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b3b0p · Dec 15, 2002, 11:02 AM

Hello,

I am soon to be a "switcher" (ordered PowerBook SuperDrive). Anyway I have been lurking and searching for a while now but one question I just can't get answered is what games are able to run in OS X? Apples website says nothing about native OS X games, it just says it runs in OS X which makes me believe it runs in that classic emulation contraption.

I want nothing to do with Mac OS < X. I despise anything 9.XX and below (very bad experience that cost me $$$$. Long story...).

So anyway, my question is can anyone post below what games they know of that run in OS X?

I am sure other switchers/newbies will appreciate this post as well (I hope).

My name is Chris and I am waiting delivery of a TiBook.

Happy Holidays,
Chris

Guy Incognito · Dec 15, 2002, 11:19 AM

Originally posted by b3b0p:
Hello,

I am soon to be a "switcher" (ordered PowerBook SuperDrive). Anyway I have been lurking and searching for a while now but one question I just can't get answered is what games are able to run in OS X? Apples website says nothing about native OS X games, it just says it runs in OS X which makes me believe it runs in that classic emulation contraption.

What Apple means by, "it runs in OS X" is that it's "native". Apple wouldn't mistake people into believing a game is native but really only plays in Classic.

That said...there are tons of games that run 'native'...I can't remember all of them but here are the latest ones that came out:

NASCAR 2002
F1 2000
Freedom Force
Jedi Knight 2
No One Lives Forever
Fallout 1 and 2 (oldies but a classics...2 was recently ported for the first time ever on Mac and is OS X-only.)
Quake 1/2/3
WarCraft III
Diablo II
All the Sims games
Ghost Recon
Medal of Honor

Many more I can't remember...and many more coming.
Soldiers of Fortune 2

b3b0p · Dec 15, 2002, 11:42 AM

That is exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks,
Chris

Footy · Dec 15, 2002, 11:52 AM

Add X-plane and the soon to be released F/A-18 Hornet (Iraq) to that list.

littlegreenspud · Dec 15, 2002, 01:12 PM

Hi,

Some more that I am aware of:

Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Giants - citiezn Kabuto
Aliens v Predator
Oni
Starcraft and
Brood Wars

I'll add more if I remember them!

Liquidity X · Dec 15, 2002, 06:09 PM

realize this bud, some games require you to install in classic or os 9, then use a fee update to go to the mac os X Native version. I know that Red Faction, Star Crafts, Brood War, Simes, All 3 Quakes, Unreal Tourney, and a few more i think. So if yer liek me and only have OS X and no classic, and want tin install game that needs classic do the following. Make a Image of the Game CD in diskutility. then boot off of your OS 9 cd, mount the imageand install the game. Yhen reboot in X, delete the disk Image and update the game to the OS X versions. almost all game updates are on versiontracker.com anb macgamefiles.com. Good luck and welcome to the light side of the force

Guy Incognito · Dec 15, 2002, 06:20 PM

Originally posted by Liquidity X:
realize this bud, some games require you to install in classic or os 9, then use a fee update to go to the mac os X Native version. I know that Red Faction, Star Crafts, Brood War, Simes, All 3 Quakes, Unreal Tourney, and a few more i think. So if yer liek me and only have OS X and no classic, and want tin install game that needs classic do the following. Make a Image of the Game CD in diskutility. then boot off of your OS 9 cd, mount the imageand install the game. Yhen reboot in X, delete the disk Image and update the game to the OS X versions. almost all game updates are on versiontracker.com anb macgamefiles.com. Good luck and welcome to the light side of the force

He's a switcher...he probably doesn't have any Mac game CDs, Unreal Tourney and all 3 Quakes can be installed using the PC data files off a PC CD. Diablo 2 and StarCraft though, you're SOL.

Red Faction and Sims? Really? That kinda sucks and I didn't know that.

erise · Dec 15, 2002, 08:28 PM

Here are some of my favorites.

Bugdom 2
Otto-Matic
Cro Mag Rally
Spider-Man
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone

Unfortunately, none of these have OS X gamepad support except Bugdom 2 (and it wouldn't work with my Sidewinder).

olli2 · Dec 17, 2002, 09:23 AM

And what gamepads are supported by OS X then?

