Portal "One-Fifth As Likely to Crash on a Mac" as on PC
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
That still doesn't make up for the fact that a Mac is a bazillion times more likely to crash when I'm using Photoshop to put the heads of people I don't like on the bodies of various farm animals.
The decrease in FPS while running Portal in steam has to do with Apple's shoddy OpenGL drivers for it's cards. The 10.6.4 build that's seeded to developers has updating graphic drivers in it's patchnotes - I believe that they did this because both Valve and Blizzard are working on new games for OS X and especially Valve complained about having trouble with the Apple drivers.
I must say though, minimizing Portal and then maximizing it in OS X goes _WAY_ faster than any Source game in Windows. Minimizing TF2 and maximizing it in Windows XP can take up to 3 minutes , wtf.
OT: I run both Macintosh and Windows XP. On neither Portal has crashed for me, so I'm happy
I must say though, minimizing Portal and then maximizing it in OS X goes _WAY_ faster than any Source game in Windows. Minimizing TF2 and maximizing it in Windows XP can take up to 3 minutes , wtf.
OT: I run both Macintosh and Windows XP. On neither Portal has crashed for me, so I'm happy
Portal, and most hl2.exe programs, tend to crash on alt-tabbing back to Windows I find. This is likely the source of the disparity, as Macs seem to have less problems managing full-screen applications to my knowledge.
I'd imagine it'd be pretty easy to program a game for a platform where the only hardware concern is whether the computer is a Red, Blue, Green, or Purple. I'm pretty sure the only reason it crashes less is that most mac users have a default system, since they don't really allow a great degree of customization or upgrading. My current PC has had an upgraded hard-drive, RAM, and video card, so I can't imagine it's easy to release a reliable product on a system in which every user can modify their system with any number of products, and even factory built they can use a variety of different components. I'd still take the customizable nature of a PC over the reliability of a MAC any day. Upgrading components over five years and spending $500 to play new games is better than paying $2500 for a new computer every three years.
Portal has crashed on my pc exactly zero times (just as much as any other Source engine game by the way), so I'll easily accept a fifth of that.
Seriously though, I'm not entirely surprised the Mac is going to be a more stable platform. It's a far more controlled platform, both in hardware and in software, which makes it far easier to have everything working well together.
Seriously though, I'm not entirely surprised the Mac is going to be a more stable platform. It's a far more controlled platform, both in hardware and in software, which makes it far easier to have everything working well together.
Either there were a lot of under-serviced mac gamers out there... Or a lot of people said "Oh, that's free? Why the hell not?" and downloaded it. I think it was a good way to spread Valves greatness to the public.
Don't forget that tasty performance hit! They release a game that's three years old to a closed system of homogenous components and then act like fewer crashes is news?Exterminas said:
That said, I think the real reason that Portal is less likely to crash on a Mac is because it is less likely to reach that stage:
Today we're playing Steam!
This guy doesn't understand that Portal isn't a 20 MB webgame. Of course it's going to need to download. He also doesn't understand that Steam is the hosting platform for both the game and the download. The only thing he's right about is that the Get Steam! button on the steam website should give you the most up to date version of steam, instead of a version that needs to be updated immediately.Sikachu said:
Huh, well I guess that is cool, although I have logged in a good couple of hours into Portal and I have yet to have ti crash on me. (PC)
Also, has anyone realized that global warming has been rising significantly higher with the increasing lack of Pirates? I SMELL CONNECTION!!
Also, has anyone realized that global warming has been rising significantly higher with the increasing lack of Pirates? I SMELL CONNECTION!!
I was going to come into this thread to say the exact same thing. Even on my crappy old laptop which could barely run portal never crashed while running it. For all intents and purposes it really is 20% of a 0% chance to crash. I'm sure the PC version can and will crash but I barely hear about it and never heard about it amongst the people I know who play it.RvLeshrac said: