The Sims 2

The Sims 2 will run on the Intel Macs under Rosetta, or with the Universal Binary patch installed.

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You've linked however, to a thread regarding macbook pro's. The video card in the macbook pro is roughly 10x as fast as the integrated card in the normal macbook, maybe faster. there is absolutely no guarentee it will run on a macbook just because it runs on a macbook pro.

I just bought the Sims 2 for my new Macbook. I'm tempted to try and return the game to the store. It runs so terribly slow and jerky I am considering returning this Macbook as well. I was going to get the iMac but really wanted something portable and just as I was about to order the iMac, the MacBook came out. It has the same integrated graphics card that my Gateway PC has and the PC runs Sims 2 fine. I wonder if a RAM increase will help but something tells me it won't help much. I'm very disappointed.

I used Aspyr's game advisor and I guess technically it didn't lie. Yes, the game did get loaded. Yes, I can open it. But, you can't seriously play it. As quick as things can happen in the game.... this just won't do.

yolanda, just wondering did you install the Sims2 universal patch? also, 512megs of ram isn't really enough to play 3D games. especially on a mac that has shared memory like the macbook.

lenn

I'm not sure if this is an option for you or not, but I run The Sims 2 (and all expansion packs) BEAUTIFULLY under Windows XP thru BootCamp. In fact, it runs better on my MacBook than it does on my older Dell.

You know, I totally forgot about the patch. I'll have to try that tonight.

Question about running XP... I was reading somewhere that folks were having problems getting that to work. Did you have to do any tweaking or anything to get XP to run?

Not really, just download n' install bootcamp, and get a FULL INSTALL disk of Windows XP. DO NOT under any circumstances use a disk that has been installed and used already, they send codes from your computer and check if its been installed before, you can get a HUGE fine for that.

Btw, you should have atleast 1 GB of memory for any 3D game, the intel GMA950 takes up about 80 MBs of normal RAM to acquire only 64 MBs of VRAM. With only 1 GB it will still run fairly slow. I recomend either Newegg or applesales.com, thats where I ordered a 1 Gig stick so I can get a total of 1.2 Gigs.

"1 Gig stick so I can get a total of 1.2 Gigs."

I've heard that the MacBooks work best when you pair the RAM. In other words two 512MB chips work better than 1 256MB chip and 1 1GB chip. This is because of the way the memory is shared between the CPU and the video procesor.

I got my MacBook with the 1GB of Ram installed so I can't confirm this, can anyone else?

I'm not sure if this is an option for you or not, but
I run The Sims 2 (and all expansion packs)
BEAUTIFULLY under Windows XP thru BootCamp. In fact,
it runs better on my MacBook than it does on my older
Dell.

Dan, are running XP on the original 512 of RAM on the MacBook?

Hi Yolanda, I was thinking of buying the Sims 2 for my macbook, would you advise against this?...did your's work after you tried the patch?
Thanks

I would advise you NOT to buy the mac version. Buy the PC version and use it under bootcamp. it runs so much faster.

And honestly I've been playing my sims game on my old dell with 256 RAM and a Pentium 4 1.8 GHz processor. Its exetremely choppy and not too playable. But My macbook plays it amazingly great under bootcamp and with 2 gb of ram.

You will need at least 1 gb of ram or more for this game. NO exceptions
especially since the macbook has a shared graphics chip.