Sims on a Mac

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tamalinn
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Sims on a Mac

Post by tamalinn » May 18th, 2019, 8:24 pm

I play Sims 3 on a bootcamped 2012 15" Macbook Pro that's barely grinding along. For the past couple of years I've considered replacing it, but then didn't because of the reported incompatibilities between most newer Macs' graphics cards and Sims 3. Is anyone playing on a 2017, 2018, or 2019 Macbook Pro? If so, did you have to tweak anything to get the game to work?

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igazor
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Sims on a Mac

Post by igazor » May 18th, 2019, 9:04 pm

I swear you guys get together and come up with some of these questions just to make me feel important. Or perhaps I should just say "good timing!" on this one. :D

Not on a Macbook Pro, but yes on a 2019 iMac with a Radeon Pro 560X. I just installed the game on it a couple of weeks ago. Haven't had much time to play except to load up the game a few times here and there after the install and copying of content over and it all seems to be fine after the usual steps taken to cap the fps, get the card formally recognized, and get rid of the unnecessary 32 MB texture memory override. Win 10 through Bootcamp, where I was formerly using Win 7, has provided no resistance to performance thus far although I did take the step to switch off its relatively new built-in Game Mode based on others reporting poor experiences with it. And not Mac specific exactly, I have to say that starting up either operating system on an SSD happens so fast that sometimes I think the system must really have been running all along when I wasn't watching it.

It's the more crippled Mac version of the game that has the famous GPU (and other) incompatibilities associated with it. And, in fact we expect that the next version of the operating system, the one to come after Mojave probably to be released this fall, will drop all support for and ability to run 32-bit applications, so that will be the end of TS3 for Mac for those staying current with the MacOS.

When playing bootcamped, none of this matters. I can't see why any of the current MacBook Pro offerings would be a problem any more or less than any other more typical installation on Windows. You do, of course, require a model with a large enough drive to support two operating systems; the smaller drives would likely be nonstarters just because there's not enough space to work with and keep sufficient free space going for Windows and the game to maneuver properly. The models with integrated graphics, the Intel Iris Pros, will be limiting as to how far one can take the game and to its performance like any other integrated graphics chip, the models with Radeon Pros will behave the same as those with any other GPUs of their capability again once the fps rates are capped and we get the card recognized with the sgr file edits in the usual way.

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Sims on a Mac

Post by sheridanhoughton » May 19th, 2019, 1:17 am

I play sims 3 on a 2012 macbook pro using OS 10.10.5. But not with bootcamp. I play the mac version that I bought originally with a disc, and later EPs with Origin.
I find the game works fine if I play small worlds and small lots. large community lots are usually ok, but not having my sims live on large lots.
The medium worlds work for a while, but after a few generations they slow down and get buggy. I also only use CC and mods that I really can't do without. I find that CC clothes and furniture are ok in limited numbers, but I find custom made and dowloaded sims often cause problems. I also only have 5 EPs and no stuff packs. I always use custom worlds because they are the only ones that are small enough.

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Sims on a Mac

Post by igazor » May 19th, 2019, 1:42 am

It's great that you are still enjoying the Mac version on that 2012 hardware set. But today's MacBook Pros ship with Mojave, OS 10.14 and there are serious issues with getting the more modern processor and graphics cards not only recognized by the game but actually usable. Some processor/GPU combos are more stubborn than others and just flat out won't run the game. It's not really the same proposition as playing the Mac version on 2012 or earlier hardware.

But anyway, the OP is not trying to play the Mac version. She wishes to play the Windows version by way of Bootcamp and in that case the Mac version's 2 GB RAM limit, its incompatibilities stemming from its Cider implementation never having been updated to account for new hardware sets, and the further insurmountable issues we will have with OS 10.15 not far away will not be relevant.

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Sims on a Mac

Post by tamalinn » May 19th, 2019, 10:06 am

Thanks, Igazor, I really appreciate all of this info. It sounds like as long as the graphics aren't integrated, I should be okay. Did I understand that right? Once I actually buy it, I'll have to follow-up on the sgr thing that you mentioned. I'm currently bootcamped with Windows 7, but I figure the game will run fine on Windows 10.

