270 replies to this topic

[Trillian]

To help keep our nice new forum clean, please keep all discussion of the system requirements for the Mac versions of The Sims 2 and BodyShop in this thread. Thanks!

[luws]

Here are the System Requirements as copied from Aspyr's web site:

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later
CPU Processor: PowerPC G4/G5
CPU Speed: 1.2GHz or faster
Memory: 256 MB or higher
Hard Disk Space: 3GB free disk space
Video Card (ATI): Radeon 9000 or better
Video Card (NVidia): GeForce FX5200 or better
Video Memory (VRam): 32 MB or higher
Media Required: DVD Drive

[Audilee]

It says OS 10.3.8, and Body Shop works with 10.3.0. Does that mean the Sims 2 will run with it? I don't know when I'll be able to upgrade to 10.3.8.

[luws]

Audilee, do you have 10.3.0? If so, then the upgrades to 10.3.8 are free & can be done automatically with software update. It's 10.4 that costs (aka Tiger)

[coletteSS]

luws said:

Here are the System Requirements as copied from Aspyr's web site:

Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later
CPU Processor: PowerPC G4/G5
CPU Speed: 1.2GHz or faster
Memory: 256 MB or higher
Hard Disk Space: 3GB free disk space
Video Card (ATI): Radeon 9000 or better
Video Card (NVidia): GeForce FX5200 or better
Video Memory (VRam): 32 MB or higher
Media Required: DVD Drive

FYI: Addendum to the above:

Aspyr's Game Agent says that "Recommended" Memory is 512 MB, and for Video Memory, they "Recommend" 64 MB.

Just in case someone is shopping for a new Mac - like me! :rofl:

[sakgonz]

swedes_girl said:

I have a 12" G4 powerbook and it matches all the criteria except for CPU speed. Instead of 1.2GHz it's only 1GHz. Will I still be able to run it? I've been waiting forever for this game to come out on Mac, I'll be so upset if it doesn't work. I'd have to start saving for that G5 iMac that I've been wanting since it came out.

yes it works fine on my ibook and it has the same speed as yours but a small gfx card. :)

[Safemining]

well I only have 800MHz of cpu.
will it work?!
the body shop demo works fine with 800MHz of cpu.

[luws]

sakgonz said:

yes it works fine on my ibook and it has the same speed as yours but a small gfx card. :)

Does this mean you already have a copy of Sims2?

[Trillian]

I'm assuming that sakgonz meant that BodyShop is working on their computer, as anyone who currently has The Sims 2 for Mac either should not be talking about it because of non-dosclosure agreements, or they are running an illegal copy (which as we know, also should not be discussed here) ;)

[kastanton01]

10.3.8 and a DVD drive? Man... looks like I need to do some shopping and updating. This game is going to end up being very expensive for me. It will all be worth it though. I played it on my boyfriend's Windows PC, and have been going through withdrawal not being able to play it everyday. Game performance on his computer was choppy and slow, and he didn't have a good video card, so there were some issues. I can't wait to play on my computer where it will be smoother and faster. (hehe sorry, I just had to get that in there!) :wub:

[sakgonz]

luws said:

Does this mean you already have a copy of Sims2?

yep found a copy at my apple store!

[GreenEyeGemini87]

:wacko:
I have absolutely no knowledge of video cards, but I am having a serious problem running The Sims 2 and I think my video card may be the factor affecting the performance.

As soon as I load anything after the screen that shows all the neighborhoods, let's say I load Pleasantville or whatever it is called, I start to have a problem. The neighborhood loads and everything looks fine, except the toolbar and the title of the neighborhood in the upper left corner of the screen and any other screen that opens up. To those things, they disappear completely unless I am scrolling or a bus/autombile in the neighborhood is driving by, and then the sliver of the tool bar/window it is passing is seen.

Does this sound like a video card error? I played with all the options when I could manage to scroll and click the buttons i could see, but nothing has helped.

I have a NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX video card. I have no idea whether this is superior/equivalent/inferior to the video card required to run The Sims 2 properly.

Please reply ASAP, because I realllly wanna play this game!! :cry:

Thanks in advance for any help offered!

<33 Ashley

[Trillian]

It's entirely possible that it is a video card issue. I don't know the relationship between the GeForce 4 MX that you have versus the GeForce FX5200 that is stated in the minimum requirements, but looking at the NVIDIA website, I'm guessing that the GeForce FX5200 is better than the GeForce 4 MX... at least for the kinds of things that The Sims 2 needs to do. On the first page of their Desktop Products, it has a little chart with video cards listed as "For the Gamer" and "For the Mainstream User". The GeForce FX is listed in the "Gamer" list, whereas the GeForce MX is not. So you may want to consider a video card upgrade. Someone at your nearest Apple store or other Mac reseller could probably confirm that for you.

[jmbk]

That is the exact problem i have. i was so sad! i couldn't do anything about it. i tried it on a G5 and it worked fine. what computer do you have? i have a powerbook 17 (2003). so far i haven't found out anything about it. Keep me posted and i'll keep you posted!

Good luck!
Jill

GreenEyeGemini87 said:

:wacko:
I have absolutely no knowledge of video cards, but I am having a serious problem running The Sims 2 and I think my video card may be the factor affecting the performance.

As soon as I load anything after the screen that shows all the neighborhoods, let's say I load Pleasantville or whatever it is called, I start to have a problem. The neighborhood loads and everything looks fine, except the toolbar and the title of the neighborhood in the upper left corner of the screen and any other screen that opens up. To those things, they disappear completely unless I am scrolling or a bus/autombile in the neighborhood is driving by, and then the sliver of the tool bar/window it is passing is seen.

Does this sound like a video card error? I played with all the options when I could manage to scroll and click the buttons i could see, but nothing has helped.

I have a NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX video card. I have no idea whether this is superior/equivalent/inferior to the video card required to run The Sims 2 properly.

Please reply ASAP, because I realllly wanna play this game!! :cry:

Thanks in advance for any help offered!

<33 Ashley

[sgrassetti]

Hi, i have a Ibook G4 1.33. This game work great in this system? It have 32mb VRam, but it don`t have a video card. Can i upgrade my ibook with video card, or this is impossible to do in an ibook?

Tanks

Sorry about the english, i`m not americam.

[bloodyunicorns]

if you have an ibook G4, then u most likely have a Radeon 9200 video card. click on the apple in the top left corner and then click on about this mac. next click on graphics/displays. the thing in bold at the very top is your graphic card. i hope this helps! because i have the exact same laptop, and the game runs fine.

[sgrassetti]

Hi, tank you for answer. Ok, i did this, but i finded PCI/ AGP Cards, and there is my display information. But i didn`t find the graphics information. I think that my ibook don`t hava a video card, beaucuse i play same games with 3d graphic, and they don`t run fine. If my ibook don`t have a video card, is possible i install one?

[bloodyunicorns]

i dont think so. but my ibook g4 (1.33ghz) runs the game fine. so what problem are you having?

[lemonjenny]

Ooo! I just bought the game, and was sooo excited play it, but I'm having the same problem Ashlee is having. When I enter into a town, things start looking weird. I can't see the toolbar, and I can't do anything! I'm so worried that I bought this game for nothing!

I'm on an iMac g4 with the NVidia GeForce 4x or whatever (same as Ashlee). Is that my problem? CAN IMACS BE UPGRADED video-card wise? I sure hope so, cause I have been waiting too long for this game to not be able to use it!! Anyone else on an iMac?