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LagunaSol · Oct 11, 2007, 12:39 PM

Wondering how this would run on my iMac 2.0 Radeon 1600. HL2 was a little sluggish on my iMac in Bootcamp, so I'm wondering how Orange Box will do. Team Fortress 2 looks like a lot of fun.

Note to Apple: better 3D chips in your iMacs please!!! Or better yet, how about a consumer-grade tower with a replaceable graphics card? The state of 3D acceleration for the Mac is pathetic.

sek929 · Oct 11, 2007, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by LagunaSol

The state of 3D acceleration for the Mac is pathetic.

It's always been that way. So yeah, don't hold your breath, or just buy a console to play the latest and greatest games.

LagunaSol · Oct 11, 2007, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by sek929

It's always been that way. So yeah, don't hold your breath, or just buy a console to play the latest and greatest games.

Got a Wii. Sadly, won't play Orange Box either.

TheoCryst · Oct 11, 2007, 10:10 PM

It should be okay. I know that Half-Life 2 runs surprisingly well on my MacBook CD (even with Intel GMA graphics), so you shouldn't have much of a problem.

Then again, if HL2 wasn't responsive enough for you in Boot Camp, then Orange Box probably won't be any better. Were you using the latest (1.4) drivers at the time?

JoshuaZ · Oct 11, 2007, 10:56 PM

Ooooo I'm interested in trying out the Orange box on my MBP.

You should really test out a copy of HL2 before buying the orange box.... test out... before buying... cough cough...

JoshuaZ · Oct 11, 2007, 10:59 PM

Heres a video of someone doing HL2 on a Macbook Pro.

YouTube - Half Life 2 Episode 1 on Macbook Pro 15"

TheoCryst · Oct 13, 2007, 04:41 AM

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Ooooo I'm interested in trying out the Orange box on my MBP.

You should really test out a copy of HL2 before buying the orange box.... test out... before buying... cough cough...

There's actually a demo through Steam - that way you can test without resorting to piracy (which I rarely publicly endorse).

zaghahzag · Oct 13, 2007, 07:31 AM

i've played HL2 and CS:steam on a c2d macbook pro. It's fine. I play at like 1280x1024 or something w/ about medium details. (fps is much more important than visual quality).

mr. burns · Oct 14, 2007, 01:30 AM

only bought team fortress 2 (and it's F'in awesome). running it at 1600x1200 with every bell and whistle turned on. runs flawlessly on the x1600xt. i was afraid i'd have to turn things down since people on the forums seem to think it's such a poor card nowadays.

Peter · Oct 15, 2007, 02:23 AM

Zoooms on my MBP. Really impressed.

gheff · Oct 17, 2007, 04:20 PM

I missed the whole HL/HL2 thing the first time around. Didn't have anything to run it on. Now I've got a last rev 2.33GHz MBP to run it on. So I bought myself the Orange Box for my birthday. Loving it! Speed seems fine to me. I'm not running native resolution, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with it.

Biks · Oct 20, 2007, 07:23 PM

Most of the orange box is not working for me. This is what I've got: 2.66 Ghz Dual-Core Intel w. a Radeon X1900, running boot camp 1.4. Same thing happens when I used the graphic driver that boot camp installed, and the graphics update that Steam suggested. (7.10) I've done a complete reinstall of boot camp and XP. ONLY thing I installed was the Orange Box software...not even any virus stuff.

Team Fortress 2: I can get into a game for a moment and move around, then crashes. (freezes up with the sound doing a weird looping thing.)
Portal: Get into a game, crashes.
HL2_ Episode Two: Crashes real fast
HL2 original: RUNS FINE, but I notice a few rendering errors. (polygones missing, weird lines shooting out of peoples faces)

This is what kills me: When I used boot camp v 1.1 a few months ago, Half Life 2 and Episode One played perfectly. Battlefield 2142, Counterstrike Source, Call of Duty 2 all played perfectly. Only recently I've had problems with playing newer games. (Bioshock demo crashed at the same spot, MOH Airborne demo does the same thing.)

