FFXI on Mac: Working in Parallels 4.0

[fussel]

Maybe this is of interest for somebody:

http://fnord.terror.de/images/ffximac.png

/edit: does a VM count as 3rd party software? This is actually the first time I got FFXI running windowed. Oh, and you have to set Parallels to View -> Single Window and POL to fullscreen. Coherence doesn't work, trying to resize the window results in "Full screen mode lost".

[QotsaM]

Oh shi- this is quite interesting
I'm currently running FF11 through bootcamp and my brother told me about Parallels but I never really looked into that.

Did you get some problems while running this? like VM crashing or connection lost problems? I would be very interested in some feedback

Thx.

[ZarakiKujata]

How is your experience with Parallels? Is it better than VMWare Fusion? Does Windower work?

[Kriz]

I'm gonna have to give this a go later tonight, just got Parallels 4 installed and FFXI updated.

I have a 2007 dual quad Mac Pro, so it was (and still is, really) pretty top notch.

[fussel]

@QotsaM:

No problems so far, even with a quite messy networking setup (the gateway here blocks all UDP except DNS, so I set up an OpenVPN to route all VM traffic through a TCP tunnel via my root server).

@ZarakiKujata:

My overall experience with Parallels is pretty good. Half-Life 2 already worked with Parallels 3.0 (I tried VMware Fusion at that time, too, and that windows just blue screened). I have not tried VMWare Fusion since. One reason for that was that my gf got a copy of Parallels 4.0 from her employer for work and there were two activation codes in the box, so I actually have a legit key for that.

I didn't try windower.

Performance wise, it runs better in the VM on a 2.16 GHz 20" iMac (Ati X1600 pro in there) than on my eee pc on an external HDD. It actually runs pretty well, but I wouldn't go fighting with that. But it's fine to chat and craft.

[Shadowrunner]

I've been posting about this for a while now.

I now exclusively play FFXI on Parallels 4. It works fine.

There are a -few- things to watch out for....

1) Switching to Coherence Mode will cause FFXI to crash, As well as switching from it. Also, in Coherency Mode, Parallels really likes to freeze up, so as cool of a feature as I'd love it to be, I'd avoid it.

2) When I first got it running, the CTRL and ALT keys would not seem to work. I say seem, if holding them down to use a macro, it would not display the menus. However, if you used the macro anyways, they worked. So... I tweaked around some settings, think I upped the CPU given to parallels, and now it works fine.

3) Flipping between the two (Mac programs & Parallels) can cause known keys to be hammered down (like when you switch back to FFXI and the directional key is mashed down so you keep running left no matterwhat) or disabled (like last night where my space bar and text keys wouldn't work, so I couldn't talk temporarily). It's usually fixed by switching back and forth a few times, or clicking to close FFXI (via the x) and then cancelling the termination.

4) There was something else... It's not exactly perfect. A slight slowdown and with too much else running can freeze a tiny bit. I found that Ventrilo doesn't work really well (sound is really quiet for windows side), so you can use the Mac version for better sound to that. Oh! That's my only other issue, obviously if you're in the VM, your push-to-talk key does not work for vent. Poopers.


The graphics are fixed from 3.0, so my detail is up there rather than the 877/877 i had it at before to make it work. It's not horrible, I use it when I have to develop on the Mac side of the world (IE - iTouch development, school related). If given the choice, I'd rather always use the full power of the computer, but if you're looking for a way to play FFXI on Mac exclusively, this will be your ticket.

EDIT:

P.S. - Best way to play it, is to switch to a second screen and full-screen it. Then you can use the alternate desktop screens as "different operating systems". I think it's really neat, even if I know it's not really a full-blown windows on desktop 2 of my compy, the switch to full screen mode sure does feel like it :3

[Scuzzelbutt]

I have been trying to get this to run on my MacPro for atleast a year. I have VMFusion, I have be able to get it running but the charater models wouldnt load properly and my taru would have like half a body and the rest would be see though.

Has anyone been able to get Windower or a Xbox Controller to work with it?

[Shadowrunner]

Maybe this is of interest for somebody:

http://fnord.terror.de/images/ffximac.png

/edit: does a VM count as 3rd party software? This is actually the first time I got FFXI running windowed. Oh, and you have to set Parallels to View -> Single Window and POL to fullscreen. Coherence doesn't work, trying to resize the window results in "Full screen mode lost".

Sorry, I really should have read this whole thread. If you don't mind alternating desktops, you can switch Parallels to a different number (I use 2) and pretty much all functionality goes back to the windows side, non-full-screen windower and adjustable windower as well. Coherency does screw it up, so I simply avoid it. You can still apple + tab to parallels and do a quick click to be back in the VM. It does kind of defeat the point of it if you want to be really focusing on the Mac side, but until they fix coherency, I'm just going to stick to a second window for a second OS :3

[Shadowrunner]

Windower works, btw.

EDIT: Can't speak for VM Fusion, but if you want to give it a try, Parallels 3.0 had some shotty graphics if you kept the full specs. I wound up editing the registry to somewhere near 870/870, and that got it working (though gruff). Try turning the graphical specs down on VMFusion and see if it works.

