Slow in OS X!

[mollerhoj]

Hi,
I'm trying to run CIV V on my macbook pro, but the game is very slow.
It works fine in bootcamp, but in OSX it is extremely slow, even on lowest graphic settings, a small resolution, in a small map. It doesn't even help to switch to strategic mode, the game is still as slow as it was before.

I don't think it is because of my RAM use, because iStat says i have about 1 GB inactive ram when playing.

I my macbook is a 15'' with the following specs
7200 rpm drive
i5 dual core,
2.4 GHz 4GB RAM 1067 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.6.7

Any suggestions?

 

[AlanH]

Hi. What graphics processor does it have?

 

[123fna]

When running CIV V om my Macbook Pro its slow, does anyone know what I can do?
Intel Core i7 (2.66 GHz)
Ram: 8 GB 1067 Mhz
Graphic card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB
OS: Lion 10.7.2 (11C74)

 

[AlanH]

Hi, welcome

My guess is that it's down to your video hardware. Civ5 requires an extraordinary amount of Graphics Processing resource for a turn-based game.

I have the 320M in my 13" MacBook Pro, with 256 MBytes, and it is not adequate. While your system is a more recent and larger version, both are integrated chip sets, relying on sharing the processor's main memory.

The MBPs that work best are those with dual graphics processors, where you can fire up the high performance card when gaming.

 

[Mavfin]

Yeah, it's the Nvidia graphics card. They basically refuse to fix their drivers for Mac, and that's why Apple stopped using them. Good luck. If you get a Mac and want to game on it, make sure it has an ATI GPU. ATI makes good Mac drivers. (I know, it's the reverse in Windows a lot of the time.)

 

[123fna]

Thanks for quick response
It sounds like I may buy a new mac
/123fna

 

[YetiHunter84]

I have a current-gen maxed out imac - i7, 16gb ram, 2gb raedon - and it's still slow in OSX. Many users have complained that Aspyr's port to Mac was not as streamlined as it could have been, and my experience seems to bear this out (this system should knock the socks off most current-gen software).

Am currently experimenting with running the windows version via Crossover - I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[AlanH]

As I understand it, the biggest problem you are up against is that the Windows software is coded to get the most out of DirectX and its tweeks to get maximum hardware graphics acceleration. The Mac port takes those DirectX system calls and has to stuff them through a bottleneck in OS X called OpenGL, which has less optimisation and a lower level of support for modern graphics hardware features.

 

[YetiHunter84]

About halfway through a small map game using Crossover, everything set to low. Everything seems much faster, but we'll see what happens once we get to late game.

 

[Mavfin]

As I understand it, the biggest problem you are up against is that the Windows software is coded to get the most out of DirectX and its tweeks to get maximum hardware graphics acceleration. The Mac port takes those DirectX system calls and has to stuff them through a bottleneck in OS X called OpenGL, which has less optimisation and a lower level of support for modern graphics hardware features.

Yeah, but that doesn't explain it all. I have an ATI 4870 512MB DDR5 card, two years old, run Civ 5 at max graphics, and it doesn't run any faster in Bootcamp than it does in OS X. I still point at the Nvidia card and Nvidia's Mac driver support for most of his problem. Also, a 2 year old processor. 2.67 GHz W3520, and 6 GB of RAM.

 

[AlanH]

The nVidia driver problem (which I believe is related to a patent issue) is presumably not affecting YetiHunter84, with his 2GByte Radeon.

 

[forty2j]

I have a current-gen maxed out imac - i7, 16gb ram, 2gb raedon - and it's still slow in OSX. Many users have complained that Aspyr's port to Mac was not as streamlined as it could have been, and my experience seems to bear this out (this system should knock the socks off most current-gen software).

Am currently experimenting with running the windows version via Crossover - I'll let you know how it goes.

That is one beastly system.

One thing I'll say is that it feels like many of the performance enhancements were reverted in the most recent patch. Things differently felt smoother for me before we got "caught up".

Where, specifically, are you seeing it feel "slow"? Time between turns, time rendering a screen, scrolling across the map, combat animations, leader animations, ... ? Also, what resolution, and are you in full screen or windowed mode?

 

[AlanH]

I missed the reference to Crossover. I very much doubt if that will do anything for you.

Crossover has to perform the same sort of conversions between DirectX and OpenGL as Aspyr did when they ported the software, but it has even less scope for optimising those conversions to the requirements of Civ5, as it is a general purpose tool.

 

[Mavfin]

I missed the reference to Crossover. I very much doubt if that will do anything for you.

Crossover has to perform the same sort of conversions between DirectX and OpenGL as Aspyr did when they ported the software, but it has even less scope for optimising those conversions to the requirements of Civ5, as it is a general purpose tool.

Oh, I was still thinking about the OP's system.

That iMac is beefier than my 2009 quadcore, even if I do have a Xeon. so not sure what the issue is. Mine runs fine with quite a bit less. Endgame turns with huge maps and a ton of civs aren't bad. 10-15 sec after pushing End Turn, maybe? I guess I figure that's fine for things. If that's too slow, I can tell you Windows 7 on the same hardware in Bootcamp isn't any faster.

 

[matt91486]

Forgive me if this has been discussed elsewhere before, but is a symptom for everyone else of this just texture destruction? First into just gray patches, then into red and white checkered patches overtaking the map?

 

[civ_king]

I have a current-gen maxed out imac - i7, 16gb ram, 2gb raedon - and it's still slow in OSX. Many users have complained that Aspyr's port to Mac was not as streamlined as it could have been, and my experience seems to bear this out (this system should knock the socks off most current-gen software).

Am currently experimenting with running the windows version via Crossover - I'll let you know how it goes.

Speed is also bad on Windows so it's 2k's fault

 

[paceybaby]

yep am having trouble playing civ on my mate's mac.

Intel core 2 duo
3GHz
4GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT120, 256MB

It just so jerky + slow on the lowest settings

Any suggestions to improve performance are welcome, thanks

 

[Mavfin]

yep am having trouble playing civ on my mate's mac.

Intel core 2 duo
3GHz
4GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT120, 256MB

It just so jerky + slow on the lowest settings

Any suggestions to improve performance are welcome, thanks

Core 2 Duo is going to be slow whatever you do, but couple it with the nVidia GPU, and you're guaranteed to be glacial in OS X.

Bootcamp is your best option because of the nVidia GPU, but, don't expect anything fast with just a Core 2 Duo driving it, whether in Mac or Windows.

 

[Mavfin]

Speed is also bad on Windows so it's 2k's fault

Yeah, on my system that's not as beefy as YetiHunter's, the Windows port isn't any faster than the Mac version, so that's just CPU-hungry game across the board.

Where the Mac really slows is when nVidia GPUs come into play, with the crappy Mac drivers.

 

[GrumpyFlumps]

I am enjoying playing CiV on my 2009 13" MBP..... I wonder how much more I'd enjoy it if I could play it with everything not set to "LOW" !

It is trully bannanas how badly CiV runs and what a resource hog it is for top-down board game (as opposed to a FPS with realistic lighting etc). It is also a major minus for Mac over PC, the Mac is great, but for gaming, utter pants (which I base on poor CiV and no BF3).