[KUguy]

I apologize if this has been addressed in other posts, but most of the ones I have read beat around the bush and I'm looking for more of a direct answer to the question.

I am expecting my new iMac 3.06ghz 24" on Wednesday I'm excited to play the games I have wanted to play for the last 3 years or so. However, I'm tired of lag and performance issues plagued by most Mac games (usually ports) and I wanted to know if a port of a game (say Civ IV for example) plays equally well in its Mac environment when compared to its PC counterpart in Boot Camp.

Anyone have some insight on this? As much as I'd hate to buy anything PC, if the same games run faster and more smoothly in Boot Camp, I may have to consider it.

[Quicksilver]

If you want the short answer, everything runs faster, looks better, and sounds better in Windows.

[badger2d]

In reply to your specific example, Civ 4 definitely runs better PC-side, but it being a turn-based game, I've never found the slight slowdown bothersome when playing it on my Mac.

[nagromme]

That should be a great system. Did you get the upgraded video board?

Quicksilver, on June 29th 2008, 09:44 PM, said:

If you want the short answer, everything runs faster, looks better, and sounds better in Windows.

And if you want the accurate answer, many things run faster, or look better, or sound better in Windows. Games are typically made for Windows first and foremost, and optimized for that platform. In addition, Mac graphics drivers are not always as good--and in some cases downright poor (X3100 drivers for instance). You'll also find that Windows versions of some games--and often patches too--come out much sooner than Mac versions.

These are not 100% universal problems. Some games run great on Mac, and some are released simultaneously for Mac and Windows. You should seek reports from users of specific games to help you judge.

In my view, if a game plays WELL and looks great on my Mac, I don't care that much whether it would play even better on Windows. Not as much as I care about having fun, and not having to reboot!

I understand why some people choose to reboot and deal with Windows. But here's why, for me, that is unacceptable:

1. I want to have my same browser, bookmarks, email, chat apps, text editors, and other tools at my fingertips. So when it's time to research a game question, gather other people for a game, download maps/mods/patches, or other activity AROUND gaming, I'm still comfortably at home in OS X.

2. I will game more if I can quickly and painlessly launch the game, play for a bit, and then get back to other things. Rebooting twice means delay and hassle, and I simply won't play as often if I have to face that. Even worse, rebooting means shutting down all the "stuff" I have open on my Mac, and then "getting it all out again" after the game. (Most Mac apps play well with others: you can leave tons of stuff open without a performance problem.)

3. Since I use my Mac as a DVR (via EyeTV) to automaticlaly record HD TV shows, rebooting would be a problem: the DVR software wouldn't be running, and if a show came on while I was gaming I would miss the recording. This way I don’t have to check the TV schedule before gaming!

4. The general hassle of dealing with Windows. Gaming should be fun, and battling Windows is not fun for me. OS X is stable, secure, and much easier to troubleshoot if something goes wrong. Games are already the LEAST stable class of commercial apps... the last thing I need is to be fighting Windows as well!

5. Security of the Mac side: unless you stay off the Internet, running Windows can THEORETICALLY open your entire Mac hard disk up to attack. This has never happened to my knowledge, but there are at least two potential risks to even the Mac side:

* Windows can't see the Mac partition, but a virus/worm/other malware can still see the physical drive device--and theoretically could erase the whole drive, Mac and Windows alike.

* Software exists for Windows to let it read/write on Mac partitions. A virus could theoretically include such software, allowing it to mine or attack your Mac partition just the way Windows users have been attacked.

Again, that's theoretical--but still enough to give me pause. I'd rather not have to think about it. So I like VMWare. If you run Parallels or VMWare, games may not run, but at least your Mac stuff is safe!

6. Security of the Windows side. Aside from attacks coming from Windows and reaching the Mac side (highly unlikely) there is the issue of Windows attacks reaching the Windows side! Yes, you can get a virus in Parallels, VMWare OR Boot Camp, if you do something careless. There's nothing to stop that other than what every PC user does (or should do). Which means run a bunch of anti-malware apps that slow your system down and are a major pain each time you start up. And which work great--until they don't. So you have to keep yourself educated--which is additional aggravation. I don’t want to spend time keeping my knowledge and my machine up-to-date on malware defense for Windows. See above under “not fun.” Many Windows users stay secure--but they have invested in learning how, and much as they take it for granted, it IS a chore until you’re used to just accepting it.

