UPDATED: How to get NWN2 running and looking good in OS X with CXG 8
This tip is updated for Crossover Games 8.0. The game runs even better now with more graphical goodness turned on. This is what works for me:
My Mac: Macbook Pro 2.5 GHz C2D, NVIDIA 8600 512 MB, 4 GB RAM, OSX 10.5.8.
Shadows - Didn't even display before, and caused a massive FPS hit anyway. Now I can set them to LOW without much of a hit and they display properly. Set them any higher and the game slows to a crawl. On the Advanced Graphics tab, I set shadow detail to MEDIUM across he board.
Normal Mapped Terrain - Used o cause ground textures to disappear, now works fine when turned on, with no noticeable hit.
Point Light Shadows - Used to cause a massive FPS hit, now it does not. I turn it on.
Water Reflections - Causes massive FPS hit, so I leave it off.
Water Refractions - Used to cause a significant, but now it does not. I turn it on now.
Render Far Shadows - Pointless if shadows are off, but I turn it on now.
Softer Shadows - Again, pointless if shadows are off, but now I can turn it on.
Everything else is still turned on, even Bloom effects.
Texture quality is at the highest; I've got plenty of VRAM.
Anisotropic filtering is set to high.
Resolution is 1680x1050.
Horizon distance is set to far.
Antialiasing, of course, doesn't work at all. That's just Crossover.
With these settings my FPS fluctuates between 12 and 20 in the outdoor area at the beginning of the official campaign. There are a lot of NPCs in this scene with much action going on, so this should be a pretty good indication of how the game will run most of the time. In calmer areas, the FPS should be higher. For a game like this, these framerates are pretty playable and the game looks very good. I haven't played any farther yet, so I can't vouch for the rest.
Patch the game to 1.23 to remove the DRM.
So, the bottom line is that I can play the game with perfectly acceptable framerates with every graphical setting turned on and to their highest setting except for water reflections and shadows, which are set to low. Pretty sweet.
