Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

pantalaimon · Sep 26, 2004, 05:48 PM

I'm awaiting the arrival of my iMac G5 1.8 GHz 1GB ram, any idea how these two games will perform on it? I'm assuming it is more than powerful enough with a G5 and 64mb vram?

pantalaimon · Sep 26, 2004, 05:49 PM

the Star Wars game i'm refering to is Knights of the Old Republic of course

have the graphics (or anything else) been improved from the x-box version at all or is it just a straight port?

pantalaimon · Sep 26, 2004, 07:09 PM

anyone know the release date of Homeworld 2 in the uk?

a2daj · Sep 26, 2004, 10:03 PM

The Mac port of KotOR is a port of the PC version. Minimum resolution is 800x600. I haven't seen a side by side comparision of the XBox versus the PC version but I think it's safe to assume there's been some graphical improvements.

greenamp · Oct 2, 2004, 08:57 PM

Originally posted by pantalaimon:
I'm awaiting the arrival of my iMac G5 1.8 GHz 1GB ram, any idea how these two games will perform on it? I'm assuming it is more than powerful enough with a G5 and 64mb vram?

Homeworld2 plays surprisingly well on my 1ghz 12" iBook. That being said, it should play more than fine on your G5 iMac.

Once you get used to the UI and camera controls, it is an excellent game. I recomend HW2 over KOTOR. KOTOR is a good game, but it is depressingly short. You can beat it in about 12-18 hrs.

Deicide · Oct 3, 2004, 01:38 PM

I don't have either for the Mac so i can't tell you how well it will play. I have both for the PC. Homeworld2 has a great introduction tutorial that will show you the basics. The single player game is very hard. if you finish a mission with a agiant fleet you will be met by a giant fleet in the next mission. The computer can queue up stuff and fight all fronts at the same time. being human you cannot do that. you can pause the game and give orders but that takes the fun out of it. The replay value will be in the multiplayer with friends. The graphics and the amount of stuff on the screen look very nice and detailed. I only played the first level of KOTOR. For some reason it wasn't what I was expecting. Many people give it praise so I probably didn't give it enough time.

goMac · Oct 3, 2004, 07:43 PM

The one thing I feel obligated to note is that Mac Homeworld 2 will not play against PC Homeworld 2 network or online.

phillryu · Oct 3, 2004, 07:59 PM

Originally posted by greenamp:
Homeworld2 plays surprisingly well on my 1ghz 12" iBook. That being said, it should play more than fine on your G5 iMac.

Once you get used to the UI and camera controls, it is an excellent game. I recomend HW2 over KOTOR. KOTOR is a good game, but it is depressingly short. You can beat it in about 12-18 hrs.

Then again, it plays like crap on my 1.33ghz PowerBook with the 64mb graphics card. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Horsepoo!!! · Oct 3, 2004, 08:09 PM

Originally posted by goMac:
The one thing I feel obligated to note is that Mac Homeworld 2 will not play against PC Homeworld 2 network or online.

What else is new...

But seriously...I think it's pretty safe to say 'Sierra' translates to "No Mac/PC networking for yuo!" Sierra is a big DirectX fan...I don't think you can find a Sierra game that doesn't use DirectPlay for networking.

a2daj · Oct 3, 2004, 08:48 PM

Calf-Wife didn't use DirectPlay. I don't think Tribes 2 did either, nor did AvP2, NOLF, and NOLF 2. If Joint Operations uses Novalogic's online servers, it probably won't be using DirectPlay.

xi_hyperon · Oct 3, 2004, 09:13 PM

Originally posted by phillryu:
Then again, it plays like crap on my 1.33ghz PowerBook with the 64mb graphics card. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Homeworld 2 gameplay is ok on my 1.33 ghz 'book, but it crashes frequently. Playing it on my old G4 desktop, I don't get any crashes.

What sort of problems are you having on your PowerBook?

danny_gasperini · Oct 4, 2004, 02:55 AM

The following is my opionion only: HW2 rocks and KOTOR is a downright dissapointment.

HW2 is a hard game to describe. It is a RTS game, that works in 3 dimensional space. The controls are somewhat difficult to get used to at first (get a multi button mouse this makes life much easier), but once you get used to them the amount of control you have is scary! The graphics in HW2 are thoroughly impressive - high polygon counts, dynamic shadows, awsome lens flare and explosion effects all shine through with all the graphics options turned on! The audio also is amazingly good. Get a good 3 piece (or more) speaker system with a sub, and it is hard not to be impressed by the ambient music, radio chatter, and panning thruster noises!!!! You almost feel like you're watching a movie (which you are in control of).

