Do you support a Mac OS X client in Star Wars the Old Republic?

[Toxen]

Sorry, I really don't feel like spending 1500-$2000 just for a game (especially when there's no reason to)

 

 

Also, did someone use the words "serious" and "gaming" in the same sentence?

[Smeema]

I would love a mac client. It's frustrating to have to constantly switch OSes between my preferred computing environment and the one that supports my current game of choice.

 

FYI - it is certainly possible for a small team of devs to work on porting the codebase without effecting the bugfixing teams or the content creation teams or *taking away resources". IMO it would be a win for all players if a mac client is created as it will increase the chances of keeping us boot camp players playing the game as well as open the market to new players and more subscribers. we do want a healthy player-base after all, right?

[Legendoom]

Yes, yes and yes. 100% support here. I'm running Bootcamp on my 13' MacBook Pro, and while it runs fine, I still hate working in windows. All my files are over on the Mac side, and the three applications I have on the Windows side are Google Chrome, iTunes, and SWTOR. It's not a big time-waster to switch between the OS's; the irritation lies in the storage space that having another OS on your computer takes up, and the inconvenience of having to switch between the two. I have a 750g internal drive in this thing that I had put in, so storage space isn't a huge issue, but if I could get rid of the Windows OS on this laptop (since it's only being used for SWTOR), I could conserve around 20g of space more. Not a big amount, but it is something. And again, switching between the two, while not particularly time-consuming, is a pain in the ***, especially because ALL my stuff is over on the mac side, which I cannot access because PC doesn't support the programs I have these downloaded into.

 

And to all the people who say Mac occupies 5% of all computers, that's an absurdly low number. Stop posting the price difference, calling mac users stupid for paying so much, complete computer luddites who don't know what they're doing, and all of us are non-gamers. This is one of the only games I've found myself unable to play in the +8 years we've had a mac in my house. WoW, Spore, Rise of Nations, City of Heroes (I could go on but I won't), are all games I've played before. They are all successful, and they all have Mac clients. I'm not a businessman nor do I have the mind for economics, but I think it's a very poor business decision for Bioware not to make a Mac client. Even if they do occupy 5% of the people who play this, that's 100,000 people, which adds up to ~6,000,000 dollars, and assuming a 1 month subscription ONLY, that brings the number up to 7.5 million dollars. Make a Mac client Bioware, it won't be hurting anyone, except for the PC people who will complain that you're taking time away from their sweet presence to deal with a very simple problem.

[Toxen]

And to all the people who say Mac occupies 5% of all computers, that's an absurdly low number. Stop posting the price difference, calling mac users stupid for paying so much, complete computer luddites who don't know what they're doing, and all of us are non-gamers.

 

This is one of the main reasons I refuse to buy "PCs". Nearly every PC owner that's ever found out I own a Mac treat me this way the moment I tell them, or they see it. It's as though I blasphemed against their religion or insulted their mother. For some reason, they take something I own very, very personally.

 

And they call us a fanboy cult

[Phaedros]

I play SWTOR on a Mac Pro via BootCamp and a Windows 7-installed drive all it's own.

 

It's easy and it works just fine.

[-Sev]

Audience appeal is a BIGGIE in mmos, that being said it would be nice to have a native client for not only mac but maybe linux also with mac opengl.

[Raeion]

yes i do support the idea, blizzard did with all their products and they made sao much money i play both starcraft 2 and wow on my mac very very smoothly and im loving it,

now i love SWTOR but i need it for mac version and i hate bootcamp i just dont want it

[wtecchio]

i would love to have to for mac because i only own mac computers…..

so now i can't play a good game because i don't have windows

also it takes like 5 hours to download bootcamp and bootcamp slows down your mac…… don't want that to happen

 

so please i would love to play this game more

[QuadraQ]

Just want to chime in that I believe that TOR both needs and deserves a Mac client. I know that's not easy but I believe it will be more than worth it. I'm even in support of a Linux client someday, but Mac should come first.

[misterME]

i would love to have to for mac because i only own mac computers…..

so now i can't play a good game because i don't have windows

also it takes like 5 hours to download bootcamp and bootcamp slows down your mac…… don't want that to happen

 

so please i would love to play this game more

 

Um...there is nothing to download for Bootcamp, and it doesn't really slow your Mac down. I'm not sure you're thinking of the right thing. What are you downloading? (Unless you're referring to downloading a bootleg copy of Windows to run under Bootcamp...)

 

 

Granted, you are running Windows on your Mac hardware; and in ways I can see how you might claim that Windows is slower than Mac OS X (though not appreciably). But games generally run better on Windows under Bootcamp than they do under Mac OS X, due to the outdated driver support for games on Mac OS X.

