Gaming in Parallels?

[HelpMeWithMyMac]

Hello
Has anyone here tried running any games with Parallels 3.0?
I would like anyone to share his/her experience. Is 3d support buggy or is it already working well?
I haven't tried running any games under the new version of Parallels yet - I'm not a gamer, but still I wonder how good is it. Maybe VM Ware?

[HelpMeWithMyMac]

Anyone? No?:D
Well, I found a list of tested games on Parallels homepage:

Alien Arena 2007
Baldur’s Gate 2
Bus Driver
Caesar 3
CounterStrike 1.6
Doom 3
Duke Nukem Manhattan Project
Dungeon Siege 2
Fallout 2
FarCry
GORE-Ultimate Soldier
Half Life
Hitman Codename 47
Hitman Silent Assassin
Hitman Contracts
KingPin
Homeworld 2
Neverball
Neverwinter Nights
Prey
Revolt
Quake 1
Quake 2
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Second Life
Scorched 3D
Serious Sam The First Encounter
Serious Sam The Second Encounter
SiN
Soldier of Fortune 2
Tribes
Unreal Tournament 2004
Warcraft 3
Wolfenstein-Enemy Territories
Worms 3D

Sorry, no experience of playing... Full info here

[krazykrl]

If it's PC gaming you want from your Mac, why not just use Boot Camp?

That way, you will get the full resources of the Mac, nothing shared.

[HelpMeWithMyMac]

Originally Posted by krazykrl

If it's PC gaming you want from your Mac, why not just use Boot Camp?

That way, you will get the full resources of the Mac, nothing shared.

Yes, Boot Camp is the solution here. Of course, there's no RAM allocation between two OSes, that's why games will work faster.
But I still hope the day will come when it will be possible to play games without rebooting at all - right in VM. That's why I ask about this Parallels experience.

[Capucina]

Originally Posted by HelpMeWithMyMac

Yes, Boot Camp is the solution here. Of course, there's no RAM allocation between two OSes, that's why games will work faster.
But I still hope the day will come when it will be possible to play games without rebooting at all - right in VM. That's why I ask about this Parallels experience.

Why don't you play in parallels? Because of speed?

[HelpMeWithMyMac]

Originally Posted by Capucina

Why don't you play in parallels? Because of speed?

Well, this issue has been discussed widely on other forums.
I'd love to, but Parallels supports only DirectX 8.1 (some say that they unofficially support DX 9.0) and OpenGl - this is not enough for playing many modern games.
On the other hand, you may know that when you run Parallels you divide available RAM between two OSes, so your Mac will not be able to run games in Windows at it's full speed.
I hope that this 3d-support will be added soon, so that people would try playing games right from Parallels. Until then the only way to play newest games is Boot Camp. Some say, that Counter strike works in Cross Over, but I didn't hear about other games.

[Capucina]

Originally Posted by HelpMeWithMyMac

Well, this issue has been discussed widely on other forums.
I'd love to, but Parallels supports only DirectX 8.1 (some say that they unofficially support DX 9.0) and OpenGl - this is not enough for playing many modern games.
On the other hand, you may know that when you run Parallels you divide available RAM between two OSes, so your Mac will not be able to run games in Windows at it's full speed.
I hope that this 3d-support will be added soon, so that people would try playing games right from Parallels. Until then the only way to play newest games is Boot Camp. Some say, that Counter strike works in Cross Over, but I didn't hear about other games.

I play games, but a bit. I'm more interested in other progs. Flash or Photoshop, they are really heavy. Will Parallels be ok for them? Will it be fast?

And what does it mean RAM? :o

[HelpMeWithMyMac]

RAM is the amount of memory available on your Mac (to make it easier to understand). The more memory (RAM) you have, the faster your Mac works. This also has certain impact on the speed of Parallels Desktop, because you have to allocate memory between your OSes.

Flash or Photoshop, they are really heavy. Will Parallels be ok for them?

These apps will work well in Parallels, because they don't require complicated 3d support. I used Photoshop in Parallels a few times

[Capucina]

Originally Posted by HelpMeWithMyMac

RAM is the amount of memory available on your Mac (to make it easier to understand). The more memory (RAM) you have, the faster your Mac works. This also has certain impact on the speed of Parallels Desktop, because you have to allocate memory between your OSes.

These apps will work well in Parallels, because they don't require complicated 3d support. I used Photoshop in Parallels a few times

Sorry RAM what is it? The more memory?

Does photoshop work quickly on your mac trough parallels?

[HelpMeWithMyMac]

Yes, RAM is more memory You are absolutely right!

Photoshop works very well in Parallels. I've got CS2 and all is fine. Just like I did it on my PC some time ago