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SC2 Mac OSX vs Bootcamp - Page 2

Forum Index > Tech Support
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Prev 1 2 All
phl0w
Profile Joined August 2010
Austria3 Posts
August 09 2010 11:25 GMT
#21
SC2 runs badly on 2 gb RAM even though it's listed as a recommended setting. Having more than 3 gb RAM is a problem with a 32-bit OS

Totally forgot about that. I have 4GB, so I guess 7/64 it is... which is ridiculously expensive, though =/
shannn
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Netherlands2891 Posts
August 09 2010 11:31 GMT
#22
On August 09 2010 19:22 Lysenko wrote:
I have noticed that lowering the screen resolution has been a huge help for performance on both my Macbook Pro with a 9600M and my Mac Pro with an 8600GT. Both are running on High at less than 1/2 screen resolution, but it's more than enough res to play and it looks good and runs smoothly.

Thx for the tip. I run on a macbook pro 15 inch late 2008 and I can use about low/med settings but seeing that resolution might help I might want to test out high settings on a lower resolution.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewpost.php?post_id=6321864 Epic post.
pHelix Equilibria
Profile Joined August 2010
United States1134 Posts
September 15 2010 15:27 GMT
#23
The only problem I have been having with the Mac version of Starcraft 2 is the mouse acceleration, and does anyone else have the problem with the freaking function key on the Macbook? I just ordered a cheap USB keyboard to fix the problem. I only play the single player campaign on Mac, since I have been getting constant BSOD when I'm on bootcamp only during single player campaign. Its odd/
n3mo
Profile Joined May 2010
United States298 Posts
September 15 2010 15:35 GMT
#24
i agree with the bootcamp idea. macbook pro here, can't run it on OSX at all (ridiculous lag), and other games like tf2 and portal run at an unplayable 2 fps or so.

on bootcamp (got windows 7 during the student discount), i run it fine on medium/high settings, and on low/medium it runs perfectly even during 4v4 endgame slugfests.
My hatred for [banelings] is way greater than my compassion
pHelix Equilibria
Profile Joined August 2010
United States1134 Posts
September 15 2010 15:39 GMT
#25
Have you played TF2 and Portal recently? Mac OSX (In partner with Steam) actually had an update to the graphics card on the mac to have higher FPS.
Homeland
Profile Joined May 2009
Denmark58 Posts
October 07 2010 12:21 GMT
#26
It is pretty simple though, the minimum requirement for mac are higher than on windows, which mean what ever you have extra by runnning starcraft in bootcamp is by how much the game will improve. Since you have all the drivers already there should be no problem in running it on xp or another windows system. I recommend using a fat format since you can transfer files from one harddisk to the other if you are on the mac systerm, though I have seen people having problems with not being able to run it on a fat format, but I have not experienced this.
I did this on my mac just to run SC2 and I recommend it.



JesusNeverGotLaid
Profile Joined March 2011
Canada24 Posts
March 19 2011 00:04 GMT
#27
Just wondering, how good is the AMD drivers for OS X?
GO CANADA
hdkhang
Profile Joined August 2010
Australia183 Posts
March 19 2011 01:01 GMT
#28
Can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet but Windows SC2 is using DirectX and OSX would be using OpenGL.

DirectX has been the dominant API for donkeys years now so more progress has been made in the ease with which studios are able to extract performance out of it (not to mention it is far easier to code for than OpenGL), as well it being given more attention from the hardware manufacturers since their bread and butter comparisons are mostly DirectX titles.

Couple this with the fact that more gamers use Windows than OSX and it's clear that Blizzard would want to be using the PC as the primary/lead platform and then "porting" the game over to OSX. All this adds up to OSX likely never being at parity with Windows for SC2. In contrast, ID Software are an OpenGL house and so their games run reasonably well on all platforms (Carmack himself will tell you DirectX has the edge but that they have heavily invested their workflow and toolset to cater to OpenGL so won't be changing anytime soon).
Crushgroove
Profile Joined July 2010
United States793 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-03-19 01:53:50
March 19 2011 01:34 GMT
#29
@ hdkhang:

You are correct on the VRAM allocating differences between directX and OpenGL... however, some things in your post I very much disagree with. To say that SC2 will never achieve parity cross platform is a ridiculous thing to say. My SC2 in MacOSX runs at over 80FPS on extreme/ultra in native 1440x2560 resolution without using anything close to what my system is capable of. In fact, I do this while streaming, running general apps and iTunes on a second monitor, and videochatting on skype without any kind of system lag or hesitation whatsoever.

