Graphics issue with braid?

[Ravich]

So I have played this game once before and loved it, and wanted to play it again on my mac pro with a much better display. I am having a problem with the graphics as follows:


If I check the box for v-sync upon startup, then the graphics are very choppy with movement. For example, if the background has something that says "spacebar," then when the background with the text is moving, it becomes difficult to read.

Disabling v-sync helps, BUT it also causes another issue that is difficult to describe. I think it might be "phasing," where it is clear that part of the background is changing at a different rate than the rest of the background. Basically a horizontal line appears where there is a disconnect in how fast the background changes, and the line moves in a more or less linear fashion.


Anyone know how to solve this issue? Both issues hinder my enjoyment of the game :\

 

[Mr.C]

Can't help you I'm afraid but what's happening there is tearing which is why there is an option for v sync. V sync is supposed to prevent tearing from happening but can cause other anomalies with the graphics so most people usually keep it turned off and deal with any possible tearing.

 

[Ravich]

Aw, what a shame. Does that mean that it is an issue specific to the game, and in particular to the mac version?

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Mr.C]

I'm not really sure. I've plaid the demo on my Mini and didn't have that problem. That said it's more to do with the GPU then the computer itself. It's also not the only game to suffer from tearing and there are many games that do. V sync usually causes performance issues so I always turn it off if it's not off by default.

 

[Ravich]

Now I am trying to play Trine, and the movement is choppy. The same issue with Braid when vsync was turned on, but there's no option to toggle vsync in Braid. Is there any way to get around this?

 

[Young Spade]

Now I am trying to play Trine, and the movement is choppy. The same issue with Braid when vsync was turned on, but there's no option to toggle vsync in Braid. Is there any way to get around this?

What computer are you using?

 

[Ravich]

2009 dual processor mac pro with the default graphics card.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

If the game supports triple buffering you should turn that on when you activate vsynch.

Most games use double buffered graphics, that means you have one graphics buffer the size of your screen resolution that shows the current frame on your monitor while the game draws to the next frame in an off-screen buffer that isn't shown. When the next frame is finished drawing, the buffers flip, and the process repeats.

Here's the deal though: monitors typically update at a rate of 60 frames per second (a legacy hold-over from ancient TV days when the 60Hz sine AC supply in North America helped synch video signals); many weaker computers like laptops cannot uphold a frame rate that high.

What happens then is either you get tearing when the game flips buffers mid-frame, this gives best performance, but can be distracting to many like you discovered yourself.

OR, you activate vertical synch, and the game waits to flip buffers until the current frame has finished being updated to the monitor. This means it can't start on the next frame until it is able to flip images, so performance is lost while the game sits there waiting. This often leads to annoying juddering in the frame rate where the game repeatedly flips between a faster framerate and half of that framerate. Like, a simple game may run at 60 frames some of the time, and when many enemies appearon the screen suddenly you drop down to 30, or you go from 30 to 15, and so on.

Triple buffer solves that, mostly, so that the computer always has a spare buffer to draw to if it has to wait with flipping buffers. So essentially you get the best of both worlds, with the drawback that you lose some video memory to the extra buffer, and sometimes you get one additional frame of input lag before movements register on your screen.

This is usually not an issue, but may make a difference in competitive online games like Team Fortress 2, Counterstrike and whatnot. "Power players" typically run double-buffered with vsynch disabled to avoid as much lag as possible.