to buy on ps4 or mac?

[fergusonpolice]

Little background information. I currently have the ksp demo on my mac and im in love with the game. I wanna buy the full version but im torn between buying it for ps4 or for my mac.

I have a macbook pro 15 inch with retina display, and id buy the computer version in a heartbeat if not for one caveat. My laptop heats up when i play and it drains the battery. When i plug my charger in and play the charger heats up a lot too. Its mildly annoying, but more importantly than that im concerned about how this could impact my macbook. I paid a pretty penny for this thing not even a year ago and im worried that constantly heating up the components will impact its longevity. Im aware that they have a system in place where if the temperature rises too high it shuts off before any major damage is sustained, but im worried that chronic heating will have some effect on it. Not to mention that batteries can only be charged and discharged so many times, and playing a demanding game like ksp drains my battery quick. 

 

The ps4 is another story. Id able to play the game on a beautiful large TV, not worrying about overheating or battery levels, and it would take away the risk of me hurting my macbook. My only two issues are the optimization and the controls. Ive heard people say that its buggy or that it crashes and resets all your progress. Unless thats been patched im not buying a game for $40 that resets my entire save file randomly. Also if anyones played the ps4 version id like to know how the controls feel. Ive looked over some of the control guides and they seem incredibly complicated. Obviously you dont have a mouse and keyboard to work with but my worry is that the controls are either very hard to learn or that the clunkyness of it all severely detracts from the experience.

If you managed to make it this far please give me some input, because im really torn on what to do and i really want to buy this game. Is there a demo scheduled to come out to console so i could test it out? Any input is appreciated.

[Wallygator]

Buy on Mac, get hdmi cable, turn down graphics settings or buy cooling base, use charger. 

[MaxxQ]

1 hour ago, Wallygator said:

Buy on Mac, get hdmi cable, turn down graphics settings or buy cooling base, use charger. 

I second this (although my gut instinct is to say something along the lines of getting a proper PC with windoze or linux on it).  The biggest advantage to playing it on any sort of PC is mods.  There aren't going to be mods avaiable for any of the console platforms, and even if you decide now that you won't use mods, the option is there if you ever change your mind.  Options are good.

[tater]

My i7 iMac does fine. Airbook certainly is more taxed. My ancient PC needs stuff turned way down (which reminds that I need to build a new gaming rig at some point).

[fergusonpolice]

4 hours ago, Wallygator said:

Buy on Mac, get hdmi cable, turn down graphics settings or buy cooling base, use charger. 

Whats the hdmi cable for? Sorry for sounding like a noob im just confused

[AlamoVampire]

pc cuz mods

[kBob]

36 minutes ago, fergusonpolice said:

Whats the hdmi cable for? Sorry for sounding like a noob im just confused

I presume it means connect to the same set the PS4 is hooked to, so you get the benefit of being on the Mac but with a nice big screen.  BTW in Windows you can change a setting to lower the max speed at which your processor runs, often by turning the max from 100% to 90% laptops run much cooler with little to no noticeable speed difference.  I don't currently have a Mac but if there is a similar setting try it, you may find your heating problem greatly reduced.

Edit: I've done a little searching and it looks like to underclock a MacBook you need to go into the EFI (bios).  If I find anything better I'll let you know.

Edited August 27, 2016 by kBob

[Wallygator]

3 hours ago, kBob said:

I presume it means connect to the same set the PS4 is hooked to, so you get the benefit of being on the Mac but with a nice big screen.  BTW in Windows you can change a setting to lower the max speed at which your processor runs, often by turning the max from 100% to 90% laptops run much cooler with little to no noticeable speed difference.  I don't currently have a Mac but if there is a similar setting try it, you may find your heating problem greatly reduced.

Edit: I've done a little searching and it looks like to underclock a MacBook you need to go into the EFI (bios).  If I find anything better I'll let you know.

Exactly. 

[Curveball Anders]

I use the Kerbokatz FPS Limiter to keep my GPU from going nuts and running the fans to such a level that my computer dance across the floor ...

[cfds]

Another point for going the non-console way: When a new KSP version is released, you only have to wait a few weeks until you get the hotfix that makes the game finally work (I do not want to know how long you would have to wait fro the third hotfix on the console).

[pandaman]

Also.. by getting the mac version you can still be mobile with it if you want to.

[Fluburtur]

A good pc would be much better

[klgraham1013]

I'd suggest getting it on your Mac.  It you paid a pretty penny for it only a year ago, it should be fine.  Do you have the specs on it?  ...and please don't say i7.  There's been so many i7s now that it doesn't mean much anymore.  Silly marketing terms.  Speaking of silly...

11 hours ago, MaxxQ said:

windoze

Yeah.  I stopped reading your post after this.

[technicalfool]

Personally I'd get the desktop computer version over the console version, basically because of the mods and the extra hundred or so keys available. Not to mention the generally beefier CPUs, meaning more parts before slowdown becomes a problem. I'll call it the "desktop computer version", because buying it gives you OS X, Windows and Linux options all at once.

Console version's great if you don't have a gaming computer.

[Dman979]

For the longest time, I played KSP on my Mac, and I loved it. Granted, it wasn't a powerful computer, but I could mod it, unmod it, redownload it, and generally have way more options than I'd have on a console.

 

I suggest getting KSP on your computer, from the KSP store (www.kerbalspaceprogram.com). You get the newest version, and you can use it on WIndows, Mac, or Linux.

