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Author Topic: Can Prisoners of the Mist run on Macintosh?  (Read 2183 times)

rabidsmily

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Can Prisoners of the Mist run on Macintosh?
« on: August 04, 2010, 12:00:38 AM »
Just recently I played my first game of Dungeons & Dragons and I thought it was really fun. I really only have experience with Japanese RPGs (Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, et cetera) but I thought this game looked really interesting and wanted to give it a try.

My question is if I could get Prisoners of the Mist to run on a Macintosh? Are there any players out there who use a Macintosh?

If anyone is interested, here are my system specifications:

Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4 GHz
2GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256MB VRAM

Characters: Alavra Srune'Lett, James Finesworth, Prescott Bowley, Grisil, Toshio Ninomiya, Eshen Soldusk, Emilio Shrewtamer, Blago Ashcard, Hoogliuter

hugolino

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Re: Can Prisoners of the Mist run on Macintosh?
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2010, 12:19:47 AM »
My question is if I could get Prisoners of the Mist to run on a Macintosh? Are there any players out there who use a Macintosh?

Yes, I play PotM on the Mac OS because it runs better on the Mac OS than it does on Windows, strangely enough. (I have Windows and Mac OS on the same hardware, so I was able to compare how it ran on the different operating systems quite directly.) To install NWN on a Mac, you need to either buy a copy of the Mac version of the game or find a copy of the Mac version's demo as well as as the PC version of the game. Then you'll need to buy the PC version's expansions. Next go to the Bioware online forum for NWN and follow the instructions for installing the expansions and updating the Mac copy.

It is complicated to setup, but once you have it running the game functions better and faster than on Windows, at least on my hardware. The Mac version also offers more screen resolution options than the Windows version. I suspect the difference between running the game on Mac vs. Windows is due to either graphic driver changes or to changes in Windows that have introduced glitches or some such.

Which Mac OS version are you using?
« Last Edit: August 04, 2010, 01:20:06 AM by hugolino »

rabidsmily

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Re: Can Prisoners of the Mist run on Macintosh?
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2010, 12:33:57 AM »
I am using Macintosh version 10.5.8

Characters: Alavra Srune'Lett, James Finesworth, Prescott Bowley, Grisil, Toshio Ninomiya, Eshen Soldusk, Emilio Shrewtamer, Blago Ashcard, Hoogliuter

hugolino

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Re: Can Prisoners of the Mist run on Macintosh?
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2010, 12:43:40 AM »
I am using Macintosh version 10.5.8

Ah, then you will need to do one other thing. When I was running Leopard on a DuoCore machine, I had to install an Apple utility (included on your Mac OS installation disk as part of the optional developer utillities) that let me temporarily turn off one of the Mac's processors, since Neverwinter Nights will randomly crash when it notices you have more than one processor. In Snow Leopard that is no longer necessary. The system is able to fool NWN into thinking there is only one computer processor.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2010, 02:13:58 AM by hugolino »

hugolino

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« Last Edit: August 04, 2010, 02:12:29 AM by hugolino »

Thoraion

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Re: Can Prisoners of the Mist run on Macintosh?
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2010, 01:57:56 AM »
So just that we have it documented at some place...
Can anyone remember the correct order of installation steps beginning with the clean installation of the NWN basic game on a Mac?

Oh, by the way... you do not even need to buy the mac version of the basic game to run it natively under OSX. The Bundled retail packs for Windows which include SoU and HotU combined with the 1.69 Patch for OSX is all you need, so buying the Basic NWN Game twice is not required (First the Mac version and then the expansions - which are always available bundled with the Win Version of the basic game now)

In essential, the core application is the only difference between the Mac and the Win Version - and that application is included in the Patch. Everything else - including the serial Keys - is cross-platform.
'kind of obsolete for current Macs, however, if you are running Windows on the machine as well...  :lol:

But i'm running 10.5.8 on a single core Mac Mini
Currently playing:
no characters, will eventually be back

Characters in stock:
- Darian Eisenhand        - Ansgar "Frettchen" Ostvent
- Thorben Eibenfinder    - Einar Falkensang

hugolino

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Re: Can Prisoners of the Mist run on Macintosh?
« Reply #6 on: August 27, 2010, 04:17:25 AM »
I don't own the Mac version of NWN. Like you, I purchased the complete set for Windows and used the Mac demo version of NWN and the instructions on a post in the Bioware forum to install the needed files to turn the demo into the full game. I also installed the Windows version of the game on various versions of Windows and a few different computers.

Ultimately, the reason I run NWN using MacOS now is because it runs best (i.e. faster and with native widescreen resolutions that the PC version doesn't have) on that platform based on my past experience, and it also is convenient because I don't have to reboot into Windows to play the game. However I haven't tried again recently to run it on Windows, and I have different hardware than I had during my last attempt, which may make a positive difference.

I don't recall all the steps to get NWN running natively on the MacOS, but I provided a link above to the official Mac FAQ post in the Bioware forums.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2010, 04:20:41 AM by hugolino »