Guy Incognito · Dec 17, 2002, 09:42 AM

Originally posted by olli2:
And what gamepads are supported by OS X then?

They should all be with the Apple's HID...at least, all USB devices should. I think it depends if the game will allow a specific joystick or pad to work that matters.

I couldn't play F1 Championship with my iShock II yet all other games/emulators that support HID devices can.

My guess, and I'm far from 100% sure on this and how it works, is that Brian Greenstone decided that Joysticks shouldn't work with Bugdom 2 and Feral decided gamepads shouldn't work with F1 Championship. I can't see how HID can make out the difference between Joysticks, Gamepads, and Wheels but oh well...I'm probably wrong. I just can't provide a good answer as to why some devices work and other don't.

Brad Oliver · Dec 17, 2002, 06:43 PM

Originally posted by Guy Incognito:
My guess, and I'm far from 100% sure on this and how it works, is that Brian Greenstone decided that Joysticks shouldn't work with Bugdom 2 and Feral decided gamepads shouldn't work with F1 Championship. I can't see how HID can make out the difference between Joysticks, Gamepads, and Wheels but oh well...I'm probably wrong. I just can't provide a good answer as to why some devices work and other don't.

The HID Manager will tell you the difference between a gamepad and a joystick, but that's probably not what's going on here.

More likely is that the game expects either analog (a range of values from 0-255 for example) or digital (on or off) input. Most joysticks have analog sticks, and most gamepads have digital gamepads and analog thumbsticks.

Taking racing games as an example, analog input works much better for steering wheel support than just simple left/right buttons. Conversely, an analog joystick is overkill for something like Pac-Man in MacMAME, where the game really only looks for up/down/left/right and not how far the joystick is being pressed.

Brad

Brad Oliver · Dec 17, 2002, 06:56 PM

Originally posted by b3b0p:
So anyway, my question is can anyone post below what games they know of that run in OS X?

I'm certainly going to mention some that others already have, but here's a list of the titles that Westlake has ported which are OSX native.

Tony Hawk 2
Centipede
Alice
Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire (OSX support is beta)
Unreal Tournament (OSX support is beta)
Harry Potter 1
Elite Force/Elite Force expansion
The Sims & it's 5 expansions
Civ 3
Wolfenstein
Medal of Honor
Jedi Knight 2
Spider-Man
Age of Empires 2
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds & expansion
Max Payne
Wheel of Fortune 2/Jeopardy 2
Tomb Raider 5

Brad

Guy Incognito · Dec 17, 2002, 07:09 PM

Originally posted by Brad Oliver:

The HID Manager will tell you the difference between a gamepad and a joystick, but that's probably not what's going on here.

More likely is that the game expects either analog (a range of values from 0-255 for example) or digital (on or off) input. Most joysticks have analog sticks, and most gamepads have digital gamepads and analog thumbsticks.

Taking racing games as an example, analog input works much better for steering wheel support than just simple left/right buttons. Conversely, an analog joystick is overkill for something like Pac-Man in MacMAME, where the game really only looks for up/down/left/right and not how far the joystick is being pressed.

I was looking forward to using the iShock 2 analog thumbsticks with F1 Championship...yet, F1 refused to allow the use of it.

erise · Dec 18, 2002, 07:27 PM

Brad, are there any plans to add HID support to the old games such as Harry Potter or Spider-Man?

Brad Oliver · Dec 19, 2002, 02:28 AM

Originally posted by erise:
Brad, are there any plans to add HID support to the old games such as Harry Potter or Spider-Man?

I really don't know; I don't know what, if any, updates are planned for those since I didn't work on them.

SteveJobs · Dec 19, 2002, 10:33 AM

Why do you need Gamepad support in Harry Potter? It works pretty well with a mouse imho. Take GamepadCompanion and spidey will be lovely with any gamepad outta there!

Steve

edddeduck · Dec 19, 2002, 11:09 AM

Originally posted by Guy Incognito:

They should all be with the Apple's HID...at least, all USB devices should. I think it depends if the game will allow a specific joystick or pad to work that matters.

