C&C3 First Impressions...

[n0d3]

Bought C&C3 a yesterday and all I can say is EA did a half **** job of porting it over.

The Cider implementation of the game wasn't as good as I expected it to be. Running the game took me 3min08sec from clicking "Play" to actually seeing the game start with EA's splash screen.

And scrolling was rubbishly slow with the "High"/"Medium" graphic presets, it was only playable on "Low".

I'm running a first gen 2.0GHz MBP with 1.5GHz of RAM so I'm not sure if guys with the new 8600 would get better performance graphically but the load time is already pissing me off.

 

[Eidorian]

At least it's not crashing...

 

[bigandy]

It works well, and fast on BC for me, so I'm a bit disappointed to hear this (I run it with all the highest graphics options, MBP C2D 2.16 2Gb RAM).

I had hoped that it would run the same as with windows, just without teh fans going crazy all the fracking time. but if it's taht slow, sod it.

 

[CrescentEdge]

Yeah, I can't say I am too pleased with the way it runs.

The ATI openGL issue is very noticeable in the cut scenes. (Those annoying tear lines that you also see in the Flurry screensaver.)

Not to mention it does take an eternity for the game to get going even on my Mac Pro. All in all, I di feel a bit like I wasted money on both C and C 3 and Battlefield 2142. (Apparently Battlefield has no widescreen support... because that would "Give some players an unfair advantage.")

Unfortunately there is no return policy at the Apple Stores for opened software (pretty standard these days), so I am stuck with two games I will likely never play.

 

[n0d3]

Yeah, I can't say I am too pleased with the way it runs.

The ATI openGL issue is very noticeable in the cut scenes. (Those annoying tear lines that you also see in the Flurry screensaver.)

Not to mention it does take an eternity for the game to get going even on my Mac Pro. All in all, I di feel a bit like I wasted money on both C and C 3 and Battlefield 2142. (Apparently Battlefield has no widescreen support... because that would "Give some players an unfair advantage.")

Unfortunately there is no return policy at the Apple Stores for opened software (pretty standard these days), so I am stuck with two games I will likely never play.

Yea, saw the tears too. I seriously don't recommend anyone buying the newly released games until EA gets their **** together.

 

[wildthing1994]

I wish I read this thread before i ordered c
&c 3. I got it today, its runs quick, ever with the graphics turned to ultra high, but that makes my mbp run hotter. Also too you need to download the updates to play it online and I haven't found any that aren't exe files.

 

[Tomasmekean]

I purchased this game yesterday... It took the game about three minutes to start once you click on play. It seems that the game takes that long to see the dvd. I wonder if a NO CD fix would work around this problem.

 

[icecone]

It works well, and fast on BC for me, so I'm a bit disappointed to hear this (I run it with all the highest graphics options, MBP C2D 2.16 2Gb RAM).

I had hoped that it would run the same as with windows, just without teh fans going crazy all the fracking time. but if it's taht slow, sod it.

Did you turn on anti-aliasing, what's the frame rate?

 

[ilogic]

cnc

Did you turn on anti-aliasing, what's the frame rate?

how can i find out how many frames its running on?

so far, on a imac 17 inch 2.0, the resolution made no performance difference, im running on the 1700x900. setting the model detail to high made no difference, it didnt look good, i'm still tweaking some of the settings, i think texture quality is the big slow down...

im running with 2gb of ram.

 

[psycoswimmer]

I just ordered this game yesterday at the online Apple Store. I played it on my friend's 360 this weekend and really liked it, so I decided to buy it. I was hesitant about how it would run, but it was really my only option as I wasn't going to buy a 360 for one game.

 

[FreedomFighter]

I saw the patch 1.08 for MAC on the official C&C website has that made a difference to the load times ect. if so I may look at buying it.

 

[TrickyX]

EA is Evil

I saw the patch 1.08 for MAC on the official C&C website has that made a difference to the load times ect. if so I may look at buying it.

Basically these Cider ports are crap. EA really screwed the Mac gamers by trying to pass these off as a port. They are not even close to a port. BF 2142 crashes and only runs at medium resolution.

C&C 3? It's sad really, Mac Pro, ATI x1900 and 8GB of RAM. Runs on a PC with 1/3rd the specs, easily with 2-3x better results.

C&C 3, well at least it doesn't crash like BF2142, but what a freaking joke, to run it at 1920x1200, I have to run at low graphics settings, or the game slows down so bad it's unplayable when there are lots of units on the screen.

This sucks as running either BF2142 or C&C 3 in Vista on the same hardware works perfectly. All settings maxed, etc..

These games are pretty pathetic on OS X to say the least, I tried to support Mac Gaming, but if you haven't gotten them yet, don't bother. Just play them in Windows.

 

[StuAff]

I can't say I'm surprised at this. I got C&C 3 Kane Edition right after it came out, and it plays great on my system- like TrickyX, Mac Pro with X1900, and I'm glad I didn't wait (these EA releases still aren't out in the UK, afaik). A French guy did an unofficial Cider port (ok, pirate copy) of GTR2 (which I had bought legit anyway), so I downloaded and tried it. It launched quickly enough, but the framerate was 20fps or so at 1920x1200, and graphical quality wasn't what it should be, whereas on XP it's smooth on all but the most demanding of the tracks with all the eye candy on max. So I wasn't exactly filled with confidence about the official releases. TransGaming have stated that a pirate Cider game isn't 'nearly where it should be'. Well, so far, neither are the official ones. This might just be early teething troubles- but I have my doubts about that....

 

[Krevnik]

Basically these Cider ports are crap. EA really screwed the Mac gamers by trying to pass these off as a port. They are not even close to a port. BF 2142 crashes and only runs at medium resolution.

C&C 3? It's sad really, Mac Pro, ATI x1900 and 8GB of RAM. Runs on a PC with 1/3rd the specs, easily with 2-3x better results.

C&C 3, well at least it doesn't crash like BF2142, but what a freaking joke, to run it at 1920x1200, I have to run at low graphics settings, or the game slows down so bad it's unplayable when there are lots of units on the screen.

This sucks as running either BF2142 or C&C 3 in Vista on the same hardware works perfectly. All settings maxed, etc..

These games are pretty pathetic on OS X to say the least, I tried to support Mac Gaming, but if you haven't gotten them yet, don't bother. Just play them in Windows.

Wait until Leopard... there are some bottlenecks in OpenGL that are getting fixed in Leopard that makes these games playable. C&C3 plays a LOT smoother under Leopard, and the 1.08 patch does help the load time very noticably.

 

[Cabbit]

Wait until Leopard... there are some bottlenecks in OpenGL that are getting fixed in Leopard that makes these games playable. C&C3 plays a LOT smoother under Leopard, and the 1.08 patch does help the load time very noticably.

pay to upgrade your os to solve a problem that sould not be a problem.

 

[Krevnik]

pay to upgrade your os to solve a problem that sould not be a problem.

The reason /why/ games on the Mac are slower, is because OpenGL eats far more CPU than it should. We are talking on an order of a full core under load more. SimCity 4 suffers from the same perf problems, and it was a native port. Call it a crappy port if you want, BUT, OpenGL is a big part of why games like SimCity 4 and C&C3 are underperforming on Tiger, and why Apple spent a lot of time re-writing the OGL implementation for Leopard.

The only way EA would have truly gotten around the performance issues on Tiger with C&C3 would be to do a native port, and multithread the game (when it isn't multithreaded on the PC). The multithreading part is a lot of work to do after the fact.

Maybe you are right, and this should all be EA's fault... but the truth is, OpenGL is a dog in terms of CPU performance, and that CPU usage is stripping cycles away from the game that needs them. And in the end... C&C3 runs like crap on Tiger, but runs smooth as butter on Leopard. The only difference is with Apple's code, which leads me to believe part of the reason why Apple rewrote OGL is because companies like EA complained till they were blue in the face about its performance.

 

[jeff303]

The reason /why/ games on the Mac are slower, is because OpenGL eats far more CPU than it should. We are talking on an order of a full core under load more. SimCity 4 suffers from the same perf problems, and it was a native port. Call it a crappy port if you want, BUT, OpenGL is a big part of why games like SimCity 4 and C&C3 are underperforming on Tiger, and why Apple spent a lot of time re-writing the OGL implementation for Leopard.

The only way EA would have truly gotten around the performance issues on Tiger with C&C3 would be to do a native port, and multithread the game (when it isn't multithreaded on the PC). The multithreading part is a lot of work to do after the fact.

Maybe you are right, and this should all be EA's fault... but the truth is, OpenGL is a dog in terms of CPU performance, and that CPU usage is stripping cycles away from the game that needs them. And in the end... C&C3 runs like crap on Tiger, but runs smooth as butter on Leopard. The only difference is with Apple's code, which leads me to believe part of the reason why Apple rewrote OGL is because companies like EA complained till they were blue in the face about its performance.

Very interesting observation - thanks for posting this. Just out of curiosity, have you played the game on Leopard yourself to verify this?

 

[wildthing1994]

I downloaded the patch, and improves the load time, and playing online is a breeze. I can run the graphics on ultra high no problem.

 

[giganten]

Is C&C3 fun?
I don't know if I should get it or not. What game should I pend my money on C&C3 or BF2142?

 

[togermano]

It runs great for me on the new imac! I love it and the new patch does make it load a little faster! I love this game so much!

 

[togermano]

btw i have the 20 inch 2.4ghz 2gb imac

 

[FreedomFighter]

btw i have the 20 inch 2.4ghz 2gb imac

What Graphic settings do you have it on I have my new 24" imac in delivery as well as C&C 3, and dose the game play smooth?