Starcraft 2 Lags

[xWhiplash]

Even when I have the game on Medium quality, the game seems to lag. Around every 10 seconds or so, my FPS will drop to about 12fps then go back up to 100. This is a brand new Mac Pro.

3.33 Ghz 6-Core
8GB 1333 MHz
ATI Radeon HD 5870

When I had Windows on here it could run on Ultra with no issues. I do not see how OS X would make this unplayable even on Medium/Low. Do you have any ideas?

[dekka007]

Exact same system as you. No issues running SC2 on Ultra frame rates vary between 44-65fps consistently.

[xWhiplash]

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What do you think could be wrong?

[seek3r]

Even when I have the game on Medium quality, the game seems to lag. Around every 10 seconds or so, my FPS will drop to about 12fps then go back up to 100. This is a brand new Mac Pro.

3.33 Ghz 6-Core
8GB 1333 MHz
ATI Radeon HD 5870

When I had Windows on here it could run on Ultra with no issues. I do not see how OS X would make this unplayable even on Medium/Low. Do you have any ideas?

Are you running anything in the background that's hitting the disk hard (lotsa torrents, image/movie encoding, etc)?

[xWhiplash]

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Nope nothing is running in the background.

[xWhiplash]

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Just installed Win7 to see how it runs again. 150 fps on ultra and 200-220 fps on high. Why is it running bad on OS X? Are there any logs in the activity monitor or something that I can measure performance?

[dissolve]

You could try running it in Windowed mode and have activity monitor or iStats available next to it and see if something is spiking the CPU or HDD. Windowed will cause an inherent performance hit on its own, but this way you can see what may be resulting in periodic lag. I'm running on Ultra with 2.8 quad at >45 fps in OS X so your system is certainly capable of lag-free play.

[xWhiplash]

You could try running it in Windowed mode and have activity monitor or iStats available next to it and see if something is spiking the CPU or HDD. Windowed will cause an inherent performance hit on its own, but this way you can see what may be resulting in periodic lag. I'm running on Ultra with 2.8 quad at >45 fps in OS X so your system is certainly capable of lag-free play.

By the time I would look at iStat, the game would be back to normal. The drop in FPS is too fast for me to look at any activity monitor to see what is going on, but it is long enough for me to notice it in game. Sometimes it freezes for a second though.

[dissolve]

By the time I would look at iStat, the game would be back to normal. The drop in FPS is too fast for me to look at any activity monitor to see what is going on, but it is long enough for me to notice it in game. Sometimes it freezes for a second though.

Try with Activity Monitor then. Have them both open next to each other so that the moment you notice lag, you can see if another process is spiking the CPU or Disk. If this issue is always happening, you may want to consider a reinstall.

[Transporteur]

After having graphics problems with 10.6.4 myself (although not games related), I've read the Apple supports forums for a while, and there are various people reporting issues with this OS version.

10.6.5 should be out soon, this is supposed to solve most graphics problems.

[Vylen]

After having graphics problems with 10.6.4 myself (although not games related), I've read the Apple supports forums for a while, and there are various people reporting issues with this OS version.

10.6.5 should be out soon, this is supposed to solve most graphics problems.

Oh? I hope so. That'd be really nice - I have much dislike for kernel panics >_>

[goMac]

Yep, wait until 10.6.5.

I've never used 10.6.5 with Starcraft 2, but a friend told me that it resolved this exact sort of issue on his Mac Pro, in addition to nearly doubling the frame rate.

But I'd have no idea myself.

[jay.w]

Yep, wait until 10.6.5.

I've never used 10.6.5 with Starcraft 2, but a friend told me that it resolved this exact sort of issue on his Mac Pro, in addition to nearly doubling the frame rate.

But I'd have no idea myself.

I hope your friend is right. I'm on a Mac Pro 1,1 with a 5770 and I get between 20 - 45 FPS on Ultra.

[pfjellman]

i'm on a mac pro 1,1 with radeon HD4870 1GB video and i have absolutely no issues with starcraft 2.

gets around 70 fps with everything on ultra. running native os x version. been playing it since the betas and never had any issues. occasional lag/hiccups in fps do occur due to network issues. make sure no one is leeching your wifi connection, no other comps in the house downloading/streaming stuff, and maybe do some googling about improving your router performance/opening ports for sc2.

[dissolve]

i'm on a mac pro 1,1 with radeon HD4870 1GB video and i have absolutely no issues with starcraft 2.

gets around 70 fps with everything on ultra. running native os x version. been playing it since the betas and never had any issues. occasional lag/hiccups in fps do occur due to network issues. make sure no one is leeching your wifi connection, no other comps in the house downloading/streaming stuff, and maybe do some googling about improving your router performance/opening ports for sc2.

That's a good point, but does network lag drop your fps too? I'd have thought it'd simply stutter without registering a fps decrease. But the OP's issue could very well be network instead of hardware if that's not the case.