But, I certainly see the other side too. If a certain game came along that was never coming to Mac and no other game would do, then I might have to go for Boot Camp myself! So far, for me, that has not happened But Boot Camp vs. native is your personal choice to make.

So I use Windows on my Mac ONLY for testing stuff for my clients (via VMWare). I battle the multiple anti-malware apps each time, but thankfully my need for Windows is very rare.

Enough talk... back to gaming on my Mac

[Frigidman]

Wonderful and informative response, nagromme.

[Janichsan]

Hardly anything to add.

I found that since I have CrossOver Games that runs many of the (relatively few) Windows games that interest me I haven't rebooted into Windows once. Now if it would run Il-2 and Falcon 4 AF, I'd be happy as a clam, but at the moment there are other games that interest me more, so I haven't felt the urge to reboot.

[nagromme]

CrossOver is an interesting option for sure--how's performance vs. Boot Camp? I imagine it varies? Sounds great for some games, anyway.

[Janichsan]

nagromme, on June 30th 2008, 07:37 PM, said:

CrossOver is an interesting option for sure--how's performance vs. Boot Camp? I imagine it varies? Sounds great for some games, anyway.

It really depends, but the games I tried until now and that I deemed to be playable enough (without too many jarring glitches) run almost as good as native Mac ports. That's of course slower than BootCamp, but that's Apple's OpenGL for you. The best comparisons I have are Civ IV and Prey. Both run at least as well as their Mac ports – although I have to admit that Civ IV is a bit troubled by that missing facial parts of the leader's heads I mentioned earlier and the latter one tend to slow down when playing longer. But when you save the game and immediately load it again, everything's fine again.

It's really pretty good for some games, but one has to keep in mind that the selection of well-running titles is rather small.

[mattyb]

I've got to say that CoD2 played faster under Tiger than it did under XP for me on my iMac. I also play it under Leopard and apart from the al keyboard Fn keys, I don't have any issues.

I'd be interested on the opinions of people on this forum using CroosOver Games and which games run well. I know that CrossOver classify as Gold or Silver or whatever, but I'd like to hear it from the horses mouths as it were.

[Janichsan]

mattyb, on July 1st 2008, 01:31 PM, said:

I'd be interested on the opinions of people on this forum using CroosOver Games and which games run well. I know that CrossOver classify as Gold or Silver or whatever, but I'd like to hear it from the horses mouths as it were.

I can gladly refer you to this thread with several first-hand experiences, mostly by – me.

[mattyb]

Great write-up Janichsan, cheers.

Anyone tried Team Fortress 2 under CrossOver Games ?

[AussieMacGamer]

mattyb, on July 1st 2008, 11:02 PM, said:

Great write-up Janichsan, cheers.

Anyone tried Team Fortress 2 under CrossOver Games ?

Yes, it took about a half hour to successfully launch the game, and even then it lagged on the lowest settings possible.

[QuantaCat]

Difference between CrossOver Games and CrossOver? Graphic support?

[Janichsan]

QuantaCat, on July 2nd 2008, 08:11 AM, said:

Difference between CrossOver Games and CrossOver? Graphic support?

Nope. They are basically the same, but COG uses more recent and slightly more experimental versions of the Wine libraries (at least it did before CO 7.0 was released – which is the more advanced version at the moment). CO is (supposedly) more stable and reliable for productivity purposes.

[mattyb]

AussieMacGamer, on July 2nd 2008, 03:10 AM, said:

Yes, it took about a half hour to successfully launch the game, and even then it lagged on the lowest settings possible.

Was this the Steam downloaded version or one that you got otherwise?

[teflon]

well, its either through steam (activated through, and then updated through), or pirated...

[Lord Brixton]

If you know you're going to be playing for a few hours it's worth rebooting into Xp, but if it's just a 15 minute pickup game between work assignments it's so much easier to just fire up a Mac natice game..

Which is why, despite my huge collection of PC games, I play UT 2003 more than anything else..

[teflon]

UT2003? not 2004?

[Lord Brixton]

teflon, on July 2nd 2008, 04:26 PM, said:

UT2003? not 2004?

Yeah..don't know why but it just has a certain brutal charm

[teflon]

interesting. I would have gone with UT2004 over UT2003 simply because it gives me more play options...
and onslaught is still mildly amusing on certain maps...