Lack of MacOS compatibility.

[Marauder]

Been endlessly anticipating this game. Thought it was going to be the one new game that didn't just leave me disappointed over not being able to play. I used to be able to play such a wide-range of games on my older Mac from 2012. I currently have a 2017 iMac with an Intel processor. Apple decided to hang us all out to dry and very quickly screwed us all by jumping into the M1 chips. Is there any conceivable workaround for playing this game on an Intel processor? I bought this computer in 2021 thinking it would be good for the foreseeable future, yet have been completely screwed from the start on compatibility.

[adrien_perleflamme]

If you really want to play a large panel of games, your best bet has never been Mac. Fortunately, using Windows isn't as obscure as it used to be decades ago.

Apple is a very closed ecosystem, only with software being approved by Apple. Nothing is made to ensure wide-range compatibility, but only selective, elitist compatibility. It's not in itself a drawback, though, since it also means most of its software works really well, almost free of bugs. It has its uses and its market, notably with emphasis on safety and ease of use. But it probably doesn't fit your needs if your goal is to be able to play a wide range of games, even more so given its competitors have improved their ease of use (not their safety, though).

[Marauder]

Originally posted by adrien_perleflamme:

If you really want to play a large panel of games, your best bet has never been Mac. Fortunately, using Windows isn't as obscure as it used to be decades ago.

Apple is a very closed ecosystem, only with software being approved by Apple. Nothing is made to ensure wide-range compatibility, but only selective, elitist compatibility. It's not in itself a drawback, though, since it also means most of its software works really well, almost free of bugs. It has its uses and its market, notably with emphasis on safety and ease of use. But it probably doesn't fit your needs if your goal is to be able to play a wide range of games, even more so given its competitors have improved their ease of use (not their safety, though).

Unfortunately I'm on a college-budget and not in a position to buy a PC, but Apple has enraged me over the last few years, and I'll definitely be moving into PC's when I do have the ability to.

[Pingora]

Marauder,

I have a four year old iMac, and what I do is play through GeForce Now (Ultimate level membership). Granted that tier is 19.99 USD per month, but as I do not have the ability to use or purchase a PC, being able to play Frostpunk 1 and 2, as well as all the other games I enjoy on Steam and Epic Games store that are not compatible or play crummy in their MacOS version, $20 USD is a good choice. Currently I have the game set to 2K, with all the graphics set to Ultra High, 60 FPS, and plays perfectly 206 hours in.

There is a $10 USD version with lower specs if $20 is too much but I think the Ultimate is worth it.

[Marauder]

Originally posted by Pingora:

Marauder,

I have a four year old iMac, and what I do is play through GeForce Now (Ultimate level membership). Granted that tier is 19.99 USD per month, but as I do not have the ability to use or purchase a PC, being able to play Frostpunk 1 and 2, as well as all the other games I enjoy on Steam and Epic Games store that are not compatible or play crummy in their MacOS version, $20 USD is a good choice. Currently I have the game set to 2K, with all the graphics set to Ultra High, 60 FPS, and plays perfectly 206 hours in.

There is a $10 USD version with lower specs if $20 is too much but I think the Ultimate is worth it.

I'll definitely check that out, how much RAM does yours have? Just wondering if I can expect similar results.

[Pingora]

Originally posted by Marauder:

Originally posted by Pingora:

Marauder,

I have a four year old iMac, and what I do is play through GeForce Now (Ultimate level membership). Granted that tier is 19.99 USD per month, but as I do not have the ability to use or purchase a PC, being able to play Frostpunk 1 and 2, as well as all the other games I enjoy on Steam and Epic Games store that are not compatible or play crummy in their MacOS version, $20 USD is a good choice. Currently I have the game set to 2K, with all the graphics set to Ultra High, 60 FPS, and plays perfectly 206 hours in.

There is a $10 USD version with lower specs if $20 is too much but I think the Ultimate is worth it.

I'll definitely check that out, how much RAM does yours have? Just wondering if I can expect similar results.

It shouldn't matter much since all the heavy lifting is being done on the remote rig. I just loaded it up and on ultra settings, Broken Shore with 100k population, I was using 517MB split between three processes (GPU process, main program, and "Renderer").

My computer however is 16GB, so 517MB is less than the standard set of tabs on a web browser. Now if your internet speed is crummy then you will need to lower graphics a bit, so internet speed is the only real bottleneck. I average about 50 MB/s and that is more than enough.