[mulo]

I hope your friend is right.

+1
I'm getting ~30 FPS on low, but on a 17" MBP (signature)

[goMac]

That's a good point, but does network lag drop your fps too? I'd have thought it'd simply stutter without registering a fps decrease. But the OP's issue could very well be network instead of hardware if that's not the case.

My friend says he was getting around 30 fps on 10.6.4 on a GeForce 8800 with the graphics update, now he's getting around 47 fps on 10.6.5, with all stuttering gone. Zerg doesn't quite get that FPS, seems a little more graphics intensive. My friend is also very curious to see how the 5870 does with 10.6.5, but his 5870 hasn't shipped yet.

[pfjellman]

My friend says he was getting around 30 fps on 10.6.4 on a GeForce 8800 with the graphics update, now he's getting around 47 fps on 10.6.5, with all stuttering gone. Zerg doesn't quite get that FPS, seems a little more graphics intensive. My friend is also very curious to see how the 5870 does with 10.6.5, but his 5870 hasn't shipped yet.

your "friend" is interesting lol. for what it's worth i play zerg (always have since sc1 before broodwar) and i routinely play 4v4s with other zerg all at max 200/200 armies and verrrry rarely do i ever experience any stutter in fps. i'm also on a fiber internet connection at 25Mbps though.

the only time i ever get drops in fps is when there's lag -- and yes, lag will cause a drop in fps. notice how when the game starts to chop up, if it doesn't get better within 1-2 seconds the screen pops up saying waiting for player xyz - this is the lag window that appears. however, if the lag issue gets resolved before that window pops up, you will still see a freeze or drop in fps for that second or two. it has nothing to do with how many units are on the screen or the graphics settings either.


EDIT: oh and i'm still on 10.6.3 because i never could get dual monitors to work on 10.6.4 with my flashed radeon card. so i don't even have the improved graphics update on my system.

[dpad]

i'm on a mac pro 1,1 with radeon HD4870 1GB video and i have absolutely no issues with starcraft 2.

gets around 70 fps with everything on ultra. running native os x version. been playing it since the betas and never had any issues. occasional lag/hiccups in fps do occur due to network issues. make sure no one is leeching your wifi connection, no other comps in the house downloading/streaming stuff, and maybe do some googling about improving your router performance/opening ports for sc2.

What resolution are you running at?

[pfjellman]

What resolution are you running at?

1920x1080

[thepawn]

i'm on a mac pro 1,1 with radeon HD4870 1GB video and i have absolutely no issues with starcraft 2.

gets around 70 fps with everything on ultra. running native os x version.

Same here for me, no issues at all on my 4870.

[dpad]

1920x1080

Wow. Apple really needs to get their 5 series drivers up to date then. I'm using a 5770 on my 1,1 and am not seeing performance anywhere close to that.

[phaedarus]

OP, you're gaming on the wrong platform.

You really have little option to but to suck it up and bootcamp into Windows if gaming is your primary interest; save OSX for getting real work done.

Mac gaming will continue to be several steps behind the PC in terms of reliability, performance and selection for a long time to come.

Sure, I fully expect some of you to be nerd raging at me, but the truth is that only cloud computing will offer the kind of parity that Mac users keep asking for.

[frnak]

I suffer from something similar.

Mine's weird. It ONLY occurs when I run the game first time after a start up (regardless of when I run it). If i quit and run it again, it doesn't have the problem.

Also when my frame rate drops, it gives almost a rhythmic drop. the units will be moving fast, slow, fast, slow.

After 5 minutes or so, it goes away..It's very frustrating. Also I have literally nothing running in the background...

[dpad]

OP, you're gaming on the wrong platform.

You really have little option to but to suck it up and bootcamp into Windows if gaming is your primary interest; save OSX for getting real work done.

Mac gaming will continue to be several steps behind the PC in terms of reliability, performance and selection for a long time to come.

Sure, I fully expect some of you to be nerd raging at me, but the truth is that only cloud computing will offer the kind of parity that Mac users keep asking for.

I know that OS X performance is just no where near Windows performance for most games. I guess I'm just shocked that a 15" MBP (i7, 330M 512MB) in bootcamp is about equal to a Mac Pro in OS X with a graphics card that is 10-15 times as powerful.

[dissolve]

OP, you're gaming on the wrong platform.

You really have little option to but to suck it up and bootcamp into Windows if gaming is your primary interest; save OSX for getting real work done.

Mac gaming will continue to be several steps behind the PC in terms of reliability, performance and selection for a long time to come.

Sure, I fully expect some of you to be nerd raging at me, but the truth is that only cloud computing will offer the kind of parity that Mac users keep asking for.

That's not the issue though. Many people have stated that their getting great performance on similar or lesser systems. Something else is going wrong with the OP's setup. I'm not disagreeing with you though that PC gaming is far ahead of OS X, but in this case, something else is awry.

