BF2142 for OS X: Performance Questions

[harveypooka]

Hello,

I know there are a few threads about EA games, but I'm trying to compile a better understanding of the performance of Battlefield 2142 on a range of Macs.

The performance on my first generation Intel iMac (2GHZ Core Duo, 1.5GB RAM, X1600 128MB) isn't good. I'd say near unplayable. I've reduced all the settings to low, but increased draw distance to 100%. The resolution is set at a wonderful 800x600.

I've played on a variety of servers, with different numbers of players ranging from 4 to 40. I've also ran through a range of maps in both Conquest and Titan mode.

The game runs slowly and occasionally stutters very badly. I haven't recorded the FPS yet, but I'd imagine it'll be well under 24FPS. The patchy performance coupled with the ridiculous resolution really makes the game quite dull to play.

If you have the game, what sort of machine spec do you have and how has BF2142 performed? I'm hoping that it's better on newer machines.

Thanks.

[kkat69]

Hello,

I know there are a few threads about EA games, but I'm trying to compile a better understanding of the performance of Battlefield 2142 on a range of Macs.

The performance on my first generation Intel iMac (2GHZ Core Duo, 1.5GB RAM, X1600 128MB) isn't good. I'd say near unplayable. I've reduced all the settings to low, but increased draw distance to 100%. The resolution is set at a wonderful 800x600.

I've played on a variety of servers, with different numbers of players ranging from 4 to 40. I've also ran through a range of maps in both Conquest and Titan mode.

The game runs slowly and occasionally stutters very badly. I haven't recorded the FPS yet, but I'd imagine it'll be well under 24FPS. The patchy performance coupled with the ridiculous resolution really makes the game quite dull to play.

If you have the game, what sort of machine spec do you have and how has BF2142 performed? I'm hoping that it's better on newer machines.

Thanks.

24" 2.8GHZ, 2GRAM, ATI 2600 (basically the stock BTO 24" 2.8ghz) and it's graphically unplayable.

I have a post already here and even show screenshots of the game from factory drivers, to 1.0/1.1 (for alum iMac) and I can honestly say IMO it's not playable unless you like your graphics all jacked up. Multiplay combined with the glitchy graphics ends up locking up the machine.

NOW according to Lori A. from the "Chat Now" button on the Apple website she states "It is compatible, it does work, or else Apple wouldn't promote it", then said "It will run on the new iMacs PERIOD"

Well, I hate to say it but it does not, unless she means "sure it's playable, just not very good"

There's a big difference to "System Requirements" and if it actually does work.

[amakh007]

I have new imac 2.4 20 inch with 2 g RAM and it works fine with the graphics at medium....

[harveypooka]

I have new imac 2.4 20 inch with 2 g RAM and it works fine with the graphics at medium....

Why don't you guys post your hardware and graphics/displays from System Profiler (with things like Serial Number blurred/crossed out) and see if we can figure what the problem is?

It be something as simple as a firmware or drive difference?

Here's mine:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 1.5 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM41.0055.B08
SMC Version: 1.1f5
Serial Number: XXXXXXXXXX

ATI Radeon X1600:

Chipset Model: ATY,RadeonX1600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
VRAM (Total): 128 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x71c5
Revision ID: 0x0000
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.068
Displays:
iMac:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Depth: 32-bit Color
Built-In: Yes
Core Image: Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported

[kkat69]

I have new imac 2.4 20 inch with 2 g RAM and it works fine with the graphics at medium....

I hope it's not a 20" vs 24" issue then. The only 2 resolutions I have available are 800x600 and 1024X768 but in bootcamp I have max 1600x1200 so I think that's poor coding on Transgaming's CIDER port software but here's my screens.

These were taking at factory settings no additional software, complete re-install of OS and not even having iLife installed, no bootcamp, no parallels, no iWork, no nothing. Straight OS and pertinent updates. Windowed or full screen the graphics are the same:

Pre 1.0 Mac Update (locks up everytime not playable at all):

http://gallery.mac.com/kehlebracht/100097/Picture-202/web.jpg

Post 1.0 update and Post 1.1 update (no change):

so good so far...
http://gallery.mac.com/kehlebracht/100097/Graphics-20ok-20here/web.jpg

ohhhhh snap, WTH?
http://gallery.mac.com/kehlebracht/100097/wonder-20if-20his-20feet-20are-20melting/web.jpg

[harveypooka]

...The only 2 resolutions I have available are 800x600 and 1024X768 but in bootcamp I have max 1600x1200 so I think that's poor coding on Transgaming's CIDER port software...

This is simply what we have, very frustrating, but not a bug.

If you've formatted and reinstalled, I can't see any reason why there would be a problem. Just bad coding?

I find it ridiculous that this kind of product has been released. EA were featured at this years WWDC. You'd think that Apple, EA and Transgaming would have gotten together, beta tested the thing to death and released the product as perfect as it could be!

