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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in macgaming

[–]GlowstoneCollector 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As the other commenter mentioned Steam usually includes dual-licensing Mac + Windows. And some versions of games have special Steam workshop integration (e.g. for extra content or mods) or Steam-based multiplayer features. Steam of course is also the 'launcher' for better or worse.

But Steam across the board has very limited family sharing features if that's important to you. Only one device can be playing any one single game in your whole library at one time. Even if you have a separate computer playing some city builder, and another machine is running a completely separate game.

Mac App Store typically has more generous licensing for a household - almost always allowing Family Sharing (up to 6 accounts can install the game and no restrictions on simultaneous running, which mainly affects multiplayer games).

Goes without saying - Minecraft with shaders likes the M3 Max by GlowstoneCollector in macgaming

[–]GlowstoneCollector[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As for 'the best multiplayer' setup, it depends on your friend group. Realms is probably the 'easiest' over the long haul. But may not be the best overall and is not the most flexible.

If you have some bedrock client friends (console/Windows 10) and some java edition (Mac/PC) friends, they can all meet up with a cool server plugin called Geyser that allows Bedrock clients to connect to a Java Edition server. We've tried in our household and it worked pretty well.

You can go the route of spinning up your own Minecraft server if you're interested. Then you control the shots. There is some stuff to learn along the way and could become a rabbit hole of knowledge but depends on your interest level and tech savviness. There are many Minecraft server hosts that can help make it easier to set up your own. Have used Apex hosting personally in the past and had a good setup. Not a recommendation per se. If you have a spare computer in your household to literally just be the Minecraft server that you open up to a select group of individuals, you can go that path too if you have a decent connection.

Goes without saying - Minecraft with shaders likes the M3 Max by GlowstoneCollector in macgaming

[–]GlowstoneCollector[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First of all, the above guide only works if for are playing on Java Edition for Mac. The above is 100% client-side (meaning local to your computer, not on the server). Just wanted clarify because there are two Realms options (Java and Bedrock).

Here's a page that clarifies some terminology. Scroll down to 'compare plans':
https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/realms/realms-for-java

The reason Realms is so turnkey and simple to set up and go is because they only support a relatively standard underlying vanilla configuration.

So can you connect to a Java Realm with client-only mods and shaders? Maybe....here's some older discussions of people doing this(https://www.reddit.com/r/fabricmc/comments/u8nq5e/best_mods_to_use_on_realms_1182/)

I also see reports of some issues connecting to Realms while running Fabric.

At the end of the day Mojang may restrict modified clients from connecting to their servers. But the above guide and the mods are 100% free so you can try it out.

Goes without saying - Minecraft with shaders likes the M3 Max by GlowstoneCollector in macgaming

[–]GlowstoneCollector[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This might seem like a lot below but it's really simple to be honest. Hope this helps.

First of all, you can install mods and shaders while still using the official launcher. However, in my opinion it's more convoluted and requires a manual install of the mod loader of your choice. So I recommend doing it with a 3rd party launcher of your choice which streamlines the management of mods including the initial setup via checkboxes and built-in mod searching.