[MaxxQ]

2 hours ago, klgraham1013 said:

I'd suggest getting it on your Mac.  It you paid a pretty penny for it only a year ago, it should be fine.  Do you have the specs on it?  ...and please don't say i7.  There's been so many i7s now that it doesn't mean much anymore.  Silly marketing terms.  Speaking of silly...

Yeah.  I stopped reading your post after this.

Why?  I use Win10 myself.  If you're complaining because I used a popular slang for the OS, then you might want to upgrade your sense of humor.

[Tyko]

Mac over Console because

• Mods - they still work on mac despite what some people have said earlier in this thread
• Keyboard - the game really needs more inputs than you can get on a console controller. It'll work on a console, but having all the extra keys makes it a lot easier to play.

Heating issues. Make sure you have good airflow around the machine and possibly get a cooling stand of some sort. Macs are well engineered, but the designs favor slim design and playing a game that really taxes the processor for hours will push the envelope. It's also summer right now, don't know if you live in a hot climate or have air conditioning, but that could be a factor too. if your room temp is high and you don't have good airflow around the machine you're kind of making it tough for any computer.

[Corona688]

If you have a choice at all, PC > console, where games are files you can control instead of an unfixable blob under someone else's control.  The console release has issues right now in any case.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Corona688

[qromodynmc]

I think mac would be better choice because less problems and more support for it. As for the heat;

It wont decrease lifespan of anything except battery on your mac, Cpus, Gpus, all of them has automated clock speeds, if they get too hot, they'll throttle down a bit. But battery life can decrease because of heat and if im not wrong, you cant unplug battery on mac.

Also there is another thing, as far i know warranty covers battery life so, if you see unusual decrease in battery, just resquest change before warranty ends.

[Sharpy]

First off, forget the console versions. That was a bad money grab ruse by Squad, and the console versions are so crap you really don't talk about them in a cultured company. Never mind the mods or late updates, the game is simply so unstable that you'll only get frustrated.

I honestly don't know about Mac. But allegedly, Linux version is very good, and you might be able to run it, e.g. through Boot Camp, if you want.

[wumpus]

On 8/26/2016 at 11:56 PM, AlamoVampire said:

pc cuz mods

The Linux edition can use mods, I'd assume the mac can as well.  Using the charger shouldn't be an issue, and go for the laptop cooler (it should help with the computer's lifespan).  To be honest, I'm not sure that having all my progress reset on occasion would be easier to deal with than giving up mods, mouse, and keyboard.  All of them are showstoppers and not an issue with the mac (if there are, you can presumably install linux via boot camp and use that).

Without a specific model it is hard to tell, but I suspect your mac can run KSP "better" than a PS4 (the GPU isn't nearly as good, but expect it to handle lots of parts better due to a vastly more powerful CPU).  Get the HDMI cable (and preferably laptop cooler) and go for it.

[Leopard]

Check how much ram you have for the mac, I've got a 4GB macbook air, wasn't enough, otherwise was fine, my ancient sidewinder 2 joystick worked fine

[The_Rocketeer]

Gotta say I'm in the PC camp here... which is actually what we're talking about, since the Mac version is the Windows version is the Linux version - if u have one u have them all. Versatility for future computer purchases, hmm? With the PS4 version the game dies with the console

4gb of RAM is enough. It's not loads, and u'll not be able to run too many mods (but you will be able to run mods!)... anyway the game will run fine. Be wary of integrated graphics chips tho, since they tend to use system RAM rather than dedicated VRAM - my 256mb integrated Geforce chip will run the game, but not very well and only on absolutely drop-dead minimum settings. Basically, just check u meet the minimum system requirements and I'm sure u'll be fine.

My Macbook is now 7 years old and has seen tens-, possibly hundreds-of-thousands of hours of use - still going strong, tho the battery is due for renewal (and Mac's crappy charging cords have failed 3 times in the last 2 years). At this time of year it gets hot just streaming video, so that's not something I'd even bat an eyelid at - the overheat failsafe is there and it does work. Plus you can plug it into the TV (with the relevant cable/adapter) just like the console, and even bluetooth a console controller to it if you're technical enough to work it out (and a bit mad).

Overall, the PS4 version will (post-patch) be a more straightforward plugnplay livingroom game experience, but with the Mac you'll have many more options about how and where to play, and customisation in the form of mods, AND longevity beyond the next generation of consoles. The flipside is potential wear'n'tear on the hardware (but what did u buy it for except to use it?) and possibly a little more expenditure on accessories. To me it's still a no-brainer. Mac.

[soulsource]

I wouldn't be worried about heating issues on your laptop. Only really crappy devices don't have sufficient cooling to support being run at 100% load for extended periods, and last time I checked Apple devices were pretty far from being crappy.

That said, the PC versions of KSP are far from bug-free. Both, the OS X and Windows build of 1.1.3 tend to crash quite frequently, and the Linux build is only slightly better regarding stability, but has other (mostly graphical) issues. (Disclaimer: That's based on my personal experience - might be that others don't have frequent crashes on Windows.) Still, with the PC version you have the option to downgrade, and 1.0.5 is pretty stable (though performance is worse). Also, you'll get updates sooner, and probably 1.2 will solve some of the worst issues we currently are experiencing. In addition there are some extremely cool mods out there, which greatly enhance gameplay, and without which I hardly would want to play any more (for me FAR is a must...).

The next thing is that on PC you won't be forced to upgrade to newer versions (not even if you buy through Steam, as KSP doesn't have copy protection -> just copy the installation folder somewhere else and Steam won't overwrite it ^^), what can become important as version upgrades might break savegames.