Safe for Steam users to upgrade to 10.6.4?

[gumbyx84]

I remember reading here when 10.6.4 was released that Valve had gone on record saying the update caused issues with Steam games and players should not upgrade to preserve stability with games. Does anyone know is this "problem" has been fixed yet? I was reminded about it just now when OS X threw up the Software Update window.

 

[rbarris]

I remember reading here when 10.6.4 was released that Valve had gone on record saying the update caused issues with Steam games and players should not upgrade to preserve stability with games. Does anyone know is this "problem" has been fixed yet? I was reminded about it just now when OS X threw up the Software Update window.

If you have NVIDIA graphics, I would avoid 10.6.4 at all costs. The issues it presents are not fixable from the application side (well, I suppose we could just draw everything in text mode).

 

[celticpride678]

If you have a NVIDIA graphics chip, graphics will reportedly be worse.

My guess is that this can't be fixed on Steam's end, but rather Apple's end.

 

[gumbyx84]

Thanks for the heads up. I was hoping Apple slipped in some new drivers or something. IMO Apple seems to be falling behind in product testing lately......

 

[VPrime]

Thanks for the heads up. I was hoping Apple slipped in some new drivers or something. IMO Apple seems to be falling behind in product testing lately......

This really isn't only a product testing issue.... It is a not planning for the future issue. There was no need for awesome graphic drivers on macs before as gaming wasn't a big deal. The games that did release for macs were older and usually had outdated graphics so you don't really notice the hit.

 

[gumbyx84]

This really isn't only a product testing issue.... It is a not planning for the future issue. There was no need for awesome graphic drivers on macs before as gaming wasn't a big deal. The games that did release for macs were older and usually had outdated graphics so you don't really notice the hit.

That excuse would work if not for the fact that 10.6.3 has better graphics support then 10.6.4. Wasn't one of the major "selling" point of 10.6.4 was better graphics support? Seems if they tested it against modern games that were released during the developer testing, this might have been caught early on.

 

[MasConejos]

Take it as you will, but I have a 24" iMac with nVidia 8800GS graphics. 10.6.4 gave me a small performance bump in Team Fortress. Before the patch the game would stutter a little during the first couple of minutes of play. After the update it runs smoothly all the time.

 

[PandaOnslaught]

Downgrade Possible??

Not at all, do not upgrade. For the first 3 days i noticed an increase in performance, then after those initial three days(that weekend) i was hit with the plague like so many others. I am getting awful FPS, its overworking itself and getting really hot aswell. i don't know when this will be fixed therefore a more important question would be, how can i downgrade?

 

[Mackilroy]

I don't recall if you can downgrade simply by using the combo 10.6.3 download – you may have to reinstall to 10.6.0 and upgrade that. Don't forget you can't simply use the Snow Leopard disk to reinstall OS X, as it will not downgrade the point number.

 

[gumbyx84]

I don't recall if you can downgrade simply by using the combo 10.6.3 download – you may have to reinstall to 10.6.0 and upgrade that. Don't forget you can't simply use the Snow Leopard disk to reinstall OS X, as it will not downgrade the point number.

Bad things will happen if you try to downgrade. If you want to go back to 10.6.3, you will need to reinstall 10.6.0 and start from scratch. Do a repair install which should keep your files system intact. At least I think that will work.

 

[Blair230]

That excuse would work if not for the fact that 10.6.3 has better graphics support then 10.6.4. Wasn't one of the major "selling" point of 10.6.4 was better graphics support? Seems if they tested it against modern games that were released during the developer testing, this might have been caught early on.

That's incorrect. What has been said is that Valve, Apple, and the GPU companies have been working to improve graphic drivers. Valve even said you probably wouldnt see the benefits of this until at least a few months.

10.6.4 was already being seeded to devs when the statement was made.

No one knew that the drivers would be as bad as they are but no promises were made or sold with .4.

 

[gumbyx84]

That's incorrect. What has been said is that Valve, Apple, and the GPU companies have been working to improve graphic drivers. Valve even said you probably wouldnt see the benefits of this until at least a few months.

10.6.4 was already being seeded to devs when the statement was made.

No one knew that the drivers would be as bad as they are but no promises were made or sold with .4.

While I agree no public statement was made about driver support, the dev seeds went out with explicit instructions to test graphic drivers.

