Parallels 3.0 and game compatibility...

City of Heroes runs, but not well

I was able to get City of Heroes to run on a new MBP by following supagold's hints:
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=64183&highlight=city+heroes#post64183
(I didn't use the tweaker, I was able to switch to Windowed mode within the game.)

But no amount of graphics tweaking could get it faster than about 5 to 10 frames per second. Granted, I was in PocketD at the time so it might have done better in a calmer location. But it really was not playable.

Note that CoH requires DirectX 9, which Parallels does not support ("Limited 8.1"). I did notice that the drivers installed by Parallels claim to support DirectX 9 (dxdiag), which is probably why the game attempted to run despite the lack of true support.

I ended up installing Boot Camp on the destination machine instead. FWIW, a new MacBook Pro does generate a LOT of heat running CoH in BootCamp, but the fans did come on full blast. I saw some posts in the CoH forum about someone's (older?) MBP overheating due to the fans not comming on, but that doesn't appear to be a problem with the new MBP and BootCamp 1.3.

Of course, whenever CoH does run under Parallels, it'll be back to that for all the usual safety, reliability, and convenience reasons.

 

Awesome! I have been looking for a nicer QW client than what is out there natively for OS X. This might be the ticket.

 

I would actually recommend:
* Turning down the memory from 1GB to 512MB
* Turning down the video RAM from 64MB to 32MB

I got better performance by using more conservative values. The Video RAM value really doesn't mean much, anyway. Just give it 32 to satisfy most games' minimum requirement checks. Parallels will use as much VRAM as it can get its hands on for 3D applications regardless of this setting. (They put it there for tweaking screen resolutions, that's pretty much it.)

 

DusrioN writes

>>Rollercoaster Tycoon works reasonably well.

Did you have to do anything besides enable Direct X to get to run? For me it loads fine, but I lose use of the cursor, so I can't select Play or anything else.

 

Hello,

I have installed and launched PKR in Windows XP virtual machine.

Current Parallels Desktop version supports DirectX 8.1, PKR needs DirectX 9.0 to run properly. But there is a way to launch it in current Parallels release.

To run this game:
1. Install 4128 build.
2. Stop VM.
3. Open config editor, in Video Tab enable DirectX.
4. Run VM.
5. Go to Start->Programs->PKR->Play PKR (min spec).

 

Anyone get Oblivion working? I can get to the first screen then it crashes. I think all the VM is pretty cutting edge technology and very ropy. Don't think I would invest in this software until they get it right.

Nothing is going to beat a native machine running a game. Lets hope the rest of the game makers out there realise that there is a massive community on the MAC platform that want to play games natively and not under a VM.

Rob

PS: anyone tested VMware Fusion 4 Beta with games? Any better?

 

Well at the keynote a few days ago we saw Apple investing exactly in what you mentioned.

 

FarCry Problems

FarCry is one of the 3D apps that Parallels says works.

For me, MouseLook doesn't work, and the HUD "slides" in and out. The HUD problem is not too bad, but not having MouseLook makes it unplayable. There are no ways to turn left and right only strafe.

Please let me know if anyone has gotten these things working under Parallels. Cause I couldn't get it working.

I'm running a MBP CD 17" 2GB, XP, and Far Cry patched to 1.4 which is the latest I believe.

Thanks!
Chris

 

Counter-Strike 1.6 supposedly works, but it has plenty of bugs too. Unplayable in my opinion.

This thread might help, or at the very least you might help others:
(http://forums.parallels.com/thread12826.html)

-Me

 

From the UbiSoft website:

Parallels does not support DriectX 9, only 8.1.

Please read the system requirements for programs before you try to use them on "hardware" (in this case emulated hardware) that does not support it.

EDIT:

On looking further, it seems that FarCry also has an OpenGL mode... and the OpenGL mode is supported by Parallels. Are you using that?

What hardware are you running on? A Macbook's OpenGL hardware is really crappy.

Run this test in Windows (in Parallels) to see what versions of OpenGL are supported. I can't find an OpenGL requirements listing for FarCry
.

 

Far Cry:
I just tried using OpenGL as the renderer, and I get Mr. Black Screen.

ADMIN:
WTF? Why are you dumping all the game related posts into ONE post! Since the wonderful forum system CAN'T search inside a post, I have to trudge through 11 pages to see if someone has responded. <sarcasm>THANKS! </sarcasm>

 

Of note: the MacBook has an inferior GPU than the MacBook Pro. So playing games that are graphics intensive (even slightly dated such as WoW) will run slowly... even with 2GB RAM. So note this before blaming Boot Camp or Parallels for slow framerates.

 

Has anyone tried playing Warcraft 3? Is it playable?
As far as i know, the graphics for counterstrike is horrendous. everything is White..... sometimes the terrains are normal but the characters are white.. depends on my luck..
any help please?!?!?

i'm on a macbook pro , 2gb ram !
thanks!

 

Personally I won't try running WC3 under PDM simply because it runs natively under OS X.

 

I'm trying to get LOTRO to run with a MacBook Pro... whole shebang... don't have a "frame" rate problem.. I have a complete WHITE Screen problem...

Any word on updates to this build that will allow for Direct X 9 games like LOTRO to run.. It's really the only reason I bought the software but since I've had it , i've found other uses for it... like running Office 07 through Vista so I don't have to play around with Mac office stuff etc.

I'm going to keep it and I'm going to run it.. It runs Vista without a hitch but it locks up .. you can't resume a VM session but when running I was shocked at how well it ran Windoze.... Most of the locking up problems I would bet are much more a win Bloez problem then Parallels.. just having been through every MS release since 1982 or so... lol

But I was SHOCKED how well it installs and just let's you flip up a Windows Vista session without reconfiguring your network settings or your Ipconfig or anything quite frankly.

FROM Strictly a Windows standpoint Parallels 3.0 does a great job of installing and just bang right out of the box it's configured to go.. You can pull up an IE window and just start surfing .. or run Office 07 etc... but the game support although claimed really seems to suck... I haven't gotten any games to run on it really but then again I'm a one game kind of guy .. and it won't run the game I want .. can't testify to Half life or any other shooter or Age of Empires etc... all I WANT IS FOR LORD OF THE RINGS to fire up!@

HELP ME! lol

 

Probably not going to happen for a while. Parallels clearly states that 3.0 only supports 8.1c.

 

Probably not going to happen for a while. Parallels clearly states that 3.0 only supports 8.1c.

 

Counter-strike source is pretty playable. Not the best FPS, but pretty decent as I can play without a lot of stuttering. Pretty awesome, never thought I would be able to do this on my Mac! Thanks parallels!

counter-strike.tiff

 

@dailo: Is this a joke, or is it really running well? (The screenshot looks pretty crapped)

 

BTW: Could it be that only OpenGL-games runs really? Cause i've tried BF1942 (which is clearly a DirectX 8.1 game), it doesn't fire up at all!