 

To be honest, I can run SWTOR using Parallels (a virtual machine manager) under OS X Lion without losing more than 5 - 10 frames per second compared to the Bootcamp implementation, and that's (convolutedly) running SWTOR under Mac OS X...

 

.

Edited April 22, 2012 by misterME

[Onyx]

i would love to have to for mac because i only own mac computers…..

so now i can't play a good game because i don't have windows

also it takes like 5 hours to download bootcamp and bootcamp slows down your mac…… don't want that to happen

 

so please i would love to play this game more

 

Um...there is nothing to download for Bootcamp, and it doesn't really slow your Mac down. I'm not sure you're thinking of the right thing. What are you downloading? (Unless you're referring to downloading a bootleg copy of Windows to run under Bootcamp...)

 

 

Granted, you are running Windows on your Mac hardware; and in ways I can see how you might claim that Windows is slower than Mac OS X (though not appreciably). But games generally run better on Windows under Bootcamp than they do under Mac OS X, due to the outdated driver support for games on Mac OS X.

 

To be honest, I can run SWTOR using Parallels (a virtual machine manager) under OS X Lion without losing more than 5 - 10 frames per second compared to the Bootcamp implementation, and that's (convolutedly) running SWTOR under Mac OS X...

 

.

 

This.

 

Certainly I would far prefer to play natively on OSX, but the previous comments about Bootcamp taking hours to download and slowing down your Mac are not accurate.

Edited April 22, 2012 by Onyx

[lorefultv]

I play SWTOR with Bootcamp, runs great. However, I always try and support any game produced natively or ported for OSX. Neverwinter NIghts, World of Warcraft, Diablo 1-3, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2...to name a few, I've bought the mac versions of all of these games. I actually bought DA:Origins twice, for Windows and OSX, to compare performance.

 

If SWTOR were to gain an OSX client, I would actually spend the money to purchase the client again if I had to.

 

On a side note, don't know why these threads always turn into a mac hater thread. The reality is usage share of Mac OS is up to 6.36%. Naturally this does not include iOS which would inflate that percentage incredibly. But iOS is a real 'game' changer in the space as developers are creating amazing games for iOS. This trend will only grow. In fact the "The top one percent of iOS game developers earn over a third of the gaming revenue made on the App Store". One can hate as much as they want but the reality is that gaming on Apple platforms is huge and growing.

 

Source.

[Shingara]

well i think one of the arguments for macs just went out of the window, seems hackers are now majorly attacking macs according to my norton information update and world wide attack report, so any of you resting on the fact that macs didnt used to get hack please be advised this has changed and get some anti virus on you mac.

[Freyar]

I'd love to see native support for Mac OS X players, but if it's going to take significant resources from standard development, well.. Boot Camp does work well, or so I hear.

[SabreMerc]

But iOS is a real 'game' changer in the space as developers are creating amazing games for iOS. This trend will only grow. In fact the "The top one percent of iOS game developers earn over a third of the gaming revenue made on the App Store". One can hate as much as they want but the reality is that gaming on Apple platforms is huge and growing.

 

Personally this is what I hate on... only with reason.

 

Coming from a developer standpoint casual games are great - but the ease of creating mobile games has led to mobile markets being flooded with a lot of crap, with a few decent games out there.

 

IMHO that very fact, combined with a few other factors could lead to another video game crash.

 

Back on topic though; I would like to see more support for other OS'es. On the other hand, I've resorted to using windows rather than linux due to way more support for graphically intensive games. 'nix and mac computers simply don't have as much hardware support for gaming. That's just how it is.

 

Can some games be played on a mac? Sure. Can you play any game you want on a mac? I doubt it. Running an emulator or virtual machine is going to have it's limitations. Ultimately macs don't have graphics cards designed for gaming. Sure, I get it. You can render things pretty quickly and can photoshop like crazy. But that means nothing when it comes to a game.

 

What really needs to happen is if people want to play more games on computers not designed for gaming then they should try petitioning the hardware companies responsible for their issues rather than raising a big issue with the developers.

 

If for whatever reason that doesn't seem like the best choice, then do like the rest of us. Get a PC, and if you can't stand using windows, then dual boot. Buy a PC, load OSX on it. Now you've got a gaming rig for when you want to play stuff... and OSX for when you don't. I won't get into hating on macs or mac users, but what I will say is don't start acting like you are entitled to anything. If you did any research before buying a computer you would notice that unless you're into the sims or bejeweled (yes a slight exaggeration) you really don't have much of a selection of games. This may change at some point, but because it hasn't yet nobody who owns a mac can really get up in arms over this. You either didn't do the proper legwork or you didn't care. Either way leaves no room to complain.

