Performance for those who play in Boot Camp

[JeffNebraska]

I was considering getting Windows 7 to install on my MBP i7, 8GB RAM, 512MB VRAM for the sole purpose of improving performance on Civ V. After reading this thread, it sounds like that ain't gonna happen over the Mac version.

Is that the consensus? Play Mac native and not on Windows through boot camp?

 

[AlanH]

I'm not sure where you found any comparative information in this thread. The entire thread was posted before the Mac version was released. There are some problem reports here, but they probably match those in the Mac version threads.

I have been watching the posts across this forum, and there seems to be no real pattern. People are having problems, as you would expect with any new software release. Some are happy with performance, others not so happy. I don't see any correlation with the use of Bootcamp or Parallels or the native software.

It is also way too early to ring the curtain down on this debate, as the basic Civ5 software still has a way to go in terms of optimisation on both platforms. And Aspyr kinda shot themselves in the foot by releasing their product a couple of days before they all went off on a long Thanksgiving weekend, leaving the Support desk unmanned and a bunch of customers unable to get their questions answered.

For what it's worth, my two cents is, if you haven't bought Windows to install in Bootcamp yet, then wait a few weeks. See what the next Mac patch brings. If that doesn't satisfy you, then check back here and see what others are doing then.

 

[killthepoodle]

Boot Camp Civ 5 on my Core i7 MBP runs far, far better than the OSX version. DX10, havent tried 9 yet. Stable so far.

 

[yanr]

Civ 5 on Windows XP SP3 in Boot Camp on my 2.4 GHz SR MacBook Pro, with a 256MB 8600M GT, runs the game pretty decently. It's not completely smooth and there are noticeable sound stutters after playing for a while.

I'm about 200 turns into my first game on a Standard Continents map and it's definitely playable. Albeit most of the graphics are turned down at 1440x900.

EDIT: Update, I completed two games in Boot Camp, one was a diplomatic victory that ended after 360 turns or so, the other was cultural after 425 turns (standard game length). Definitely enjoyable. Some waits for turns to calculate but a fairly smooth experience, i.e. I wasn't frustrated by any performance issues.

On another note, I just installed CiV on my OSX partition. Started a game as Japan on a Earth Map. Standard size, standard time length and it was absolute horrendous. Even at 10 turns the game is choppy when panning the map, or when zooming in or out.

 

[JeffNebraska]

Because I have a copy of Windows XP, can I skip buying Windows 7 and still get better performance than through OSX?

 

[yanr]

I just updated my Boot Camp Install to Windows 7. The performance is about the same as it was on XP so it's not worth it to get Windows 7 just for CiV. XP is long in the tooth though for most other things, so "7" might be a good buy if you do extensive work on Windows.

 

[pnberg64]

To Boot Camp, or Not To Boot Camp, that is the question...

I've been wrestling with a conundrum for over a week, and spent many hours "thread-lurking". Here's my situation.

My sister's dad researched and then purchased Civ V thinking it would be fun for our family to play over LAN on 4 separate computers. He did not do enough research (for it was not easily found)http://forums.civfanatics.com/images/smilies/cry.gif to discover that Macs are not yet patch synched with the Windows version, and thus cannot play multi-player together. I have been in touch with Customer support, who, to no surprise, refuse to suggest a date when patch synch may have been achieved. I have explored the option of using Boot Camp, but do not own a free-floating version of Windows to load on my machine. Thus, I have a question, and I seek Opinions. Please, if you give me your Opinion, do me a favor and give me a little supporting evidence for why you have said Opinion... it will make it easier for me to move forward in an intelligent fashion.

The question is this; if I want to play a 4 person multiplayer ASAP with people on varying platforms (2 Toshiba Notebooks running Vista, 1 HP notebook running Vista, and 1 Macbook Pro (2008) running 10.6.5 should I:

1) Bite the bullet and partition, Boot Camp, and Windows 7
2) Not mess with Boot Camp, just be patient and wait for the Patch Synch
3) Just go back a version and get everyone on Civ 4, and play on OSX? (None of us have ever played Civ before on a computer, so it's not likely we will regret regressing to Civ 4 while we wait for Civ V to be Synched).

Thanks anyone/everyone for your thoughts... I'm very eager to get this done, but it's quite unclear to me what my cleanest path forward should be.

-Peter

 

[markh]

I would not expect the PC and Mac version to be synchronized so soon. The just released new patch for the PC even introduced a few more bugs. This game still needs a lot of work. As Aspyr always gets the new code after the patches for the PCs get online it will always take them a little while to implement it into the Mac version. Furthermore Steam autoupdates, so you are always in danger getting out of synch at any day. If you want to play Civ 5 in multiplayer safely I guess you will have to bite the bullet and install windows.

Civ 4 with the Beyond the Sword expansion is a good alternative and safe as there will be no new patches, so they will be in synch forever.

 

[AlanH]

Opinion:

1, or 2 if you can be patient. Only you can make that call.

3 is not an option. I don't think it is possible to get Mac and PC versions in sync yet for multiplayer. Even if you could revert to a specific earlier version on the PCs (which I don't think is possible), it would not be seen as the same version as your OS X one, which has an 'a' on the end of the number.

 

[icemanjsg]

I have the same problem, and I am going for option one.

but from what I am reading, the boot camp version running windows 7 on 64bit gets more out the game than the native MAC version, which I can believe. My old PC handles the game far superior than my brand spanking new superMAC.

 

[JeffNebraska]

I just updated my Boot Camp Install to Windows 7. The performance is about the same as it was on XP so it's not worth it to get Windows 7 just for CiV.

