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A plea to EA

As you have probably noticed, there are many complaints in this Mac forum about graphics; we realize that it is probably because on older Macs, our graphic cards are GMA 950s. Its great that you have taken the time to make The Sims 3 available for both Macs and PCs but, unfortunately, the only Macbooks that have the required graphics cards are the latest models. Obviously a large part of the Mac community does not have these computers, and you have left a lot of us in the dust.

My question for you is: is there ANY chance at all of there being a patch or something that would allow people playing on a Macbook with a GMA 950 video card to play TS3? I was REALLY looking forward to getting this game, and it would be a real shame to have to return it and watch as everyone else gets to play, as I am not willing to shell out hundreds and hundreds of dollars JUST to buy a computer that will support TS3 (because of the way our computers are built, we can not just buy and install new graphic cards either).. I am sure a lot of Macbookers on this community would agree.

If you could please tell us if there is any possible way for us to play, or if there is anything in development that may allow us to play, i'm sure everyone here would appreciate it.

Thank-you.

Comments

  • WhiskeycloneWhiskeyclone Posts: 162 New Member
    edited June 2009
    I'm just thankful that they actually made it available for the Mac.

    For the time being, I use Windows from Boot Camp.
  • meaaghaanmeaaghaan Posts: 24 New Member
    edited June 2009
    Whats windows boot camp?
  • newfoundmassnewfoundmass Posts: 20 New Member
    edited June 2009
    He means he runs Windows by using Boot Camp, which is software that Apple put out so you can run windows on your Intel mac.
  • meaaghaanmeaaghaan Posts: 24 New Member
    edited June 2009
    How do you get that? I just wanna playyyyyy
  • WhiskeycloneWhiskeyclone Posts: 162 New Member
    edited June 2009
    Boot Camp costs cheddar.
  • thedizzyedgethedizzyedge Posts: 9 New Member
    edited June 2009
    I'm on a year old macbook WITH the required gma, but even though my game runs, it is painfully slow sometimes and the graphics look bad to the point that it is less enjoyable than just playing an older sims game instead.
  • NDFREEZENDFREEZE Posts: 8 New Member
    edited June 2009
    bootcamp only works if you have an intel mac -- if you have an intel mac -- the sims should run fine. Bootcamp comes free with your intel based macs -- you just need a copy of windows. I don't see how this game could even run on a laptop -- I bought a Terrabyte drive just for my sims 3.

  • elenrod33elenrod33 Posts: 11 New Member
    edited June 2009
    storyofmylife819 : I completely agree. This is ridiculous. Don't have it come out for macs at the same time as windows if there are going to be all of these issues. I was SOOO excited for this game: joined the facebook group, etc, and for all of these problems... I just feel like, if you hide behind the "well you should have looked at the minimum requirements" you are taking advantage of many people who buy this game with a mac but aren't technophiles and know how to find out what level their video card is etc and just trusted the fact that their mac is not even 2 years old so all games should work on it. I love the sims, but I feel like this is not fair. Please help us!
  • lowenbajowenlowenbajowen Posts: 61 New Member
    edited June 2009
    I completely agree with thedizzyedge.
    Although the new features like personality traits, create a sim, the open town, and create a style are AMAZING, I was very disappointed in the game's actual performance.

    My Macbook is approaching 1 year old now, and it has an ATI Radeon X1600 graphics card, and with all the graphics put on high the graphics STILL look like crap. I have about 36 GB with it installed, and at least 2GB of RAM. The game is laggy, the graphics ****, and there's so many bugs and glitches it's just not enjoyable, much less worth playing.
    So until they make a patch to fix all this, i'm sticking to playing the Sims2.
  • slydarslydar Posts: 26 Member
    edited June 2009
    Sadly, the Mac version will never, ever run as well as the PC version on the same hardware.

    The simple truth is that the Mac version of the Sims 3 is the PC version wrapped in a program called Cider from TransGaming. Cider is a Windows virtualisation environment, similar to VMware Fusion or Parallels. It's based in part on code from the WINE project.

    Where it differs from full-blown virtualisation is that is doesn't need a full version of Windows to run - Cider uses custom libraries to catch Windows programming API's and passes them through to the Mac hardware and software. If you open the Sims 3 program with the "Show Package Contents" command and explore the folders inside, you'll find the full PC executable file and all the Cider programming libraries.