As predicted last week, Apple has seeded the first developer version of Mac OS X 10.6.4, termed Build 10F37, to developers today. iPhoneinCanada as usual is on top of the details, noting improvements to a handful of areas.

According to reports, the current build focuses on Graphics Drivers, SMB, Time Machine backups, USB, and VoiceOver. The build does not include any further updates or enhancements.

Documentation accompanying the seed reportedly notes one outstanding known issue involving iChat requesting password entry upon launch.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Mac OS X 10.6.4 Build 10F37 to Developers

Apple today seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.6.4, termed Build 10F566, to developers. Those familiar with the new build note that it carries the same highlighted fixes included in the previous build issued one week ago, and continues to list no known issues.

As has been true for the past several builds released to developers, testers are asked to focus their efforts on Graphics Drivers, SMB, USB, Voice Over, and VPN. Today's release marks the seventh build of Mac OS X 10.6.4 to make its way into the hands of developers since seeding began in late April.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Mac OS X 10.6.4 Build 10F566 to Developers

Apple today seeded Build 10F569 of Mac OS X 10.6.4 to developers. The new build comes six days after the last seed and continues to list no known issues with the update. As with the last several developers builds, testers are asked to once again focus their efforts on Graphics Drivers, SMB, USB, Voice Over, and VPN.

Article Link: Build 10F569 of Mac OS X 10.6.4 Seeded to Developers

I'm guessing Valve wasn't one of the devs to test the dev builds.

No matter what was said in private emails and seed notes, if Apple really cared about this issue, one would assume they would make a public statement about the problem and start working towards a fix. If Valve hadn't come out and warned us about the driver issues with 10.6.4, we wouldn't have know until it was tool late (IE we all upgraded and found out first hand).

 

[Shadez]

Well have there been any steps by apple to confront this problem or are going to be left wondering and hoping a fix will be released eventually.

 

[Blair230]

While I agree no public statement was made about driver support, the dev seeds went out with explicit instructions to test graphic drivers.









I'm guessing Valve wasn't one of the devs to test the dev builds.

No matter what was said in private emails and seed notes, if Apple really cared about this issue, one would assume they would make a public statement about the problem and start working towards a fix. If Valve hadn't come out and warned us about the driver issues with 10.6.4, we wouldn't have know until it was tool late (IE we all upgraded and found out first hand).

Again, your specific comment of selling .4 for graphical improvements is not supported by what you listed. Yes the MR reports said that they asked devs to test graphic drivers HOWEVER Valve's comments referred to releases down the road.

I disagree that Apple doesnt care. 10.6.4 is working fine for a majority of users. It doesn't break anything and a majority of games run fine. I am sure a minority of users are having issues with losing some frame rates.

I dont see it as a problem Apple needs to immediately fix. If .4 broke machines with kernal panicks or completely broke games for a MAJORITY of people, then yes. But here- no it's no rush. And yes, I am a gamer.

 

[gumbyx84]

From what I have read, I believe 10.6.4 was supposed to fix most of the graphics problems. I know most people here will agree with me on that. As for only a few games only being affected, i have read about issues with stuff like Photoshop and video editors. I will say I am not sure if what I heard is true or not, but its not helping perpetuate the idea that only gamers are feeling the sting.

Well have there been any steps by apple to confront this problem or are going to be left wondering and hoping a fix will be released eventually.

Based on their actions, Apple isn't going to do anything until they are forced to. We will have to wait till 10.6.5 or a new driver released by nVidia (and approved by Apple).

Don't hold your breath.

 

[Blair230]

From what I have read, I believe 10.6.4 was supposed to fix most of the graphics problems. I know most people here will agree with me on that. As for only a few games only being affected, i have read about issues with stuff like Photoshop and video editors. I will say I am not sure if what I heard is true or not, but its not helping perpetuate the idea that only gamers are feeling the sting.


Based on their actions, Apple isn't going to do anything until they are forced to. We will have to wait till 10.6.5 or a new driver released by nVidia (and approved by Apple).

Don't hold your breath.

I understand your frustration but also have to realize that this is Apple's latest (and really first modern serious entry) into gaming. I am actually happy that Apple is beginning to address these issues.

Again I disagree with you about how much .4 was supposed to fix but we'll agree to disagree