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Poor performance for Call of Duty 4.

D

daveylex

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 8, 2009
23
0
Sorry if this is the hundredth similar topic - I just don't feel like bumping old threads. So here goes;

Specs ;

2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce 9400
256 MB VRAM
iMac 20 inch - 1680x1050 Resolution, running COD4 v1.5

In default settings, my FPS would be around 20 to 50. And in my opinion, that's pretty terrible for a pretty new iMac. In default settings, the resolution is only 1028x768 in default settings and the texture and graphics are really ugly and yet it still runs pretty choppy in the battlefield.

If I change the resolution to 1680x1050 which is my max resolution, it runs very very choppy and slow with around 5 to 15 fps with no AA on, Shadows off, Texture low and most of those are either off/low.

Any solutions? Thanks in advanced.
 
Yes, it is an integrated graphics card.. any possible reasons why it's slowing the performance?
 
Nevermind, looks like NVIDIA GeForce 9400 is bad for the latest game anyway. Bummer, Apple says Nvidia will provide splendid performance on latest games...
 
daveylex said:
Nevermind, looks like NVIDIA GeForce 9400 is bad for the latest game anyway. Bummer, Apple says Nvidia will provide splendid performance on latest games...
Click to expand...

It all really depends on what one considers "splendid" performance. For the average person, playing on med to med-low settings will satisfy their gaming needs and they will be happy.

For the moderate game enthusiast, it certainly doesnt constitute "splendid".

The problem with an intergrated graphics chip (even though the 9400M is MUCH better than most) is that it shares system memory and simply doesnt have the horsepower to crank out ultra high res graphics with good frame rates.

It may be a bummer but take solace in the fact that the game will still run and play well on the right settings. :apple:
 
Your above specs on everything meet or exceed all system requirements, including the video card.

Download the latest patch (1.7). It's suppose to help some graphics (shading vectors or something). After I installed it I saw my performance improve greatly.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/demos_updates/callofduty4modernwarfare.html

EDIT: Supported Video Cards: Nvidia 7300,7600, 8600, 8800, Quadro FX 4500
(Intel integrated video chipsets are not supported)
The patch should still help out though.
 
So this is the problem! I also have a 20" iMac, early 2009 version (2.66mhz core 2 duo etc), although I have 3gb ram, not that that makes much difference I shouldn't think. What a ball ache! Got my iMac fairly recently and have never had a bang up-to-date and seriously decent computer before, so I'm thinking "I've finally arrived!", bring on the action.

So I buy the Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare game from GameAgent, from whom I've had possibly the worst service you could imagine, if I might add. My downloaded dmg wouldn't open so I opened a ticket on Aspyr tech support who said contact Customer service to re-download (As you can only download once from GameAgent!). I did that and Customer Services told me they don't deal with technical queries and to contact tech support! I replied to them and they've never responded. I will never buy anything from them again. Abysmal. So I ended up downloading from a torrent just to get a working version of the game! I updated with the patch 1.7.1 also btw before even starting the game.

Anyways I too found the fps are extremely low with my state of the art iMac. I'm hearing everyone else's good experiences, and I've seen their video's on Youtube with 24" iMac's, the settings all maxed out and I'm left playing at the basic resolution with everything switched off just to get anywhere near 30fps? I just couldn't work it out, till I saw this thread.

I tell you it narks me off, these are not cheap machines. And what is the point of playing with all the settings right down, as if I am still living in the bleedin 1990's? I want to experience the game as it was intended in all it's glory, not in a way that makes my think I need to get the old Amiga outta the loft.

This also answers, quite possibly, another problem I had trying to get Race Driver GRID for the PC running on my iMac when I first got it. And I REALLY tried, I must have spent at least two full days trying. Firstly through Bootcamp, where it did run although I had no steering at all, so completely useless, and then through Crossover through which it didn't run at all and said something about I think it was Shader version 3 perhaps? Yet again I saw video's on Youtube of everyone enjoying GRID on their iMac's, but for some reason again not me, and I'd really looked forward to playing that game.

No wonder people buy consoles.
 
Turn down your resolution and try the update, also you should get the flatout2 demo if you like racing games. Its demo will give you tons of free play to try out. Integrated graphics are what they are.
 
Yeh have done those things already unfortunately. But will give the Flatout 2 demo a go for sure. Cheers.
 
sam8perry said:
So this is the problem! I also have a 20" iMac, early 2009 version (2.66mhz core 2 duo etc), although I have 3gb ram, not that that makes much difference I shouldn't think. What a ball ache! Got my iMac fairly recently and have never had a bang up-to-date and seriously decent computer before, so I'm thinking "I've finally arrived!", bring on the action.

