12 replies to this topic

[jimence]

Hello all

 

I'm trying to get RA2 to run properly on my Macbook (which is nearly seven years old) running Snow Leopard OS X and Wine 1.6.1

 

When I tried playing on the Xwis server or in single player Skirmish mode, the game runs extremely slowly and my mouse pointer flickers. I've read around a bit about the various graphics issues with the game, and I've tried a few of the fixes, but nothing has worked

 

Does anyone have any answers/has anyone had similar problems that they've fixed? I'd be really really grateful for some help!

 

Thanks

[AMadKirov]

Minimum Processor: 2.4

Minimum Ram:          2GB

 

 

If you are lower than that You wont play.

[hardman]

You dont need 2GB of ram to run RA2 smoothly. I used to run it on 512MB back in the day and it was fine- maybe if you have a high resolution you may need more.

[jimence]

Thanks Kirov, thanks hardman

 

I have exactly the minimum spec - 2.4GHz and 2GB RAM. I've tried running the game at all resolutions but it's always the same problem - very sluggish with mouse flickering

 

Do you know what else might be the cause? Thanks

[hardman]

It is probably the Wine software. I used to try and run Ra2 through a windows emulator and encountered the same problem. Very sluggish.

 

Your best bet is to partition your drive and use bootcamp to actually install windows on your system.

Edited by hardman, 20 April 2014 - 05:32 PM.

[jimence]

Thanks hardman - I was going to give Parallels a shot first (my friend, who's in the same situation, says it's working well for him) - will let you know how that goes..

[hardman]

Good luck. Not tried Parallels so please post back when you have it up and running. I only tried virtualbox.

[rumblesom]

i was running bootcamp on an old macbook ~7years with xp- ra2 was no problem

[hardman]

Yea bootcamp is no problem. Its using emulators that can result in lag.

[jimence]

Reporting back..

 

Parallels: didn't work - black screen of death

Virtualbox: same problem

 

So I tried VMWare Fusion (5.04) running XP (SP3) with VMWare tools installed. This loaded the game fine, and I could connect to the Xwis server no problem. I've only tried running single player Skirmish mode so far, and the problem is - on speed setting 6, it's way too fast. If I pull the speed back (to 3,4,5) then there are some noticeable lag problems. Also, if I start on speed 6, then reduce it after the game has started, this sometimes causes the game to freeze.

 

Any ideas?

Edited by jimence, 21 April 2014 - 09:27 AM.

[rumblesom]

Ddraw.dll in that trouble shooting post u were linked

Try adding it to ur ra2 dir
Ps what's wrong with boot camp?

[hardman]

I managed to get it to work on virtualbox (but laggy) and i know it works normally on parallels from other users. Perhaps trouble shoot the problems which cause blackscreen?

 

Can you also clarify what you mean by black screen of death? I assume it is after the game has loaded? As Rumblesom said... these problems would probably all go away if you used bootcamp.

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say its connected to XWIS but you've only played single player? You don't need to be connected to the server for skirmish to work. And you will notice at speed 6 it is significantly faster (compared to playing on XWIS) as it is offline- that is normal across all systems.

Edited by hardman, 21 April 2014 - 11:43 AM.

[jimence]

Rumblesom's fix worked - game is now working perfectly. Thanks.

 

I've always had problems installing boot camp on my system - despite having 20GB free space, it always tells me there's not enough room to install it. I've tried all sorts of HD cleaner software to no avail - hence giving the emulators a shot instead

 

I tried troubleshooting the problems on both Parallels and Virtualbox without any luck (black screen of death: game appears to load, you can hear the "whoosh" of the menu bar after a few seconds, but the screen stays black. you can click out of the game if you know roughly where the "Exit Game" button should be)

 

What I meant by saying it connected to Xwis is that there was no issue with connecting to the server - the only issue was in-game

 

The only system that seems to work for me is VMWare Fusion. Of course, this might just be down to my individual machine, rather than an issue with all machines my age

 

Thanks to everyone who offered advice, really glad to have got it working