Civ4 Demo for Mac Now Available
- Thread starter AlanH
- Start date
dojoboy
Tsalagi
Good news. It will definitely save some from "Shaking-fist Syndrome."
Hi there,
I just downloaded the demo and the map I get to see is black with some points. There is clearly something wrong with the graphics display. Has someone on a MacBook (not Pro) experienced the same issue with the *demo*? How can this issue be resolved?
Thanks for letting me know.
I just downloaded the demo and the map I get to see is black with some points. There is clearly something wrong with the graphics display. Has someone on a MacBook (not Pro) experienced the same issue with the *demo*? How can this issue be resolved?
Thanks for letting me know.
dojoboy
Tsalagi
dschuli said:
This may be the issue. What is your system set-up? Of course, it may very well be the demo.
this was probably one of the worst demos i've ever played...
i'm usually playing the pc version of the game (but now the glorious days are over...), but in this mac demo nothing really works...
- the screen turns black
- you can't move or select units
and besides all that, the game is too very slow even with the lowest settings and you can't really do much in 100 turns... this is very dissapointing for a brilliant game
i'm usually playing the pc version of the game (but now the glorious days are over...), but in this mac demo nothing really works...
- the screen turns black
- you can't move or select units
and besides all that, the game is too very slow even with the lowest settings and you can't really do much in 100 turns... this is very dissapointing for a brilliant game
Welnic
Emperor
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2006
- Messages
- 1,057
I have tried this demo on three different rigs that all run the full game with no problem and the demo doesn't work on any of them.
On my 24" iMac which is an Intel mac with an nVidia graphics card I get beautifully rendered units and resources standing on a field of black with white points. It is very pretty in an abstract way.
On both a G5 with a 9600XT card and a Macbook Pro the graphics look fine at first, but there is no production display. It is not there when you turn that layer on, it isn't there when you have a settler selected, and the real game killer, it isn't there when you zoom into the city. When you are not in the city at least you can hover over a square and see what it produces, but that option is not available in the city view where you actually assign the workers.
Seems to me that a demo that doesn't work is worse than no demo at all.
On my 24" iMac which is an Intel mac with an nVidia graphics card I get beautifully rendered units and resources standing on a field of black with white points. It is very pretty in an abstract way.
On both a G5 with a 9600XT card and a Macbook Pro the graphics look fine at first, but there is no production display. It is not there when you turn that layer on, it isn't there when you have a settler selected, and the real game killer, it isn't there when you zoom into the city. When you are not in the city at least you can hover over a square and see what it produces, but that option is not available in the city view where you actually assign the workers.
Seems to me that a demo that doesn't work is worse than no demo at all.
cricketts
Chieftain
I downloaded the demo last night to see if Civ IV would work on my 12" iBook G4. Everything seemed to work well to me, although unfortunately I have never been able to play the game on any other machine in order to offer any sort of comparison experience. I was happy to say the least that after the dialog box that told me my computer was not powerful enough to run the game my iBook G4 came through for me! I definitely might buy Civ IV now. It was slow to very slow, but I love Civ so much that I would tolerate it for the chance to play Civ IV however limited the experience is compared to that of others. What I would really like is the original Civ I in a new interface that makes it fun to play and compatible with Mac OS X. Then I wouldn't have to worry about everyone else having a faster more graphically rich Civ experience.
It looks as if you need to read the small print in the Demo Readme,and performance of hte demo is not necessarily indicative of performance of the purchased version of the software...
I thought I'd better try it on my system, in view of the surprising number of bad reports. It gives a black screen on my Mac Pro with GeForce 7300GT. The 1.61 software I bought runs fine, you may even have seen the movie.
Checking the readme that comes with the demo .... GeForce 7300GT isn't in the list of supported cards! You might kid yourself that this is an oversight, or that they didn't have one to test before releasing the demo. Apparently there's more to it!