So I buy the Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare game from GameAgent, from whom I've had possibly the worst service you could imagine, if I might add. My downloaded dmg wouldn't open so I opened a ticket on Aspyr tech support who said contact Customer service to re-download (As you can only download once from GameAgent!). I did that and Customer Services told me they don't deal with technical queries and to contact tech support! I replied to them and they've never responded. I will never buy anything from them again. Abysmal. So I ended up downloading from a torrent just to get a working version of the game! I updated with the patch 1.7.1 also btw before even starting the game.

Anyways I too found the fps are extremely low with my state of the art iMac. I'm hearing everyone else's good experiences, and I've seen their video's on Youtube with 24" iMac's, the settings all maxed out and I'm left playing at the basic resolution with everything switched off just to get anywhere near 30fps? I just couldn't work it out, till I saw this thread.

I tell you it narks me off, these are not cheap machines. And what is the point of playing with all the settings right down, as if I am still living in the bleedin 1990's? I want to experience the game as it was intended in all it's glory, not in a way that makes my think I need to get the old Amiga outta the loft.

This also answers, quite possibly, another problem I had trying to get Race Driver GRID for the PC running on my iMac when I first got it. And I REALLY tried, I must have spent at least two full days trying. Firstly through Bootcamp, where it did run although I had no steering at all, so completely useless, and then through Crossover through which it didn't run at all and said something about I think it was Shader version 3 perhaps? Yet again I saw video's on Youtube of everyone enjoying GRID on their iMac's, but for some reason again not me, and I'd really looked forward to playing that game.

No wonder people buy consoles.
Click to expand...

Looks like you answered your own question...buy a PS3 as if you want an awesome gaming rig you would never buy a mac anyway...no matter how good they are...
 
That happens when you buy the lowest spec machine. I know, I was bit by the iMac a few years ago. You get what you pay for, which isn't much with consoles.
The best route to go down is a homebuilt PC for gaming. You get the best value for money that way.
 
sam8perry said:
So this is the problem! I also have a 20" iMac, early 2009 version (2.66mhz core 2 duo etc), although I have 3gb ram, not that that makes much difference I shouldn't think. What a ball ache! Got my iMac fairly recently and have never had a bang up-to-date and seriously decent computer before, so I'm thinking "I've finally arrived!", bring on the action.

So I buy the Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare game from GameAgent, from whom I've had possibly the worst service you could imagine, if I might add. My downloaded dmg wouldn't open so I opened a ticket on Aspyr tech support who said contact Customer service to re-download (As you can only download once from GameAgent!). I did that and Customer Services told me they don't deal with technical queries and to contact tech support! I replied to them and they've never responded. I will never buy anything from them again. Abysmal. So I ended up downloading from a torrent just to get a working version of the game! I updated with the patch 1.7.1 also btw before even starting the game.

Anyways I too found the fps are extremely low with my state of the art iMac. I'm hearing everyone else's good experiences, and I've seen their video's on Youtube with 24" iMac's, the settings all maxed out and I'm left playing at the basic resolution with everything switched off just to get anywhere near 30fps? I just couldn't work it out, till I saw this thread.

I tell you it narks me off, these are not cheap machines. And what is the point of playing with all the settings right down, as if I am still living in the bleedin 1990's? I want to experience the game as it was intended in all it's glory, not in a way that makes my think I need to get the old Amiga outta the loft.

This also answers, quite possibly, another problem I had trying to get Race Driver GRID for the PC running on my iMac when I first got it. And I REALLY tried, I must have spent at least two full days trying. Firstly through Bootcamp, where it did run although I had no steering at all, so completely useless, and then through Crossover through which it didn't run at all and said something about I think it was Shader version 3 perhaps? Yet again I saw video's on Youtube of everyone enjoying GRID on their iMac's, but for some reason again not me, and I'd really looked forward to playing that game.

No wonder people buy consoles.
Click to expand...

Give me 30 mins and i could have it running on med with good fps. :rolleyes:
Its a bad port anyways. :p
You would get more fps under bootcamp
 
sam8perry said:
So this is the problem! I also have a 20" iMac, early 2009 version (2.66mhz core 2 duo etc), although I have 3gb ram, not that that makes much difference I shouldn't think. What a ball ache! Got my iMac fairly recently and have never had a bang up-to-date and seriously decent computer before, so I'm thinking "I've finally arrived!", bring on the action.

