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infowarrior · Oct 11, 2001, 10:35 AM

I have this friend who keeps begging me to play online games - PC military sims and such - with him online. However, on my G4-450 with 768MB RAM Virtual PC 4 still feels like a 'emulator' and I question how well these graphic-intensive games on Windows will function - stuff like Rainbow Six, Command and conquer, etc, etc.....

Can anyone shed light on this Windows Gaming Experience on Macs? Does it really work well enough?

Thanks in advance!

SkiBikeSki · Oct 11, 2001, 10:52 AM

As you know VPC emulates and Intel processor. It also emulates a 4MB video card with DirectX capabilies. However it is incredibly slow. I tried to play Hilf life in VPC4 on my G4867, and I saw about 1 frame a second on the smallest size and detail. There is no question about it, 3D games don't run well in VPC. However games like Red-alert 2 will run fine on just about any G4 with VPC 4. I hope that helps, or maybe it was some bad news, I know it was for me. Oh well at least you can play the good 2D games for PC's. Have Fun!!

juanvaldes · Oct 15, 2001, 11:51 PM

Yeah...shooters don't run to well at all. But, turn based games run just fine. Immperialasm 2 runs just as fast under VPC as native. (game got messed up, will only run the win files now. :-/ at least part of it works)

Leonard · Oct 16, 2001, 03:31 PM

Ummm... Rainbow Six and Command & Conquer (the first game) are both available for the Mac. Why not use the Mac version? I think Rainbow six is a little buggy, but I was never a fan of it, so it may have been the demo only.

Of course if he is playing something other than the first game of Command and Conquer without expansion packs then there is no Mac version.

Euphrates · Oct 16, 2001, 04:45 PM

I've been trying to run RA2 in win2k with vpc 4 and have had no luck. The installer works great with a little audio skipping, but when I launch the game, it never shows any graphics, I just hear sound. Is there some option I am not setting right? The screen in windows just stays black. I have a dual 800 with 1.2 gigs of ram (512 assigned to my win2k virtual machine). I assume with this config that I of all people would be able to have ra2 run, and since this guy says it will run on ANY G4, I am having my doubts. I bought this game because my friends play it and was under the impression from reading on the net that 2d games were playable, as was mentioned before. Can anyone help?

xyber233 · Oct 17, 2001, 12:49 PM

Virtual PC 4 wasnt made to do games. Maybe a later release will include 3d support.

blizzard · Oct 17, 2001, 01:58 PM

Ironically, it's only the earlier versions that support 3D acceleration...up to and including v3. Specifically, they included drivers and support for Voodoo 1 and 2 cards. Now, the emulated processor was still incredibly slow, and games still played unbearably chunkily...and Connectix was tired of getting 'UR PRODUCT BLOWZ IT CANT PLAY QUAKE 3 AT GOOD SPPED' reports from people who had heard it would allow them to play PC games, so they simply removed the 3D support. Unless the PowerPC line rises to 4 gHz or above soon, I wouldn't expect them to put that support back in.

gumby5647 · Oct 17, 2001, 02:38 PM

is VPC coded for altivec? if it was, would that help out?

xyber233 · Oct 17, 2001, 04:57 PM

Originally posted by gumby5647:
<STRONG>is VPC coded for altivec? if it was, would that help out?</STRONG>

It is coded for altivec. But id wouldnt help games because Connectix took the 3d part of VPC out.

GK · Oct 17, 2001, 05:08 PM

bad, bad, bad... not even worth trying IMHO

yukon · Oct 17, 2001, 06:32 PM

i tried ultrahle a while ago. it was terrible, with "seconds per frame". g4, rage128. that was vpc 4 (with altivec). it doesn't help too much.

I kinda wonder why they don't set up a simple translator for geforce3 rom->mac geforce3 rom. wouldn't be all that hard, and we could play games the mac can't. connectix could easily set up a deal for help with nvidia (would you buy geforce if you could do pc games?). People argue that the mac still has bad games. I think it kills windows (and linux) in every are but this one. even x86 linux has tribes 2. its the only reason I'm looking for a PC.

vpc could integrate with osx, with video capabilities. anyone up for a petition?

edit: "Pi is exactly 3!!!!"? its in the bible.

[ 10-17-2001: Message edited by: yukon ]

xyber233 · Oct 17, 2001, 08:33 PM

Anyone try VPC 3? Will that be better since it supports 3D?

iKevin · Oct 17, 2001, 09:05 PM

3D support or no 3D support...Alitivec or no Altivec....VPC tells windows you have a 4mb trident video cards....not enough for anything but the most basic of games.

blizzard · Oct 17, 2001, 09:56 PM

Here's the deal; VPC 4 supports Altivec and OS X, but not 3D cards. VPC 2 and 3 support 3D cards, but not Altivec or OS X. I'll let you decide what your priorities are...but before you start a petition, keep in mind that it's not the video card that's limiting the games, it's the emulated processor. Try putting a GeForce 3 in a Pentium 100 and you'll see what I mean. And don't kid yourself, VPC is hard pressed to emulate 200 mHz even on the fastest G4/800s. Believe me, it won't work to your liking. Give up while you're ahead. Forget 3D gaming on VPC; it's meant for office apps and maybe 2D games at the very most.

yukon · Oct 18, 2001, 07:02 PM

>Give up while you're ahead. Forget 3D gaming on VPC; it's meant for office apps and maybe 2D games at the very most.

lol, giving up is always a good idea! why not add 3d card support to vpc? using a faster card (actually using it in vpc) shouldn't be impossible. VPC does well, i remember playing duke nukem in version 3 (despite the same rage128, in 4 its unplayable).

its not like i'm asking for top quality video or anything =). on a totally unrelated note (lol), i'm buying a PC to dual boot linux/windows! it's 800mhz should kill vpc's 100.

edit: holy ****, I just realized the pc will be <1/16th the price of my G4

[ 10-18-2001: Message edited by: yukon ]