KOTOR, on the other hand (an RPG) - well what can I say? I am a bit of a Star Wars fan, and I was bitterly dissapointed by this title. First, the graphics are lame compared to NWN or Dingeon Siege or even JK:Outcast!!! The only resolution options are 800x600 or 1024x768. Textures are low quality, FSAA cannot hide the fact that you have to run in low resolution! The bump mapping on the other hand does look quite good, although nowhere near as good as Halo. The ambient music is pretty ordinary, however, as you might expect, the world noises and NPC's add a fair bit to the atmosphere - being a Star Wars title. I found the controls to be reasonably easy to get used to, but unreliable. Clicking objects would not work until 2 or 3 clicks after and frequently, NPC's or your side-kicks will annoyingly block corridors and door ways. Performance is a huge problem with this game as well. My PM G5 1.6GHz/768Mb/64Mb Radeon 9600 Pro struggled badly at times even with reduced reolution. My 17" 1.5GHz PowerBook 1Gb/128Mb Radeon 9700M fared only marginally better. I would strongly suggest, from a perfromance perspective (if nothing else), HW2 over KOTOR.

Like I said, these are just my opinions.

Horsepoo!!! · Oct 4, 2004, 07:48 AM

Originally posted by a2daj:
Calf-Wife didn't use DirectPlay. I don't think Tribes 2 did either, nor did AvP2, NOLF, and NOLF 2. If Joint Operations uses Novalogic's online servers, it probably won't be using DirectPlay.

Come on now...what was the real reason for Half Life's no-show? I keep hearing mixed reports about Half Life not being Mac/PC network-friendly and Sierra pulling the port because they didn't want to spend money keeping the Mac port up-to-date.

Both excuses are hairy ******** if you ask me but nobody has actually come out and spilled the beans so excuuuuse me if I'm wrong.

a2daj · Oct 4, 2004, 04:35 PM

I've had to explain the truth about Half-Life so many times in this and other forums I won't waste time doing it again. A search should be able to bring up details. If you've read the letter that Gabe Newell sent out then you already have half the story. Unfortunately many of the references for the truth have been lost over time as archives have been dumped (namely MacCentral's old articles and interviews). Just know that DirectPlay had nothing to do with Calf-Wife.

I'd take KotOR over HW2 any day, but that's because I prefer RPGs over strategy games. I wasn't disappointed at all by the game. I am also a big Star Wars fan and I loved the game, even with some of the performance difficulties. It had an enjoyable storyline. I didn't think the graphics were nearly as bad as danny thinks they are. The character models were far better than Dungeon Siege (character models were a joke) and NWN (more polys for KotOR = better looking). The models were easily comparable to the Q3 engine JK games, and IMO a bit better.

phillryu · Oct 4, 2004, 09:11 PM

Originally posted by xi_hyperon:
Homeworld 2 gameplay is ok on my 1.33 ghz 'book, but it crashes frequently. Playing it on my old G4 desktop, I don't get any crashes.

What sort of problems are you having on your PowerBook?

Problems? Uh, for example, if there are more than a few ships on screen, the thing chugs. I get like 2, 3 frames a second at 1024*768 res. That's unplayable for me. 512mb RAM.

a2daj · 10:05 PM

If it's a 12" PowerBook, there's yet another driver issue with that chipset (the FX Go5200) that affects Homeworld 2.

greenamp · Oct 5, 2004, 12:33 AM

Originally posted by phillryu:
Problems? Uh, for example, if there are more than a few ships on screen, the thing chugs. I get like 2, 3 frames a second at 1024*768 res. That's unplayable for me. 512mb RAM.

That seems odd to me, as my 12" ibook runs the game just fine.

Saramin · Oct 5, 2004, 01:09 AM

Originally posted by a2daj:
If it's a 12" PowerBook, there's yet another driver issue with that chipset (the FX Go5200) that affects Homeworld 2.

What do you mean, specifically? I just ordered a copy and would rather not have any unpleasant surprises.

FlammableYurt · Oct 5, 2004, 01:49 AM

The only resolution options are 800x600 or 1024x768.

What do you mean KOTOR can only run on those resolutions?! I'm running it fine on 1600x1200. Maybe it detects your system and restricts your possible resolutions? I have a DP 2.5 G5 with a Radeon 9600 Pro and 2.5 GB RAM...

a2daj · Oct 5, 2004, 02:11 AM

Originally posted by Saramin:
What do you mean, specifically? I just ordered a copy and would rather not have any unpleasant surprises.

Read Glenda's post.

a2daj · Oct 5, 2004, 02:13 AM

Originally posted by FlammableYurt:
What do you mean KOTOR can only run on those resolutions?! I'm running it fine on 1600x1200. Maybe it detects your system and restricts your possible resolutions? I have a DP 2.5 G5 with a Radeon 9600 Pro and 2.5 GB RAM...

Same here. The list is created when the game starts up and since there's no widescreen support, widescreen resolutions don't show up.

riotge@r · Oct 5, 2004, 02:29 AM

Originally posted by pantalaimon:
I'm awaiting the arrival of my iMac G5 1.8 GHz 1GB ram, any idea how these two games will perform on it? I'm assuming it is more than powerful enough with a G5 and 64mb vram?