 

Hypothetically, if a client for swtor came out for mac... there are a few issues. First, if we see one shortly, then it probably won't have been tested like it should. It would likely have a lot of bugs, especially since the game wasn't designed to run on a mac. Could a port be done? Possibly... then again, we don't know whats in the engine so it's also possible that if a port were attempted that they may run into a snag that prevents further development. Furthermore, it is also entirely possible that even if a mac client is made that the client wouldn't run at an acceptable framerate. If this sounds questionable, then again remember it was designed for the PC at the start. So... they may need to go into the engine and change some things around. Guess what. That will without a doubt have an effect on everyone playing. A game that ran smoothly before may not. On top of already existent bugs you now have more bugs, and brand new ones at that. Now there's even more bugs to fix.

 

The second issue is if/when one does come out, in order to avoid the above there would need to be a lot of testing. Expect that to take a while. As the game is patched for the rest of us PC users, more testing will need to be done with each iteration. That being said, unless there is a long period without patches (which would be bad) you could expect constant delays in the client release date.

 

So... IMHO... don't hold your breath.

[DaenShadow]

Can some games be played on a mac? Sure. Can you play any game you want on a mac? I doubt it. Running an emulator or virtual machine is going to have it's limitations. Ultimately macs don't have graphics cards designed for gaming. Sure, I get it. You can render things pretty quickly and can photoshop like crazy. But that means nothing when it comes to a game.

 

First... um, you obviously haven't looked at the current MACs. Here's what you can get on a current iMac: AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5. as well as a current 3.4 GHz i7 CPU. This is from the Apple website. You are obviously uninformed. My PC currently has a Radeon 5870 2GB RAM GDDR5 video card and 3.4 GHz i7 CPU. It runs the game maxed out perfectly fine. A current iMac would beat my performance, so yes they can play games and not just Photoshop. Why people think this, I have no idea. Rather ridiculous.

 

Anyway, I'd love for a Mac client to be made. I also dual boot Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion on my PC. Frankly I only boot into Windows 7 when I play games that MAc doesn't have. You can get Dues Ex: Human Revolution on Mac now, Most BioWare games (Assassin's Creed series, Dragon Age series, Mass Effect), Civ V, World of Warcraft (hate the game, but it's popular), just to name a few.

 

Not supporting Mac would not be a good decision. More and more people I know of are moving to Mac...they are tired of PCs and Windows....I'm one of them...I'd use Mac over a PC any day if game developers started supporting it more. And by the way I've been in the high tech industry for 20+ years. I know Linux, BSD, Solaris, etc. I like the look and feel of OS X. I'm definitely not too impressed with Windows 8... looks like a Kindergarten OS...

 

Anyway, YES...Mac OS client!

[Onyx]

Personally this is what I hate on... only with reason.

 

Coming from a developer standpoint casual games are great - but the ease of creating mobile games has led to mobile markets being flooded with a lot of crap, with a few decent games out there.

 

IMHO that very fact, combined with a few other factors could lead to another video game crash.

 

Back on topic though; I would like to see more support for other OS'es. On the other hand, I've resorted to using windows rather than linux due to way more support for graphically intensive games. 'nix and mac computers simply don't have as much hardware support for gaming. That's just how it is.

 

Can some games be played on a mac? Sure. Can you play any game you want on a mac? I doubt it. Running an emulator or virtual machine is going to have it's limitations. Ultimately macs don't have graphics cards designed for gaming. Sure, I get it. You can render things pretty quickly and can photoshop like crazy. But that means nothing when it comes to a game.

 

What really needs to happen is if people want to play more games on computers not designed for gaming then they should try petitioning the hardware companies responsible for their issues rather than raising a big issue with the developers.

 

If for whatever reason that doesn't seem like the best choice, then do like the rest of us. Get a PC, and if you can't stand using windows, then dual boot. Buy a PC, load OSX on it. Now you've got a gaming rig for when you want to play stuff... and OSX for when you don't. I won't get into hating on macs or mac users, but what I will say is don't start acting like you are entitled to anything. If you did any research before buying a computer you would notice that unless you're into the sims or bejeweled (yes a slight exaggeration) you really don't have much of a selection of games. This may change at some point, but because it hasn't yet nobody who owns a mac can really get up in arms over this. You either didn't do the proper legwork or you didn't care. Either way leaves no room to complain.

 

Hypothetically, if a client for swtor came out for mac... there are a few issues. First, if we see one shortly, then it probably won't have been tested like it should. It would likely have a lot of bugs, especially since the game wasn't designed to run on a mac. Could a port be done? Possibly... then again, we don't know whats in the engine so it's also possible that if a port were attempted that they may run into a snag that prevents further development. Furthermore, it is also entirely possible that even if a mac client is made that the client wouldn't run at an acceptable framerate. If this sounds questionable, then again remember it was designed for the PC at the start. So... they may need to go into the engine and change some things around. Guess what. That will without a doubt have an effect on everyone playing. A game that ran smoothly before may not. On top of already existent bugs you now have more bugs, and brand new ones at that. Now there's even more bugs to fix.