[Kaisha]

How do you guys get is playable under Parallels? Most I did was run around Whitegate with graphics/resolution set to low and the frame-rate just scatters anywhere from 7 to 30fps depending on the amount of models onscreen (usually 6 players onscreen with nothing going on = 15fps).

Anyhow, from my experience, Parallels4.0's 3d support kicks the shit out of VMWare Fusion's, I can play TF2 at 40fps with medium settings vs the 3fps I had in VMWare with everything set to low.

Regarding Parallel vs. Fusion, I found Parallels just overall better. The biggest nag I had with Fusion were these random pauses every few seconds regardless of what I was doing, even simple low-CPU games. (such as Duke Nukem3d on a Win98 VM)

[Shadowrunner]

How do you guys get is playable under Parallels? Most I did was run around Whitegate with graphics/resolution set to low and the frame-rate just scatters anywhere from 7 to 30fps depending on the amount of models onscreen (usually 6 players onscreen with nothing going on = 15fps).

Anyhow, from my experience, Parallels4.0's 3d support kicks the shit out of VMWare Fusion's, I can play TF2 at 40fps with medium settings vs the 3fps I had in VMWare with everything set to low.

Regarding Parallel vs. Fusion, I found Parallels just overall better. The biggest nag I had with Fusion were these random pauses every few seconds regardless of what I was doing, even simple low-CPU games. (such as Duke Nukem3d on a Win98 VM)

Made a bootcamp (I'm going to need both OS's anyways) partition and had Parallels use that for emulation. No tweaks or edits made, it just works. I was doing pretty good, enough to do a salvage run and 2 assaults... This is 4.0 though.

[Kaisha]

Yeah, I been running it off of bootcamp partition as well (can't afford to lose another 8gb of HD space for FFXI >.> ), perhaps you just have a faster rig? I got last year's MacBook Pro model here.

Probably good for low-man stuff and that's about it, or its worse than even the PS2 in terms of frame-rate.

[Shadowrunner]

I'm runnin the santa rosa 2.2GHz pro, 2 GB ram.

I'm not sure why yours is so slow, I'll admit I wouldn't really wanna take it to besieged, but I can fish and salvage just fine on it >.>

EDIT: Lol, that, or i'm used to crappy frame rates.. that very well could be it too :\

[Turbotwo]

What we really need is a less complicated way of running FFXI bug free on Linux....that'd be sweet..

[Kaisha]

Wasn't there someone writing some code up for WINE that handled FFXI's graphical calls and made some progress with it for Linux? I recall a thread on it from a year or so ago.

[Xyle]

Wasn't there someone writing some code up for WINE that handled FFXI's graphical calls and made some progress with it for Linux? I recall a thread on it from a year or so ago.

Yeah, but its not anywhere near done yet. The framerate is still too shoddy to consider running it only on linux. Not to mention the stability.

Link to WineAPP DB for FFXI:

WineHQ - Final Fantasy XI Online Final Fantasy XI

[Kaisha]

Coherence works as long as it's set prior and FFXI is set to windowed mode rather than fullscreen, no idea on Windower since I never used it before. I've not really had a freezing problem, just freezing in general when it needs to do something CPU intensitive. ;/

I got bored for a moment and decided to see how well it'd run under the same settings I use in bootcamp - 1440x900 resolution/background, windowed mode. Resolution of the monitor itself was set to 1920x1200, so I'm unsure if that could have worsened the performance any. (since it has to emulate and skin a 1920x1200 WinXP desktop over my 1920x1200 OSX desktop for coherence mode)

Spoiler: show

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6.../paraffxi4.jpg

It's a nice step up compared to how FFXI looked in Parallels 3.0 :

Spoiler: show

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...I/ffximac2.jpg

On a more Parallels-specific note, does anyone else get the problem where your Caps Lock and the Caps in the VM go out of sync?

It's really making me consider doubling my RAM to 4gb (or hell, quadruple it to 8gb if I can find 2x 4gb sticks that are compatible with this MacBook Pro, <3 64-bit OS) just to set aside more than a GB for gaming in Parallels.

[fndragon]

Yeah, but its not anywhere near done yet. The framerate is still too shoddy to consider running it only on linux. Not to mention the stability.

Link to WineAPP DB for FFXI:

WineHQ - Final Fantasy XI Online Final Fantasy XI

www.wineffxi.org | You no longer have to be tied to Windows

Works for me just fine! Great speed and no real issues to speak of as long as you use the newest Wine (circa at least late Dec'08).

I'd been waiting for this to work for a while. Oddly enough, FFXI is the #1 most requested application that users have voted for future WINE development according to winehq.org.

[Sirenia]

I use bootcamp but I have tried running FFXI on Mac in Parallels and it just doesn't work to well. Its really really slow so I gave up.

[Raineer]

It's not really an HNM playable speed but it works for general fighting and, of course, running around to AH.

4GB of memory is $43 so that's step 1, also mine is a 3.06 Core 2 Duo which makes it smoother I imagine.

Mine is from Parallels also off the Bootcamp partition, but I run that as the standard "Performance Edition" XP you'll find on piratebay and I would highly recommend it as well.

I didn't know they had finally made some strides on Linux, was pretty poor last I'd seen it. I will certainly check that out.