Hi, I haven't played for a few years and wanted to come back. My PC is dying so tried out Parallels on Mac. Seems to work okay! Before I get invested I just wanted to check that this is okay?
Parallels is a virtual machine environment which is a "nono" with EQ. Please check: You can play on Mac by booting into Windows using "bootcamp". But don't under any circumstances use any kind of virtualization tech.
Thanks for that! That defo also holds true for Tunare/Seventh Hammer that is a different server ruleset?
You can bootcamp, but parallels is bannable because it is a virtual machine. They can detect VM use and will just ban you. I bootcamp my macbook and it is fine. I also did it without activating windows and it works just fine with the watermark. I also even run EQ from a USB drive and it works fine, although windows has to be installed internally. EQ is about 10GB, but if you run EQ from external, you can get away with as small as a 45-50GB boot camp partition.
Not sure. Pretty sure it's bannable on all server. I know for sure that it is bannable on truebox servers since VM can bypass the trubox code. The thing is, when you run parallels, you are adding a bunch of extra load to your computer. You computer is running 2 OS instead of 1. There is no reason to run parallels unless you need to be running mac and PC applications at the same time. Bootcamp is free and it will use less system resources. I guess if you want to use something like messenger on mac while playing EQ then so be it but there are very few advantages to running parallels for EQ.
I did similar for my work trips. Have Windows 10 on a 120Gb thumb drive set to be fully bootable. Just boot to that when you want to play and pew pew. It’s good enough for raiding through Velious at least.
There used to be a mac server but they shut it down. It was not cross platform like WoW is. Mac could only play with Mac. I do wish DBG would do more crossplay. I play DCUO on my PC some because of all access. I'd rather play it on my Xbox but it's a different sub, and I doubt DBG is getting any amount of double subs to justify not allowing higher cross play player populations. Also I use a MacBook, so a game like WoW i can play on the go without bootcamp, and then continue on my PC at home. I have an eGPU so my 2015 macbook pro gets up to 90 FPS on ultra. Mac will see plenty more gamers as time progresses.
Why did they shut down the Mac server though? Not enough people playing on it? And how much time has to progress? I have never used a Mac and I know the video is a parody and yet there is or at least was some truth to it.
If you replace the word Mac with iOS sure, plenty of gamers. MacOS? Less than 8% market share after 40 years. It is very likely that Apple switches to ARM and fully merges iOS and MacOS to a single operating system at some point. Linux will most likely keep seeing a boost as console systems are based off it though and still using x64 processors.
No, I am talking about OSX. I have a 2015 macbook pro with Thunderbolt 2. I get 10-18 FPS on WoW ultra to an external monitor. I picked up a used TB3 eGPU with a RX480 and it boosts my FPS up to 70-90 FPS on ultra. I have to use a work around and a TB2 to TB3 adapter. That's around a 450% performance boost, with TB2 and an old card. It also dramatically reduces the heat and throttling in the macbook itself. TB2 is 20gbs and TB3 is 40gbs. So any mac after 2015 has twice the speed that mine does. Apple also officially added eGPU support for all TB3 macs so they don't need any work around. Just plug in an EGPU and put in the drivers. My DevilBox also has HDD trays, USB ports, ethernet and will charge thunderbolt 3 macs. Apple has no meaningful motivation to ditch their OSX platforms as compared to the motivation for developers to make quality PC ports to the OSX platform. eGPU will slowly change the laptop/ultrabook gaming landscape. There is a demand for quality ultrabooks and almost everyone I work with has made the switch to OSX except those buying gaming laptops. You will see more and more people that want ultrabooks using eGPU docks. Like iOS, Apple is going to be a market disruptor with this technology, as windows is not addressing their eGPU code 12 issues while apple is adding eGPU native support. Since I can play WoW on my macbook and on my PC, I currently have been playing WoW some, which eats into the market share of EverQuest. Microsoft has seen the power of this by adding crossplay on Xbox/PC titles. The games of the future will not be platform limited, and you will see future MMOs that crossplay on iOS, android, PC, Xbox, PS and seamlessly. Mac has limited titles and even fewer that don't need eGPU support to work well. I think there is some sort of solution for EQ to be crossplay, like wineskin, but unfortunately DBGs wouldn't use them. I'd love to use my eGPU to run DCUO and EQ, but instead, when I don't have my desktop, I just play different games.
I had thought crossplay was a thing now since Final Fantasy 11 came out on the PC/PS2 and other MMORPGs would follow suite, although it may be that console of what ever exclusive plus the PC. They may not as of yet go or have gone so far, as all consoles together and the PC. Which I feel is a shame. I know consoles want exclusives, but it would be nice to have a few games be able to played with others. Regardless which system is the most powerful, much like PCs each console should still be able to be shown as best it can. And if you are stuck with a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard, that is just something you have to deal with and I am sure there is handicaps for that. And it still sucks that Mac users do not get a lot of the games, at least without jumping through hoops.
They have a very meaningful reason to do it. They make all of their own CPUs for every single product they sell, except their computers. Apple computers being the single lowest profit making devices they sell. On the other hand they have billions of iOS devices...they can finish the full integration of all their devices under a single Chip/GPU made completely by them. Cut out Nvidia/Intel/AMD entirely....that is the future of Apple computers. Look at the iPad Pro, they are already 90% there. Also not sure why you think eGPUs are needed so much. I have an ultra thin laptop about the size of a Mac air that can play Red Dead Redemption 2 at near max graphics at 1440p, laptop GPUs have gotten mega powerful as the die size of CPU/GPU shrink and the wattage requirements are lower.
@Vumad well even when they go to ARM they are not going to get away from Nvidia as they just purchased ARM https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/09/15/nvidias-40-billion-takeover-of-arm-spells-trouble/
To read a little about the upcoming transition to Apple Silicon chips made in-house by Apple see this overview https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/06/apple-announces-mac-transition-to-apple-silicon/ Eventually this is going to mean needing a PC to play EQ but that is still a way off as it isn't like existing Macs are affected which do support bootcamp. Because Apple Silicon... Mac gaming is going to remain where it always has been with best ports by Feral Interactive, etc. I would not expect some big change in Mac gaming and certainly not as it pertains to EQ. eGPUs are irrelevant to this because no Windows in the short term and because of Mac marketshare as always for the long haul. Also because of this eGPUs will likely become less relevant to Mac gaming, not more relevant. They are an expensive niche product that I think will die in time for lack of a sufficient market for them. Today, a Mac with an eGPU for Windows gaming in particular is great although expensive but this scenario is going away is what I am getting at.