 

The second issue is if/when one does come out, in order to avoid the above there would need to be a lot of testing. Expect that to take a while. As the game is patched for the rest of us PC users, more testing will need to be done with each iteration. That being said, unless there is a long period without patches (which would be bad) you could expect constant delays in the client release date.

 

So... IMHO... don't hold your breath.

 

Perhaps do some more reading on the topic before responding. Most of the above is either inaccurate, misinformation, or just plain incorrect. Some of it was true years ago, but not anymore.

 

1) Current Macs can technically play any game out there. Not natively, of course--because the games aren't all available for MacOS. But the limitation is not the hardware. I find it extremely ironic to suggest people buy a PC and then dual boot it as a hackintosh rather than the better alternative for people who do prefer OSX to Windows, which is to dual boot a Mac with Windows.

 

2) No, they aren't going to change engines for a Mac version.

 

3) As far as on-going development and patching, you only need take a look at other games which are currently available for both platforms in order to see that in practice. EA themselves have quite a bit of experience in this area--and I've not seen delays between Mac and Windows versions for 5+ years.

 

Like it or not, EA/BW is continuing to gauge the situation and review their options in this area. As for now, there are still some limiting factors but as those dwindle the chance for an OSX release gets stronger.

 

I myself play on a Mac, running Windows natively. I have specific tasks I do under OSX and others that I do under Windows. For those who don't use Windows at all though, or those who are not playing the game now because of the limitation to Windows, having an OSX version would only increase the sales/subscription base.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Onyx

[Theronlas]

First... um, you obviously haven't looked at the current MACs. Here's what you can get on a current iMac: AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5. as well as a current 3.4 GHz i7 CPU. This is from the Apple website. You are obviously uninformed. My PC currently has a Radeon 5870 2GB RAM GDDR5 video card and 3.4 GHz i7 CPU. It runs the game maxed out perfectly fine. A current iMac would beat my performance, so yes they can play games and not just Photoshop.

 

Note the M at the end of the GFX model number, its a laptop chip not a desktop, your 5870 is probably easily twice as powerful. The cpu is the same, but there is less of a performance difference. It will still play starwars, the 6970M is about on par with a 67xx series desktop chip, so it is a mid range card, but not as well as your computer.

 

The only Macs that can manage proper graphics cards (full size) are Mac Pros and they are anything but cheap.

[RickRedOne]

I don't understand why this thread keeps popping back to the front page.

 

They know there are people who want a Mac version.

 

But they have no plans "at this time" to produce one.

When they start thinking about doing one, I bet there will be a Post asking for input.

[BrunoLogan]

I don't understand why this thread keeps popping back to the front page.

 

They know there are people who want a Mac version.

 

But they have no plans "at this time" to produce one.

When they start thinking about doing one, I bet there will be a Post asking for input.

 

If subs are really falling, they should think again...

[JacenHallis]

I actually would like to see Microsoft code Direct X for MacOS. They'd totally never do it, as it would eat into Windows profits (which, at the prices they charge in Western countries, is likely substantial), but I'd like to see it done. Then, it's just a simple matter of writing a new executable.

 

Of course, that's my limited programming experience talking. And, by limited, I mean I took a programming course in high school and college that used Turbo Pascal. And then, I attended about 15 days total of Assembly Programming. Needless to say, I found out that computer science was not my bag.

 

However, I find it interesting that Blizzard has no problem programming and maintaining a MacOS client for WoW. Surely they have a system that's more efficient than creating every asset twice.

 

As for the topic: I'm totally for a MacOS client.

[Rykrai]

Yes!

 

You do get a reduction in performance with Bootcamp.

 

I was told by a Bioware employee that they will not help me with my technical issue because they do not support mac, even though it is a Windows / Swtor issue not a Bootcamp issue.

 

Windows is a poor quality OS compared to the Mac counterpart. I personally would prefer to use my Mac OS and free up space from Bootcamp.

[Restepor]

Yes and no, really I don't care either way. I just don't want them to spend an entire update on a Mac Client instead of having an actual content update.

[marcullini]

yes! definitely support a mac client since i am a macbook pro owner who would like to play this game on his native OS!!! Thanks!

[NasherUK]

They could spend their time on more important things, like better optimizing the game for current systems.

 

Porting to Mac is a lot of work considering the engine is currently directx only (and relies VERY heavily on it). It may not even be possible to convert to OpenGL without re-coding most it, which is just never going to happen.

 

Then you have other problems like how restrictive Mac OS is compared to windows. You need permission from Apple to do, or release just about anything on it and it's not cheap.

Edited May 15, 2012 by NasherUK