Sims 3 being played on the mac

nessatay1920

So I have the Macbook Pro with retina display and I was thinking about getting the windows 10 program on my mac by parallel because the sims 3 and the medieval sims will not work on my laptop. So i want to try this but before I do that I want to make sure that the sims 3 and also the the sims medieval packs will work on this program. I know some people are talking about bootcamp but I need the windows program first right? Please help.

puzzlezaddict

You don't need both Parallels and Bootcamp, as it would be redundant to have two different ways to run Windows on your computer. The two options are also quite different in how they function. Parallels opens Windows while mac OS is already running, so your processor would have to maintain both operating systems at the same time, splitting its resources between the two. When you partition your hard drive and install Windows on one side, you have to boot your computer into one OS or the other, and that's the only one running. This is definitely the better choice for demanding applications like TS3. Medieval might run just fine in Parallels; I wouldn't know.

The other thing to consider is whether your mac has the hardware and the storage space to make Bootcamping a feasible option. If you can list your computer's specs, particularly storage, processor, and graphics card, someone can give you a better idea of whether it's likely to work well for you.

P.S. I Bootcamped my macbook pro a few months ago, and it's worked out great. The only downside is landing in Windows itself, but I just hold my nose and launch the game as quickly as possible.

igazor

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend Parallels or any other virtual machine solution (one that runs Windows on top of the Mac OS at the same time) for any of these games. Parallels is a great product for those who require instant access to Windows only programs generally without having to keep rebooting back and forth such as with Bootcamp, but games just don't work well that way because of the two systems having to share resources at the same time.

I have heard of players getting Parallels to work in the sense that they quickly get into tools like S3PE and Dashboard that require Windows to run, and some of them can load up their games that way just to check on something, but it's not really going to work out well for actual gameplay, generally.

nessatay1920

igazor wrote: »

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend Parallels or any other virtual machine solution (one that runs Windows on top of the Mac OS at the same time) for any of these games. Parallels is a great product for those who require instant access to Windows only programs generally without having to keep rebooting back and forth such as with Bootcamp, but games just don't work well that way because of the two systems having to share resources at the same time.

I have heard of players getting Parallels to work in the sense that they quickly get into tools like S3PE and Dashboard that require Windows to run, and some of them can load up their games that way just to check on something, but it's not really going to work out well for actual gameplay, generally.

Awe ok... Thank you.

nessatay1920

puzzlezaddict wrote: »

You don't need both Parallels and Bootcamp, as it would be redundant to have two different ways to run Windows on your computer. The two options are also quite different in how they function. Parallels opens Windows while mac OS is already running, so your processor would have to maintain both operating systems at the same time, splitting its resources between the two. When you partition your hard drive and install Windows on one side, you have to boot your computer into one OS or the other, and that's the only one running. This is definitely the better choice for demanding applications like TS3. Medieval might run just fine in Parallels; I wouldn't know.

The other thing to consider is whether your mac has the hardware and the storage space to make Bootcamping a feasible option. If you can list your computer's specs, particularly storage, processor, and graphics card, someone can give you a better idea of whether it's likely to work well for you.

P.S. I Bootcamped my macbook pro a few months ago, and it's worked out great. The only downside is landing in Windows itself, but I just hold my nose and launch the game as quickly as possible.

My MacBook Pro specs are:
MacOS High Sierra
Version 10.13.6
Macbook Pro retina 13inch early 2015
Processor 2.9 Ghz Intel Core i5
Memory 8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
Graphics intel graphics 6100 1536 MB

igazor

You might be able to get the base game and maybe a few of the earliest EPs going by way of Bootcamp on the Window side on that system on medium to low graphics settings in Game Options, and thankfully without all the processor/GPU hocus pocus that's become required of the Mac version of the game on these MacBook Pros. The processor and RAM are fine, but the integrated Intel graphics are going to be limiting. Pets and Seasons might be out of the question, I'm afraid, as might very long-running ongoing games.

For less limiting play and the heavier hitting EPs, a dedicated Nvidia or AMD graphics card of sufficient strength is really required.

nessatay1920

igazor wrote: »

You might be able to get the base game and maybe a few of the earliest EPs going by way of Bootcamp on the Window side on that system on medium to low graphics settings in Game Options, and thankfully without all the processor/GPU hocus pocus that's become required of the Mac version of the game on these MacBook Pros. The processor and RAM are fine, but the integrated Intel graphics are going to be limiting. Pets and Seasons might be out of the question, I'm afraid, as might very long-running ongoing games.

For less limiting play and the heavier hitting EPs, a dedicated Nvidia or AMD graphics card of sufficient strength is really required.

Ok thanks. I guess I’ll just wait for them to updated or whatever. Hopefully they will. Thanks though.

Tremayne4260

On a laptop, you'd want to Bootcamp. Sims Medieval runs just fine for me on my Desktop in the Mac OS, but I haven't tied it to Origin ever and bought it back in 2013. I do play in Parallels sometimes and Sims 3 runs fine for me.