Gaming Performance HORRIBLE

[Minimoose 360]

Why am I STILL getting terrible performance in an old game like Half Life 2? The default settings are all high and it runs fine for a few minutes, then it becomes unplayable, framerate in the single digits, sound is choppy or nonexistent...

If they want us to play games, can they at least make them playable?

EDIT: And yes I have Windows 7 but I hate having to switch back and forth, especially when the game is available for OSX.

 

[darknite38]

Works for me on 9400m 2.53ghz.

 

[tersono]

Are you using Time Machine? If so, turn it off while playing games - you may find that it makes a big difference.

 

[Striderdm1]

Should be fine on that h.w -do you have anything else running in the background. Use activity monitor or unix tools to check. Are you all up to date with patches/etc..?

 

[rasmasyean]

Most games aren't designed for a Mac. They are "ported" to a Mac. And the primary support market with patches, etc are well...you guess.

There are exceptions where blockbuster titles like WoW are optimized "as best as possible" for Macs, only because there's a big enough general market ($$$). But even then, the truth is that the game will always be better on a PC because Windows is made with games and things like advanced 3D graphics performance in mind. And although OSX is an improvement over Unix (mostly in the UI), Unix hasn't really adapted much to the broader computer industry while Bill Gates pumped more money than you can imagine into the Windows OS. Don't forget that the original MacOS (pre-Unix based OSX), died not too long ago. Maybe if one day Steve Jobs decides to concentrate more on the gaming industry...we'll see if he can catch up.

 

[Aegelward]

Well, aside from the porting. which does frequently have issues, although valve have done a pretty good job,

OSX is using a horribly outdated version of OpenGL, you would thing that since they are so dependent on it they might update it with more frequency and optimise it better... but hey, it's good enough for OS functions, why not let it stagnate until the next major version.

 

[Cougarcat]

This is obvious, but make sure OS X is fully updated. There were some serious Source issues with 10.6.4.

 

[Huntn]

My hardware (sig) handles HL2 just fine under MacOSX/Steam. Hopefully the OP has adequate RAM.

 

[Cougarcat]

He has 8 GB, according to his sig...

 

[Huntn]

He has 8 GB, according to his sig...

Doh! I was in the middle of my reply when I thought of saying that. Sigs don't appear there when scrolling down through replies.

 

[Minimoose 360]

Works for me on 9400m 2.53ghz.

On what settings? I have mine at native 1920x1200 resolution, but turning it down doesn't seem to help.

Are you using Time Machine? If so, turn it off while playing games - you may find that it makes a big difference.

Nope.

Should be fine on that h.w -do you have anything else running in the background. Use activity monitor or unix tools to check. Are you all up to date with patches/etc..?

Assuming Steam keeps me up-to-date on patches, and I have no big programs running

This is obvious, but make sure OS X is fully updated. There were some serious Source issues with 10.6.4.

Ah yes, I remember 10.6.4...Team Fortress 2 was completely unplayable, but everything else was too.
.

My hardware (sig) handles HL2 just fine under MacOSX/Steam. Hopefully the OP has adequate RAM.

As someone mentioned, I have 8GB installed.


Hmmmmmmm.

 

[psiquest]

Why am I STILL getting terrible performance in an old game like Half Life 2? The default settings are all high and it runs fine for a few minutes, then it becomes unplayable, framerate in the single digits, sound is choppy or nonexistent...

Sounds like overheating. Installing a fan controller or using a laptop cooling gadget may help.

 

[roadbloc]

No problems for me (specks in sig.) 1280x800. Everything high, no anti aliasing. It's not as good as what you get in Windows, loading does take longer, GFX are not as good (I can have 8x anti aliasing on Windows) and when Time Machine is running, there is a noticeable performance decrease.

But certainly playable and enjoyable. Smooth as a baby's botty.

 

[chrono1081]

Half life 2 plays just fine on the macbook pro in my sig and its nearly identical to yours.

 

[goMac]

My 3 ghz MBP with a 9600 plays Source games smooth as butter.

Source is actually a game engine that has been VERY optimized for Mac. It's not a wrapper or some bad Mac port, it's actually a very good Mac port.

 

[Erasmus]

My 3 ghz MBP with a 9600 plays Source games smooth as butter.

Source is actually a game engine that has been VERY optimized for Mac. It's not a wrapper or some bad Mac port, it's actually a very good Mac port.

For some reason, I find that the Half Life 2 games run very well under OSX (ie. smooth with high settings), but Left 4 Dead 1/2 do not. ie. they stutter at the beginning of a level badly on all low settings and at a low screen resolution, yet run perfectly at native res on medium settings under W7 in Boot Camp.

Compy in sig. 8600M GT 128MB

 

[Minimoose 360]

Sounds like overheating. Installing a fan controller or using a laptop cooling gadget may help.

I use smcFanControl, fans speed up like they should

No problems for me (specks in sig.) 1280x800. Everything high, no anti aliasing. It's not as good as what you get in Windows, loading does take longer, GFX are not as good (I can have 8x anti aliasing on Windows) and when Time Machine is running, there is a noticeable performance decrease.

But certainly playable and enjoyable. Smooth as a baby's botty.

The game itself recommends 2xAA, but turning it off doesn't seem to help.





fffuuuuuuu also the game crashes sometimes after it gets all laggy and the sound starts cluster****ing through my speakers