How to play on iMac......now!

Richiebones · Nov 25, 2014

This must have been covered before but I've tried searching with no real luck.....that I can understand!
Been waiting a very long time for elite to be brought back to life and bought into the kickstarter from day one (ish) but am finding it it hard to be patient for another 3 months while the Mac version is being prepared.....I want to play now!
So in simple terms that a non tech minded Mac user can understand, how do I go about running elite on my 2011 iMac
From searching I've found people take about bootcamp?
What do I need and how much will it cost me?!

Caspar · Nov 25, 2014

You understand bootcamp right? Partition your hard drive - install Windows and select that OS on boot. Possible since they switch To x86 processors.

Richiebones · Nov 25, 2014

Caspar said:
You understand bootcamp right? Partition your hard drive - install Windows and select that OS on boot. Possible since they switch To x86 processors.

If I'm honest...I don't understand! Is it easy and idiot proof?

No I know how my grandma felt when I tried to explain the Internet to her....

Retrac100 · Nov 25, 2014

Richiebones said:
If I'm honest...I don't understand! Is it easy and idiot proof?

No I know how my grandma felt when I tried to explain the Internet to her....

It's not that difficult but honestly if you are not used to installing and configuring software, I would leave it alone or get someone to help you.

Easylink · Nov 25, 2014

I'm using bootcamp myself to play elite dangerous on my 2011 iMac. But I configured it years ago so I can't give you a step-by-step instruction. But once installed it works great. Try Apples Homepage for more information about bootcamp. As Retrac100 says, it's not that difficult but requires some basic knowledge of installing and configuring.

PGleesonuk · Nov 25, 2014

You will need a copy of an original Windows 7 or Windows 8

Jonas Treesong · Nov 25, 2014

I'm playing on a 2012 iMac. Works pretty good. It'll cost you £99 for a Windows 8 license and a couple of hours to setup Bootcamp, which is basically a mechanism that will allow you to partition the drive of your iMac into different sections, each with its own operating system (OS X and Windows). It's pretty easy to do and well documented by various documents which you can get from the Apple support site. Once installed you can boot into OS X or Windows by holding down the ALT key when you hear the startup boing.

Two things:

- When asked, allow enough space for your Windows partition. I'd say a minimum of 75GB.
- When you finally run the game you might run into the "xinput1_3.dll is missing" issue. This is a typical Microsoft blunder. It's documented in E

faqs how to solve this.

Enjoy!!

Richiebones · Nov 25, 2014

Thanks guys, sorry to be such a numpty. One last question, best place (read cheapest) to purchase a windows disc? Would windows 7 do the job?

amigacooke · Nov 25, 2014

Richiebones said:
Thanks guys, sorry to be such a numpty. One last question, best place (read cheapest) to purchase a windows disc? Would windows 7 do the job?

It might depend on the version of OSX that you are running. I'd expect a quick Googling with your OS name and 'Bootcamp' will get you the answer.

s4nup · Nov 25, 2014

I have done this yesterday (wiped my old partition, reinstalled win 7 cut it right down (as i'm only using it for elite) and installed the million MS updates)

I've PM'd you...i may be able to help with the windows side.

Thanks

mahoosiv · Nov 25, 2014

When i (re)discovered Elite, I realised the only way to play on my 2014 MacbookPro was to bootcamp, I purchased a copy of Windows 8 (which should have been 7 really for all the benefits) and bootcamped. Several driver updates later for the video card and its playing beautifully. Would not reccomend using a virtual PC, I think the performance hit might be too great.

Have fun.

Easylink · Nov 25, 2014

Richiebones said:
Thanks guys, sorry to be such a numpty. One last question, best place (read cheapest) to purchase a windows disc? Would windows 7 do the job?

I would try to get Windows 7. Works well with 2011 iMacs. Don't get 8 unless you really like it! ;-)

Cthulhus · Nov 25, 2014

what is the interest to install a windows on a mac ????

FD will work on a proper version for Mac and I hope for Linux users too.

s4nup · Nov 25, 2014

Cthulhus said:
what is the interest to install a windows on a mac ????

FD will work on a proper version for Mac and I hope for Linux users too.

and that will definately be the ideal situation, a native application for those OS's. Currently the Beta / Gamma is only available for Windows and will remain so until the Mac Version comes out (optimistic end of Q1/ beginning of Q2 2015) so theres been no choice but to test in windows. additionally some of the supporting tools (Slopeys BPC etc) only run in windows.
Already i have a windows laptop ready with just those tools set up so that i can use them as well as using the native mac version of the game, so i dont have to crtl Tab out of the game when planning moves.

oomwat · Nov 25, 2014

Richiebones said:
If I'm honest...I don't understand! Is it easy and idiot proof?

No I know how my grandma felt when I tried to explain the Internet to her....

Yes, it's pretty-much idiot-proof ... it's made for mac users who don't *want* to understand the technicalities - backup your mac, ideally using a time machine, then use the bootcamp assistant to configure the BOOTCAMP partition (IIRC you'll need at least 40Gb for windows 8 & E

), install windows which is pretty much idiot proof too - just be sure to select the BOOTCAMP partition, then reboot and press 'alt' as the chimes sound and you will get a menu.

Personally I prefer to boot straight to mac-os, but the default setting is to boot straight to windows - you can change this in preferences.