terrain reloads

[civfinatic29]

I just switched from a windows pc to a mac. I tried both the steam version and the one on the mac app store. Both versions have this issue. I have everything set on high. 1080p resolution. Hardware is brand new macbook pro retina 15 with 16gb ram, 2.3 ghz i7, 512gb ssd, nvdia 750m. I tried lowering the settings to medium and the issue was still there. When I played brave new world on my previous windows laptop which had almost identical specs to my macbook I had no terrain reloads. Is this a known issue on macs? are there any solutions? I was thinking if I have to Ill install windows just to play brave new world. Ive noticed it only refreshes or reloads on ceratins terrain types like plains, grasslands, etc. Doesnt happen on water tiles, mountains. It refreshes pretty quickly but still annoying since it wasnt happening on my windows laptop and I paid so much for this macbook just to play brave new world on it. The refresh even happens a short time period after I have viewed that area of the map. Happens on very small maps in the starting of the game.

Thanks in advance for information,
AK (loyal civilization gamer since 1991)

 

[AlanH]

Are you sure the Mac is using the NVidia 750m card? Your Mac has integrated Iris graphics as well. You need to make sure that it switches to the discrete hardware when you run Civ5. Sorry, I don't know the secret sauce, as I don't have one of these machines.

 

[civfinatic29]

Yes I make sure that it uses the dedicated graphics card. Do you think I should install windows just to play civ? Or maybe get a more powerful machine like imac? I was having major problems with my dell laptop, including the low memory issues from windows 8.1. I'm much happier with with mac except for this one issue. Is there anybody else that has a mac that might be able to comment?

 

[forty2j]

Spec-for-spec, the Windows version will somewhat outperform the OS X version, but not as substantially as you describe.

There is an energy saver mode that will sometimes put the rMBPs onto the integrated graphics card. I'd check for that first - it's supposed to know when it needs more performance and switch over to the 750m, but, sometimes it messes up, and there's no real reason not to disable the feature for the times you're plugged in to the wall anyway.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4110

Failing that, you'll want to put in a ticket with support.aspyr.com and let them sort it out. It would be something specific to your installation, configuration, etc. For all we know you might discover you have a defective component in your MacBook.

For reference - my 27" iMac with the 680mx, once they finally got up to patch level, has absolutely no trouble running on mostly the highest settings on Huge maps at 1440p. I used to see the terrain-repainting thing, but it's been a long time since it's cropped up. The 750m isn't as strong as the 680mx, but certainly by Medium settings you shouldn't see much trouble. For better performance you can also consider disabling the anti-aliasing, as it's redundant when you have such a high pixel density anyway. You'd need to test it and confirm you like the way it looks.

 

[civfinatic29]

Yes I have disabled integrated graphics in the energy saving settings. I also have an app that tells me which graphics card I'm using. By the way I do have the macbook hooked up via hdmi to a 32 inch samsung HDTV that I use as a monitor. This my second my macbook I've tried in a week the other one did the same thing same specs and settings. Maybe it's an app or software I'm running in background I don't know. I was planning on maybe getting the 27inch iMac that has the nvdia gtx 775m with 4gb of video ram. Or I guess I could buy windows 7 for $75 and give it a shot on this macbook. I have another 8 days left to return this. I guess I can contact aspyr support. Yes, it's really the textures not terrain. It happens on all kinds except mountains and water tiles. I've never had this issue with any of my previous windows laptops playing civ in the last 4 years. No matter how low the specs were. Thanks for the responses.

 

[forty2j]

We're getting a little bit out of my realm of expertise, but there are a couple of things I'd be interested in:

- How is the behavior when the external TV is disconnected, and it's rendering only on the laptop screen? If it's normal, this might indicate a limitation or problem with your rMBP's HDMI out.
- When you are running on the external display, is the computer closed? Having it open would mean it has to render simultaneously for the internal screen and the external, which are necessarily different resolutions due to the pixel density.
- I have no reason to truly believe it makes a difference, but I'd be curious about the behavior using a thunderbolt port and HDMI adapter rather than the build-in HDMI port. I'm finding a lot of people just having all kinds of problems with the HDMI port, and for some of them a TB adapter helped.

 

[civfinatic29]

Ive tried the macbook on its own without connecting it to an external display, the issue is still there. When I do have the macbook connected to the exernal display I have it set to clamshell mode or I use an app called switchresx. So its only sending the signal to one display at a time.

I emailed aspyr the game files and system files so lets see what they can do.

I also bought and setup a speced out iMac 27" with a 3.5 ghz i7 quad core, 8gb of ram, nvdia gtx 780m with 4gb of video ram and 3tb fusion drive. I am still having the same issue even on this powerful machine. I tried lowering setting to medium and texture quality was on low. I also tried lowering the resolution to 1600 x900. Vsync is enabled and so its gpu texture decode. Im thinking it has to be something with the game itself if the same issue is present on 2 speced out macbook pro retinas and 1 speced out 27" iMac. I may have to go back to a windows machine now or just run windows on a mac to play civ 5. Again never had these issues with a windows machine, very odd.

Since it has happened to so many machines. It cant be anything to do with my setup. On the iMac i just did a fresh install of civ with no other files. Just made sure os x was up to date. I dont think it has anything to do with which cable im using wether its the hdmi or a thunderbotl type adapter. I thought I might try the thunderbolt/mini display out adapter before but now that its also happening on the iMac its got to be game issue.