    To run the Sims 3, your Mac is actually pretending to be a PC!! That Sims 3 icon you click on actually launches a custom configured Windows PC environment, then launches the Sims 3 in that. It's an extremely clever way to port games, since it's generally faster to do and doesn't need a full team of Mac programmers on every game. The same process was used by EA for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3.

    The downside is speed - the Cider environment delivers about 80% of the performance of a "real" PC running the same hardware as your Mac. If you want maximum speed and best graphics, I'm afraid that running Boot Camp and a full version of Windows on your Mac is your best bet.

    Sly
  • storyofmylife819storyofmylife819 Posts: 60 New Member
    edited June 2009
    I just really wish that EA would communicate more with us about what they are doing to solve these problems, even if they end up saying "Sorry people with GMA 950 video cards, there is nothing we can do, you can't run the game." Or maybe just tell us if there is a possibility of a patch or something that will allow people with GMA 950 cards to play. I, for one, would just like to know if it will ever be possible to play on my 2-year-old Macbook, and I am waiting for the answer before I go and return my game.

    I think they should make a general, Mac-related statement in this forum.
  • sketchessketches Posts: 274 Member
    edited June 2009
    What? The Sims 3 works just fine on my MacBook Pro (last year's model) and a friend can barely run the game on his Dell laptop.

    If someone wants help, then try asking me, because I have been enjoying this game very much on my Mac with no graphics complaints. May I add that it's on all the highest-quality settings and moves seamlessly?
    Origin ID: sketchur
    Sims 3 MyPage: https://mypage.thesims3.com/mypage/sketches

    #FixThePersonalities
  • SapphireSmokeSapphireSmoke Posts: 7 New Member
    edited June 2009
    I just bought a brand new MacBook Air two days ago and I'm having problems with the graphics as well - lagging and so forth... so I don't think it's just the video card because mine should be well equipped to handle it and it's just not even on the lowest settings.
  • fuchsiarascalfuchsiarascal Posts: 41 New Member
    edited June 2009
    Wait. So if we run Windows from Boot Camp, we can still play the game even if we have the accursed graphics card? That doesn't make sense, and that's totally not fair for those of us who don't have the resources or desire to put Windows on our beloved Macs (there's a reason I have a Mac, after all).

    Of course, it would be the one thing that I can't replace on my computer that's not compatible with the game. Of course.
  • artenzaartenza Posts: 4 New Member
    edited June 2009
    slydar wrote:
    The downside is speed - the Cider environment delivers about 80% of the performance of a "real" PC running the same hardware as your Mac. If you want maximum speed and best graphics, I'm afraid that running Boot Camp and a full version of Windows on your Mac is your best bet.

    Sly

    Wow that makes a lot of sense. Pretty smart actually but I would agree that it would require a lot of performance from the cpu. So you are suggesting playing it in Boot Camp instead for the speed? The only thing is that I run XP on Bootcamp and XP only recognizes up to 3gb of memory. My MBP has 4gb and I want to use all of it. Would you still suggest running BootCamp instead or stay with the Mac side to get the use of all the memory?
  • WhiskeycloneWhiskeyclone Posts: 162 New Member
    edited June 2009
    When a game says it uses 2GB of RAM, it's not going to use 3.
  • mutelightmutelight Posts: 468 Member
    edited June 2009
    artenza wrote:
    slydar wrote:
    The downside is speed - the Cider environment delivers about 80% of the performance of a "real" PC running the same hardware as your Mac. If you want maximum speed and best graphics, I'm afraid that running Boot Camp and a full version of Windows on your Mac is your best bet.

    Sly

    Wow that makes a lot of sense. Pretty smart actually but I would agree that it would require a lot of performance from the cpu. So you are suggesting playing it in Boot Camp instead for the speed? The only thing is that I run XP on Bootcamp and XP only recognizes up to 3gb of memory. My MBP has 4gb and I want to use all of it. Would you still suggest running BootCamp instead or stay with the Mac side to get the use of all the memory?

    Even if you are running a 32-bit version (64-bit will recognize all installed RAM) you should see an increase in performance as mentioned.
    I just bought a brand new MacBook Air two days ago and I'm having problems with the graphics as well - lagging and so forth... so I don't think it's just the video card because mine should be well equipped to handle it and it's just not even on the lowest settings.

