Computer Help!

[Muffinator3000]

Hi, long time fan of RimWorld here. I've been watching play throughs for years but never have had the chance to play myself. Anyway, I have a slight issue. I got my hands on some money to purchase the game at last- but I have no cool gaming PC. I have a Wii U, Switch, PS4, and a PS3. PCs were generally too expensive for my family budget unfortunately. However, we have two computers. We have an Apple Mac Air (laptop), and an iMac (the desktop one). Please forgive my complete ignorance in PCs, I know its bad. Is there any chance one of those could even run Rimworld? And in the event one can't, (which I am fully expecting) what basic computer could I buy to run the game? Or would I have to shell out some big bucks? Thanks!

[Canute]

Why you don't use your family computers ?
There is a Mac version of Rimworld too.
And btw. you don't need a super duper high end gaming PC for Rimworld. A 2 years old good gaming PC is more then enough and would cost alot less then any mac.
Some people even play rimworld on 10 years old systems.

[Muffinator3000]

Well, thats what I was wondering, is if it were possible to play on one of the Macs. I didn't know they had a Mac version actually, so thank you. I would like a dedicated gaming PC, doesn't really matter how old, I just don't know what to look for unfortunately. Would you happen to know if downloading RimWorld would dramatically slow down a Mac?

[Alenerel]

Luckily for you Rimworld is a very small game and needs very few resources to run. The game itself is only 400MB.

Downloading a game doesnt slow your PC in any way... It would only slow it when you play it, but if you are playing you really dont care that other apps are slowed down.

[Muffinator3000]

Oh, Thats great! I had always thought it was a huge game for so long, considering its attention to detail and all. Thanks for the help!!

[Ark]

Short answer: Maybe. Apple has called them iMacs for 22 years.

Long answer:
Rimworld requirements as per https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/:
    OS: macOS 10.12
    Processor: Core 2 Duo
    Memory: 4 GB RAM
    Graphics: Shader model 4
    Storage: 500 MB available space

However, versions after 1.0 (we are at 1.2.2900-ish now) use an updated version of Unity, which requires macOS 10.13 or later and "metal capable" graphics which for integrated Intel GPUs means HD Graphics 4000 or better. That is in 3rd generation (Ivy Bridge) CPUs. At the time of writing, the latest generation is 11th, "Rocket Lake".
https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/system-requirements.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac_(Intel-based)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbook_air

I am reasonably confident that a "Late 2012" or later model iMac will run RimWorld, possibly "Late 2009" model as well if it has upgraded memory and updated operating system. iMacs have discreet graphics cards, which satisfies the Unity requirement for "metal" graphics.

Likewise, I am reasonably confident that a "Mid 2013" or later MacBook Air will run RimWorld. "Mid 2012" might work, if it has upgraded memory.
"Late 2020" MacBook Air uses "Apple M1" processor, which is ARM-based. Whether or not Rimworld runs on it is a big question mark.

Note that 4 GB RAM requirement is quite optimistic, and I suspect that it might be barely enough for a single colony without mods. I consider 8 GB to be the bare minimum nowadays. Also you will propably experience slowdown in the endgame if you have bare minimum processor.

I recommend purchasing from https://rimworldgame.com/, that way you get the DRM-free version and a Steam key.

[Bozobub]

RimWorld is MUCH more bound by CPU and RAM than GPU; as long as your graphics pass muster, whether integrated or discrete, you'll see pretty much the exact same game as if you had an nVidia 3090 RTX.  Your CPU and RAM (both amount and speed) are way more important to the performance of the game.

Generally, however, even if the game run slower on your device, RimWorld will remain quite playable.  Be forewarned, however, that a marginal computer strongly suggests that you run fewer mods, which tend to eat up a lot of CPU cycles.  Any mod that does anything more than add extra items will slow down the game at least a tiny bit; this adds up.

[RicRider]

Hope this info is helpful! I've been running RW on a 2011 Mac Mini with 10.13 installed for years now. My only recommendation to you if you have an older machine like mine is that if you can, try and get the DRM-free version of RW. I initially bought the Steam version but found that if I want to play with mods, it uses too much RAM. Steam uses about 1-2 GB while RW uses about 3-4 GB for me with about 100 mods on Steam. However, if I run the DRM-free version then there's no RAM being used by Steam and actually the game even uses less RAM too, about 2-3GB total.

If you go over about 20 pawns (including animals) you'll also find that the processor is a bit crappy on most Macs and the pathfinding of all those pawns will make your game at 2x speed feel like 1x speed. The only thing you can really do until you get a better computer is to try to keep your colony below 20 members and preferable between 10-15.