What are /r/macgaming's favorite Products & Services?

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12 days ago, a depot was added to the Dark Souls branch called Jetpack Interactive. A look at their website teaches us that they're an apple developer, could this be the first sign that an official mac version is underway?

No.

If you would like a more detailed explanation of why go ahead and read on, but the short answer is no.

The iMac from 2010 that you have is only upgrade-able by taking the graphics card out of the '11 iMac and swapping them out. These aren't something you will typically find by themselves so you may need to buy a computer to upgrade the one you have. But let's say you get your hands on the graphics card, and your still looking to make it happen. The repair itself is no simple task, one mistake and you could easily break the display, logic board, or other major components. You also need a space to take nearly everything out of the computer, and it all needs to be ESD safe. In my experience this will need about 4x3 minimum of desk space. You also need experience, the first time anyone takes apart an imac they usually break something, and when its your own, that's rough. So save yourself some money and a headache and either get a new one or deal with it as is.

However, if you still feel like doing it, there is a guide to do so here http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2309+or+2374+Graphics+Card+Replacement/9553

I see from the Proton Commit log that they do update Proton based on the WineHQ releases, but Proton hasn’t been updated in a few weeks.

The plan, as Valve has stated, is for Proton to be Linux-only, though that could change.

I would imagine Proton will be updated to leverage Wine 4.0.0 at some point

Smoothmouse stopped the native mouse input lag for me. It's incredible. My mouse is virtually 100% the same in os x as it is in windows, thanks to Smoothmouse but also, I guess, the fact that its settings are stored on the mouse itself (Razer Lachesis).

Actually Blizzard updated the installers for Warcraft III and Diablo II so they work with the latest Mac OS. The only game that doesn't work when Rosetta support went away in Lion (10.7.0) is the original Starcraft. Both run great, although the lower resolution of Diablo II is definitely noticed.

Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-15-now-warcraft-3-gets-a-new-patch-four-years-after-the-last-one

Instructions: http://osxdaily.com/2016/09/03/install-play-warcraft-3-mac/

Edit: Spelling.

What you are trying to do is relatively complex. Getting angry at the world will not encourage people to help you.

If you don't know what a wrapper is, you should read the wineskin manual. Read it carefully.

An alternative commercial solution is Crossover, this isn't free but will probably work better.

Why is Boot Camp not an option?

Oh, BUT IT CAN!

With ControllerMate, although I'm sure there are free options.

Although I think the game should be put out with correct controller support, but it doesn't seem like that will ever happen. :|

Linux is already a much better gaming experience than Mac os anyway. If apple supported Vulkan dxvk and proton would just work on Mac OS just like it does on Linux. There is currently a project trying to get Linux working on apple silicon but it's far from working well https://asahilinux.org/about/

Nope. If you read the thread, Winebottler's dev replied. FWIW, I have used it without any consequences and haven't found any viruses.

You should be fine as long as you download from http://winebottler.kronenberg.org for WineBottler.

It depends on what you want to spend, but I wouldn't spend anything over $50 unless you want something with a bunch of features--that your mac probably couldn't use anyways--here are what i recommend:

Plantronics 788. Only uses one USB port, mic is REALLY great, pretty damn comfortable (i wear them all day during work, so 8+ hours and then however many hours I game after work and zero complaints.) You can get refurbished ones on ebay for a bit less than the Amazon one--these are actually discontinued (i ordered multiple backup headsets of this when they went on Black Friday sale---that's how much I adore this headset) so you would have to settle for a refurb. I bought a refurb pair on Black Friday and a refurb pair from eBay for my boyfriend and you can't tell the difference other than you might not get retail packaging. There are no settings you need to mess with, it plugged in and worked with my mac with no issues and no downloading of a special program or driver needed.

Logitech G430. Comfortable af, and i think logitech has a Mac program so you can change settings natively with no hassle. The mic isn't as good on this headset but it is a tad cheaper.

https://www.blender.org/press/apple-joins-blender-development-fund/

And the involvement of Unity3D in the Keynote.

First steps my friend, but important ones.

If you're looking at running games natively in OS X, you should be able to run some games in low settings from Battle.net or Steam. Your video card is primarily what's holding you back, but you might be able to eke out a bit more performance if you have Boot Camp installed for games that are compatible on both. Bootcamp is also a better option than virtualization to play Windows-only games like Skyrim.

Indie games would be your best bet and then see what you can get away with lower settings/resolution for more graphics-intensive games.

Check out Can You Run It? for more information on specific game performance to get a gauge on where your MBP stands.

I've heard good things about The Walking Dead and Bioshock Infinite. As mentioned already, Trine and Trine 2 are on sale.

Also be careful of Steam! I keep buying all of these games that I never play. ;)

Since you mention Amiga...you can download an Amiga emulator and play games. Check out Amiga Forever by Cloanto. Not sure if the Mac emulator is included, if not look for FS-UAE online.