Now, in Windows, I run SC2 and it runs..... the same?

My point is, that after a certain threshold, SC2 cannot be run any better. Therefore, if your hardware is such that both OS's support SC2 up to that threshold... then for all intents and purposes there is parity, because SC2's performance is identical.

You are right, cheaper systems will experience better operating of SC2 in the windows environment, because of the way that DirectX uses VRAM and other things, but if someone was asking you which would be a better os to run, say, diablo 2 in... I'm sure you'd say it doesn't matter. The same is true with SC2 when your hardware doesn't suck.

Specs: Mac Pro 12 core (Two 6 core 3.33ghz Intel), 32GB 1333 RAM, ATI Radeon 5870x2, Four 2TB HDs, 256MB SSD, blu-ray burner, Apple superdrive, two 27" apple cinema displays.

EDIT: As an appendage, OpenGL has much more robust and developed features available to it that bring it close to DirectX in terms of features and capability. Apple does not have these versions of OpenGL installed by default in OSX. Even in these higher versions of OpenGL, however, textures still take up more VRAM.
[In Korea on Vaca] "Why would I go to the park and climb a mountain? There are video games on f*cking TV!" - Kazuke
JetGillLee
Profile Joined November 2010
Australia43 Posts
March 19 2011 02:10 GMT
#30
Well I don't know what you classify as bad specs when you have that kind of computer.. But there's no way that's gonna lag. Too reach parity wouldn't it have to be equal across all levels of hardware?

JesusNeverGotLaid
Profile Joined March 2011
Canada24 Posts
March 19 2011 04:18 GMT
#31
On March 19 2011 10:34 Crushgroove wrote:
@ hdkhang:

You are correct on the VRAM allocating differences between directX and OpenGL... however, some things in your post I very much disagree with. To say that SC2 will never achieve parity cross platform is a ridiculous thing to say. My SC2 in MacOSX runs at over 80FPS on extreme/ultra in native 1440x2560 resolution without using anything close to what my system is capable of. In fact, I do this while streaming, running general apps and iTunes on a second monitor, and videochatting on skype without any kind of system lag or hesitation whatsoever.

Now, in Windows, I run SC2 and it runs..... the same?

My point is, that after a certain threshold, SC2 cannot be run any better. Therefore, if your hardware is such that both OS's support SC2 up to that threshold... then for all intents and purposes there is parity, because SC2's performance is identical.

You are right, cheaper systems will experience better operating of SC2 in the windows environment, because of the way that DirectX uses VRAM and other things, but if someone was asking you which would be a better os to run, say, diablo 2 in... I'm sure you'd say it doesn't matter. The same is true with SC2 when your hardware doesn't suck.

Specs: Mac Pro 12 core (Two 6 core 3.33ghz Intel), 32GB 1333 RAM, ATI Radeon 5870x2, Four 2TB HDs, 256MB SSD, blu-ray burner, Apple superdrive, two 27" apple cinema displays.

EDIT: As an appendage, OpenGL has much more robust and developed features available to it that bring it close to DirectX in terms of features and capability. Apple does not have these versions of OpenGL installed by default in OSX. Even in these higher versions of OpenGL, however, textures still take up more VRAM.





Holy fucking shit, what do you use that computer for? From what I know, that setup costs like over 9000 dollars literally.


So rich, bro.
GO CANADA
Drubael
Profile Joined March 2011
25 Posts
March 19 2011 05:46 GMT
#32
I wouldn't say that Windows uses FAR less Ram, maybe a little bit less. I'm pretty sure the big issue is that the OS X Program is not nearly as optimized for OS X as the Windows version is.
Yung
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States727 Posts
March 19 2011 05:51 GMT
#33
On March 19 2011 13:18 JesusNeverGotLaid wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 19 2011 10:34 Crushgroove wrote:
@ hdkhang:

You are correct on the VRAM allocating differences between directX and OpenGL... however, some things in your post I very much disagree with. To say that SC2 will never achieve parity cross platform is a ridiculous thing to say. My SC2 in MacOSX runs at over 80FPS on extreme/ultra in native 1440x2560 resolution without using anything close to what my system is capable of. In fact, I do this while streaming, running general apps and iTunes on a second monitor, and videochatting on skype without any kind of system lag or hesitation whatsoever.

