jeanluc Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I am hoping someone here can give me some useful advice. I am a big fan of the CM1 series, and am very excited to read about CM:BN. I have always been a PC user, but my several year old windowx xp desktop is getting ready to be replaced. I recently got a macbook pro and really like my first entry into the mac world. I am thinking of replacing the old desktop with an iMac. I read there may be a mac version of CM:BN coming, but was wondering how likely CM:BN would be to run if I went ahead and got the imac and installed windows XP serevice pack 3 via bootcamp. I have never used bootcamp before, so I realize this question may be a very silly one....... Also, does CM:Afghanistan and /or the old CM:1 games run in the windows xp/bootcamp environment? Anyway, is my plan a good one? Thanks for any help! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YankeeDog Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Last I checked, word from BFC was that they are planning on releasing a Mac OSX version of CMBN "around the same time" as the PC version. Whether "around the same time" means on the same day, or within a week, month or year, I don't know. I don't think BFC has officially confirmed it, but it seems to me that there have been some hints that CMSF, at least, will be released in a native OSX version soon as well. I don't know what the plans are for CMA in regards to a Mac version. But anyway, the PC versions of any of the above should run just fine for you on an iMac via Bootcamp; this is the way I've been running CMSF for years. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Jeanluc, As for timing I can’t say, but yes there is a OS X version of both CM:SF and CM:BN. These run under OS X 10.6 so your recently purchased machines(s) will be fine. Should you choose to go down the Boot Camp / XP Pro path then all CMx1 games work fine (as “fine” as any other Windows product anyway ) as well CM:SF, CM:A and CM:BN. Here’s another thread about CM:BN on Mac (which in turn links to some other threads on the subject): http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=94853 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Er, is XP preferable to 7? I just purchased the latter for the odd non-Mac game now and then. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Well in my opinion, “yes“. XP has less overhead (i.e. the machine can devote CPU effort to running the game not the underlying OS). XP doesn’t have daft security measures to “help” you which in fact hinder you to the point where you have to install everything under Win 7 as “admin“ to know where its is installed (otherwise it hides everything) also under Win 7 you have to run stuff as “admin“ to get it to work. This means to pretty much do anything you need to right click first and select the “as admin” option, so even clicking on things is no longer simple. So if the Windows partition is just for games then IMHO XP is far better than Windows 7. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 So if the Windows partition is just for games then IMHO XP is far better than Windows 7. Ah jeez, I wish I had known that a week ago. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisND Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Ah jeez, I wish I had known that a week ago. Michael 7 will work just fine. Just remember to set your games to run as administrator (properties -> compatibility tab off the top of my head), and you are set. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Ah jeez, I wish I had known that a week ago. Michael Well if you had asked a week ago, I would have told you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Well if you had asked a week ago, I would have told you. And if I had thought there was any reason to ask, I would have. Thing is, people have been going on about what a great step forward 7 is that I didn't even think there might be something better. I guess that's what I get for not hanging out in the places where this kind of news gets circulated. Probably not going to change that though... Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Thing is, people have been going on about what a great step forward 7 is ... Michael And so it is compared to Vista (but DOS is an improvement on Vista). As long as you always right click and do the “XXXX as Admin” where XXXX is the task (run, install, etc.) then you should be OK. Also watch out for when it wants to “merge” folders instead of replacing them. I.e. on the Mac and Win XP you get a straight forward “there is an older file/folder in the destination location do you want to replace it?” type prompt. In Windows 7 it will offer to merge the two folders. I’ve had to adopt the approach of first manually deleting the folder on the destination BEFORE the copy to ensure that what I copy is what I get (WICIWIG if you like). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Thanks for the tips, Mark. Much appreciated. Now if I can just remember to remember... Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berto Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Well in my opinion.... ..... if the Windows partition is just for games then IMHO XP is far better than Windows 7. Dear gibsonm I am curious to know your opinion on differences (if you've noticed it) in performance between CMSF on win and on Mac OS X. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Well the Mac version I have is a Beta and the Beta product always has lower performance than the production version due to built in debug code etc. For example, Windows CM:SF Beat is slower than Windows CM:SF Production /retail version. So its not a good guide to compare Mac CM:SF Beta with Windows CM:SF Production /retail. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stikkypixie Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Ah jeez, I wish I had known that a week ago. Michael I've had less trouble with 7 than XP. If you install CMx2 in a partition where your user account has full rights to, there isn't that much trouble. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mididoctors Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 will the GMA 950 mac mini graphics be enough (bootcamp or not)? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sluggo337 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Well the Mac version I have is a Beta and the Beta product always has lower performance than the production version due to built in debug code etc. For example, Windows CM:SF Beat is slower than Windows CM:SF Production /retail version. So its not a good guide to compare Mac CM:SF Beta with Windows CM:SF Production /retail. As a follow up to this - I have an iMac and I run bootcamp with Win7. Will one of the versions run faster/have better performance (Mac version on my Mac partition or Win version on bootcamp/Win7)? Or since they obviously run on the same machine they will run the same. Will one of these setups have better graphics or less graphic issues. Also, I'm assuming PBEM will transfer between Win and Mac so I can play against whoever I want, correct? