1st time playing on Mac version

Problems and things I want.

from Offworld Forums

I just installed the Mac version. I'm running Mavericks on a late-2009 27" iMac. 256MB VRAM. The game runs fine but on full screen the text describing the terrain tiles is too small to read. I'm running it at 1920 x 1080 on a native resolution of 2560 x 1440. When I select full-screen in the options it breaks all the text on the options screen so much that it is unreadable and hard to go back to turn off full-screen. I'm running the game in medium quality.

In order to get the text to a readable size I set my mac to 1920x1080 and the game to 1600 x 900. That was better but still a bit too small. I tried using full screen again but again it broke the text in the options screen.

When I move the mouse cursor to the edges of the screen the map scrolling is way too fast. There should be a option to set that scroll speed. I also think there should be an option to turn it off and just use the arrow keys for map scrolling. Why? Because every time I go down to the bottom-left of the screen to the building menu bar, the map jumps way up. 

Gameplay is good and I had no problems.

That's about all I know for now because I just started in with the first tutorial and wanted to write this. So in my opinion the important points are:

1. Full screen needs to be fixed so that text in the options screen can be read.

2. Map scrolling need to be changed.

10,491 views 14 replies
Reply #1 from Offworld Forums Top

No reply. Hmmm. I wonder if people realize how irritating the finicky map scrolling can be. Maps that scroll when I don't want them to are a pet peeve of mine and a game killer. I don't even want to play until that is fixed. I can't be so unique as to be the only one who feels like this about such a thing. And the fact that it bothers me (and possible others) so much is a pretty good indicator that it should be addressed quickly.

I sure hope it gets on the list of things to improve and/or fix because the game is pretty great and I want to play it. But i doubt I'll play again until it is fixed. 

Reply #2 from Offworld Forums Top

Watching some twitch videos and this doesn't seem to be a problem on Windows. Maybe it is only on Macs.

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Offworld Forums Top

I play on a Mac too, using WASD or the arrow keys for panning the camera around is just the right speed for me. Did you try using the keyboard? You can also pan the camera with right-click+drag if you happen to have a Magic Mouse or any two buttons mouse.

Reply #4 from Offworld Forums Top

I know about the right-click-drag panning. I didn't know about the WASD. I should have tried that. But the thing that bothers me is whenever I move the mouse pointer to a UI element at the edges of the screen, like the toolbar at the bottom left, it causes the map to scroll very fast without me wanting it to scroll - i really hate that (this is a pet peeve in lots of games where the map is bigger than the viewport). If there were some setting to disable mouse-pointer scrolling, and another to adjust the speed of the scroll it'd be perfect. 

Otherwise I can see this is a great game. But that scrolling just keeps me from wanting to play it. Maybe I'm too picky as it seems to bother no one else.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious WASD keys though. After 30+ years of playing map-based games I should have tried those keys in this game.

Reply #5 from Offworld Forums Top

I think if you turn the num lock key on or off it will toggle edge of the screen scrolling?

Reply #6 from Offworld Forums Top

Great DeftMunky I'm going to try that right now. Oops. I spoke too soon. My Mac keyboard doesn't have a number lock. Hmmm. Maybe there is some key combination that mimics that on this small default iMac keyboard. I'll check it out. Thanks.

Or maybe I should reboot in Bootcamp/Vista partition, install the OTC there and use my Microsoft full-keyboard. Too bad that partition is full and I'll have to delete some other game in order to install OTC.

 

Reply #7 from Offworld Forums Top

I'll add it to my tasklist to try to find some way to disable edge of screen scrolling on a Mac.

Reply #8 from Offworld Forums Top

DeftMonky thanks! I now think that the problem way magnified my by low spec Mac causing the scrolling to be jerky with a high resolution setting. I changed my Mac monitor to 1600x900, the game also at 1600x900 with Medium quality and full screen. It still looks great and after playing for over an hour the scrolling is better because it is much smoother but still way too fast in my opinion. And the map still scrolls when I don't want it too when I move my mouse pointer to the various toolbars at the edges of the screen. If I could have just one thing I'd love an option to turn off map scrolling when the mouse cursor move to the edges, and just have the WSAD keys do the scrolling. 

Regards.

Late-2009 27" iMac
OS: 10.9.5

Proc: 3.06 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Mem: 4GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Video: ATI Radeon HD 4670, 256 MB


BTW. I couldn't find anyway to turn on/off number lock on my numberpladless Mac keyboard. 

 

 

 

Reply #9 from Offworld Forums Top

I just  boot my iMac into my Bootcamp partition with Vista and installed OTC. Using my Micosoft keyboard the numlock did disable that screen scroll when mouse pointer is at edges of screen. That alone makes the game a hundred times more enjoyable for me. Also on Vista I can run the game very smoothly at a 1920x1080 (Medium quality) instead of at 1600x900 (Medium quality) when on Mavericks. I guess Windows video drivers are better.

I have one question...when I start the game I get two choices:

1. Play Offworld Trading Company

2. Launch DirectX 9 Version

What is that 2nd choice all about? Both just launch the game with no discernable differences. 

 

Reply #10 from Offworld Forums Top

It's been a while since I played and I see there is now an option to turn off edge scree scrolling, Thanks! That makes OTC 100% more playable for me.

Reply #11 from Offworld Forums Top

Np! I'm delighted to hear it's more playable! I hope you enjoy the game!

-Scott-

Reply #12 from Offworld Forums Top

`DeftMunky I have been playing on my Mac's Bootcamp partition (Vista) which didn't have edge scrolling enabled and it was ver playable except it keeps crashing on my old hardware/software. But I was still able to finish some tutorials and it is a wonderful game.

Now that I can play it on OSX (Mavericks) which is more up to date I don't thing it will crash, and will be even more enjoyable.

 

 

Reply #13 from Offworld Forums Top

i haven't payed since the last time I posted here. And OTC had been updated a few times. It seems that on my Mac OTC has gotten a lot slower and much less responsive. So much so that it is mostly unplayable at 1600x900 on Medium graphics settings. Before it was playable. Nothing has changed on my Mac. But no problem as my Mac is way below lowest spec. 

On the lowest graphics setting is runs perfectly. 

Reply #14 from Offworld Forums Top

Hey TokyoDan,

Thanks for the data. It is interesting that the performance has gotten so bad. I didn't expect that. I will let Joel (our Mac guru) and Jason (our graphics guru) know about this post and see if they have any idea what's up.

The interface latency is a problem and won't go away until we move to the next system, hopefully in a few months.

Thanks for the info!

-Scott-