I suspect both of these games will run okay at low resolution and without graphics settings at max. As you probably know, the graphics chipset in the iMac G5 is not very good when it comes to gaming. Problem with gaming on an LCD is that the picture quality is lower if the LCD isn't runing at native resolution, so KOTOR at 800x600 will look a little washed out on your iMac.

Saramin · Oct 5, 2004, 01:11 PM

Originally posted by a2daj:
Read Glenda's post.

Thanks. I ordered my copy directly from Amazon instead of the merchant (don't ask), so my copy won't be here for another month or so anyway. By that time 10.3.6 should be released or close to it.

pantalaimon · Oct 5, 2004, 04:08 PM

Originally posted by riotge@r:
I suspect both of these games will run okay at low resolution and without graphics settings at max. As you probably know, the graphics chipset in the iMac G5 is not very good when it comes to gaming.

I think they will run at higher resolution and higher setting than that, the G5 iMac has double the processor speed (1.8) and double the vram (64) required for both games. I'm expecting Homeworld especially to run well and look amazing on my iMac G5.

Talk of the graphics card in the iMac graphics card is getting out of hand... will work ok at low resolutions and low settings?

maybe in Doom 3 but not current games.

Also i've heard the iMac screen handles different resolutions better than most lcd's.

MilkmanDan · Oct 6, 2004, 12:42 AM

Originally posted by a2daj:
If it's a 12" PowerBook, there's yet another driver issue with that chipset (the FX Go5200) that affects Homeworld 2.

Darn my 12in Powerbook with the horrible chipset. Nvidia had some real issues with drivers and OS X lately. Like the 10.3 issue with graphics card in general, making me restart every time I wanted to play a game.

riotge@r · Oct 6, 2004, 02:49 AM

Originally posted by pantalaimon:
I think they will run at higher resolution and higher setting than that, the G5 iMac has double the processor speed (1.8) and double the vram (64) required for both games. I'm expecting Homeworld especially to run well and look amazing on my iMac G5.

Talk of the graphics card in the iMac graphics card is getting out of hand... will work ok at low resolutions and low settings?

maybe in Doom 3 but not current games.

Also i've heard the iMac screen handles different resolutions better than most lcd's.

The graphic chipset matters more than RAM and CPU for modern games. If you knew how horrible the chipset is that comes with the iMac you would be upset too. The chipset is the bottleneck, hence why most games ran horribly on my PowerMac G5 (Dual 2ghz) machine with a Radeon 9600 until I bought a Radeon 9800 G5 Special Edition card for it.

pantalaimon · Oct 6, 2004, 07:12 AM

Originally posted by riotge@r:
The graphic chipset matters more than RAM and CPU for modern games. If you knew how horrible the chipset is that comes with the iMac you would be upset too. The chipset is the bottleneck

You exaggerated the lack of performance on the iMac G5, which is what I pointed out. Putting G5 processor aside it still has double the vram required to those games so low resolution and low settings seems like a repeat of the scaremongering comments in the iMac forum.

Next you'll be telling me it won't run tiger well and will drop frames when watching DVD's.

Homewold 2 already plays well at high quality and resolution on slower machines so the iMac G5 will do pretty well I think.

No doubt those games would run better on a 128 or higer graphics card but the Geforce 5200 Ultra is fine for me and will run the games I usually play very well for the lifetime of the mac. Anything more would be wasted on me, and I certainly wouldn't like to pay extra for it. Some would, which is why there should be a bto and their probably will be in future revisions, but for most people it is fine the way it is.

Turnpike · Oct 6, 2004, 04:35 PM

When I had a Dual 1.8 with 5200, CoD ran just fine... despite all the people claiming it couldn't possibly run fine with that setup in the iMac forum. Certainly it isn't the best out there, but if you just want to play the game and don't care about FPS numbers you'll be fine. Even with high settings and decent resolution I never encountered anything that made me say "gee, the frames here seem to be getting fewer and farther between, I'd better drop some texture quality" or anything. Perfectly smooth with high settings, no. Playable with high settings, yes.

I can't speak to the games listed here, just some of the FUD being spread. That said, I can only take so many RTS games at a time and I'm a big fan of WC3 and TFT.... as for KOTOR... I've heard lots of good stuff about it, but the time devotion to RPGs is too much for me at the moment... maybe when I've got more leisure time.

a2daj · Oct 6, 2004, 07:46 PM

CoD is one of the few newer games that can run pretty good on a GF4MX card, so I can see it running good on a G5 iMac. It helps that it uses the Q3 engine and an improved graphics renderer. However, other games are based on newer engines which may not have been as heavily optimized as the Q3 engine and make use of graphics cards in different ways, like more reliance on shader support.