[EDIT] More small print (who ever reads demo readmes?!?)
I thought I'd better try it on my system, in view of the surprising number of bad reports. It gives a black screen on my Mac Pro with GeForce 7300GT. The 1.61 software I bought runs fine, you may even have seen the movie.
Checking the readme that comes with the demo .... GeForce 7300GT isn't in the list of supported cards! You might kid yourself that this is an oversight, or that they didn't have one to test before releasing the demo. Apparently there's more to it!
[EDIT] More small print (who ever reads demo readmes?!?)
Clearly not just 5200 cards.
Sam_Yeager
Another Original Geezer
AlanH said:
Oh dear! Sounds like a good idea in principle has gone seriously sour...
"The road to .... paved with good intentions."
Perhaps the question is whether anyone has managed to get it working as designed?
Bughunter
Chieftain
I downloaded the C4 demo earlier this week and experienced the following problems:
- Terrain in main window was blacked out, with some image contours visible as blue speckles, but completely unplayable.
- Sound feedback for clicking controls, buttons, and units made my speakers pop, LOUD. Once it started, every sound in game threatened to blow my speakers.
Not a good way to sell the game. I'm sticking to C3C, thanks.
- Terrain in main window was blacked out, with some image contours visible as blue speckles, but completely unplayable.
- Sound feedback for clicking controls, buttons, and units made my speakers pop, LOUD. Once it started, every sound in game threatened to blow my speakers.
Not a good way to sell the game. I'm sticking to C3C, thanks.
Minmaster
Prince
wow...pretty bad news.
a demo might have been more damaging to sales of mac version of civ4 than helping it.
i wont even try the demo for my ibook. i got civ4 going smooth on my PC.
thank goodness macs can install windows now, mac users wont have to be second class computer gamers.
a demo might have been more damaging to sales of mac version of civ4 than helping it.
i wont even try the demo for my ibook. i got civ4 going smooth on my PC.
thank goodness macs can install windows now, mac users wont have to be second class computer gamers.
greenie
Warlord
It works fine on my Powerbook 1.67 GHz. But the full version test will come once my family gets back from the US with my new game...
Earthling7
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2005
- Messages
- 16
Powerbook12" 1.5GHz, 1.2GB, Feb.2005 model. Black terrain. Selecting units goes pretty slow on turn one (never went any further as I can't see the terrain).
Needless to say, I won't bother with this game. I would have said I'd wait until I have a faster machine and the game is in the bargain bin, but Mac games never get into bargain bins, so I suppose this is it. It's a shame, as I have been playing Civ since the original in 1991.
One question though, just in case a Firaxis member browses those boards. Sid Meier used to have a policy of releasing games that run on virtually all hardware. He has now released a game that is totally unplayable on a professional machine that was still being sold when the game (PC) went on sale. A machine that was discontinued less than six months before the Mac game went on sale. I won't even mention the current MacBooks or Minis. What happened? Why did Sid change his mind and make a TBS game that needs more power than an RTS or a FPS game? The logic in that escapes me.
Needless to say, I won't bother with this game. I would have said I'd wait until I have a faster machine and the game is in the bargain bin, but Mac games never get into bargain bins, so I suppose this is it. It's a shame, as I have been playing Civ since the original in 1991.
One question though, just in case a Firaxis member browses those boards. Sid Meier used to have a policy of releasing games that run on virtually all hardware. He has now released a game that is totally unplayable on a professional machine that was still being sold when the game (PC) went on sale. A machine that was discontinued less than six months before the Mac game went on sale. I won't even mention the current MacBooks or Minis. What happened? Why did Sid change his mind and make a TBS game that needs more power than an RTS or a FPS game? The logic in that escapes me.
Earthling7
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2005
- Messages
- 16
I know, but I would imagine him having some say in things and probably setting guidelines for the development team. It is his product after all, and if only 40-50% of the population can play the game, it will affect his bottom line.
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