail to see how the software I'm looking at can be nigh unplayable on that kit.

 

[wiglaff]

Um, if it's poorly ported, it certainly could be.

Some people are having bizarre glitches not present in the PC version, as well.

 

[AlanH]

Um, if it's poorly ported, it certainly could be.

True, but it's well enough ported to allow it to run ... at the limits of playability ... on my half-baked seven year old kit.

Some people are having bizarre glitches not present in the PC version, as well.

Not many. The ones that I'm seeing reported are not universal, and are also reported on some PCs.

 

[Skippy_Kangaroo]

It is certainly more than playable on a MacBook Pro.

There are a number of bugs that I have posted where a helpful soul will note that 'the same thing happens in the Windows version' - you would think that they could get the bugs worked out by version 1.61. The only thing that is Mac specific I am aware of is the kernel panics under various combinations of circumstances that can generally be avoided. (Bug fix obviously needed, but workarounds exist for now.)

What bugs me most about the game is actually how un-Mac like it is. It is a straight port of the PC version with all the warts. My current peeve is that the command to open a saved file is not the bog-standard cmd-O but cmd-L. I use a Mac because I prefer the Mac's consistency. Playing Civ IV just keeps on reminding me of the ugly things I dislike about PCs. Ugh! But this is not something you can avoid by playing it under Boot Camp! It would just make the whole situation worse.

 

[ancestral]

What bugs me most about the game is actually how un-Mac like it is. It is a straight port of the PC version with all the warts. My current peeve is that the command to open a saved file is not the bog-standard cmd-O but cmd-L. I use a Mac because I prefer the Mac's consistency. Playing Civ IV just keeps on reminding me of the ugly things I dislike about PCs. Ugh! But this is not something you can avoid by playing it under Boot Camp! It would just make the whole situation worse.

Changing the keystrokes might be editable through the appropriate XML file.

And it's not completely un-Mac-like. They actually use "OPT" instead of "ALT", which I found pleasing.

 

[Skippy_Kangaroo]

Changing the keystrokes might be editable through the appropriate XML file.

And it's not completely un-Mac-like. They actually use "OPT" instead of "ALT", which I found pleasing.

Any suggestions where I should look first?

It could be the genesis for the first Mac-specific MOD - make Civ play more like a Mac application I'd buy that for a dollar!

 

[Brad Oliver]

From what I've heard, the Mac version is still buggy as hell.

The only real outstanding bugs are sound-related, and those are fixed in the final version of our Mac patch. If shaky sound makes it "nigh unplayable" for you, then say so. If you haven't played the Mac version and you are basing your opinion on what you have read, then you may be misinterpreting the issues at large.

Otherwise, I strongly feel that it's definitely very playable on Intel Macs (and most Macs) with the current beta patch, and certainly very comparable in performance to Boot Camp on those same Intel Macs. I gladly welcome any feedback to the contrary.

 

[Helmling]

Sorry if you found my characterization unfair, but look at the posts in this forum...can you blame me? No, I admit I haven't played the Mac version, because I don't dare buy it and get stuck with a game I can't play, even on my brand new (as-yet-undelivered) MacBook. Virtually every description I read of gameplay includes words like "jerky," what am I supposed to think? If there was a demo, I'd be glad to try it out, but there's no way I'm going to sink down $50 when I'm hearing so much negative feedback.

Sorry.

 

[Brad Oliver]

Virtually every description I read of gameplay includes words like "jerky," what am I supposed to think?

Did you read any of the post-patch feedback? "Jerky" was not a common description with the beta patch. That said, the regular MacBook is not supported and will play Civ4 very poorly. It's been said before, and I'd like to re-emphasize. A list of supported video cards is on the back of the Mac Civ4 box. If yours is not on that list, Civ4 will, in all likelihood, run very poorly.

 

[ChiefSparkY]

I intend to play Civ4 on my MacBook (with 2GB of RAM) - I realise and accept that this is not a supported system but based on various comments, I'm confident that it will still give me a reasonable game. Whilst I realise a future patch may stop things working so well on the MacBook (I'll be keeping current versions of the patch just in case), I hope Aspyr won't deliberately prevent it from running on unsupported machines.

 

[maxcorreo]

I have a MacBook Pro with same configuration and CIV 4 runs perfect under OS X, as well as running on a good PC.

 

[Chairman Meow]

That said, the regular MacBook is not supported and will play Civ4 very poorly. It's been said before, and I'd like to re-emphasize.

Thanks, you just saved me $50...

 

[awb]

I play it on my MacBook with 2 GB of RAM and it plays very well in OS X. Apparently, it plays even better under boot camp.

 

[gidds]

Well, am gonna buy XP and trow on bootcamp, cant stand this fudgingg machine (sorry Mac fella's and lasses).
Its also the thing with mod's and the new expansion pack that has been released on the pc and again not on Mac!

Anyway's its also the other games I cant play and believe me, I need to unwind one in a while (especially cose I work for the enemy ).

Later..

PS: Is it runnin' as they say..??