[chrisutley]

I've been getting lots of negative feedback regarding SC performance. I'm wondering what the people that own it think. When it comes right down to it, knowing what you know now with hands-on experience - would you still buy the game?

[jckalen]

I am resigned to the fact that SC games run slow once city size grows. This was a big problem with SC3K too. Also, it's dissapointing that updates are rarely, if ever, released (I'd still love to see an OSX patch for 3K, or even Streets of Sim City for 2000). It would also be nice to see ports for converting satellite photos to maps, etc.

However, I love this game. I start with all graphic options maxed out and drop them when slowdowns start to occur. After a while, I can live without seeing so many cars or people anyway. I just wish Maxis/Aspyr wouldn't forget about us after the initial release!

[power142]

While the game might get a bit slow at times, it doesn't detract too much from the gameplay - the game still makes you think and is fun to play (or maybe I'm just getting old??).

From all the comments I've seen about it running on the PC, we're no worse off on the Mac.....

[DBvader]

thats not true, it runs a lot better on the PC than on the mac. ive seen a few computers run the game (1.4 GhZ P4, 2000+, and a 2.8 P4) and all have run it faster than my dual 867, which sometimes sees a few seconds delay. the PC version does have small flaws, but nothing like the mac version. the mac version becomes completely unresponsive after a while.

i wish more people started using SMP, becuase there is no other way dualies can get anywhere near the performance of PCs.

[MilkmanDan]

Seeing how many* of us posting in the forum didn't buy the game in the first place....

*Note I did not say all of us, or even most of us, or even saying names, but we all know who we are**.

**Note: This is not an admission of guilt*** on my part.

***Note: Guilt meaning those who download the game, play it for hours and hours and hours on end and never buy it, as opposed to those people who download the game for testing, and than buy it to play for hours and hours and hours.

[chrisutley]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Mixed resutls for sure. I may look for a used copy on eBay and see what happens. No doubt I will be bummed until I get my G5, running on a PB 667 DVI attached to a 20" ACD right now.

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by DBvader:
thats not true, it runs a lot better on the PC than on the mac. ive seen a few computers run the game (1.4 GhZ P4, 2000+, and a 2.8 P4) and all have run it faster than my dual 867

3 much faster PC rigs run it better than your Mac? Inconceivable!

[juanpacolopez]

Originally posted by DBvader:
thats not true, it runs a lot better on the PC than on the mac. ive seen a few computers run the game (1.4 GhZ P4, 2000+, and a 2.8 P4) and all have run it faster than my dual 867, which sometimes sees a few seconds delay. the PC version does have small flaws, but nothing like the mac version. the mac version becomes completely unresponsive after a while.

i wish more people started using SMP, becuase there is no other way dualies can get anywhere near the performance of PCs.

Actually I've seen it on a 1Ghz Athlon w/ a GeForce 3... it runs about the same (badly) as on my Ti....

It's just a poorly performing game, and the quality (or lack thereof) of the Mac port only adds to this.

[DBvader]

"3 much faster PC rigs run it better than your Mac? Inconceivable!"

the 1400 isnt faster than my dual 867 (and has a horrible graphics card). the 2000+ is about the same speed. and the 2.8 is a lot faster.

thats three machines, one slower, one the same speed, and one faster, that just run the game faster.

[The Oracle]

slow on my nearly high-end PC with most of the intensive graphics turned off. no, I wouldn't waste my money on it.

[power142]

Originally posted by DBvader:
"3 much faster PC rigs run it better than your Mac? Inconceivable!"

the 1400 isnt faster than my dual 867 (and has a horrible graphics card). the 2000+ is about the same speed. and the 2.8 is a lot faster.

thats three machines, one slower, one the same speed, and one faster, that just run the game faster.

I hate to shatter your illusion, dude, but contrary to what Aspyr/anyone else might say, this game doesn't really deal with multiple processors perfectly, so in reality your only playing on a *single* 867... and I'm sorry guys, as much as I love macs, a single 867 is no match for an Athlon 2000+....

[DBvader]

hah, read all my posts in the game forum, all i talk about is how mac processors dont stack up against PC processors (mainly becuase of bus speeds, imo), and that macs are horrible gaming systems (though they are great for everything else)

there is no need to shatter my "illusions," Im a switcher, and i think have a much better grasp on the performance divide between PCs and Macs than the majority of t he people on this board. That said, there is a better video card and more RAM in my mac than my PC (the 2000+ that i switched from), so still if you want to look at it they are fairly similar machines raw power wise. My only point with all of this was to show how poorly macs game. even compared to computer older (and slower like the 1.4), the mac cant stack up. bring on some updates to make this game playable!

[ShadowKatana]

On my PC, the video card seemed to have minimal impact on performance - going from a 32MB Geforce 2MX to a 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 pro. The bottleneck seems to be the CPU. That AI is working overtime.

[juanpacolopez]

Originally posted by DBvader:
My only point with all of this was to show how poorly macs game. even compared to computer older (and slower like the 1.4), the mac cant stack up. bring on some updates to make this game playable!

That is really only true in SOME cases (most, reasons explained below).

A VAST majority of the performance problems with games on the Mac stem from the porting process.

You've got a 3rd party who had NOTHING AT ALL to do with the development of a game, picking up the code and modifying it for a fundamentally different system/cpu design that it wasn't meant for in the first place.

There are some instances where Macs do stellarly at games... I think Warcraft 3 is a perfect example. My 1Ghz TiSD plays the game BETTER than my friend's Athlon 1800+ w/ a GF4 (4200, 32Mb I believe)... and that's at native (1280x854x32bit with all details on high except shadows) rez. I've seen them side by side, and he even took a turn on the TiBook and commented on how smoothly it scrolled/played even in battles.

I bring up War3 because it's one of the few games that was developed for both platforms simultaneously by the same developer. Blizzard (with a bit of hired help) developed the Mac version and the windows version side by side, and the quality of the finished product definitely reflects this extra effort.

People who complain about War3 performance on their Macs are trying to run it on their iBooks or old G4/400's... the game was designed to run on a P3 733+, OF COURSE IT'S SLOW.

My point is, it has alot less to do with hardware deficiencies and alot more to do with poor/incomplete/rushed porting efforts.

[DBvader]

warcraft 3 does indeed run decently well on the mac platform . I have found that my Dual 867 is only a bit slower than my 2000+.

But still, the PC has the clear advantage in this case, especially when things start heating up. I run it at 1280 x 1024 on either set up.

[PJW]

Originally posted by DBvader:
hah, read all my posts in the game forum, all i talk about is how mac processors dont stack up against PC processors (mainly becuase of bus speeds, imo), and that macs are horrible gaming systems (though they are great for everything else)

there is no need to shatter my "illusions," Im a switcher, and i think have a much better grasp on the performance divide between PCs and Macs than the majority of t he people on this board. That said, there is a better video card and more RAM in my mac than my PC (the 2000+ that i switched from), so still if you want to look at it they are fairly similar machines raw power wise. My only point with all of this was to show how poorly macs game. even compared to computer older (and slower like the 1.4), the mac cant stack up. bring on some updates to make this game playable!

Macs can't stack up to PCs for gaming? Holy crap!!! Thanks for the update, Poindexter!

Sarcasm aside, this isn't groundbreaking information. I'm sure everyone in here understands and accepts that their Macs are not the greatest gaming machines in the world. You really aren't doing anyone a service, you're just being a prick.

[Tarcat]

It runs fairly well on my 533 Dual 640/140 w/ Radeon 9000 Pro. Worked poorly when all I had was a GeForce2MX