Gog.com has a TON of older stuff too, including Alpha Centauri.

OpenEmu is great, and has a bunch of emulators wrapped inside of it, including PS1, and seem to be considering including dreamcast later. It sould run alright on a MBA, but I haven't used it on one before. http://openemu.org/

Try this: https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole

Create a multi-output device in Audio MIDI setup and add your audio output device and blackhole inside it. When you're gonna record, select multi-output device as output device and select blackhole as desktop audio in OBS. If you're gonna use quicktime to record, just select blackhole as the microphone.

Nova plays fine on a modern Mac, no workaround required. Just did a playthrough a month or so back on Yosemite. It's been a UB for a long time. No special version required, this download will run fine.

The only problem is it's still $30. A lot of Ambrosia's stuff was just published by them and they have little or no control over pricing of it.

You might check out Object-Oriented Elite (http://www.oolite.org/) (the object-oriented part just refers to it being programmed in Objective-C). It's free and open source. I can't comment on how similar it is to Elite, but it's supposed to be a space sim inspired by Elite. The only goal is to explore and get enough money to buy a warp to the next dimension full of planets until it wraps around to the beginning, so I guess you could say it's not terribly modern, haha. Fight pirates, become a pirate, mine asteroids, carry passengers, trade, buy new ships and parts, all that stuff. There's also mods.

IMO what you want to make is a Wineskin wrapper.

Look on the forums for an existing wrapper: http://portingteam.com/frontpage

Make your own using Wineskin: http://wineskin.urgesoftware.com/tiki-index.php

Unsure about tutorial but I'm sure "wineskin tutorial" will bring you some hits.

FWIW an alternative route would be to use a virtual machine. Find a copy of VMware fusion or parallels, a copy of Windows. Install anarchy online like normal. You'll need >4GB of ram for this route to work well.

http://www.ps3mediaserver.org

While it says "PS3", a quick look at the About page shows that it works with... damn near everything. It should still work, but you'll need the iTunes Library plugin.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ituneslibparser-pms/

The Epic Games Store Mac version has been delayed.

Requirements:

OS: OSX El Capitan (10.11)

Hellpoint is best played on the following Macs:

• All 13" MacBook Pros released since 2016
• All 15" MacBook Pros released since Late 2013 with a 2GB graphics card or better
• All MacBook Airs released since 2018
• All Mac minis released since 2018
• All 21.5" iMacs released since 2017
• All 27" iMacs released since Late 2013 with a 2GB graphics card or better
• All 27" iMac Pros released since Late 2017
• All Mac Pros released since Late 2013

Here ya go man, it does everything. It is all the best emulators I know of wrapped up in one bundle. Each individual emulator will update when an update is available. It does super nintendo, nintendo, gameboy, GB advance and I think genesis. Here's the link. Enjoy!

Elite! One of the best games of all time. My advice would be to get Limbo on Steam- it fits none of your criteria, but it is a stunning game, hilarious and frightening at the same time- and wait for the release of the enhanced edition of Baldur's Gate- http://baldursgate.com/ - it is not set in space, but it is also one of the greatest games of all time.

Ouch. I guess it helps, as it was what I wanted, but this makes things very hard :P

You could try Warsow or Urban Terror though I'm not sure how many people play them. I loved Urban Terror a couple years ago. They also aren't available on steam AFAIK.

Other than that I'm not sure.

My 13" mid-2012 MacBook Pro gets regularly hot when running excessive tasks. It once shut down whilst playing on The Walking Dead Season One through Steam and after that I installed smcFanControl. I boost the fans to 6000rpm when playing games or converting heavy files.

The way I see it, Apple wouldn't allow these things to get up to 98degrees C if they couldn't take it, but after that one shut down, I just wanted to be on the safe side.

You'll find that there are quite a lot of great games for Mac on Steam. However, if you're determined to play games that are only available for Windows, your best bet is to dual boot Windows with Bootcamp.

Be careful. I found Win2USB to be very unstable, and if it fails once, it will be impossible to get it to work again without doing a full rewrite of the SSD from MacOS. I recommend Rufus which will erase and reformat for you. Just make sure you use a Windows To Go installation. Other than that, it should work similarly.

Also note that while MacOS can read NTFS, it can’t write to it, so to move something back to Windows from MacOS you’ll either need ExFAT formatted external storage or to keep or reinstall the Windows VM on your computer.

The original Fallout is super fun. It is a turn based RPG from 1997. You can pick up a copy on ebay or if you are trying to do things cheap there is the PirateBay. Also if you want to save money, there is Scummvm which is an emulator for classic graphic adventure games. It is easy to set up. Here is one game to get you started.. Good luck!