 

[forty2j]

Random question since these are new macs - is spotlight indexing complete?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[civfinatic29]

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by your question. I'll try my best. Bear in mind I'm new to macs. I don't have any issues with spotlight indexing. Spotlight works fine for me. I have spotlight indexing enabled.

 

[cFccFc]

Same issue on a RMBP 13 Iris 5100 i7 8gb ram as well! Annoying.

 

[frankT]

By default Spotlight will index nearly every folder on the Mac to speed up searches. You can prevent it from re-indexing specific folders under its Privacy tab and choosing one or more folders to ignore. Ideally, the ones to choose include most of the game files and saves. Depending on your install preference (app store vs. steam) the folder locations will be different but reside mainly in your homw directories /Library folder.

I'm not sure if this solution helps a graphic issue or not. Sometimes software interacts in very odd combinations. I suspect that the Aspyr did as little as possible in their port and optimizing the graphics for Mac graphic chips was not one of their priorities. Get it to run, get it out the door.

Beyond that, I run large maps all the time on my iMac and only see graphic issues during initial starts (before the graphcis can be cached) and near the end game when there are a lot of units running around the screen. Most of my settings are set to low because honestly, it I don't need photorealism for me to whip them.

YMMV.

 

[civfinatic29]

So I tried disabling spotlight indexing and I also disabled dashboard. The issue is still there. Still havent heard from aspyr. I told them I have limited time to fix this issue since I only have 6 days left to return my macbook. I spoke to an employee at the apple store who has the latest macbook pro retina 13" with only 2.6 ghz i5 and the iris graphics (5100). He installed windows 8 and has no issues playing civ 5 on it. I think I might just install windows. I found a site that sells windows 7 pro for $75 (download). Its pretty straight forward just a lot of steps and time intensive. Also ill have to do undo everything If I decide to return the macbook. The crazy things and money Ive spent in my life just so I can feed my civ addiction.

 

[civfinatic29]

Finally installed windows 7 pro. Had some issues in the starting getting civ to play in full screen in directx 11. Once everything was sorted out civ ran very smoothly with no issues and the graphics looked much better than in Mac OS. I think a lot of it is due having directx 11 and anti aliasing. Was able run most settings on high or medium in 1080p on large maps. Anyway thanks to everyone who tried to help with my issues. Gonna really enjoy playing civ now.

 

[forty2j]

Hopefully Aspyr gets back to you - you really shouldn't have that problem in OS X, and it's annoying to switch between OS's. The computers are more than capable even after taking the OpenGL performance penalty in OS X.

 

[civfinatic29]

Aspyr finally got back to me and suggested the following:

It is likely that a default setting file was corrupted which can cause this issue to occur with dual video card equipped Macs. To reset the game settings for the Steam version, move your saves folder to your desktop and delete the entire Civilization V folder from Documents/Aspyr.

Next, right click (ctrl+click) Civilization V from the Steam Library menu and select Properties. Under the Local Files tab, select Verify Integrity of Game Cache.

Relaunch Civilization V and then exit out of the game. Replace your saves folder to its original directory to resume your game progress.


I decided to give this a shot. I knew it wouldnt work since I had arleady tried playing civ on 2 mac computers (imac 27 and macbook pro retina 13) both of which only had one graphics card. Anyway this didnt help still had the same issue in the beginning of the game with most settings on low.

 

[civfinatic29]

Here is an update of what Aspyr came up with:

Aspyr Support:

After consulting with the Civilization V Mac team, they've confirmed that the issue is due to the port using the Direct X 9 code of the PC code to convert the game for Mac.

Me:

So what exactly does this mean? Is there a fix available? or is one in the works?

Aspyr Support:

There is no workaround or patch for the issue. Due to code porting restrictions between PC and Mac, only the DirectX 9 code is available for the Mac conversion.

 

[forty2j]

Since you brought it up, I've been paying much closer attention, and I do actually see it as well. I play Huge games on Highest graphics settings, so it shouldn't be a shock.. but honestly my brain kinda filtered it out until you mentioned it explicitly.

If there's a silver lining, it's that the next Civ (Beyond Earth) doesn't even have a DX9 version, so Aspyr will be converting a DX11 version to a newer version of OpenGL, and should perform better. It is my hunch that the Mac ( / Linux ) launches of that game have been delayed because they're no longer using their tried-and-true DX9 converter.

 

[civfinatic29]

Thats definitely good news for beyond earth. Ill probably get it for windows since I can get it sooner, cheaper and I already play brave new world in windows. Just to mention my most recent test with brave new world on my mac was tested in 1368 x 768 resolution and all the settings in low. I started to experience the issue as early as 3200 BC. Map size was small with 6 civs and continents.

 

[forty2j]

Thats definitely good news for beyond earth. Ill probably get it for windows since I can get it sooner, cheaper and I already play brave new world in windows.

Assuming they keep to form, by owning the Windows version, you'll own the Mac version when it's released and can try it out. Steam is good like that when publishers cooperate. For games like this where I don't want to wait for the Mac release and all the $ for the base game goes to 2K, I try to make sure I use any DLC on the Mac side first so Aspyr gets the money for it if it looks like I'll want to play on the Mac side whenever possible.

 

[beetle]

I am curious what you mean by “terrain refresh” but I think I experience that pretty regularly and never thought much about it. It does not interfere with play. Civ4 did the same thing. And my iMac is older, so I never really expected better.

I paid so much for this macbook just to play brave new world on it.

It is kind of crazy, but I am think of doing the same thing so I can play during my long commute. People complain that Civ5 kills laptop batteries. How many Civ5 hours does your MacBook hold up for?