Making SCII run faster on older macs?

[Beowulf666]

Hey guys

So as of now, I'm stuck with my '08 (maybe '07?) macbook with 2gb ram, 2.4 ghz processor, and GMA X3100 graphics card. Needless to say, Starcraft II doesn't run so great on it. I mean, on the lowest possible settings it's playable, sure, but it does tend to get choppy once u get a lot of units on the screen, and that just creates more problems for actual gameplay.

So I'm wondering, is there anything I can do to make Starcraft II run faster? I thought about bootcamp, but I don't know if it'll make a difference. Also, would it run somewhat smoother/faster once it's actually released and on disc? I'm assuming they'd change some things around since the actual beta.

Let me know what you guys think. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[aki]

Yes, the final should be somewhat better than the beta. How much better, who can say.

Your machine is definitely underpowered for sc2 sadly.

However having said that, I'd suggest setting up bootcamp if you haven't already and installing the windows version, which is speedier than the osx version as of the beta and is mostly likely to be for the final release as well. (And of course, ensure you have latest video drivers/directX). Also, as you probably already have, turn down all graphics options, or turn off where possible, 2D portraits etc etc. You can try cutting the music and so on as well I guess although that's getting on the desperate side.

Obviously make sure you aren't running anything else in the background (there are plenty of websites which explain how to do this in windows with that Task Manager thingy - I don't pretend to understand such voodoo but hey squeeze out every extra drop, can't hurt right.)

The only other thing I can suggest is to max out the ram for your hardware, if you haven't already, ie. if your model can take 4GB ram (no idea?) then put in 4GB. Maxing ram is the single most bang for buck thing you can do for a mac (that isn't a mac pro), pretty much.

With a bit of luck, you'll be able to squeeze out enough performance to at least enjoy campaign play. As for multiplayer, hmmm, fingers crossed!

 

[trose]

Unfortunately, the Mac performance is really not great. I'm not blaming Blizzard here... video card drivers for OSX are just crap for gaming. Hopefully we'll see some updates to help out with SC2... it's a AAA title so it won't be ignored.

I get, no exaggeration, about 60% of the framerate under OSX as I do when I'm running under XP/Bootcamp. Almost half the speed. That's a dramatic difference.

Try setting every single setting, including resolution, to the lowest settings. Then, tweak one setting at a time to find an acceptable performance/graphics threshold.

 

[Beowulf666]

Unfortunately, the Mac performance is really not great. I'm not blaming Blizzard here... video card drivers for OSX are just crap for gaming. Hopefully we'll see some updates to help out with SC2... it's a AAA title so it won't be ignored.

I get, no exaggeration, about 60% of the framerate under OSX as I do when I'm running under XP/Bootcamp. Almost half the speed. That's a dramatic difference.

Try setting every single setting, including resolution, to the lowest settings. Then, tweak one setting at a time to find an acceptable performance/graphics threshold.

Yeah, I'm really hoping that blizzard will somehow make it easier for macs to play the game (even the unsupported cards like the gma x3100) by the time the final product is out. I've been waiting for this game for years now, and it's a real bummer that my laptop can't handle it. I can't shell out another grand or two for a mac (or pc) that is capable of playing a graphic intensive game like this .

 

[aki]

Just as a sidenote to clarify - although the OSX version is very obviously behind the Windows version in terms of performance, you can definitely 100% play the actual game on any reasonably modern/meets the sys reqs mac.

If you like the reflections and the 3d portraits and stuff then yes, maybe the bootcamp version is for you. But if people are thinking "What, I can't even play the game on osx??" that's not true. It runs well.

It's just if you install it both in bootcamp and osx as the poster above did then yes, it's very obvious that you can't run with anything like the same graphical options. But you can still play, including competitively in mp, if that's what anyone is worried about.

(For myself, I reckon I'll probably play the SP in windows (more immersive) and multip in osx (more convenient)).