Hi guys,

I've got both versions running on snow leopard (intel - mbp 2010), somehow the Macplay version of Fallout is much smoother than the build GOG provides us. I'm aware that the latter uses DOSbox and read about how resource hungry it was, but why not providing or updating the Macplay build that is already streamlined for Mac computers ?

Examples of slowdown occur in the loading menu, when traveling on the world map (that's probably the weirdest one) and fiddling with the items in the inventory.

So far it ain't that bad, the GOG port adds only slightly crispier pixels, but at what cost on the performance ?

Anyway I'm glad GOG is putting that game out, can't wait for Fallout 2 on Mac and will buy it even if it uses DOSbox or Boxer, but I would love to hear from them about the reason why they haven't updated the existing Mac build or if they plan on doing it.

Cheers.

K.

This question gets asked over and over and over again for many of GOG.com's games, but what the heck, I'll answer it again. Three reasons:

* GOG doesn't have rights to the MacPlay version. If MacPlay/Feral/Aspyr/Macsoft/etc., etc. pay for the rights to port and publish Mac versions of games, they--not EA, Activision, or whoever--are the publishers of those versions. The same goes for many games on Steam; only if the original developer studio or publisher did the Mac port, or arranged to retain the rights to any externally ported versions, are Mac versions of games available on Steam along with the Windows versions.

* Most of the games GOG sells are old enough that any Mac versions were developed for pre-OS X versions of the Mac OS, or at best PowerPC-based versions of OS X (MacPlay's Fallout being an example). The former won't work on any Intel Macs and the latter won't work on any Macs running OS X 10.7 or later.

* Even were the previous point not true, GOG is a small company with few employees. DOSbox/Boxer greatly simplifies technical support requirements by providing a standardized, baseline, virtual "computer" that GOG games run on. Selling "real" Mac versions of games would greatly complicate this.

Thanks TMWNN for the lengthy answer.