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You are here: MacNN Forums > Enthusiast Zone > Gaming > Steam for Mac! OMG OMG OMG!

Steam for Mac! OMG OMG OMG! (Page 3)
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sek929
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May 13, 2010, 04:50 PM
 
It's a mid-2007 Core 2 Duo 20"

Another 2004 game I got recently is Painkiller, which runs anywhere from 180FPS to 30FPS.
     
Thorzdad
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May 13, 2010, 05:37 PM
 
Played Portal on my iMac last night (late 2009, 21" 3Ghz C2D) and it ran great. Nice and smooth. I didn't keep an eye on FPS, but I never noticed any stumbling or lag. Granted, I was not playing with max settings (the GF9400 in these things probably wouldn't know what to do) but the game looked great. The app did a good job matching the defaults to the machine.

There were a couple of glitches with the download and install. When OS-X's screen saver kicked-in, the download paused. Then, when the install was complete, Steam froze and had to be force-quit. Finder freaked-out and I ended up having to hard-reboot the iMac. Once re-booted, everything seemed to be settled down.

A couple of things about Steam/Mac...It automatically makes itself a startup item in your user account. So, when you log-in, Steam immediately phones home. That's easy to fix, of course. The other thing is that Steam installs all game files in a folder in your Documents folder. So, after installing Portal, I have this whopping 4.3Gig folder in my Docs. That's not too cool. Very un-Mac-like. There's already a couple of thread about this in the Steam forums. Oh, and, Portal/Steam disabled my Wacom tablet. I had to unplug/re-plug the tablet to get it running again. That's not cool.

Overall, there's definitely some rough edges, but it's nice to have Steam on the Mac.
     
osiris
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May 13, 2010, 07:19 PM
 
Originally Posted by Thorzdad View Post
Played Portal on my iMac last night (late 2009, 21" 3Ghz C2D) and it ran great. Nice and smooth. I didn't keep an eye on FPS, but I never noticed any stumbling or lag. Granted, I was not playing with max settings (the GF9400 in these things probably wouldn't know what to do) but the game looked great. The app did a good job matching the defaults to the machine.

There were a couple of glitches with the download and install. When OS-X's screen saver kicked-in, the download paused. Then, when the install was complete, Steam froze and had to be force-quit. Finder freaked-out and I ended up having to hard-reboot the iMac. Once re-booted, everything seemed to be settled down.

A couple of things about Steam/Mac...It automatically makes itself a startup item in your user account. So, when you log-in, Steam immediately phones home. That's easy to fix, of course. The other thing is that Steam installs all game files in a folder in your Documents folder. So, after installing Portal, I have this whopping 4.3Gig folder in my Docs. That's not too cool. Very un-Mac-like. There's already a couple of thread about this in the Steam forums. Oh, and, Portal/Steam disabled my Wacom tablet. I had to unplug/re-plug the tablet to get it running again. That's not cool.

Overall, there's definitely some rough edges, but it's nice to have Steam on the Mac.
Thanks for the heads up on the startup item. Easy enough to remove, but nonetheless very un-Mac like.
"Faster, faster! 'Till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death." - HST
     
Rumor
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May 13, 2010, 08:58 PM
 
Just installed it without any problems. I haven't played anything yet though. I am thinking about getting Torchlight, anyone have it and care to shed some light on it?
I like my water with hops, malt, hops, yeast, and hops.
     
boy8cookie
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May 13, 2010, 09:25 PM
 
Torchlight: Diablo 2 with fewer classes, and no multiplayer.
     
Rumor
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May 13, 2010, 09:34 PM
 
Are you implying that it is boring?
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VValdo
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May 13, 2010, 11:20 PM
 
Anyone know why steam insists on having /Applications/Steam.app/Contents/MacOS/osx32/ipcserver up 24/7?

At least that's what the launchd-related com.valvesoftware.steam.ipctool.plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents seems to be doing.

What is this ipc? Interprocess something or other? Why don't I see any ipcserver process running?

for fun, try "strings /Applications/Steam.app/Contents/MacOS/osx32/ipcserver" from the terminal and see what you get.

FWIW-- looks like Steam puts stuff here:

Code:
/Application/Steam.app/* <- the app you download /Application/[shortcuts you asked for when you installed games. I haven't done this] ~/Desktop/[any aliases you may have asked for ? I haven't done this] ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/* <- support stuff/settings maybe? ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.valvesoftware.steam.ipctool.plist <- runs ipcserver ~/Library/Documents/Steam Content/* <- DLC, saved games, etc.
Anything else?

W

update: also wanted to point out that putting the 3.5 GB of portal in ~/Documents adds overhead to anyone using FileVault.
( Last edited by VValdo; May 13, 2010 at 11:24 PM. Reason: Just another thought at the bottom)
     
- - e r i k - -
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May 14, 2010, 12:20 AM
 
The most important question is this: Is there a difference between the Steam Civ IV and the Aspyr Civ IV?

[ fb ] [ flickr ] [] [scl] [ last ] [ plaxo ]
     
P
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May 17, 2010, 08:08 AM
 
IPC stands for interprocess communication - likely how the Steam app communicates with the various game apps.

While it's nice to have Steam, and Portal is awesome, I think I'll give it a while before I pay for anything through the system. Seems to have a few rough edges yet.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Demonhood
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May 25, 2010, 06:37 PM
 
HL2 coming tomorrow.
a move from Documents to Application Support coming in the near future.

that's some decent progress.
     
