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Forums > Home› Star Trek Online General Discussion

STO For Mac

tiger909sptiger909sp Member Posts: 4 Arc User
edited July 2012 in Star Trek Online General Discussion
I just got this new Macbook Pro and I was hoping to get Star Trek Online to play as I played it on my old PC that broke. As I was about to download the STO client, I realized that it was for PC only. I was wondering if, sometime in the near future, Perfect World could release a client for Mac OS X? Any feedback is appreciated, even if it is truly and utterly negative.
Post edited by tiger909sp on

Comments

  • mikewendellmikewendell Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    I;m sure I'll get cursed out for this since folks don;t like it when I provide links but here;s a pair of threads for your reading:

    http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=57815

    http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=76799

    Mac support is more homebrwed and I believe you;re on your own.

    Good luck
  • pwebranflakespwebranflakes Member Posts: 7,741
    edited July 2012
    There are no plans for a Mac client at this time. Like you, I have a MacBook Pro and play STO using Bootcamp -- it's included on the Mac but you'll need to purchase a copy of Windows to use it. I'm using Win7 and it works like a dream :)

    Cheers,

    Brandon =/\=
  • tiger909sptiger909sp Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    mikewendell: Thanks for the links. I took a look and found the second link to be most useful. Also, I had figured I was going to be on my own for this. Not many things support Mac yet. Let's hope sometime in the near future more options will be available.


    pwebranflakes: Thanks for telling me this. I will consider this option of purchasing a copy of Windows. The only problem is the amount of money a Windows 7 storefront copy will cost me. Also, since I have the very latest Macbook Pro (the one with Retina Display), there is no disc slot, so I will have to put all the data on a USB.
  • jim940jim940 Member Posts: 178 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    If you can, track down a copy of OEM Windows, its about $100-150 depending on the version. Sometimes the retailer will make you buy a cheap $5 fan or something but its generally much cheaper then buying the retail version of Windows.

    Jim
  • darramouss1darramouss1 Member Posts: 1,811 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    I play on a Mac. Rather than run emulators or other such nonsense I installed Windows on to a partition via Bootcamp. Yes, I have to boot in either OSX or Windows, but it's far more reliable than any other method. If your old PC broke then you should have a spare copy of Windows lying around. If you kept the boot disks, that is!!

    Just remember that Windows doesn't seem to be able to fully leverage the capabilities of a higher end Mac, even the 64-bit versions of Windows. I've got twin 2.8Gb quad-cores with 16GB RAM and a pretty descent graphics card but if I run it on full graphics resolution it can get choppy, so I run it on the second best resolution. (I think it will only utilise 2 of the eight cores which sucks, but what can you do?)

    If you do choose to use this method, make sure that a) you use spyware protection as a minimum, and b) that you allocate enough disk space for your partition. I forget how much space the game takes. If, for example, it took 10GB, don't make a 12GB partition. Remember that the computer will be using disk space in addition to RAM to keep itself running. Make sure that you leave at least 20GB AFTER you've used all the disk space for the game and other PC only programs and files.

    Good luck and I hope you find a solution that works for you.
  • jim940jim940 Member Posts: 178 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    Check your drivers there is no reason for choppiness.

    Apple's GPU's by the time they get to market end up being 2nd rate compared to the latest and greatest you can directly get for Windows machines always has been this way.

    Jim
  • darramouss1darramouss1 Member Posts: 1,811 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    I also attribute it to the fact that my machine is 5 years old. I'm thinking that plays a part in it, too.
  • jim940jim940 Member Posts: 178 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    Try getting the latest drivers from the hardware manufacturers website directly. It will help over any kind of Windows default drivers or older ones that Apple is distributing.

    Jim
  • theultimatefunkytheultimatefunky Member Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    one word, GOOGLE ;)
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • playhard88playhard88 Member Posts: 733 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    tiger909sp wrote: »
    pwebranflakes: Thanks for telling me this. I will consider this option of purchasing a copy of Windows. The only problem is the amount of money a Windows 7 storefront copy will cost me. Also, since I have the very latest Macbook Pro (the one with Retina Display), there is no disc slot, so I will have to put all the data on a USB.

    u don't need to purchase a copy of windows 7 :cool: there are a more "cheap" way ^^
    >> Division Hispana <<
    John Sheridan@playhard88 - FED Tactical
    Vin Naftero@playhard88 - FED Sciencie
    K'tan@playhard88 - KDF Tactical
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  • mikeward1701mikeward1701 Member Posts: 277 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    Also running STO on a MacBook Pro via bootcamp. :)

    Great advice in this thread so far, hope my additions are helpful.

    Regarding a copy of Windows;
    As darramouss1 mentioned you may be able to reuse the copy of Windows from your old machine. But depending on the version of Windows and the PC manufacturer it may not be possible reuse your licence key.

    jim940's OEM suggestion is an option to save money, if you have no plans on moving the copy to another machine you should be fine.

    Another option you may wish to consider is using the Windows 8 Release Preview (Wikipedia Link) which is currently free to download from the Microsoft website. Keep in mind though that this is beta/preview software and it may not have the stability* of a final release.

    Windows 8 is due for release in late October, and its been suggested its pricing will be cheaper than Windows 7 was at release. Regardless, it may be a good idea to wait 'til nearer that time as retailers will likely reduce their prices on Windows 7.

    Partition Size
    I'll second darramouss1 in making sure you create a healthy sized partition to run Windows on, as its not possible/very risky to change its size later. I'd personally say 50GB minimum (20gb Windows, 10gb STO, 20gb free space for updates/swap file/etc.)

    Security Software
    My personal favourites and recommendations are; Microsoft Security Essentials for free, or Kaspersky Internet Security as a paid solution. Kaspersky also make security software for Mac OS X, and their Kaspersky ONE product allows you to get both Windows and OS X versions for a good price.


    * Stability is a relative term.
    Fleet Admiral Ward
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  • darramouss1darramouss1 Member Posts: 1,811 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    jim940 wrote: »
    Try getting the latest drivers from the hardware manufacturers website directly. It will help over any kind of Windows default drivers or older ones that Apple is distributing.

    Jim

    Good suggestion, Jim. Got the latest nVidia drivers and am now running at full res. Thank you!!
  • jim940jim940 Member Posts: 178 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    I'm glad to have helped.

    See Apple's limited options hardware wise, made it easy for them to bundle the dozen or so drivers you need, and make sure they will work for the hardware. And the MacOS updates automatically push the newest drivers onto you. Which is why there are less complaints about that kind of thing on Macs.

    Microsoft Window's machines have a ton of basic drivers to atleast get your system running, but the latest drivers from the actual manufacturer is always best. As Window's does not actually update your drivers for you. Its a bit of a pain, but we must live with it.

    Jim
  • tiger909sptiger909sp Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    Thanks again for all the feedback guys. You've been a real help. I'll take a look at all these options and see what is better for me. Any other feedback you guys may have is welcome.
  • dazzajdazzaj Member Posts: 74 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    tiger909sp wrote: »
    the amount of money a Windows 7 storefront copy will cost me.

    Dude, never go through a "Storefront" Perfect Example, Here in Australia:
    Retravision in this town sell Windows 7 Home Premieum, for $350
    PC Case Gear (Melbourne Company) Sell the SAME THING for $95
    Point is, if you buy it legit, you can find it cheaper than most stores if you know where to look.

    And as for needing a USB of it, that's easy. Go to a friends house who has a PC. install Win2Flash on his PC.
    Put your Flash Drive in, and your Win Disc, it will then convert the Disc into a Bootable Flash Drive.
    _______________________________________________
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