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barticus Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I run CMSF under Windows 7 with very few problems. If you have trouble with older applications there is also an option to run them in 'XP compatibility mode', which clears up most issues that I have run into. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 As a follow up to this - I have an iMac and I run bootcamp with Win7. Will one of the versions run faster/have better performance (Mac version on my Mac partition or Win version on bootcamp/Win7)? Or since they obviously run on the same machine they will run the same. Will one of these setups have better graphics or less graphic issues. Also, I'm assuming PBEM will transfer between Win and Mac so I can play against whoever I want, correct? I think what the Major is saying is that it is too soon to tell. Such comparisons won't become meaningful until the production versions are both out. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I've had less trouble with 7 than XP. If you install CMx2 in a partition where your user account has full rights to, there isn't that much trouble. Thanks, stikky, that's reassuring. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YankeeDog Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 As a follow up to this - I have an iMac and I run bootcamp with Win7. Will one of the versions run faster/have better performance (Mac version on my Mac partition or Win version on bootcamp/Win7)? Or since they obviously run on the same machine they will run the same. Will one of these setups have better graphics or less graphic issues. Also, I'm assuming PBEM will transfer between Win and Mac so I can play against whoever I want, correct? As noted, which will "run faster" is impossible to determine until there are gold master copies of each version available. AIUI, In terms of raw capability, a computer running Mac OSX is pretty similar to a computer running Windows assuming identical processors and GFX card, which is what you're talking about when you're comparing the same program run on the same machine, Bootcamp vs. OSX. But ultimately it depends on how well the code is optimized for OSX, and this in turn depends on how well the process of porting the code over to OSX was done. So the Mac version could be better, about the same, or worse. If the performance of some of the mass market games that have been ported over to Mac recently (Bioshock, Call of Duty, etc.) is any predictor, though, there won't be a huge difference. In terms of "graphics issues", IF past performance is a predictor of future returns (which is a big IF!), then the Mac version *should* have less graphics issues than the PC version. I say this because there are a much more smaller number of possible graphics card/hardware setups for Mac, and Apple actively tweaks the graphics card drivers for their systems to make sure everything plays nice. So you're not as dependent upon NVidia or ATI doing their driver updates correctly in OSX as you are in Windows (and both NVidia nor ATI have "broken" their card drivers wrt CM in the past). But this is all conjecture based on past history; we'll just have to see when the Mac version comes out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sluggo337 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Thanks YankeeDog. I understand there are a lot of variables and we won't know for sure until the final product hits the streets. I was asking on more of a theoretical level. Your response makes sense. I'll just wait. At least try to wait. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 As a follow up to this - I have an iMac and I run bootcamp with Win7. Will one of the versions run faster/have better performance (Mac version on my Mac partition or Win version on bootcamp/Win7)? Or since they obviously run on the same machine they will run the same. Will one of these setups have better graphics or less graphic issues. No idea. As I said, there isn’t a production version of one to compare with the production version of the other yet. Also, I'm assuming PBEM will transfer between Win and Mac so I can play against whoever I want, correct? Yes that is fine (common file format). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonm Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 will the GMA 950 mac mini graphics be enough (bootcamp or not)? No idea. But as its on of those built in / shared chips, then I suspect you’d have to accept a lower standard of graphics than a machine with its own dedicated card. So if your personal, subjective, definition of “enough” is “can it run it at all?“ then I guess I could say “yes”. If your personal, subjective, definition of “enough” is “can it run it at the top settings?“ then I guess I would have to say “no”. It works fine on my machine, that’s all I can say for sure. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 But ultimately it depends on how well the code is optimized for OSX, and this in turn depends on how well the process of porting the code over to OSX was done. In past years, CM was written on a Mac and ported to PC. I don't know if that is still the practice or not. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 And so it is compared to Vista (but DOS is an improvement on Vista). As long as you always right click and do the “XXXX as Admin” where XXXX is the task (run, install, etc.) then you should be OK. Also watch out for when it wants to “merge” folders instead of replacing them. I.e. on the Mac and Win XP you get a straight forward “there is an older file/folder in the destination location do you want to replace it?” type prompt. In Windows 7 it will offer to merge the two folders. I’ve had to adopt the approach of first manually deleting the folder on the destination BEFORE the copy to ensure that what I copy is what I get (WICIWIG if you like). One more question or two please. 7 is offered in a 32 bit and 64 bit version and apparently the iMac can handle either. But does either have an advantage considering that I only expect to run games under it and some of them might be older games. Also, the question of video drivers under Windows raises its ugly head... I am stuck with an ATI Radeon HD 4670. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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