I just started using Shadow Blade Streaming on my 2015 MacBook Pro 15”. It’s fucking amazing. I don’t know what the graphics card is off hand, but I’m running games at 4K no problem. $35/mo gets you a dedicated PC (stored elsewhere) that you use through an app. The company updates the software (runs windows 10, so you can play all games) and it’s amazing. I’m playing games my laptop would never be able to handle. There is no discernible lag, though maybe a pro esports player would notice in competitive games. I’m surprised I don’t see more hype, because it’s real deal.

In many Mac games You can go from unplayable to smooth with same usual PC ".ini settings" editing tips&tricks for lowend configurations. Antialiaisng and shadows behind resolution are main performance killers.

Don't know if this make any difference if game is already at 720p but worth a try http://osxdaily.com/2016/04/16/improve-performance-games-mac-retina-display-trick/

Please note that the link provided in the article goes to an Apple page that asks for your serial number, but will not tell you whether or not you are affected. The only purpose of this tool is to find out whether or not you are covered by AppleCare. The article does not contain any links that will help you find out if you qualify for a repair.

Once you enter in your serial number, you will be shown information that includes the size of your laptop and when it was added to the lineup. Use that information and go here to find out if your model is affected, and what you can do. From the page, I found out that the following models are affected:

MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011) MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012)

MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011) MacBook Pro (17-inch Late 2011) MacBook Pro (Retina, 15 inch, Early 2013)

If you have one of these models, follow the above link to find out more about how to return it for repair.

If you buy it through Steam, yes it's fairly easy to do. Look at option 2 on this link: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-move-a-pc-game-to-another-hard-drive-without-re-1714706774

It didn't take me long to find an ongoing topic asking for a Mac/Linux version for PAYDAY 2.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/218620/discussions/8/540744934299516003/

and it looks like they are working on a Mac version.

https://steamdb.info/depot/218622/

In the future, I suggest that you take charge and ask others to follow. You will see better results from "Voice your opinion here" vs "Can we voice our opinion?".

The App Store has discounts all the time, but they're not as high profile as Steam sales.

If you want get get a game (or anything else) for cheaper from the Mac App Store, go to http://appshopper.com/mac/ and build a Wish List, and buy the games when they go on sale. You'll get an email alert when the games on your Wish List go on sale.

Nova is for intel. There are also conversions of EV + Override that work in the Nova engine, so it should be fairly easy to set up the original Escape Velocity as well as override.

You can grab the EV Classic and Override conversions from this page.

Sure, you can still download the OS X version of the original game (for free) here - but it was done by a third party so it's not an official port.

The Wii Ware version featured completely redrawn graphics (still hand-pixeled goodness, but in higher resolution) by Daisuke 'Pixel' Amaya himself - graphics comparison available here. An enhanced soundtrack was also included in the game but should you prefer the original flavour you can always switch turn off these enhancements completely or mix and match so you have new graphics and old music or vice versa.

There's also a couple of gameplay additions in terms of selectable difficulties, a new challenge mode, Curly as a playable character and so on. Overall it just feels like a more complete product and personally I think it's well worth buying just as a thank you to Pixel for his amazing work.

Oh wow, no I didn't. That's very nice! I hope they grow and get as famous as wine is. Thanks for showing me that beautiful tool! For others, check darlinghq.org to learn more about it

Edit: development of it seems to be kinda stopped since mid 2019. I hope the project doesn't die :(

This is wine. Wine is essentially a program that emulates a windows environment just for that particular program. I use it to run RollerCoaster Tycoon all the time. Here is some stuff that should help you run it. If anything, a quick google search will show you a way to do it.

You can try to renice the game process from the command-line. The priority option determines the niceness of the program. 20 means it will not do anything unless every other process in the background is finished. Drop it down to -20 and it will take precedence over everything else.

To be honest, if you want to play competitive you're better off Bootcamping into Windows. If you compare both the Mac version feels completely handicapped.

Nah mate, Shadow (https://shadow.tech/gben) is the service used here and it is far better as GeForce Now is a closed platform. You can only play the games they allow you to play. Shadow is a Windows 10 VM in the cloud, so you can play whatever game you want.

Okay. Then I'd try Assassin's Creed, Deus Ex: HR, Penumbra: Black Plague, or Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Though Splinter Cell: Conviction is available, I hear it's more of a run & gun than stealth.

Not that you heard it from me, but you may also try browsing torrents for Wine or Cider wrapped Windows games, or just run Windows via Boot Camp.

If - and that is a big 'If' - if that is the case, then I cannot more highly recommend S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl enough (also available as part of OnLive's $9.99/month PlayPack for those with internet, but with low-end computers or Macs).

Presuming that you own a legitimate copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for PC, emulating it on Mac is perfectly legal. Acquiring a stable wrapper (emulation environment) may be a challenge, but the wrapper software is not illegal (at least not in the States).

e: Ditto for Skyrim.

10.5.8 should be able to handle that. Before running such software, I'd suggest running a free virus scanner such as ClamXav; sometimes those wrappers can be... buggy.

TL;DR The Mac has a small selection, but Amnesia: tDD is total stealth.

