Running Civilization IV in Parallels
Jul 29th, 2008 by Scott Hebert
With a little work, I finally got the PC version of Civilization IV (Civ4) running on my iMac in Parallels. The game uses DirectX 9 and this was the source of most of my problems. Clearing up the graphic glitches was a two step process:
- First, I had to enable DirectX Shaders in the Parallels Configuration Editor. As you can see in the image to the right, this is just a check box setting in the Video resource.
- Next, I had to get the latest version of DirectX 9 from Microsoft. This was a no brainer anyway, since the most recent Civ4 patch (1.74) removes a required DirectX DLL.
That’s all it took to get Civilization IV up and running. The graphic glitches I was seeing disappeared and the game looked fine. But, you’ll notice the title of this post is “Running Civilization IV in Parallels”, not “Playing Civilization IV in Parallels”. Unfortunately, it was pretty much unplayable for me. It was way too laggy and no fun at all.
You’re probably wondering why I would even buy the PC version of this game since a Mac version is available. Part of the reason is that the PC version is at least $20 cheaper than the Mac OS X version. The other reason is that my wife loves the Civilization games and she uses a Dell Vostro 1500.
One final bit of information regarding the configuration of my iMac, since that might be relevant. At the moment, I’m running Tiger (10.4.11) on a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2 GB of RAM.
Wow - thanks for the tip. I’ve been trying to get Civ4 working through Parallels for a few weeks, then I found your entry.
It worked for me too, but it was more usable for me than you indicated on your machine. I’m on a 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 GB as well, but running Leopard and Parallels 3.0.2600.
Civ4 has snazzier graphics, but I think some of it gets in the way of gameplay. The game doesn’t snap through moves, but it was that way on my (older) PC.
@Alex -
Glad I could be of help. If you end up getting the Mac version, drop a comment here regarding how it compares.
–
Scott
Help! Where is the “Parallels Configuration Editor?” I can’t find it anywhere, and the Parallels Help doesn’t list anything about video settings, ActiveX, or any other relevant terms.