Making Parallels Run Smoother On Mac While Playing Games

Play your Windows-only game on a Mac using Parallels Desktop. Parallels Desktop even has a virtual machine setting dedicated to gaming to optimize performance. With ongoing support for DirectX and OpenGL, many popular games and game engines are supported within Parallels Desktop.

  • Aug 20, 2012  PC games: they can be the bane of a Mac gamer’s existence. The Mac may be a better computer than a windows box, but even so, most games don’t support OS X. Even on Steam, the leader in cross-platform computer game support, most games run only on Windows.
  • Jan 13, 2013  Thats why Microsoft made a helpful program called contig.exe which helps organize all the files and makes the Game Run smoother. NOT PLAY ANY GAMES WHILE YOU DO THIS IT MIGHT MESS UP YOUR GAME.
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It’s well documented that gaming is just a better, more fluid experience on PC than it is on Mac. However, Apple, for its part, in recent years has sought to address gamer’s concerns by equipping the company’s top-tier computers with some equally top-tier graphics silicon. The 27-inch Retina 5K HD iMacs are the most recent to benefit from AMD’s latest and greatest Radeon M9 GPU.

Even if you’ve been so fortunate as to have used one of Apple’s Retina 5K iMacs for the purpose of gaming before, then you’re likely well aware that — even on iMac — when you try to play a game at full resolution (5,120 x 2,880), the game often runs choppy, lags, and is just inconsistent with what you’d expect of a modern machine boasting an impressive graphics chip.

Of course, there are several ways you could go about rectifying this issue on your own. One, for instance, would be to simply reduce the game resolution manually by navigating to the Options panel within the game itself. However, if for some reason following this protocol doesn’t work out for you, there’s also this alternative way you can make your games run more fluidly. Just follow the steps as outlined below!

1.) If you’re currently playing the game, or if the app is still open in the background, quit straight from your desktop. Mac games that work with mfi.

2.) Once closed, head into the computer’s Finder panel and locate the game’s application under the Applications sub-menu.

Making Parallels Run Smoother On Mac While Playing Games Free

3.) Highlight, but do not open the game, and then right-click to reveal the drop down menu > Select Get Info.

4.) From the Get Info menu, locate and select the Open in Low Resolution checkbox.

Once the game has been restarted, it should open in a lower, non-Retina resolution. In turn, this should all but ensure your games are running more smoothly than before and that your playing performance improves in light of that.

Keep in mind, this game performance, or perception thereof, largely depends on the kind/intensity of game you’re trying to play on your iMac. Apple’s Retina 5K iMacs, in particular, are powerful machines, equipped with powerful graphics cards. So they can handle even the most immersive, action packed games — such as Rust or Civilization V. Yet when these games are run in a lower resolution, they run as smooth as butter — slick enough to warrant going easy on the special effects, that’s for sure.

The overall graphics performance will be a bit diminished when a game is run in a lower-resolution, of course; however, given how the majority of games aren’t even compatible with high resolution displays yet, we highly doubt that even the most avid gamers would be able to notice the difference anyways.

Learn More:How to Speed up Your Mac in Less than 15 Minutes

Do you play games on your Retina 5K iMac? Have you tried this performance boosting, low-resolution gaming trick?

Making Parallels Run Smoother On Mac While Playing Games Online

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Despite all of Apple’s success over the last few decades, the Windows software ecosystem is undeniably larger. That’s particularly true if you’re a gamer. Many AAA titles never launch on Mac, and those that do often arrive late. Parallels just announced a new version of its Mac software that makes gaming performance better, so you might not have to wait for a buggy Mac port.

Making Parallels Run Smoother On Mac While Playing Games On Computer

Until the early 2000s, using a Mac meant locking yourself away from the Windows software ecosystem. Apple’s PowerPC architecture ensured that any emulation or virtualization would be slow as molasses. Then, Apple switched to the Intel x86 architecture in 2006, and Parallels was ready a few months later with its Windows virtualization suite for OS X (as it was known at the time). Parallels lets you run Windows applications on macOS side-by-side with Mac apps, and the new v15 release marks the first major update in a few years.

Making Parallels Run Smoother On Mac While Playing Games

Making Parallels Run Smoother On Mac While Playing Games 2017

In the latest build, Parallels Desktop 15 adds DirectX 11 support inside Windows applications and games. That’s thanks to the use of Apple Metal, a low-overhead 3D graphics API used on all Apple platforms. Parallels says the new version of its software can render 3D graphics 15 percent faster when they implement DX 11. Past versions of Parallels were a bit too sluggish for 3D games, but the promo video (below) shows the software running Overwatch reasonably well. You’d probably have to keep the graphics settings modest, but it’s better than not playing at all.

Making Parallels Run Smoother On Mac While Playing Games 2017

Parallels 15 includes support for the new Sidecar feature coming to macOS Catalina. With Sidecar, you can use an iPad as a secondary display on your Mac. Therefore, you will soon be able to run Windows programs (an even games) seamlessly on your iPad. You’ll just need a Mac computer nearby.

Parallels also claims the new version is 80 percent faster when opening Microsoft Office apps, and it works with many non-gaming applications the rely on 3D rendering like Autodesk 3ds Max. There’s also support for sharing files between the Mac and Windows sides in apps like Windows Mail, Safari, Photos, and other macOS apps.

Making Parallels Run Smoother On Mac While Playing Games Online

Parallels desktop is available as a one-time purchase for $99.99, but some of the features are locked behind the Pro and Business subscription. That’s $99 per year. If you have an older version of Parallels, you’ll need to buy the new version, but the upgrade price is a bit more reasonable at $49.99.

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