P.S. I get a sense that nethack isn't your style of game, but if have the patience to learn it can be very rewarding.

Metal for iOS is apparently built into Unreal Engine 4. That's a pretty good start IMO, and I would expect support for Metal for OSX to follow suit. I can't remember where I read it, but apparently the shader instructions for Metal are similar to those of OpenGL, which should help a lot too.

Edit: Actually what am I on about? Epic showed Fortnite, which is running on the Unreal engine. So there's definitely support for Metal built into Unreal.

Thunderbolt 2 ports are also mini-dsiplayports.

Any mini-displayport to HDMI adaptor/cable should work just fine.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-DisplayPort-Display-Adapter-Cable/dp/B0134V3KIA/

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-452-BCYT-D6000-Universal-Black/dp/B071YTQBXM/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=dell+d6000&qid=1615230785&sr=8-2

OK, sounds good! I'll give it a shot. Just ordered from Amazon. Thanks man! A quick heads-up for anyone else who's interested because there's seems to be a little confusion. There are two models: this one: $48 (which says: [OLD MODEL] in the product name) & this one: $46. I got the latest model which, because of a discounting, is actually cheaper! lol

I never could get an external boot drive to work on my 2016? iMac . Beyond that you could apply your question to almost any segment of console or PC gaming. External SSD's over USB3.0 deliver marked improvements. There are minor latency and overhead penalties but in practice they are not noticeable. TBH, I play TW games myself and, I couldn't really tell you that I've noticed any difference whether it was on my SATA based SSD or the 3.3GB/S WD Black NVME drive I have too.

The question you should probably be asking and researching is which enclosure is going to give you the most reliable performance. Just because a 2.5" enclosure says it's USB 3.0 does not necessarily mean that you're going to hit 450MB/s sequential and 25-30MB/S 4K read/writes.

I did find that there was some significant variations depending on what controller was used(some sacrificed large sequential for 4K which isn't what you want, some couldn't maintain performance and overheated quickly) and unfortunately the only way to really find something that won't bottleneck the drive further is to read recent reviews on amazon and buy a couple of enclosures.

it looks like they no longer make the drive I found that worked best (an inateck with a VIA controller) but they have an updated version for $9 that may be a good place to start

https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-External-Drive-Enclosure-FE2004/dp/B00JQTO8TU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1529590809&sr=8-4&keywords=inateck+2.5%22+USB+3.0#customerReviews

edit; it was a Noriesys controller but the date stamp is from 2013 (and I bought around 2016) so it's proabably no longer relevant information.

This should do just fine Asus VP249QGR 23.8” Gaming Monitor 144Hz Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS 1ms FreeSync Extreme Low Motion Blur Eye Care DisplayPort HDMI VGA,BLACK https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083FMP35T/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_aqjfFb3HEYXRV

Realm of the Mad God is a very lightweight MMO. The downside of it is perma-death - if your character dies, they are dead, and you lose all their equipment. This can make it a little hard to get into, but it can also make it addictive. If you're not bothered by that, it's really fun, runs in your browser, and doesn't take much time or any money to get into.

P. S. I think there are bonuses if you sign in through Kongregate.

Edit: if you want someone to show you around pm me and I can send you my ign

Battlefront 2 requires a discrete graphics card with 2 GB of VRAM. Looks like you are out of luck.

So that's pretty much the same MBP I got, except max RAM and the 2.3GHz processor. But, you can actually run quite a lot on it still, she holds up nicely. As mentioned, check Can You Run It before you purchase. My personal recommendation is to just take the time to set up BootCamp. Super easy, and it will save a few headaches in the long run.

Unless you are a student (through some method that I forget), no, there is no way to get a free copy of Windows without pirating it. What you can do is purchase a key and then download the ISO directly from Microsoft.

If you are having an issue with the Windows installation complaining about "No device drivers found", and you are attempting to install Windows 7 on a retina MacBook Pro, follow these instructions on how to fix it.

its pay what you want, the minimum is $1.00 to get 3 copies of insurgency while we are on the subject of giving stuff away ~~i still have a free copy of risk of rain if anyone is interested~~

Hmm, maybe I just have a crappy graphics card. I thought it was pretty good :(

I've got a Nvidia GeForce 9400M. I don't even see it on this chart but I'm guessing now it falls somewhere in the 'midrange-to-crappy' range. And from what I know it's not possible to change the graphics card on a unibody.

Mine isn't quite top spec. I don't have the 1tb hard drive. :(

I was searching around for some reviews of the drive you listed and came across this "top portable drives" list.

http://www.cnet.com/topics/storage/best-hard-drives-and-storage/portable-drives/

Your Buffalo drive is listed, but everyone seems to love that LaCie drive.