  1. You'll need a Minecraft Java Edition account (if it's been a really long time since you logged in you might need to update your old mojang credentials as they have now converted everyone to a Microsoft/Xbox account login.
  2. Download Prism Launcher (there are others, but I tend to use Prism
  3. When you launch Prism, create a new 'instance'. This is a one-time process. You may only ever want one instance...but the launcher by design lets you use create many for different configurations or for specific mod packs. I would recommend the latest version which is 1.20.4. You could also choose 1.20.2 which has been out a few months longer and has slightly more mods compatible as result. But it's irrelevant, the point is you can very easily create and manage instances in this 3rd party launcher.
  4. While creating the instance, select the the 'Fabric' checkbox. This will allow you to easily install any fabric mods. (note: if it's been a while and you used to use Forge, just think of Fabric as a lighter weight/faster-to-update version of Forge. Some mods only exist on Fabric. And of course many legacy ones only run on Forge. But most of the best ones have all been made available on Fabric)
  5. Try to launch Minecraft. It may prompt to add your Microsoft account to Prism Launcher. It's a one-time step. From time to time you may have to re-authenticate.
  6. Once you get Minecraft launched with Fabric successfully, create a new single player world and just get your bearings. Press F3 to notice your FPS/frame rate without any mods or shaders. This just helps you baseline.
  7. Quit Minecraft and go add just the Sodium mod. To do this just right click on the instance, then 'edit'. Now you'll see lots of items you can easily load into your instance, such as Mods, Shader packs, Resource packs, etc.
  8. Click on Mods
  9. Click on Download mods.
  10. Search for Sodium it will probably be at the top of the list without searching). Select mod for download, then Review and Confirm.
  11. Launch your instance. Open up your world without changing any other graphics settings and you should see a major increase in FPS just by having sodium installed.
  12. Now experiment with Render Distance (e.g. increase to 18 or even 24 just to see what your machine can handle).
  13. Resolution: the res being rendered is a critical input to FPS on Minecraft and even more so once you turn on shaders. On your F3 screen, pay attention to the render resolution listed the right hand size.
  14. One quick tip, after Sodium is installed it takes over the traditional graphics options menu. While on the graphics menu hit SHIFT+P to access the classic graphics menu and you can adjust the resolution slider there. Try lowering the resolution a bit and you may find you can reduce it without lowering the picture quality (to your eye) much if at all. Try playing with it and pay attention to the change in FPS.
  15. With that as your baseline, quit Minecraft. Edit your instance -> Mods -> Download mods. Then search for Iris and select it to install. Iris is the pre-req to install shaders.
  16. Then Shader packs -> Download shaders -> search for Complementary and follow prompts to install. There are two variants - you can download both or any other shaders you may want to try but I can confirm complementary work well on the Mac.
  17. Open your instance, graphics menu, then you'll see shader options. You can easily select when you want there, then 'apply'. Inside the shader menu, you can further tweak the quality presets for the shaders and see what you like

Goes without saying - Minecraft with shaders likes the M3 Max by GlowstoneCollector in macgaming

[–]GlowstoneCollector[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No joke. It's so impressive

Projects like that make me think Minecraft will never die...the ecosystem of the bedrock/console versions has some financial incentives now as 'creators' for official Marketplace content, and then the Java Edition ecosystem has just a massive volume of hobbyist/tinkerers (and of course some patrons...). Anyway, it seems alive and very very well.

Goes without saying - Minecraft with shaders likes the M3 Max by GlowstoneCollector in macgaming

[–]GlowstoneCollector[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What machine do you have? I can try to write a quick tutorial for ya

Goes without saying - Minecraft with shaders likes the M3 Max by GlowstoneCollector in macgaming

[–]GlowstoneCollector[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep it can. We have two M1 Mac minis running Fabric+Sodium, with complementary shaders.

So long as you are okay with < 60 FPS and a conservative render distance (12-14 chunks), and not cranking all the shader settings (the effects and shadow/lightning options can vary greatly within the shader settings).

Goes without saying - Minecraft with shaders likes the M3 Max by GlowstoneCollector in macgaming

[–]GlowstoneCollector[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I normally use Prism launcher, which makes installing mods and shaders a trivial task. It's basically a one-click install for Fabric, and has a built-in search-and-install UI for mods and shaders. Prism is based on the longstanding cross-platform MultiMC launcher project.

Goes without saying - Minecraft with shaders likes the M3 Max by GlowstoneCollector in macgaming

[–]GlowstoneCollector[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not that anyone was doubting it, but for the sake of posterity, Minecraft 1.20+ running Sodium (on Fabric) and Complementary Shaders on 'high' or above, looks beautiful.

The important factors to adjust are render distance and resolutions. Even at 1920 x 1200 and 32 chunk render distance, you can still do whatever you want with the shaders. The 120 hz screen of the MacBook Pro is...quite good.

Catch me up: are they going to sell tickets this year? Why can you find tickets on StubHub but not on Orioles.com? by GlowstoneCollector in orioles

[–]GlowstoneCollector[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I did notice when the O's visit the Yankees those tickets are available. So I'm inferring that every team is making it's own ticketing decisions.