TheoCryst
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May 25, 2010, 08:58 PM
 
C'mon TF2... I got a fever, and the only prescription is some sweet-ass TF2 action without having to reboot into Windows.

Valve, I know you guys are ridiculously awesome, but please just be a tiny bit awesome-er and release TF2 tomorrow too. I'll bring you a cake!

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
jokell82
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May 26, 2010, 08:20 AM
 
Originally Posted by TheoCryst View Post
C'mon TF2... I got a fever, and the only prescription is some sweet-ass TF2 action without having to reboot into Windows.

Valve, I know you guys are ridiculously awesome, but please just be a tiny bit awesome-er and release TF2 tomorrow too. I'll bring you a cake!
I doubt it's coming tomorrow, since they're making such a big deal out of HL2. But I'm praying for next week. It's the one game that I can't wait for.

All glory to the hypnotoad.
     
sek929
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May 26, 2010, 12:02 PM
 
Found a pretty cool '1984' commercial parody for HL2's release on the Mac.

Enjoy!

YouTube - Half-Life 2 for Mac Commercial
     
lpkmckenna
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Jun 6, 2010, 04:44 AM
 
Ok, so Portal utterly rocked. I sat down to play a little, and was totally sucked in, and finished the game in one sitting.
     
Brien
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Jun 6, 2010, 03:10 PM
 
That was pretty much my experience too. Can't wait for Portal 2, hopefully they do another Orange Box type of deal.
     
sek929
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Jun 6, 2010, 04:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by lpkmckenna View Post
Ok, so Portal utterly rocked. I sat down to play a little, and was totally sucked in, and finished the game in one sitting.
Don't forget about the advanced maps and challenges. One of the most rewarding aspects of the game for me was completing the "Least Portals" challenges on all the maps. I was even able to beat the 'gold' tier on one of the levels by two extra Portals I didn't have to use.

I'm also itching for Portal 2. I hope they up the difficulty without adding more things to kill you, like turrets and such.
     
Stogieman
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Jun 10, 2010, 01:50 AM
 
Looks like Team Fortress 2 is coming out tomorrow.

Team Fortress 2 coming to Mac on Thursday | MacNN

Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
     
jokell82
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Jun 10, 2010, 10:04 AM
 
Originally Posted by Stogieman View Post
Looks like Team Fortress 2 is coming out tomorrow.

Team Fortress 2 coming to Mac on Thursday | MacNN


Can't wait!

All glory to the hypnotoad.
     
jokell82
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Jun 10, 2010, 04:59 PM
 
It's out now, although the servers are overloaded and I can't download it just yet.

Can't wait to play some Dustbowl tonight!

All glory to the hypnotoad.
     
The Final Dakar
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Jun 10, 2010, 04:59 PM
 
Spys zappin' my sentrys!
     
moep
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Jun 10, 2010, 08:39 PM
 
downloaded it in a couple of minutes with the full 100 mbit. Plays quite nicely as it should, it even looks relatively good on my last gen mbp.

I also uninstalled bootcamp today, yay.

PS: all americans dealing with hopelessly overloaded servers should try setting their steam content server location to a place overseas with known good peering (london, amsterdam, frankfurt, etc)
"The road to success is dotted with the most tempting parking spaces."
     
TheoCryst
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Jun 10, 2010, 09:08 PM
 
It may take me the whole night to download, but I will find a way to be online tonight.

After all, bomb-cart will not push self!

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
imitchellg5
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Jun 10, 2010, 11:21 PM
 
I'm getting like 1 kbps. Blarg.
     
lpkmckenna
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Jun 11, 2010, 01:37 AM
 
Downloading TF2 now over my iPhone tether. (I don't buy cable or internet.) So I guess I'll be playing just in time for the free offer to expire!
     
moep
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Jun 11, 2010, 03:37 AM
 
Is the macnn steam group orphaned or still active?

Steam Community :: Group :: MacNN
( Last edited by moep; Jun 11, 2010 at 05:29 AM. )
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lpkmckenna
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Jun 11, 2010, 05:54 AM
 
In case anyone is curious, it took 5 hrs to download TF2 thru my iPhone.
     
TheoCryst
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Jun 11, 2010, 01:37 PM
 
I finished downloading at around midnight, and ended up sleeping instead. But TONIGHT will have gaming.

And I'm curious about the 'NN Steam group too.

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
osiris
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Jun 11, 2010, 01:56 PM
 
Finished Half Life 2 Episode 2 last night...

Great game, beautiful graphics. With a MacPro Dual Quad with ATI3870 and 16GB ram it ran nicely, though there were some parts where everything bogged down and audio dropped out. But that was under 4x FSAA and everything else on high.

The game is challenging - there are parts where you need to accomplish some pretty complicated tasks. I was never bored, but sometimes frustrated!

So after a week or so of this, to my dismay, the game ended. It seems as though this is a very fractured game (hence episode 2) - I hate 'to be continued' situations.... I expected months of gameplay.

For the money it's worth it - lotsa fun, challenging, great graphics. Now I'm looking for the next big thing to play.

I'm impressed with Steam's efforts - this is a whole new way to waste precious time.
"Faster, faster! 'Till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death." - HST
     
 
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