Forum Discussion

igazor's avatar
7 years ago

New Thread for simghettitacos - TS3 on a New iMac/Mac Pro

"Hi igazor! I hope I'm posting this in the proper place. (I'm extremely new to the forums). I was wondering about whether the newer iMacs, (with Retina 4k 3.0/3.4 GHz processors, Retina 5k 3.4/3.5/3.8 GHz processors, or the iMac Pro), are compatible with ts3? I really do apologize if you've received this question multiple times. I couldn't seem to find any information regarding these specific models. I was thinking about purchasing one of the three iMacs I mentioned, and noticed the graphics were a little different, (Radeon Pro 555/560/570/575/580). My current Mac has an incompatible graphics card with ts3, which is why I thought about potentially being able to play ts3 again. Thank you for taking the time to read this."

Hi there, I've started a new thread for you over here as you are not able to do so yet. Technically the newer AMD Radeon Pro graphics cards are not compatible with TS3, but many players have been able to get the game to work as well as it can on them. Installation must be done by way of Origin for Mac, not discs, and there are some extra steps to go through with a couple of the EPs that will otherwise refuse to install. I will let @BluebellFlora and the others here guide you further, if needed. :)

I will add though that no matter what kind of hardware runs it, TS3 for Mac is still a crippled version of its Windows counterpart. In particular, the game can only utilize 2 GB of RAM no matter how much the player has installed. That can be very limiting once we start talking about all EPs in medium or more sized worlds and more so as ongoing games progress. CAS and Edit Town become particularly tricky. If the game reaches for more RAM than that, it will crash or Error12 upon trying to save. If it can be arranged, I would suggest Bootcamping Windows onto these newer Macs and playing the Windows version of the game instead, then OS X for just about everything else. On the Windows side, the graphics card will require their frame rates limited (this is not difficult to arrange) and will need to be formally recognized (a little more difficult but we can help with that). Performance should be as fine as TS3 will ever get, and the RAM usage limit is upwards of 3.5 GB which is much more generous to be able to work with.
  • Thank you so much again. If any of these models are able to run the game, I'm definitely not expecting the game to work smoothly, by any means. At this point, I would be content with the base game alone, being that I have been unable to play for a couple of years, due to the incompatibility with the graphics card.
  • I think @igazor missed my post about no longer supporting and helping with TS3 but as he is so super helpful I simply can't help myself...

    You should be able to play with AMD GPUs (I do on a 2017 Touch Bar 15" with AMD Radeon Pro 560 4Gb) and with no need to edit the graphics files. You will, however, have to apply the Unknown Error fixes for either the base game on its own or with certain packs installed.
  • @BluebellFlora - You're right sorry, I did miss that post entirely (I see it on your blog now), and guess it had to happen eventually. I will try to stop paging you for players needing routine assistance and direct them to your site instead, where all of your hard work over the years is so well documented.

    But if/when something new and unexpected comes along...well, old habits do tend to die hard. :)
  • @igazor absolutely no problem at all. Yep, everything is on my site and if a miracle were to happen then you know that I would be the first to scream it from the rooftops, or social media in 21st century speak :D
  • @BluebellFlora I want to thank you again for everything you've contributed towards making it possible to run TS3 on a mac. I'm so sorry to see you go (so to speak), as your website and guidance are the only reasons I've been able to play this game on my new computer. But you've done so much for mac users that I don't think anyone can ask more of you. (Also, you've gone miles farther than the entire staff at EA, but that's a gripe for another time.) Besides, who could fault you for wanting to finally wash your hands of the unoptimized mess that is TS3 for mac? There are only so many times you can coax a frustrated gamer away from a brick wall with a suspicious forehead imprint before it gets a bit redundant.

    Regardless, as long as your website still hosts all the same information as before, I think we might be able to survive. Maybe. But if you ever stop hosting your guides, please do us a favor and give some warning so we can copy them all down for safekeeping. There's no way I would ever be able to recreate most of your advice from memory, and I really don't want to accidentally set my beautiful new computer on fire by trying to troubleshoot on my own.
  • @BluebellFlora I really do appreciate your help. I will definitely reference your website when the error does occur. With the amount of information you have shared there, and amongst the forums, I'm sure I will be able to answer any further questions I may have in the future. Thank you again :)
  • Really no need to thank me, I enjoy helping and without all the wonderful Simmers who have actually taken the time to test stuff and report back, we'd have nothing.