I did just this as I travelled over Xmas I decided to connect my old SIXAXIS to my rMBP (2015 15") and it's incredibly simple using this guide. The only issues I've come across is actually in Valve games such as TF2 and Left 4 Dead as Steam works perfectly fine in Big Picture but as soon as it gets in game the game only recognises some of the controls, I have no idea why though. My quick fix solution was to download Joystick Mapper from the App store, it's not free (the free version is still available but doesn't work with El Capitan) but after mapping the controls, I have Minecraft, L4D and many other games working fine with the controller using Joystick Mapper. However games like Shadow Of Mordor, Bioshock Infinite and Dirt3 all work flawlessly without any additional software.

They release an official statement about ending support for mac players. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.paladins.com/news/developer-update-macos-support-for-paladins&ved=2ahUKEwiZkIbtyb_wAhWTYysKHU3kCssQFjAmegQIGhAC&usg=AOvVaw2nAKZsuN3efkIu8rFJn3oU

1. Download proton app. Link for macOS: https://protonvpn.com/support/mac-vpn-setup/
2. Launch it. Connect to any of the free servers available.
3. Launch the game.
4. Once the game client loads fully, disconnect from Proton.
5. LoL will automatically reconnect to your default internet IP.
6. Get the Penta!

I have the exact same model, I think you actually need to use Boot Camp and RPCS3. Haven’t tried it out as of now, but I’ll do it later today Btw, there’s no need to partition your MacBook’s internal SSD, you can install Boot Camp on an external one.

Ahh I see, I usually enter in the server I want from this site (there are a few others as well): https://www.gametracker.com/search/cod4/US/

Has quite a few servers, might not be as convenient as the in game one but its how I've been playing since the game came out.

Screens 750m FO4 1280*800 everything at the lowest setting no spoilers

Also with the DS4 it you have to download this to get it the DS4 controller to work with fallout, all of the icons in came will have the xbox controller scheme so XYBA instead of circle, triangle, square, x.

Hey there!

The game that I play really frequently is League of Legends (I played it when I had it on my old Windows laptop, and was overjoyed to hear that they had it on Mac as well), but I understand that MOBA games aren't everyone's cup of tea, plus matches can get pretty long and the community is something else, though it has gotten better over the years.

I also recently got a Steam account and bought Borderlands 2. It's an amazing FPS with funny dialogue, cartoony graphics (I really enjoy the graphics, makes the game quite unique.), and if you find some friends to play with you, it can get quite fun! I have about 25 hours on it, but I haven't really played much since I got back from vacation. I also bought Portal 1 and 2, which is a really cool puzzle game that can get quite comedic at some points, would definitely recommend.

Lastly, I also downloaded OpenEmu, which is a program that allows you to play emulated games if you're interested in that as well. I've finished playing Valkyrie Profile (a PSP JRPG) on it a few days back, but it also covers most consoles (doesn't cover Gamecube, PS2, and up.). It goes from Atari 2600 to a Sony Playstation, so there's a lot of variety. With save states and such, you can always go back to where you left off without worry. I've been enjoying this program a lot, it even has controller support!

http://openemu.org

I have a Macbook 2012 13 inch model, with an Intel i7 and 8GB of RAM, if you're wondering, and I got it this past May as a present from my dad. I didn't really play much games on my old laptop because it was too weak, but I am definitely enjoying gaming on my Mac, even if our games can be limited.

All great suggestions so far!

I'll go a slightly different route: Get yourself OpenEmu. It's an excellent piece of software. And free! Granted, you'll have to figure out for yourself, where to get all the Cool Roms (hinthint) from, but if you can find them, you'll experience a gaming throwback like no other.

all settings in low yes. It's ok for the first 50 turns... but then I can't take it anymore.. too much lagging. http://osxdaily.com/2010/11/23/civilization-5-mac-system-requirements/ this says what you need. But still my MBP i5 covers most of it, it still lags like shit. Aspyr didn't do a very good job converting the game for mac

I've been super into Pillars of Eternity lately. If you have ever heard of Baldur's Gate, this is almost a sequel of sorts. The game itself is insanely in-depth, you could spend hours customizing your character and party, or just interacting with NPCs/reading lore from the books you come across in game. It's got an interesting loot and crafting system as well to keep things interesting.

Personally, it really feels like Dungeons and Dragons mixed with Diablo, I would highly recommend it. One of those games where you sit down to go a quest and look up to see 4 hours has passed.

Here's the link to Obsidian's website where you can check it out.

FTL: Faster Than Light - Play throughs can last anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour or so. You don't need to remember what you were doing in between sessions.

VVVVVV - Has some "story" that you might forget about, but the game really doesn't require it. Play sessions can be very self-contained.

You don't need to install windows.

OpenRCT2 is an open source recreation of the game that runs natively on Mac. Since you already installed the game files it shouldn't be too hard. https://openrct2.org

Have you tried Dwarf Fortress? The learning curve is a little steep, but there are lots of tutorials available on youtube.

I've owned: - Microsoft Intellimouse - Logitech MX518 - Razer Diamondback - Razer Deathadder - Razer Orochi - Razer Abyssus - Steelseries Sensei

I would say that the Steelseries Sensei is my favorite, followed by the Logitech MX518.

As a side note, if you don't like mouse acceleration and want to turn it off on OS X, use SmoothMouse: http://smoothmouse.com

This is a good point. I use an external Logitech G15 keyboard, which has a programmable LCD screen in it. It's really great to make the screen do things, but the driver crashes under OS X within 10 minutes, and leaves the screen stuck with whatever it was doing. It's not even possible to just restart it. I have to reboot to get it to work again. It's kind of pathetic.

If you don't like the acceleration (and I don't either), you can try SmoothMouse, and turn it off.

I am saying Use bootcamp. Do not skip it.

I had to skip it because I had a mac where I replaced the integrated DVD drive with a SSD back in the day, so bootcamp wouldn't work. rEFIt has tutorials on doing it if I recall correctly.

Again: I strongly suggest using bootcamp to install windows. I see 0 downside to doing so.

You want Boxer which is basically a front end for dosbox. It makes dosbox super user friendly. You just select the installer files with Boxer, boxer prompts you to select the correct .exe to run and Boxer creates a nice little packaged application featuring your DOS game.

"To find out if your Mac supports that feature, open Boot Camp Assistant, then click the Continue button. If you see a checkbox labeled “Create a Windows 7 or later install disk,” your Mac can install Windows from an ISO image."

From the Boot Camp FAQ: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201456

Note that Boot Camp may fail with pirated versions of Windows.

Boot Camp support: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

If you don't want to buy a copy of Windows you can give Wine a try.

You can install Steam using Wineskin.

http://wineskin.urgesoftware.com/tiki-index.php

This thread was extremely helpful, but a bit out of date.

I PMed the OP of that thread, and he linked me to this page as a replacement for the Wineskin stuff. I used WS8Wine1.5.0 and the most up-to-date "Wrapper Version".

I just realised, though, that I was doing this on Mountain Lion. I don't remember now whether I've tried it on Mavericks or not. I'll give that a go now and get back to you.

I suggest taking a look at Wineskin, it's a lot more user friendly than Wine, and they have pretty good forums to get you going. You can also download pre-made "wrappers" for games, thus minimizing how much work you have to put into playing Borderlands (or any other game that's been "ported").

Wineskin

PortingTeam

You might instead try starting with a blank wrapper using Wineskin Winery. After creating a new blank wrapper, it works exactly like the instructions (double click the new blank wrapper, install Windows software). The AppDB says that Wine version 1.4 and above (I would try 1.4.1, the latest stable version, first) works without any special tweaking such as winetricks installs, which that guy might've done and caused some sort of problem.

You have to have Windows 7, because Vista will only install if you use 10.6 version of bootcamp.

Bootcamp will give you the best gaming performance, and here is a very convient utility that makes it easy to boot into Windows...

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/28468/bootchamp

After you install Windows, you must update. You'll have to update and restart your machine at least 3 or 4 times because Microsoft sucks at updates. Then if there is a Service pack you'll want to install that

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/service-packs

Then you'll want to update the service pack (which should include another few restarts and updating)

Then you'll want to install the Windows drivers for your Macbook. They come on the installation DVD that came with your computer. Chances are, Windows won't recognize the driver, because it's stupid. Keep uninstalling and reinstalling the driver that isn't working; it will eventually start working.

Windows will run well, until it needs to update again.

It is a lot of hassle, but it will run games a lot better than OS X.

wine reads windows executables and tries to translate all windows-specific instructions, so your operating system can understand them. wine needs to have it's environment set-up. if you're not familiar with command line on mac, I would recommend crossover(paid - trial available): https://www.codeweavers.com/products/crossover-mac
or winebottler(free, but outdated): http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/

According to synthetic benchmarks it is considerably faster.

Edit: https://www.geekbench.com/blog/2018/07/macbook-pro-performance-july-2018/

Open CL tests show the 555X to be slightly faster than the 560, and even though there’s a typo, the 560X seems to be almost 10,000 points higher. Admittedly this is not real world, but it’s the best we have right now.

I just installed windows 10 on an external 256gb SSD. I'm not particularly tech-savvy, but it was fairly easy, and so far works well.

• I plugged the SSD into a computer running Windows and partitioned space on the SSD (is that a thing? - I did it under Disk Management on Windows).

• Downloaded the Windows ISO.

• Then I used http://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/ to install Windows on the SSD.

• Put the proper bootcamp drivers on a flash drive

• Plugged the SSD into my mac. Turn it on, and hold alt so you can choose the SSD.

• Windows installs, but a lot of stuff wont work. So you plug in the USB with the bootcamp drivers on it and install those.

• Restart Windows.