Sheridan, thanks. I'm glad you have the game running on OSX. I used to play on OSX--I even helped out with the Mac thread on the Sims forum--but I got tired of all the tweaks and workarounds Cider required just so the game would run at all, and how few EPs/SPs/CC I could use from all the content that's out there. So I bootcamped my Mac and never looked back. If it's something that you can do, I highly recommend it.

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Sims on a Mac

Post by igazor » May 19th, 2019, 10:10 pm

tamalinn post_id=66271 time=1558274785 user_id=13514 wrote: It sounds like as long as the graphics aren't integrated, I should be okay. Did I understand that right?

Right. It's not the Windows version of the game won't run on integrated graphics, it's that doing so can be limiting to gameplay especially when the heavier hitting EPs (Pets, Seasons, IP, ITF) are in play, one has to dial back ones expectations and graphics settings in Game Options, Error 12s can become more likely as RAM and the processor have to make up for what a dedicated graphics card would be doing.

Getting the card recognized through the sgr file edits technically isn't usually necessary, but it's easy to do (we can help with that) and also prevents the game from assigning a low level set of options defaults and from unnecessarily throttling the sending of inactive sims to community lots when it incorrectly thinks it is running in a low-end environment.

The Macs with suitable graphics cards are expensive, I'll be the first to admit that, and are in no way disposable systems like some PCs (laptops especially) can be. I spent months while waiting for the iMac series to refresh itself as it just did weighing the pros and cons of staying with Macs vs. getting a custom built PC at home, but finally justified the expense to myself as I so much prefer to spend my non-simming time in the MacOS when at home. I get more than enough of the Windows experience at work. :)

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Sims on a Mac

Post by sheridanhoughton » May 19th, 2019, 10:28 pm

I'm sorry, but I'm getting too old to follow all the tech speak. So if my husband decides to go all out and buy me a new macbook pro, I would have to play sims 3 via bootcamp?

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Sims on a Mac

Post by igazor » May 19th, 2019, 10:45 pm

sheridanhoughton post_id=66284 time=1558319337 user_id=5082 wrote: I'm sorry, but I'm getting too old to follow all the tech speak. So if my husband decides to go all out and buy me a new macbook pro, I would have to play sims 3 via bootcamp?

Maybe. It depends on the model but it will be extremely difficult to get TS3 for Mac installed on a current MacBook Pro because of the processor/graphics card combos that the game is not expecting to encounter. On some of the MBPs for some players this has become impossible, for others there's tons of information and step by step guides on Bluebellflora's site to help get past that. At least four (it might be more) of the EP/SPs also need special handling in order to get them installed by way of Origin for Mac, again with the info provided by Bluebellflora. The modern Mac operating systems will not accept a TS3 disc install.

If the new Mac is by that time running the next operating system after Mojave, so that's 10.15 as yet not named, or if it is intended to stay up to date on the MacOS, then the game will not run at all because it is a 32-bit program and Apple is reportedly disallowing those entirely. Currently we get a warning when running one on 10.14 or lower that the end is near, tell the program's manufacturer to update it to 64-bit, or something like that. There is no indication that EA has any interest in updating TS3 for Mac or otherwise.

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Sims on a Mac

Post by sheridanhoughton » May 20th, 2019, 5:02 am

Thanks Igazor, and also for the link. Does that mean I couldn't play sims at all? Even if I was using bootcamp?

thanks

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Sims on a Mac

Post by igazor » May 20th, 2019, 6:26 am

sheridanhoughton post_id=66306 time=1558342931 user_id=5082 wrote: Thanks Igazor, and also for the link. Does that mean I couldn't play sims at all? Even if I was using bootcamp?

thanks

No, Bootcamp removes all of these issues. When we start our Macs into Windows by way of Bootcamp, we are not running the Mac OS and we are not trying to run TS3 for Mac. We are running Windows and TS3 for Windows, like any other PC that runs Windows. While started up on the Windows partition, the Mac becomes just a brand of hardware and nothing more (except for special versions of device drivers, as provided by Apple).

The two operating systems do not run together or share programs in any way. We choose which one we want to boot our Mac up into upon startup. If we wish to change from one to the other mid-session, the Mac OS to Windows or back, we must restart our machine again each time.

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