PowerBook G4 Laptop?

[Aron]

I'd love to have Civ4 and Warlords on my Mac Laptop during the holiday season, but my mac is less powerfull than my PC and even the desktop PC has some problems on large maps. So I'm worried about buying the MAC version.

Has anybody ran it on a PowerBook G4 laptop and if so does it run okay? And one more thing, does anybody know if save games from the PC and Mac version are interchangable?

 

[AlanH]

It barely runs on my old 1GHz G4 tower with 1GByte of RAM and a 32MByte GeForce 4MX graphics card. I wouldn't want to play a real game on it. I doubt if you are going to have a fun experience with it on the PowerBook, but it seems players have very different ideas about what's acceptable performance and what isn't.

Save games are interchangeable across platforms. Mods are considerably less cross-platform compatible.

 

[bio_hazard]

Don't know about Warlords, but I play vanilla on a powerbook (1.5ghz, 64mb video card, 1gb ram). I don't go above standard size maps, and have graphics settings as low as they will go. I tested some larger maps when i first installed, and the games seemed stable but way too laggy to enjoy.

 

[imadork]

I play vanilla on a 12" PB (1.5 GHz, 1.25GB RAM, 64 MB VRAM), and have results similar to bio_hazard. Even Standard maps get laggy during periods of heavy warmongering. (Small maps are much better, though.)

 

[ChiefSparkY]

I too have the same spec and I can't bear to play it on my PB 12". It's just not fun, honestly. Sorry.

 

[imadork]

I should add that the 12" PB gets very, very, very hot when running Civ IV. That poor little fan starts chugging for all its' worth when I play Civ. I've had to watch out when putting my laptop on the arm of my couch: if it's blocking the vent output below the screen hinge, the bottom of the laptop gets too toasty.

It get taxed the most when building a new world. Amazingly enough, performance seems to be a bit better for me when running off battery (and the laptop runs a bit cooler also) vs. running off AC. I can't really figure that one out. For all I know, I'm imaging it....

 

[bio_hazard]

@imadork- it could be that your laptop switches to "Better Battery Life" from "Better Performance" when on battery.

 

[Cougarcat]

I play it on a 1.67 PB w/ 128 MB VRAM, 1.5 GB RAM. Settings at lowest. I usually play on small maps. It's OK till around 1900, then the game gets a bit less fun as things start to chug.

 

[imadork]

@imadork- it could be that your laptop switches to "Better Battery Life" from "Better Performance" when on battery.

That makes sense, only performance seems to be a bit better on battery for me, which is the opposite of what you would normally assume. I suppose, though, that the game lags so much (I'm currently playing a Standard map right now, and the war I just slogged through was pretty slow) that if the game goes at the same speed while on battery, just the fact that the fan isn't roaring like a jet engine would make the game seem faster....

I also find that the game runs a lot better if I quit and restart after every session.

 

[Aron]

Thanks guys. What I'm hearing is basically not to waste my money. That's |<ewl, I didn't choose a Mac Lappy to game on anyway.

Still, it woulda been nice.