    MacBook Airs are designed to be ultra-portable and are not recognized for their raw performance by any means.
  • WhiskeycloneWhiskeyclone Posts: 162 New Member
    edited June 2009
    MacBook Air's like Paris Hilton.
  • knitguyknitguy Posts: 10 New Member
    edited June 2009
    I just really wish that EA would communicate more with us about what they are doing to solve these problems, even if they end up saying "Sorry people with GMA 950 video cards, there is nothing we can do, you can't run the game."

    But isn't that what they did? That's the point of having system requirements in the first place (which you can find on the back of your dvd case). It also says in the readme, "Please note that attempting to play the game using video hardware that isn’t listed above may result in reduced performance, graphical issues, or cause the game to not run at all." I don't understand why you expect EA to make a game with even lower graphics reqs. just because you don't have a computer that can run it. It's requirements are already really low compared to most games that are coming out right now and honestly, it runs very well on my two year old MacBook Pro - not exactly a new computer.

    I fully realize that the economy is in a very bad place right now and that most people can't just drop a bunch of money on a new computer, but it was your responsibility to check to see if your computer would run the game based on the system requirements. Clearly your computer doesn't meet those and it's not EA's to make it all better for you by manipulating the game in such a way that it would allow your video card to run it.
  • storyofmylife819storyofmylife819 Posts: 60 New Member
    edited June 2009
    knitguy- You are right about the fact that I should've read over the system requirements before purchasing the game, that was a really dumb move on my part. All I am trying to say is, judging by the number of CAS complaints on these forums, there are MANY people with GMA 950 video cards who have purchased the game and really want to play.. it would be a shame to have to return them! From my experience, the only problem I am having with the game is the blacked out CAS sim, so it's not like the whole game's graphics are messed up, so maybe there is some sort of solution? I know there might not be anything EA can do about it but, in my opinion, it's worth a shot!
  • andrew77ukandrew77uk Posts: 3 New Member
    edited June 2009
    Its also worth noting that 90$ of macs use mobile graphics, even the nvidia chips in the iMac. These will never perform as well either. I really think Apple needs to up the anti in terms of delivering a decent gaming mac.
  • Mystikblue9Mystikblue9 Posts: 11 New Member
    edited June 2009
    If you run BOOTCAMP and Windows XP the game will work ALMOST 100% and SUperfast! Except you will NOT be able to see the roofs on your house, or the WALLS surrounding the Stairs! Other then that it works Perfect!

    The Reason the WINDOWS version works on a MAC with the GMA 950 is because WINDOWS is accessing the Graphics Card in a different way then the MAC version so it can get away with a little more!

    I STILL WISH THE MAC GMA 950 would WORK! THOUSANDS OF Macbooks have these Graphics CARDS! This VERSION of Macbook with the GMA 950 was the HIGHEST SELLING MACBOOK Sales at the time! Those shows you that THOUSANDS have this and are now SCREWED!
  • justme2justme2 Posts: 52 New Member
    edited June 2009
    slydar wrote:
    Sadly, the Mac version will never, ever run as well as the PC version on the same hardware.

    The simple truth is that the Mac version of the Sims 3 is the PC version wrapped in a program called Cider from TransGaming. Cider is a Windows virtualisation environment, similar to VMware Fusion or Parallels. It's based in part on code from the WINE project.

    Where it differs from full-blown virtualisation is that is doesn't need a full version of Windows to run - Cider uses custom libraries to catch Windows programming API's and passes them through to the Mac hardware and software. If you open the Sims 3 program with the "Show Package Contents" command and explore the folders inside, you'll find the full PC executable file and all the Cider programming libraries.

    To run the Sims 3, your Mac is actually pretending to be a PC!! That Sims 3 icon you click on actually launches a custom configured Windows PC environment, then launches the Sims 3 in that. It's an extremely clever way to port games, since it's generally faster to do and doesn't need a full team of Mac programmers on every game. The same process was used by EA for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3.

    The downside is speed - the Cider environment delivers about 80% of the performance of a "real" PC running the same hardware as your Mac. If you want maximum speed and best graphics, I'm afraid that running Boot Camp and a full version of Windows on your Mac is your best bet.

    Sly

    I was worried about the Cider issue, but I've had no problems on my iMac -- graphics look fine to me (I can even see the fish shadows in the water which I couldn't see in Sims 2), and I'm on I think an X1300 video card (the lowest level one in the specs). And no crashes, just an occasional lag which is why I'm going to keep my families small (that and it gets unwieldy trying to keep track of an entire household if you've got more than 3 or 4 Sims).
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