Monkey Island on Mac is terribly slow
hi,
I was pretty excited by the news you just released MI for Mac and, even if I've already played all the episodes on Boot Camp, I re-downloaded everything just to be able to play whenever I want without the need to reboot.
Although I was disappointed by how slow the game runs under Mac Os X, I'm aware I own a white MacBook 2.15ghz, 4gb ram, with a really slow graphic card (Intel GMA 950) but I had to lower the detail level to 1 and resolution to 640x480 to be barely able to play the game, and when I say barely it means it probably runs at 10-15 fps.
On the other side I was able to play MI with detail set to 3 and resolution set to 1280x800 under Boot Camp, in a pretty good way, probably around 20/25 fps.
I'm not complaining at all, I just wanted to give you my feedback and experience, maybe it's just a matter of optimization but a so big difference left me doubtful.
that's all, and as always keep up with the great work you're doing, I'll keep supporting you! :-)
I was pretty excited by the news you just released MI for Mac and, even if I've already played all the episodes on Boot Camp, I re-downloaded everything just to be able to play whenever I want without the need to reboot.
Although I was disappointed by how slow the game runs under Mac Os X, I'm aware I own a white MacBook 2.15ghz, 4gb ram, with a really slow graphic card (Intel GMA 950) but I had to lower the detail level to 1 and resolution to 640x480 to be barely able to play the game, and when I say barely it means it probably runs at 10-15 fps.
On the other side I was able to play MI with detail set to 3 and resolution set to 1280x800 under Boot Camp, in a pretty good way, probably around 20/25 fps.
I'm not complaining at all, I just wanted to give you my feedback and experience, maybe it's just a matter of optimization but a so big difference left me doubtful.
that's all, and as always keep up with the great work you're doing, I'll keep supporting you! :-)
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Comments
Windows GMA drivers (and all Intel Integrated Graphics) allow for the acquisition of system RAM to use as VRAM (Video RAM). The card itself contains 64mb of dedicated VRAM, but the Windows drivers eat up system RAM to expand memory. You're not going to get the best performance ever by adding more RAM, but it helps out.
The MacOS X GMA drivers do not expand the VRAM with system RAM. This makes the card fixed at 64mb with no adjustments. Thus on MacOS X, you get worse performance as the graphic drivers behave significantly different than the Windows graphic drivers. The card in MacOS will top out quicker than the same card on Windows, purely on drivers.
Lame? Yes. Epically since there's nothing anyone can do about it.
We should have demos for each franchise when it's released, so you will be able to try out the game before you buy. I don't want people's hopes to be raised for GMA cards.
Obviously the GMA has the graphical chops to run it as it game works on Windows. The problem given so far was the graphics RAM size difference in OS X (64MB) versus Windows (some amount more). I'm just wondering if we know that for sure.
It seems weird that RAM size would cause performance difference like that - I thought the RAM mostly allowed higher-res (and more) textures to be stored?
Yes it's lame, but it's a driver limitation. Nothing we can do over here.
Guys. YOU'RE NOT READING WHAT I'M SAYING.
The question is - is the reduced memory size *the reason why the game runs slow on OS X*. Nobody has debated that the memory size is lower in OS X.
I just want to make sure someone at Telltale has found a direct relationship between the two, and we're not just jumping to conclusions because it SOUNDS like a likely cause. It does sound like a likely cause. Are we sure it's THE cause?
One reason I'm just a little skeptical, like I said before, is that I don't see the direct relationship between 64MB VRAM and such awful performance. And even if there was a connection, it seems like lowering texture detail or something would avoid the problem (which I assume would be some sort of VRAM "swapping" or something)?
As it is, there is more data than there is VRAM to store it, so it's constantly having to purge and load, which drops your frame-rate to nil. It simply can't fit all of the data it needs to fit.
Yes.
http://bugreport.apple.com/
Do you have an Apple rep you've whined to?
...or is Apple content to let all GMA chipsets ride out into the sunset at this point?
Just remember: we complain because we love. That, and it's cheaper to buy more Telltale games than it is to buy a new Mac. We have vested interests, y'know.
I can not imagine that it runs faster then. The point of booting windows was to get more VRAM, because the amount is limited in the Mac OS X Drivers.
The best solution would be if Apple released better drivers for the GMA 950.
I don't know if it helps at all, but has anyone tried GMA Booster?