It seems the newer drivers are screwing me up. Don't tell me I've got to *gasp* "upgrade" to Vista?

sideus · Oct 21, 2007, 03:33 AM

If any of you are enjoying the Orange Box and loving TF2 come on over to Cain's Lair. It is a great community of friendly players. CainsLair.com

scaught · Oct 28, 2007, 01:04 PM

2.16Ghz Core 2 Duo imac with 2GB of SDRAM running 10.5...It sounds like I can play Portal in BootCamp then?

What OS do you all recommend? XP or 2000?

Can I just buy it from here for $20? Steam - Portal

I'm vastly ignorant to PC/Mac gaming and appreciate any help you can give. I'll even accept snarky sarcastic help.

scaught · Oct 29, 2007, 11:21 PM

Installed XP Home SP2 into BootCamp. Downloaded Steam. Downloaded Portal. My life has been changed.

I don't know what kind of framerates I'm getting. I don't really care. It looks pretty damned good even though I think textures are set to "low" or whatever it defaulted to. The game is ****ing fun.

sek929 · Oct 30, 2007, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by scaught

Installed XP Home SP2 into BootCamp. Downloaded Steam. Downloaded Portal. My life has been changed.

I don't know what kind of framerates I'm getting. I don't really care. It looks pretty damned good even though I think textures are set to "low" or whatever it defaulted to. The game is ****ing fun.

You will be baked, and then there will be cake.

Biks · Oct 31, 2007, 09:21 PM

So the Omega drivers seemed to have helped my problem (crashes..see above). I can play Team Fortress 2 for about 15 minutes and then I go under. Same thing for Portal and Episode 2. Here are the Omega drivers:

http://www.omegadrivers.net/ati/win2k_xp.php

Still get rendering errors (but not as bad as before) Anyone have any suggestions on settings for the ATI control panel that it installs? Sure wish I knew why Omega drivers exsist. (and why are they better than than the default driver Apple installed)

JoshuaZ · Nov 20, 2007, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by sek929

You will be baked, and then there will be cake.

The cake is a lie...
The cake is a lie...
The cake is a lie...

mr. burns · Nov 20, 2007, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by Biks

So the Omega drivers seemed to have helped my problem (crashes..see above). I can play Team Fortress 2 for about 15 minutes and then I go under. Same thing for Portal and Episode 2. Here are the Omega drivers:

OmegaDrivers.net

Still get rendering errors (but not as bad as before) Anyone have any suggestions on settings for the ATI control panel that it installs? Sure wish I knew why Omega drivers exsist. (and why are they better than than the default driver Apple installed)

strange. i have a 2.66 mac pro with the x1900xt and have been problem free with the omega drivers. i remember having a little problem when i didn't fully uninstall the catalyst drivers before installing omega. you have to run the uninstaller then restart with the generic video drivers, then install omega and restart again. if you did this already then i don't know. there have been some batches of glitchy x1900xt's reported and people have exchanged their cards for new ones at the apple store.

Nodnarb · Nov 25, 2007, 03:33 PM

Kind of OT but didn't want to start another thread:

I downloaded and installed Steam for XP from Scaught's post, but I had a question about the pricing. Without checking EVERY individual game, would it be cheaper to sometimes buy games from Amazon and load them yourself? I'm sure there are sales that have better price's than Steams. Does Steam also have any way to load like a certain $ amount of credits, or do they every have promotional sales and stuff like that? Or is it just straightforward, here's the price, give us the money.

JayMan8081 · Nov 30, 2007, 05:21 PM

Depending on what games you're looking at getting thru Steam you can sometimes get better deals in retail stores. For example, if you buy everything in The Orange Box separately thru Steam you'll pay close to $70 vs. $50 at full retail. I was able to pick up The Orange Box at Best Buy on Black Friday for $25 so I would recommend against buying games thru Steam.

Drakino · Dec 1, 2007, 02:32 PM

Steam sells the Orange Box as one item to buy that grants you all the games. I payed $45 of it as a preorder on Steam. Buying the individual games will cost you more, so make sure you buy the bundle.

And yes, retail stores do discount the Orange Box from time to time, but retail price is $50.