Can you play and mod New Vegas on an iMac?

[TheArmedWastelander]

Hello.

 

Firstly, I apologise if this has been asked before, but I have done numerous searches and I haven't found any concrete information regarding this.

 

I have just been given an iMac, and I believe it is a fast one. Please see the below specs:

 

 

Processor 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3

Memory 12 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Graphics ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB

Memory 455 GB free

 

1. From a technical point of view, is the iMac good enough and fast enough to run at a decent frame rate and also support mods?

 

2. I know F:NV isn't officially released for iMac, but I am led to believe that there are certain ways you can still install and run it. Is this true? And if so which is the best way?

 

3. Once this is up and running on the iMac, am I still able to download and install mods like windows users?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am a huge Fallout fan, and I really want to get into modding and playing it on the PC as it's getting a bit tedious on the 360 :)

 

Thank you.

 

Sam

[Xaranth]

That system will Run FNV, but not very well. Still, it should be playable if you don't insist on great graphics and lots of effects.

 

Running FNV on MacOSX is absolutely not supported, and while probably possible, not something we will discuss here because of piracy concerns.

 

However, there are programs such as BootCamp that will allow you to launch a windows system on your Mac, at which point all is in train for playing/modding FNV in the 'normal' (IE, Windows) way.

[TheArmedWastelander]

That system will Run FNV, but not very well. Still, it should be playable if you don't insist on great graphics and lots of effects.

 

Running FNV on MacOSX is absolutely not supported, and while probably possible, not something we will discuss here because of piracy concerns.

 

However, there are programs such as BootCamp that will allow you to launch a windows system on your Mac, at which point all is in train for playing/modding FNV in the 'normal' (IE, Windows) way.

 

 

Hi Xaranth.

 

Thanks for the reply. I was looking at BootCamp and that seemed like the best way. I am fully prepared to legally pay for F:NV and BootCamp / Windows. I have no intention of doing anything illegal. I was just wondering if it is possible.

 

Has anyone had any experience using BootCamp / Windows on the Mac? And if so did you find it easy to use? When it comes to modding using BootCamp, will the game files and folders all display in the same way as it would on Windows? I'm guessing modding would be identical to a PC if this was installed.

 

Is there any particular reason you say my Mac won't run F:NV very well? I thought 12GB of ram was quick?

 

Thank you again.

[Xaranth]

I was actually looking at the processor and video card when I made the comment about it not running it brilliantly.

 

The 4670 is a decent card, but it'll be limping a bit with only 256MB of VRAM - you should probably avoid any texture packs and the like.

 

And the i3 is adequate but not great. It'll play all right once you get it tweaked and set up, but don't expect to blaze it at 1080p with all the VFX cranked up to max and a beautiful ENB on top.

[TheArmedWastelander]

I was actually looking at the processor and video card when I made the comment about it not running it brilliantly.

 

The 4670 is a decent card, but it'll be limping a bit with only 256MB of VRAM - you should probably avoid any texture packs and the like.

 

And the i3 is adequate but not great. It'll play all right once you get it tweaked and set up, but don't expect to blaze it at 1080p with all the VFX cranked up to max and a beautiful ENB on top.

 

 

Thanks for explaining that. As you can probably tell, my technical computer knowledge isn't the best.

 

I wasn't going to download any texture packs. I was mainly interested in mods such as Run The Lucky 38, a few of the new house mods and maybe some other similar mods.

 

So you're saying that with BootCamp, Windows and a few mods it will run okay? That's good to know - I appreciate your help.

 

Oh and sorry, one more question... what do you mean when you say "once I get it tweaked and set up"?

 

Sam

Edited January 30, 2013 by TheArmedWastelander

[Xaranth]

To wring the best performance you can out of the game, many, many of the default settings have to be changed in some way or another.

 

You'll definitely need the 4GB launcher and either NMM or FOMM, for example, and certainly you'll want to look at http://www.tweakguides.com/Fallout3_1.html - for fallout 3, but since the games are near-identical under the hood, almost everything in that applies to NV as well.

 

You'll also need NVSE, and once you have NVSE there's no reason whatsoever not to use NVSR (New Vegas Stutter Remover) which makes the game so much more playable.

 

But again, getting everything to play nicely requires quite a bit of experimentation and learning the ins and outs of the the engine, the configuration files, etc. You're in for an adventure. ^.^

 

Don't let me scare you off though.

[TheArmedWastelander]

To wring the best performance you can out of the game, many, many of the default settings have to be changed in some way or another.

 

You'll definitely need the 4GB launcher and either NMM or FOMM, for example, and certainly you'll want to look at http://www.tweakguides.com/Fallout3_1.html - for fallout 3, but since the games are near-identical under the hood, almost everything in that applies to NV as well.

 

You'll also need NVSE, and once you have NVSE there's no reason whatsoever not to use NVSR (New Vegas Stutter Remover) which makes the game so much more playable.

 

But again, getting everything to play nicely requires quite a bit of experimentation and learning the ins and outs of the the engine, the configuration files, etc. You're in for an adventure. ^.^

 

Don't let me scare you off though.

 

Haha. I had no idea playing a computer game was so much effort :P I will definitely look at everything you've mentioned. Just how much of a noticeable difference will they make? I guess i'm used to console quality so anything which improves the game would be beneficial :)

 

And I guess everything you've mentioned above will be fine to run on the mac once I'm running Windows on BootCamp?

Edited January 30, 2013 by TheArmedWastelander

[bben46]

Playing a game on a PC is not that much effort. However, Trying to play that game on a platform it was not designed for (MAC) throws a few complications in there . Boot Camp & Windows makes your MAC almost a PC though and most things will work just like a PC. :thumbsup:

 

What really makes it complicated is the mods :tongue: People expect mods to be professional quality and to just work. - They are all made by amateurs. Often very good amateurs, but sometimes by someone who really doesn't know very much about programming. They all have their quirks. Not every mod installs the same way, Some will cause problems, some are not compatible with others, and some will require something else to work as well as the mod. Read the documentation - the readme and anything else the author gives you to see if he knows of any problems or if something else is needed before installing each mod.

[luthienanarion]

Your i3 is more than enough for anything you could ever want it to run. I have a Phenom 9550 in my machine that runs at 2.20GHz.

 

I played Fallout 3 for years using my on-board Radeon HD3100 with 256MB shared video memory, so it will at least run the game. The difference between that and when I bought my HD5770 1GB was astounding, however.

[TheArmedWastelander]

Playing a game on a PC is not that much effort. However, Trying to play that game on a platform it was not designed for (MAC) throws a few complications in there . Boot Camp & Windows makes your MAC almost a PC though and most things will work just like a PC. :thumbsup:

 

What really makes it complicated is the mods :tongue: People expect mods to be professional quality and to just work. - They are all made by amateurs. Often very good amateurs, but sometimes by someone who really doesn't know very much about programming. They all have their quirks. Not every mod installs the same way, Some will cause problems, some are not compatible with others, and some will require something else to work as well as the mod. Read the documentation - the readme and anything else the author gives you to see if he knows of any problems or if something else is needed before installing each mod.

 

Thanks - good to know that BootCamp will essentially turn the mac into a PC when gaming. I think I'm going to go down that route and then just download a few mods that look interesting :)

 

I'm just a bit worried about the VRAM not being enough??

 

Sam