Now, in Windows, I run SC2 and it runs..... the same?

My point is, that after a certain threshold, SC2 cannot be run any better. Therefore, if your hardware is such that both OS's support SC2 up to that threshold... then for all intents and purposes there is parity, because SC2's performance is identical.

You are right, cheaper systems will experience better operating of SC2 in the windows environment, because of the way that DirectX uses VRAM and other things, but if someone was asking you which would be a better os to run, say, diablo 2 in... I'm sure you'd say it doesn't matter. The same is true with SC2 when your hardware doesn't suck.

Specs: Mac Pro 12 core (Two 6 core 3.33ghz Intel), 32GB 1333 RAM, ATI Radeon 5870x2, Four 2TB HDs, 256MB SSD, blu-ray burner, Apple superdrive, two 27" apple cinema displays.

EDIT: As an appendage, OpenGL has much more robust and developed features available to it that bring it close to DirectX in terms of features and capability. Apple does not have these versions of OpenGL installed by default in OSX. Even in these higher versions of OpenGL, however, textures still take up more VRAM.





Holy fucking shit, what do you use that computer for? From what I know, that setup costs like over 9000 dollars literally.

Making that with the part would cost like over 9000 dollars and with the mac price jump it would be like over 20000 dollars, wtf???
So rich, bro.

hdkhang
Profile Joined August 2010
Australia183 Posts
March 19 2011 06:30 GMT
#34
On March 19 2011 10:34 Crushgroove wrote:
@ hdkhang:

You are correct on the VRAM allocating differences between directX and OpenGL... however, some things in your post I very much disagree with. To say that SC2 will never achieve parity cross platform is a ridiculous thing to say. My SC2 in MacOSX runs at over 80FPS on extreme/ultra in native 1440x2560 resolution without using anything close to what my system is capable of. In fact, I do this while streaming, running general apps and iTunes on a second monitor, and videochatting on skype without any kind of system lag or hesitation whatsoever.

Now, in Windows, I run SC2 and it runs..... the same?

My point is, that after a certain threshold, SC2 cannot be run any better. Therefore, if your hardware is such that both OS's support SC2 up to that threshold... then for all intents and purposes there is parity, because SC2's performance is identical.

You are right, cheaper systems will experience better operating of SC2 in the windows environment, because of the way that DirectX uses VRAM and other things, but if someone was asking you which would be a better os to run, say, diablo 2 in... I'm sure you'd say it doesn't matter. The same is true with SC2 when your hardware doesn't suck.

Specs: Mac Pro 12 core (Two 6 core 3.33ghz Intel), 32GB 1333 RAM, ATI Radeon 5870x2, Four 2TB HDs, 256MB SSD, blu-ray burner, Apple superdrive, two 27" apple cinema displays.

EDIT: As an appendage, OpenGL has much more robust and developed features available to it that bring it close to DirectX in terms of features and capability. Apple does not have these versions of OpenGL installed by default in OSX. Even in these higher versions of OpenGL, however, textures still take up more VRAM.


First things first, in no way was my post an attack on OSX/Mac/Apple etc. so no need to be super defensive (unless your post was more of an attempt to brag about system specs then go right ahead). Secondly, my post was not an attack on OpenGL, nor was it an attempt to compare the two API's from a technical standpoint... it matters not what something is capable of if that power does not get harnessed. I can claim to be the best SC2 player in the world "if only I practiced", but if I don't practice, then my claim is meaningless.

As for your "parity" argument, that is flawed simply because there are many ways to create artificial limitations that will show no measurable differences. e.g. if you find graphical performance is lacking, then just create a CPU bound scenario to mask it up. That is why when we speak of parity, we need to consider situations where there are limitations. What you propose is akin to saying SUV boot space comparisons are of no consequence since they all fit my laptop anyway, so in conclusion SUV boot space has reached parity.
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