I couldn't play F1 Championship with my iShock II yet all other games/emulators that support HID devices can.

My guess, and I'm far from 100% sure on this and how it works, is that Brian Greenstone decided that Joysticks shouldn't work with Bugdom 2 and Feral decided gamepads shouldn't work with F1 Championship. I can't see how HID can make out the difference between Joysticks, Gamepads, and Wheels but oh well...I'm probably wrong. I just can't provide a good answer as to why some devices work and other don't.

The iShock II will be supported in patch 2.

We are currently talking to macally about force feedback support.

HID although it is a standard some pads, joysticks and steering wheels have slightly different ways of doing things this sometimes causes problems in certain games.

This is why your pad does not work in F1 2000. Rest assured we are adding as may pads as we can if you find any other none supported pad send me a private message.

Please understand I am under an NDA so sometimes I cannot reply but I always read my emails.

Cheers Edwin

erise · Dec 19, 2002, 08:18 PM

Originally posted by SteveJobs:
Why do you need Gamepad support in Harry Potter? It works pretty well with a mouse imho. Take GamepadCompanion and spidey will be lovely with any gamepad outta there!

I just like to play games with gamepads.

I'm waiting for a USB Overdrive with gamepad support before I make a decision on GamePad Companion. I'm thinking about buying an iShock II also, since those have drivers plus more buttons that my Sidewinder.

ramberk · Dec 20, 2002, 05:07 PM

Originally posted by erise:

I just like to play games with gamepads. I'm waiting for a USB Overdrive with gamepad support before I make a decision on GamePad Companion. I'm thinking about buying an iShock II also, since those have drivers plus more buttons that my Sidewinder.

I would save your reciept after you buy your iSHock II. I've had two faulty iSHock IIs. The original iSHock never gave me problems, but for some reason the second one had problems with the d-pad (digital controller). It wouldn't properly register my key presses. I am very unhappy about that. And the iSHock II is kind of large too. Try before you buy, or otherwise, save your reciept!

erise · Dec 20, 2002, 05:45 PM

I tried an iShock II in CompUSA and wasn't very impressed. It was huge and didn't seem to be very well made. I'll stick with what I've got, I guess.

clarkgoble · Dec 29, 2002, 12:52 AM

What is HUD and will it work with my old Wingman Rumblepad USB from my PC? I'd like to be able to use that on my Mac, but Logitech only has windows drivers.

wormboy · Dec 29, 2002, 08:49 AM

Some that I wish had OSX support

Descent3
Deus Ex

Some more I haven't seen posted yet...

Angband (hehe)
all kinds of cheesy open source X Windows games
Chess.app

Oh, and has anyone tried Oni in 10.2.3? I finished it about a year ago, and recently tried it again. I like keypad bindings for movement, but my key_config.txt bindings no longer worked in OS X. Has Apple changed the keypad binding calls in recent updates?

wormboy · Dec 29, 2002, 08:51 AM

What is HUD and will it work with my old Wingman Rumblepad USB from my PC? I'd like to be able to use that on my Mac, but Logitech only has windows drivers.

Well, 10.2.3 incorporated force feedback support, but it will be awhile before drivers are available for any given device I think.

clarkgoble · Dec 29, 2002, 06:41 PM

I don't care about the force feedback as much. I'd just like to be able to use it - preferrably backwards on freeware and shareware games. For bigger games I just buy them for my XBox which (IMO) plays better than Mac games.

I'd read about Gamepad Companion which (purportedly) works with a lot of Logitech gamepads. I'll try it tonight.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...companion.html

In the screen capture it lists a MS Sidewinder and a Wingman, so maybe it'll recognize mine.

SteevAK · Dec 29, 2002, 10:31 PM

Originally posted by wormboy:

Some more I haven't seen posted yet...

Angband (hehe)
all kinds of cheesy open source X Windows games
Chess.app

yeah, don't forget chess.app.

clarkgoble · Dec 30, 2002, 03:08 AM

Hey cool! When I installed GamePad Companion my Logitech Wingman Rumblepad showed up immediately! Oddly it showed me having three mice pluged in as well. I'm not sure why. (I actually have two plugged in - my MS mouse and then the original Apple one)