Very interesting. It would never occurred to me that this would be good enough. Now I can try out Civ V for the PC, cost free.

Looks like I'll be researching Boot Camp tonight!

 

[yanr]

Forgot to mention, the one caveat is that Windows XP only supports DirectX 9. I know the 330M does support up to DirectX 11, but you won't be able to get all the DX11 eye candy in XP.

 

[JeffNebraska]

Forgot to mention, the one caveat is that Windows XP only supports DirectX 9. I know the 330M does support up to DirectX 11, but you won't be able to get all the DX11 eye candy in XP.

How tasty is that eye candy I would be foregoing?

 

[forty2j]

3 is not an option. I don't think it is possible to get Mac and PC versions in sync yet for multiplayer. Even if you could revert to a specific earlier version on the PCs (which I don't think is possible), it would not be seen as the same version as your OS X one, which has an 'a' on the end of the number.

I believe he was suggesting going back a full version (cIV instead of CiV). This is certainly doable, and I've played a few OS X + Vista + Win7 multiplayer games there.

That said.. the games are very different, and playing one won't help you play the other. I'd recommend getting boot camp partitions going to play the one you have, until such a time as the patches get synchronized.

 

[AlanH]

I believe he was suggesting going back a full version (cIV instead of CiV). This is certainly doable, and I've played a few OS X + Vista + Win7 multiplayer games there.

That said.. the games are very different, and playing one won't help you play the other. I'd recommend getting boot camp partitions going to play the one you have, until such a time as the patches get synchronized.

You're quite correct. Sorry for not reading the question carefully enough.

 

[Welnic]

How tasty is that eye candy I would be foregoing?

I don't think that the eye candy is that big a deal, but it seems to run smoother for me on both my gaming PC and my Macbook Pro in DirectX 10/11. But I don't have a DirectX 11 card, so I'm not seeing it in its full glory either.

If you already have XP, just throw that on your Mac. It wouldn't be worth it to get Win7.

@ pnberg64
I would just bite the bullet and run Win7 in bootcamp. You'll be running right away, you'll always be synched patchwise. Even after the OSX version catches up this will continue to happen every time there is a patch. The mods will work for sure on the PC version.

You can just play the OSX version if you are playing single player. Though if you are like me you'll just boot into Win7 even then.

 

[pnberg64]

Thanks guys, the overwhelming favorite here is to just run Boot camp. I went to Staples and bought a drive enclosure for my "old" hard drive... (I didn't want to re-format my newer drive, and Boot Camp said it couldn't repartition, I assume because of the Journaled OSX), so I'll be trying for a boot-able install on the old hard drive once I have it backed up.
Just as an FYI, there is an option for Steam to NOT automatically patch, so if, in theory, the patches become synched between Windows and OSX versions, it will be possible to "freeze" your patching and choose when (or when not) to step to a new patch. Since our family will only be playing amongst ourselves, we will not have "patch problems" with other players... we could control our environment, should the patches ever be in synch. As I stated in my original questions, Aspyr says that they are aware of the interest in having the patches synched, but will not indicate when this will happen. The language of their response let me to think it might be in a month or so (January '11 -ish), but they most certainly did not state this. I believe they will attempt to synch the patches; it only makes sense. Of course, it would also make sense for them to refund money to people who couldn't find the UNADVERTISED information that the two platforms will not work together in Multiplayer. THAT would be customer service/relations. GOOD customer service would have the patches in synch...

Thanks for your opinions, folks.

-peter

 

[forty2j]

Of course, it would also make sense for them to refund money to people who couldn't find the UNADVERTISED information that the two platforms will not work together in Multiplayer. THAT would be customer service/relations. GOOD customer service would have the patches in synch...

Aspyr would tell you it's a planned feature that you get with your original $50 investment, but it simply wasn't available at launch. (Unsatisfying, yes, but they can rightly claim that you're not due a refund because you can enjoy the product in other ways in advance of the release of this feature, and the feature is coming.)

And it's 2K and Firaxis you need to complain to to get the patches synced; if 2K jumps ahead with a PC patch, Aspyr can only play catch up, and it's certainly (I would think) in Firaxis's control to tell 2K to sit on a patch for a week or three.

 

[Premier]

Mac Pro 1,1 (2006)
2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
14 GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 GB VRAM
Windows Vista (32-bit)

This is on a RAID 0 volume, but I'm not sure if faster read/write times do much to improve game performance. CiV ran poorly on my previous card (8800 GT), but the 5770 solved that.

I play in DX10/11 at 1920x1200, AA 2x, and have Terrain Detail Level on High and Texture Quality on High. All other settings are Medium/Low. With the current PC patch, I can play huge maps with 10-12 civs up to and including the future era with relatively smooth performance. Time between turns is ~20 seconds in the late game, and that's the only time it's choppy.

Interestingly, my current game was started Mac-side with the current patch. It crashed repeatedly around the renaissance, so I opened the save in Windows and continued from there. It's been fine since.

I'm sorry to say I got sucked into the PC version - as much as I hate booting into Windows. The patch improvements, better graphics and SDK are all just too tempting. If only I could access my iTunes library from Windows, I'd be set (seems to be a Windows limitation in accessing RAID volumes, despite being installed on one )

 

[ChevalierdeJstn]

I don't think forgoing eye candy is an issue. I've played Civ 5 in multiple DirectX versions and the graphics options had far more impact than the Dx version. What graphics options you can afford to check without...abominably...slow...lag...really seem to depend on your RAM and video card, not the software.