Playing on the Mac

[Uncatchable]

So I just bought the game and I own a Mac. I go to play and the game says that Space Engineers is not available on my current platform. What should I do?

[Bobblehead O Doom]

First I would recommend always being more careful when purchasing games on Steam when you play on a Mac because a lot of games aren't compatible with Mac. Second recommendation is if you plan on playing PC games then you should get a Windows machine because Macs aren't designed with gaming in mind and lots of games don't come out for it. If you are into gaming then a Mac couldn't have been a worse choice to spend your money on.

But none of those pieces of advice help you with your current predicament. You only have 2 options really. You can either use a program like Wine to emulate windows on your Mac and play the game that way or you can buy a Windows machine.

If you decide to purchase a gaming PC running windows then I have good news for you. Steam has finally introduced in home game streaming between computers that can run steam. This allows you to Stream a game that is being ran off one PC and let you play it from any other PC, even ones with a different OS. This means you could install all the games you want on the gaming PC running windows and play them from the Mac. The downside is you can only do this from home when you are connected on the same network so if you want to play anything when away from home then it will have to be something compatible with the Mac.

[Ben]

You can dual boot on some macs. Dont expect excellent performance though. There's plenty of help online for doing this. like

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/software/3368970/how-dual-boot-mac-with-windows-7-os-x/

Backup your important stuff just to be sure.

[Thedutchjelle]

Bootcamp allows your computer to become a windows machine with apple hardware. It then depends on your hardware on how well it will run (my 27" imac can run most modern games fine but I can imagine a lower end imac or a lower end laptop from Apple might struggle).

Second, I dunno how you could've made this mistake. Every game lists clearly which platform it is available for. Best you can do is try and contact steam support, though I don't know if they will give a refund or not.

Another option is trying to use a WINE version of this game, though I lack the skills to help you with that

[Bobblehead O Doom]

I am not wanting to get into a PC vs Mac discussion here but bottom line is that if you are serious about PC gaming then a Mac is a terrible choice. Windows is king of PC gaming while Linux is going to quickly overtake Mac as a gaming OS due to the SteamOS and more developers developing for linux.

[Uncatchable]

Thank you for all of your help. Bobblehead I do not own my own computer I'm still at the point where I have to use my parents computer and they unfortunately got a Mac.

[Ben]

Ohh in that case, definately ask before you start installing windows !!
better yet, spend as much time as possible hogging the computer till they buy you one ;). Might backfire though you could end up with the mac when they buy a PC hehe.

[Bobblehead O Doom]

I have been there so I feel your pain cade. In that case Wine might be your best solution. It is a program that runs in Mac that you can install windows onto.

[RTS_Briggs]

So i just bought the game on my mac and what i've gathered is that i have to install a program called wine? Well this is quite the predicament
So where do i download this wine program? Or what specifically to look up?

[Bobblehead O Doom]

Google would be your best friend there. I don't use Macs so I have never had to deal with it. Just look up how to setup Wine on Mac and I am sure you will find plenty of how to guides including where to get the software.

[freeskier93]

Originally posted by Bobblehead:

First I would recommend always being more careful when purchasing games on Steam when you play on a Mac because a lot of games aren't compatible with Mac. Second recommendation is if you plan on playing PC games then you should get a Windows machine because Macs aren't designed with gaming in mind and lots of games don't come out for it. If you are into gaming then a Mac couldn't have been a worse choice to spend your money on.

But none of those pieces of advice help you with your current predicament. You only have 2 options really. You can either use a program like Wine to emulate windows on your Mac and play the game that way or you can buy a Windows machine.

If you decide to purchase a gaming PC running windows then I have good news for you. Steam has finally introduced in home game streaming between computers that can run steam. This allows you to Stream a game that is being ran off one PC and let you play it from any other PC, even ones with a different OS. This means you could install all the games you want on the gaming PC running windows and play them from the Mac. The downside is you can only do this from home when you are connected on the same network so if you want to play anything when away from home then it will have to be something compatible with the Mac.

My god people, stop with this Macs aren't built for gaming ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. It's the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hardware, just a different operating system. If you want to play Windows games bootcamp is a perfectly good option and you'll never know the difference.

That said, OP pay attention next time, Steam clearly tells you what the compatability is for games.

[Bobblehead O Doom]

My argument had nothing to do with the hardware. My point is all about the operating system. If you are serious about gaming and have a Mac you are living on a prayer every time a game comes out that it will hopefully be available for Mac. By loading windows onto it that just proves my point that Windows is the platform to have for PC gaming. If all you do is browse the internet and watch movies it doesnt matter what operating system you use but if your talking about PC games then Windows is the OS to have. Arguing that Macs are a perfectly fine option for gaming would be like arguing that a console that can only play half the games out and costs twice as much as the console that can play all the games out is somehow better.

[McWurth]

PC master race reporting

[Bobblehead O Doom]

Can't argue with facts lol

[freeskier93]

Originally posted by Bobblehead:

Can't argue with facts lol

Your assertions are opinions, not facts. Facts are the Mac PLATFORM can run both Windows and OS X. Nobody is arguing Windows doesn't have better support game wise. Some people prefer the OS X environment though, so having the flexibility to also run Windows to play certain games is nice.

You have the typical mindset of a snobby gamer, if you're not playing on a Windows machine you're an idiot. You can't do it on a Mac. What a waste of money. Blah blah blah.

Some terms to clarify:

1) PC = Personal Computer, Macs are PCs
2) Mac is a platform, not an operating system
3) OS X is an operating system

[freeskier93]

Originally posted by Streaming Phoenix:

Originally posted by freeskier93:

Your assertions are opinions, not facts. Facts are the Mac PLATFORM can run both Windows and OS X. Nobody is arguing Windows doesn't have better support game wise. Some people prefer the OS X environment though, so having the flexibility to also run Windows to play certain games is nice.

You have the typical mindset of a snobby gamer, if you're not playing on a Windows machine you're an idiot. You can't do it on a Mac. What a waste of money. Blah blah blah.

Some terms to clarify:

1) PC = Personal Computer, Macs are PCs
2) Mac is a platform, not an operating system
3) OS X is an operating system

Depends on the mac. Newer macs can, as apple dropped their own hardware in favour of using standard hardware.

Now, Apple state themselves that a mac is not a PC. They felt the distinction was so important that they commissioned a series of adverts declaring that.

So, macs are in fact just operating systems now, they use intel chips and nvidia graphics. All they have left is an OS for which the majoirity of games are not designed to run on without some serious porting. You can get games ported over to mac, a company called feral interactive are doing just that, but it takes time to do so, so games like borderlands on mac will come out a couple of years after the pc version.

PowerPC was dropped what, 7+ years ago? Hardly seems relevant.

Apple can try to differentiate themselves all they want but it's still a PC, Mac is still a platform, and OS X is an operating system.