• New Mac Games, Hardware Survey, and Portal
    20 replies, posted
[url]http://store.steampowered.com/news/3837/[/url]
wasn't this posted just 1 or 2 days ago?
I think so
[QUOTE]- Portal (with the same code base across platforms) is one fifth as likely to crash on a Mac than on Windows.[/QUOTE] Why?
Oh shit. I sense that single statement causing the Mactards to explode.
[QUOTE=toxicpiano;22089365]Why?[/QUOTE] Less configurations? [editline]04:12PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Makol;22088370]wasn't this posted just 1 or 2 days ago?[/QUOTE] They edited the post, so it got reposted.
[QUOTE=toxicpiano;22089365]Why?[/QUOTE] Fuck, I can hear it now "GET MAC IT RUNS GAMES BETTER TOO!!!!"
haha that's hilarious that it crashes less on Mac.
It crashes less because OS X crashes less. DirectX has stability problems, mainly with beta drivers. What isn't mentioned in this post is that it gets about 10-20% worse performance. So I'd say it's about an even trade for most games. I may have to get a Mac for two games, though. GMod and Oblivion. Both crash way too often for my tastes, although it's partly my fault for having so many mods installed. Besides, I was planning to get one anyways.
I assume it's like saying games crash less on consoles, because they know what hardware they're working with.
Pretty much.
[QUOTE=cloud_strife;22095971]I assume it's like saying games crash less on consoles, because they know what hardware they're working with.[/QUOTE] Not really. The current Mac lineup has seven different GPUs from three different companies (nVidia, ATI and Intel). Not to mention all the previous models. And don't even get started with the hackintoshes. OS X works with many, many graphics cards. It's mostly that OS X, being built on Mach, which is in turn based on FreeBSD and NetBSD, can draw on two decades of open development after another two of closed work, on the basic system. The kernel has been polished to a shine. Compare Windows, which has only been around for half that, and draws on far fewer developers. Besides, MS puts their best programmers to work on Office and the like.
You have far less permutations of hardware than PC's. Period. This is what Valve/Gabe/Lead Coder have said in an interview.
[QUOTE=gman003-main;22096407]Not really. The current Mac lineup has [B]seven[/B] different GPUs from three different companies (nVidia, ATI and Intel). Not to mention all the previous models. And don't even get started with the hackintoshes. OS X works with many, many graphics cards. [/QUOTE] SEVEN possible GPUs. Versus the what, HUNDREDS of combinations available for PC?
[QUOTE=Chris122990;22096681]SEVEN possible GPUs. Versus the what, HUNDREDS of combinations available for PC?[/QUOTE] The point is with sevent different GPUs, Valve is able to work on ensuring that the game (Portal) works on those seven different cards without it crashing, whereas on the PC, they're going to test on a wide range, but not able to test the whole range.
Read what he was quoting. My quote makes more sense then.
[QUOTE=Chris122990;22096927]Read what he was quoting. My quote makes more sense then.[/QUOTE] Yes and your point - a more well written kernel will result in less crashing - and this helped further by the fact that there are less cards to program for.
[QUOTE=gman003-main;22095582]It crashes less because OS X crashes less. DirectX has stability problems, mainly with beta drivers. What isn't mentioned in this post is that it gets about 10-20% worse performance. So I'd say it's about an even trade for most games. I may have to get a Mac for two games, though. GMod and Oblivion. Both crash way too often for my tastes, although it's partly my fault for having so many mods installed. Besides, I was planning to get one anyways.[/QUOTE] Performance on mac is %40 worse than its windows counterpart.
are the full survey results available yet? [editline]07:28PM[/editline] [QUOTE=DogGunn;22096853]The point is with sevent different GPUs, Valve is able to work on ensuring that the game (Portal) works on those seven different cards without it crashing, whereas on the PC, they're going to test on a wide range, but not able to test the whole range.[/QUOTE] THAT and there's also countless other factors when considering a Windows PC. Macs have limited application support limiting the possibility of what they have installed, limited OTHER components, asaik graphics cards aren't the only thing that differ in macs, etc it's just a lot more limited all around, meaning even apart from hardware, most shit is roughly the same on most macs
[QUOTE=toxicpiano;22089365]Why?[/QUOTE] [url]http://5by5.tv/conversation/16[/url] They discuss potential reasons why on this interview
[QUOTE=Mr. Kobayashi;22099903][URL]http://5by5.tv/conversation/16[/URL] They discuss potential reasons why on this interview[/QUOTE] Too long, didn't listen? Wanna break it down in 50 words or less?
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