After that, no problems. I've had a noticeable increase in performance. As some other people have mentioned, I can't speak to longevity. But I'm running out of room on my MBP and this is the cheapest solution without having to buy an entirely new computer.

I don’t think so. My low end model from that year was noisy and hot. Never heard of one not being both of those things.

Wouldn’t worry unless it starts acting funny. You can check the temp (Windows) if concerned and compare to other reports.

CPU has failsafes (like halting) if it gets too high.

Better Touch Tool for Mac OS X allows you to implement mouse button function mapping features to just about any mouse you can buy regardless of driver (in like 90% of cases). I think it's about 7 bucks.

It may be some left over files, like workshop files. Check /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Steam/common/ and /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/Steam/workshop/ to see if you can delete any unused game files. Also, you can use an app like DaisyDisk to scan for large unused steam files.

It depends on the flavor of iMac. The white Core Duo iMacs cannot be upgraded. The graphic card is integrated into the logic board.

Core 2 Duo and later [Aluminum] iMacs use a more modular connector (PCI Express?) and can hypothetically be upgraded.

I say hypothetically because

1. You have to find a compatible video card, such as one being offered on contemporary iMacs or a "newer" model that uses the same driver. This is not trivial. The best I could find was this sold-out item from OWC. Maybe you have better google-fu.
2. There's some major deconstruction involved in getting to the relevant part. This iMac teardown should give you some sense of the effort involved (the GPU is at step 12, and then you have to reverse all of the steps).
3. If you are under AppleCare, #2 will shoot it all to hell.

External or firewire video cards simply don't have the throughput to handle graphics.

Nothing to be scared of, it is very easy once you just do it.

Lots of youtube videos with people being wreckless and getting away with it, so a little human logic and calmness goes a long way.

Anyways, with that said, I would recommend a macbook/laptop stand or cooler to have underneath the laptop, they help a lot.

http://www.toptenreviews.com/computers/peripherals/best-laptop-coolers/

Feel free to write if you have any questions. I've opened hundreds of laptops with no issues.

Games getting worse as you play is a classical symptom of thermal throttling. You’ll have a better time in both Rimworld and CIV6 in Bootcamp than macOS. In Bootcamp, try the drivers from bootcampdrivers.com - Aug Red should work. Also look into undervolting.

Honestly though the 560 is weak — you will need an eGPU or something like https://shadow.tech (a rented windows 10 pc in the cloud that streams the games to your laptop).

Look at my post history for comments with other ideas. I have the same MBP as you and I did an eGPU with a 1070GTX and I didn’t need to undervolt or anything. I can play Witcher 3, WoW, The Sims, and Conan Exiles for hours.

Unfortunately the CPU is soldered in so you can’t change it. For a 2012 you should be able to upgrade the RAM yourself assuming it is a non-Retina Display MacBook Pro. More RAM will help. I think that model can take up to 32GB.

Bootcamp would be significantly better than Parallels as it will have direct access to the hardware. Bootcamp is not virtualized; it is Apple-assisted dual booting. I’d try that before proceeding to below suggestions.

As for the graphics, you’d need to do something like an eGPU with Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter. This is pricey and might not be super great for your use case.

I’d suggest trying something like https://shadow.tech where you rent a Windows 10 computer in the cloud and have it stream the game like video to your laptop.

I didn't try, but a very kind Redditor, /u/WrongM4n, suggested I try Shadow to stream games. I haven't installed FO76 yet, but I'm steaming Doom (2016) from my Steam library at 2880x1800, 60FPS on ultra with no latency, so I'm pretty sure FO76 will run without a problem once I buy/install it.

It's a PowerPC game; so unfortunately there's no way you can get it to run on Lion. One way of getting past this, if you have an old OSX disc, is to create a virtual machine on your computer. here, you can download it free of charge.

It is quite annoying having to start it up each time you play though. I have a 2006 Mac Pro along with a MBA, and decided to reinstall Leopard on my Pro just to play games, specifically SimCity 4, Diablo 2 and RCT.

that's not true i did my dissertation on iOS development and it was certainly free when i downloaded it before christmas. must have added the cost fairly recently if they did

also https://developer.apple.com/xcode/

https://github.com/rallion/depressurizer

It requires the .NET Framework; specifically version 4.x.

Refactoring it would probably be possible using Mono or something, but there is no currently-existing Mac version.

Online works so far as the R* launcher works, I can load into my character, the bank balance is correctly synced, the apartment and garage and cars are synced, I can see all my bookmarked jobs, I can load jobs & I can play them, but only alone. I get invites to other jobs on the phone as well, but can’t join those lobbies.

I don’t know if this is caused by me connecting via a 4G mobile hotspot. I used PureVPN which allowed me to open all ports, so I don’t get the in-game-notice anymore that my NAT-type is set to strict mode since 4G connections are usually on a different/stricter NAT-type than normal broadband connections.

As soon as I can connect to normal broadband somewhere I will report back if I can game with other people.