So I buy the Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare game from GameAgent, from whom I've had possibly the worst service you could imagine, if I might add. My downloaded dmg wouldn't open so I opened a ticket on Aspyr tech support who said contact Customer service to re-download (As you can only download once from GameAgent!). I did that and Customer Services told me they don't deal with technical queries and to contact tech support! I replied to them and they've never responded. I will never buy anything from them again. Abysmal. So I ended up downloading from a torrent just to get a working version of the game! I updated with the patch 1.7.1 also btw before even starting the game.

Anyways I too found the fps are extremely low with my state of the art iMac. I'm hearing everyone else's good experiences, and I've seen their video's on Youtube with 24" iMac's, the settings all maxed out and I'm left playing at the basic resolution with everything switched off just to get anywhere near 30fps? I just couldn't work it out, till I saw this thread.

I tell you it narks me off, these are not cheap machines...
Click to expand...
How is it you only have 3 GB of RAM when your machine comes standard with 4 GB? You also don't mention anything about your video card. If you bought the low end card, that is the problem. The slightest bit of research tells you to buy the highest end card you can afford, they have 3 choices above the integrated one. These machines are expensive, but so are all of the All In Ones, check HP, Dell, and Sony. If good gaming for cheap is your top priority, you should by a tower PC. If you want a really nice AIO for the style and space savings, the iMac is the best. The PC models are good, but they don't run OS X.
 
sam8perry said:
So this is the problem! I also have a 20" iMac, early 2009 version (2.66mhz core 2 duo etc), although I have 3gb ram, not that that makes much difference I shouldn't think. What a ball ache! Got my iMac fairly recently and have never had a bang up-to-date and seriously decent computer before, so I'm thinking "I've finally arrived!", bring on the action.

So I buy the Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare game from GameAgent, from whom I've had possibly the worst service you could imagine, if I might add. My downloaded dmg wouldn't open so I opened a ticket on Aspyr tech support who said contact Customer service to re-download (As you can only download once from GameAgent!). I did that and Customer Services told me they don't deal with technical queries and to contact tech support! I replied to them and they've never responded. I will never buy anything from them again. Abysmal. So I ended up downloading from a torrent just to get a working version of the game! I updated with the patch 1.7.1 also btw before even starting the game.

Anyways I too found the fps are extremely low with my state of the art iMac. I'm hearing everyone else's good experiences, and I've seen their video's on Youtube with 24" iMac's, the settings all maxed out and I'm left playing at the basic resolution with everything switched off just to get anywhere near 30fps? I just couldn't work it out, till I saw this thread.

I tell you it narks me off, these are not cheap machines. And what is the point of playing with all the settings right down, as if I am still living in the bleedin 1990's? I want to experience the game as it was intended in all it's glory, not in a way that makes my think I need to get the old Amiga outta the loft.

This also answers, quite possibly, another problem I had trying to get Race Driver GRID for the PC running on my iMac when I first got it. And I REALLY tried, I must have spent at least two full days trying. Firstly through Bootcamp, where it did run although I had no steering at all, so completely useless, and then through Crossover through which it didn't run at all and said something about I think it was Shader version 3 perhaps? Yet again I saw video's on Youtube of everyone enjoying GRID on their iMac's, but for some reason again not me, and I'd really looked forward to playing that game.

No wonder people buy consoles.
Click to expand...

Good to know about GameAgent. I'll skip them.

Direct2Drive has no such restrictions - hopefully they will grow their Mac section. Or at least offer a sale from time to time.

My Steam account is full of impulse buys - I wish the Mac digital services would learn from Valve.
 
It seems to me that this game is fairly intensive on the mac at least.

I've got a dual quad 3.0 mac pro with 13gb ram and a 4870 w/512.

I've got it running at a reasonably high resolution of 1920x1200 with most stuff turned low on a 30" screen and for the most part it's ok. But it does really chug after a while of use and when there is a lot going on.

I think I'll need to bring the resolution down even more for completely smooth game play. So I can imagine an integrated vid card, even the 9400 would really struggle with any decent resolution and settings up. But even a pc with that vid card would have to have lower settings.
 
I have just recently posted a video on how to improve your FPS for CoD4 for Mac on YouTube. It has to do with using configurations to lower your settings and increase your FPS (frames per second). If you have ever seen Paradox's frag movie on YouTube, my video has to do with using his configuration. All of the settings are already pre-set, so you don't have to do much.

Heres the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK_-TUQopWs

I hope this helps. :)
 
I have the same problem but with Modern Warfare 2, the first one worked perfectly well. I have a regular 13' Macbook Pro...
 
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