Which Macs Will Work?

[AlanH]

Yes, I think so. If so you have a 64 MByte ATI card which just about staggers over the bar.

Looks as if you may be on an older version of OS X, as the System Profile format is different from mine. This is what my totally underpowered system looks like if I select Graphics/Displays in About This Mac (I have two displays on one video card) ...

NVIDIA GeForce4 MX:

Chipset Model: GeForce4 MX
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-A
VRAM (Total): 32 MB
Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0172
Revision ID: 0x00a5
ROM Revision: 1121
Displays:
PLE435S:
Resolution: 1280 x 1024 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Not Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
AY765:
Resolution: 1280 x 1024 @ 75 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Not Supported
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported

 

[captainheroman]

yup, I'm still running on 10.3.9 (no point buying tiger when I'll get it free with my next system) but I omitted the device ID and my monitor info because I assumed it wasn't relevant. If that stuff is useful let me know and I'll post it all.

 

[AlanH]

No problem. It sounds as if you are having a better time than you'd expect, on a limited system

(limited by Civ4 standards, that is!)

 

[timerover51]

Hmmm, based on looking over the posts, I might have a chance with my Powermac system, which is a 1.1 ghz upgrade, 576 megs of Ram that I know I need to upgrade (4 ram slots) and a Radeon 9000 video card with 128 megs of Ram. Anyone want to voice any opinions on my success. I figure I will by Civ4 for the Mac eventually anyway. We are running it on my son's Dell laptop, which is really borderline for it, and so far, aside from some sound skips, and changing the setting to single figures for display, have not had major problems. Still like Civ3 better, but I would like to play with the editor on Civ3. AlanH, is there any chance for a stand alone editor for Civ4? I have Adobe GoLive to edit xml, and a couple of good 3D programs for modelling terrain, units, and buildings.

 

[AlanH]

AlanH, is there any chance for a stand alone editor for Civ4?

WorldBuilder is included with Civ4. I think that, and a text editor, are all you need for basic modding, and all that's used by a lot of the PC modders. Python is included with OS X. The full SDK is a non-starter at the moment, as the Mac version will not handle an external compiled mod library in the way the Windows version does.

If there are any independent PC utilities that you think should be made available for Mac, please shout. I'm not involved in modding, so I'll be the last person to find out if any are required.

 

[stagmeister]

All I want to know is, will it run on a 1.5Ghz G4? My graphics are up to snuff (Raedon 9700) and I have 1GB ram. Anyone done it?

Thanks

 

[ejday]

All I want to know is, will it run on a 1.5Ghz G4? My graphics are up to snuff (Raedon 9700) and I have 1GB ram. Anyone done it?

Thanks

You have my system.

It's not silky smooth but it's definitely playable.

 

[ancestral]

As just tested with the new patch on a 1.42 GHz PPC Mac mini 32 MB VRAM 1 GB RAM, it's surprisingly playable at the min graphics settings. Has not crashed once. Can successfully play someone else's late game circa 1930's (http://sampo.ru/~headden/Harkonnen AD-1961.Civ4SavedGame) has been a few turns now no problem. And it's not unbearably slow.

Whatever problems people seemed to be having are either largely Intel-based or Aspyr was able to resolve many of the bugs with the beta patch.

 

[Riesstiu IV]

My brother just got the game for his G4 ibook with 32mb of Vram, and believe it or not if all of the graphical and performance settings are on the lowest the game is playable. That is after installing the patch. No complaints on his side.

 

[Boer]

I found the playability bearable at the beginning with 1400x900 resolution and all graphics turned down, but it turned out dreadful as the game progressed. What a dissappointment really. I am thinking of sending the game back.

My system is iMac G5 (iSight rev., 1,9 GHz, 1,5 GB).

 

[Cougarcat]

I found the playability bearable at the beginning with 1400x900 resolution and all graphics turned down, but it turned out dreadful as the game progressed. What a dissappointment really. I am thinking of sending the game back.

My system is iMac G5 (iSight rev., 1,9 GHz, 1,5 GB).

Turn down the resolution! It should help a ton. And get the patch if you haven't already.

 

[timerover51]

I may be pushing the absolute limits of Mac operation with a Power Mac upgraded with an OWC chip to 1.1 Ghz, with a Radeon 9000 video card with 128 megs of RAM, and 576 megs of memory. With everything turned down, it runs real slow, but I at least can get an idea of how the game functions verses Civ3Complete. I am going to install the patch, and then gradually add functions until it basically stops. Screen resolution is 1024 x 768, but I have not turned down the refresh rate, which is at 85 hz. I suspect what is making it work at all is the video card, which in theory is not supported. If anyone has a more advanced system than mine, and the game is not running, I would recommend that they play with the game options, and download the patch if they have not already done so. I will be playing with the game a bit more, and post the results of changing the refresh rate, using the patch, and playing with gradually adding more graphics options.

By the way, I got Civ4 more to check out the worldbuilder than anything else, as I find playing Civ3Complete much more satisfying than playing Civ4 on my son's laptop, where it runs reasonably well.

 

[Boer]

Turn down the resolution! It should help a ton. And get the patch if you haven't already.

I have installed the patch, and turning down the resolution does but makes the game look worse. There appears to be a fundamental flaw (poor design?) with this software, because the same system runs e.g. WoW perfectly with graphic settings above minimal.

 

[captainheroman]

Performance update.

Just a reminder, my system runs on 10.3.9 and the hardware is:

Machine Model: Power Mac G4
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (3.2)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 1.25 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 512 MB

ATY,RV250:

Type: display
Bus: AGP
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 64 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)

This shouldn't be a surprise now that so many people have chimed in but I wanted to add some final thoughts about civ 4 on my specific system incase someone has it and want to know details before buying.

Most importantly, it can be played to the end even though I'm under spec. I've played 3 full games now and had no crashes or significant glitches (I consider a glitch significant if a restart/reload is required to remove it). Once fighting starts though, the game starts getting choppy and the more complex the interactions the choppier it gets.

It's hard for me say yes or no on wether to buy this. To me it's playable so I'm not sorry I bought it but I've noticed people seem to have very different definitions of "playable". btw, I have only tried playing in a window, everything set to minimum and using small maps.

Hopefully this info was helpful, if I missed any details let me know.

 

[Mirtel]

I am running on:
Hardware Overview:

Machine Name: iBook G4
Machine Model: PowerBook6,7
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.5)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.42 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB

and a ATI Mobility Radeon 9550: 32 MB

Well...I have 4 cities now. Is slow, but I think I will play some more. If there any suggestions how to get the most out of the machine. I set everything to minimum in civ and closed all other apps before starting. I have the patch aswell.

 

[CarnTheRoys!]

I am running on:
Hardware Overview:

Machine Name: iBook G4
Machine Model: PowerBook6,7
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.5)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.42 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB

and a ATI Mobility Radeon 9550: 32 MB

Well...I have 4 cities now. Is slow, but I think I will play some more. If there any suggestions how to get the most out of the machine. I set everything to minimum in civ and closed all other apps before starting. I have the patch aswell.

This seems like exactly the same iBook as I have - I would be interested to hear how the game has been running on this system since your last post.

I've recently ordered Civ3 to play on the same system and waiting for it to be delivered to the store. I chose Civ3 due to the lower system requirements, but it would be interesting to hear how someone else has gone over time with the above system.