Oh, and I can not for the life of me figure out how to get the Steam overlay working to see the actual fps.

Any tips are mega appreciated. ;)

The Logitech m720 Triathlon is an excellent mouse. It supports up to 3 devices and has several extra buttons. The software is also pretty good. You should be able to find it for sub-$30.

The only problem is that it’s a bit heavy. If you have wrist problems, you might want to keep away from it.

I'm using a Akitio Node - Thunderbolt3 eGPU which you can get from Amazon here. I'm messing with the High Sierra beta so I ordered an AMD RX 580 to use with it. I'll have the same setup that the 9to5 Mac folks have when it arrives, so I'm pretty sure it will work.

(disclaimer: i have posted this before when someone else asked for headset recommendations)

It depends on what you want to spend, but I wouldn't spend anything over $50 unless you want something with a bunch of features--that your mac probably couldn't use anyways--here are what i recommend:

Plantronics 788. Only uses one USB port, mic is REALLY great, pretty damn comfortable (i wear them all day during work, so 8+ hours and then however many hours I game after work and zero complaints.) You can get refurbished ones on ebay for a bit less than the Amazon one--these are actually discontinued (i ordered multiple backup headsets of this when they went on Black Friday sale---that's how much I adore this headset) so you would have to settle for a refurb. I bought a refurb pair on Black Friday and a refurb pair from eBay for my boyfriend and you can't tell the difference other than you might not get retail packaging. There are no settings you need to mess with, it plugged in and worked with my mac with no issues and no downloading of a special program or driver needed.

Logitech G430. Comfortable af, and i think logitech has a Mac program so you can change settings natively with no hassle. The mic isn't as good on this headset but it is a tad cheaper.

If you have USB-C, get something like this:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MNFH1PX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and as big of a SSD as you need for whatever games you can afford, NVMe.

TB3 ssd would be great but super expensive for no real world performance benefit in games.

> Edit: Also I'm short of space on my SSD, I can allot 75gb maybe? Is that alright?

Just saw this edit and did a quick search: 30GB is the recommended minimum for a Windows 10 install. How much more depends on how many games you want to have installed at once, and how big those games average. Fortnite is 70GB or so, but A Hat in Time is 8GB. I would guess most games are around 10-20GB if they aren't First-Person Shooters like Call of Duty.

I think 75GB will be ok. Also, I believe you can store games on an external drive, so if you run out, or need more space, just buy a 512GB or 1TB SSD like so.

Thermal Pad: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UYTTLI4 (fold it and cut the end to make it 2x as tall)

Cooler: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J0NZYOK (I had to remove the sliding things that hold the laptop in place, as my 16 inch is too big to be put inbetween them. It works even better once doing that)

Sorry it took a while to come back to you.

1 - Think I did maybe 80 - 100Gb from memory, definitely no more than that and it sits with about 20Gb free normally. I then on the NVME got a 1tb (will link in point 2) and split it, 500Gb Windows and 500Gb Mac just as storage, its plenty quick so I have it as a download / photos / music and dumping drive for OSX stuff and the Windows side houses my steam library and anything else. From memory, can double check this if you need me to, set the NVME up in OSX under APFS and then partitioned an element to FAT for Windows. Then booted to Windows and wiped the FAT and made it NTFS.

2 - The drive is Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive (SB-ROCKET-1TB) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07LGF54XR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_gx3fFbJ62K890 and the enclosure is USB Type C M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure Adapter, USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps Solid State Drive Aluminum External Casing, Unique Cooling Fin Design for Good Heat Dissipation https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RZBTNTN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_6x3fFbVTYCBBT

3 - Not had any issues with temp at all, but as I said I don’t really play FPS so can’t say it will be exactly the same for you. I recently installed macfanscontrol to both OSX and Windows just in case but the idle is around 40 degrees Celsius in OSX and I think from memory around 80 degrees Fahrenheit in Windows - no idea why they use different measurements. I can confirm these for you if you want, just not in front of mac just now. Either way I pulled the values down for safety on macfanscontrol and they have never even fully spun up so the heat in the Mac mini doesn’t seem to be an issue at all. I would add that I have mine mounted under desk so the base of it has airflow, I think from all that I read that has helped without me knowing.

You'll want a USB C to DisplayPort Cable. I bought one from Amazon (US) for $17 that successfully connects my 13" MacBook Pro to an Asus monitor at 144hz: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J6DT070/ Good luck!

I have this one: LaCie 1TB Rugged SSD Pro External Drive with Thunderbolt 3

I bought it from Apple back in 2020 (£350 with work discount, now Amazon has better price, at least in UK). I was using it when my internal SSD was used by development tools, and LaCie was just a tad slower than built in one. Back then it was a good, portable, 1 cable solution.

It is possible you can get better (and / or cheaper) performance with an enclosure for NVME drive, but I know nothing about them. And remember this iMac only has 2 USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 ports.