[jay.w]

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Just installed Win7 to see how it runs again. 150 fps on ultra and 200-220 fps on high. Why is it running bad on OS X? Are there any logs in the activity monitor or something that I can measure performance?

How are you measuring fps? Is there another method other than the in-game show fps command?

[Binford]

i got boot camp and windows solely for the sake of sc2. runs much faster.

[dissolve]

Anyone who was having issues try the 10.6.5 update yet? It did note graphical improvements in games...

[jay.w]

Anyone who was having issues try the 10.6.5 update yet? It did note graphical improvements in games...

I'll post when I get home in a couple of hours. I'll do before/after Xbenches as well..

[dpad]

Updated to 10.6.5
-Xbench lost 10 points
-Starcraft 2 picked up 2-3 FPS
-Portal Timedemo lost 40 FPS!
-Smallux is about 10% faster

[xWhiplash]

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How are you measuring fps? Is there another method other than the in-game show fps command?

Thats the only way I am measuring it. It does not matter if it is 100% accurate or not. The fact is, the game will stutter every few seconds, sometimes for a second freeze. What I want to know is, why are people having no issues with low powered systems than me, BUT it never lags once on Win7?

[jay.w]

Thats the only way I am measuring it. It does not matter if it is 100% accurate or not. The fact is, the game will stutter every few seconds, sometimes for a second freeze. What I want to know is, why are people having no issues with low powered systems than me, BUT it never lags once on Win7?

I wasn't just wondering if there was a way to get the average/min/max FPS across an entire game for example.

FWIW my Xbench gained maybe 5 to 10 points, so for all intents and purposes a fairly negligible improvement. I'll check in on SC2 later.

Update: No obvious improvement in SC2 framerate.

[goMac]

I wasn't just wondering if there was a way to get the average/min/max FPS across an entire game for example.

FWIW my Xbench gained maybe 5 to 10 points, so for all intents and purposes a fairly negligible improvement. I'll check in on SC2 later.

Update: No obvious improvement in SC2 framerate.

Really? Are you guys on ATI? I had a very obvious improvement in frame rate, both in SC2 and Source games.

[dissolve]

Thats the only way I am measuring it. It does not matter if it is 100% accurate or not. The fact is, the game will stutter every few seconds, sometimes for a second freeze. What I want to know is, why are people having no issues with low powered systems than me, BUT it never lags once on Win7?

Has this issue persisted since you started playing? Have you considered a reinstall? There's no reason your system should be stuttering in SC2.

[jay.w]

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Yep. 5770 in mp 1,1

[dpad]

Really? Are you guys on ATI? I had a very obvious improvement in frame rate, both in SC2 and Source games.

As I posted I lost a lot of FPS in Portal and maybe gained a few FPS in SC2. Still running SC2 on meager settings on a MP 1,1 5770 and it's barely playable. I really don't want to submit to bootcamp because I know there will be no going back but this is frustrating. Especially when folks are claiming to get 70FPS w/Ultra settings on similar hardware.

[xWhiplash]

Has this issue persisted since you started playing? Have you considered a reinstall? There's no reason your system should be stuttering in SC2.

I have formatted and installed OS X+SC2 about 6 times now and it never helps. Yes I know my hardware can run it fine. For the 100th time I can play the game perfectly under Win7 through bootcamp at 150-200 fps on ultra and no lag. So this just leaves OSX. Why is it only a few people that have this issue though?

[dissolve]

I have formatted and installed OS X+SC2 about 6 times now and it never helps. Yes I know my hardware can run it fine. For the 100th time I can play the game perfectly under Win7 through bootcamp at 150-200 fps on ultra and no lag. So this just leaves OSX. Why is it only a few people that have this issue though?

I understand, that's why I thought it was some issue with your OS X install. If you've tried it that many times though, I'm stumped. Only other idea is, some errant setting is on / off. Do you have vsync turned on? I know you're not getting screen tearing, but I know I get issues without vsync. Could be worth a try. Otherwise, sorry :confused:

[slughead]

1,1 MP with ATI 4950 lags before and after 10.6.5.

[dpad]

Response from Blizzard Support re: Low Framerate:

'This is a known issue after Patch 1.1 and 1.1.1. We have a whole department currently working on a resolution. We do not have an ETA on when this resolution will occur, but they are working diligently on finding a resolution. It will appear in the form of a update patch. '

In the meantime I installed Windows 7 and went from playing on Medium with slowdowns to Ultra across the board with no issues.

[BillyQuith]

Anyone who was having issues try the 10.6.5 update yet? It did note graphical improvements in games...

I tried 10.6.5 and framerate is much better. :) I play SC2 on a Macbook Pro and it runs fine. If you are having any problems with freezes please read:

http://chinbilly.blogspot.com/2010/11/starcraft-2-hang-on-mac-1065-fix.html