[kkat69]

Ok here's my System profiler:

Model Name: Mac
Model Identifier: iMac7,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM71.007A.B00
SMC Version: 1.21f4

ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro:

Chipset Model: ATI,RadeonHD2600
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9583
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B2250F-212
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.212
Displays:
iMac:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1920 x 1200
Depth: 32-bit Color
Built-In: Yes
Core Image: Hardware Accelerated
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display Connector:
Status: No display connected

[Mackilroy]

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 3.0 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B04
SMC Version: 1.7f10

NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0393
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3011
Displays:
DELL E207WFP:
Resolution: 1680 x 1050 @ 60 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Rotation: Supported
Display:
Status: No display connected


It's generally playable on my system, with most settings at mid-high, but occasionally I get a lot of lag. Usually more related to the server than the game itself, as I've had all the options down with lots of lag, and all of them higher with much less.

[JPT]

I find it ridiculous that this kind of product has been released. EA were featured at this years WWDC. You'd think that Apple, EA and Transgaming would have gotten together, beta tested the thing to death and released the product as perfect as it could be!

It's EA. I don't think Battlefield 2 was ever fully fixed. EA releases extremely buggy games all the time. It's not just because they don't want to spend their time on perfecting the Mac version.

But this is pretty bad. They could have done a LOT better.

[harveypooka]

It's EA. I don't think Battlefield 2 was ever fully fixed. EA releases extremely buggy games all the time. It's not just because they don't want to spend their time on perfecting the Mac version.

But this is pretty bad. They could have done a LOT better.

BF2142 for Windows is quite buggy, but at least you can play a few rounds.

It's pathetic that we can't run this game. If the game can only run well on Mac Pros, we're doomed as iMac gamers. The iMac being (probably) the best selling Mac and the most likely to be used as a games machine (price and performance)- we're doubly doomed.

Let's hope someone finds a fix. I'm going to contact Transgaming and EA later this afternoon to try and resolve this.

[kkat69]

This is simply what we have, very frustrating, but not a bug.

If you've formatted and reinstalled, I can't see any reason why there would be a problem. Just bad coding?

I find it ridiculous that this kind of product has been released. EA were featured at this years WWDC. You'd think that Apple, EA and Transgaming would have gotten together, beta tested the thing to death and released the product as perfect as it could be!

Something interesting. I went to Applestore to ask them to demo the game for me to see if it worked on their 24" iMacs and they didn't have a demo yet. They said if I own it, make an appointment and they'll install it on one of theirs.

Now while I was there I remembered a post where someone said they played it just find using the dual display and had it sent to the other display. I dusted off my Dell 17" LCD and the graphics were still buggy BUT I got more resolutions. This time I had 1024x768, 1280x960 ADND 1600x1200. 1600x1200 on my 17"??????

So I did "Command+Return" to goto windowed mode and guess what? It was windowed at that resolution and I dragged it to my 24" display. I couldn't hit the "JOIN" button but the fact that on a 17" it detected many resolutions and the 24" it only detected 2 and very low setting ones at that. I think it's the CIDER port now rather than Apple. I'm going to re-contact EA.

[redsteven]

Hello,

I know there are a few threads about EA games, but I'm trying to compile a better understanding of the performance of Battlefield 2142 on a range of Macs.

The performance on my first generation Intel iMac (2GHZ Core Duo, 1.5GB RAM, X1600 128MB) isn't good. I'd say near unplayable. I've reduced all the settings to low, but increased draw distance to 100%. The resolution is set at a wonderful 800x600.

I've played on a variety of servers, with different numbers of players ranging from 4 to 40. I've also ran through a range of maps in both Conquest and Titan mode.

The game runs slowly and occasionally stutters very badly. I haven't recorded the FPS yet, but I'd imagine it'll be well under 24FPS. The patchy performance coupled with the ridiculous resolution really makes the game quite dull to play.

If you have the game, what sort of machine spec do you have and how has BF2142 performed? I'm hoping that it's better on newer machines.

Thanks.

I have the same system as you, except for 2 differences. First, I have the 256 meg VRAM card (x1600). Also, I have 2 gigs of RAM, and since the modules are the same size, i get the dual channel boost, though I don't know how much that is.

Anyway, the game is very unstable. However, when it DOES run, it's absolutely playable. I have all my settings turned down except view distance (at 100) and resolution (at 1024X768).
However, I still occasionally get skips (every minute or so). When it "skips," the computer becomes unresponsive for about half a second and then suddenly I'm facing a different direction. This of course disorients me, and has led to my death several times when in the middle of fighting.

Game is unstable, but it's not crashing as much as it used to.
Their tech support is pretty horrible, but that's the norm these days lol.

[KatmanDu]

Just got BF2142 today. Playable at lowest settings; up anything and it starts to stutter and becomes unplayable. Which is annoying, as I played it at far higher resolutions with a 2.4 single core+7300+XP before I switched to Mac.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac6,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 3 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz

NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
VRAM (Total): 128 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0395
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3022

[giganten]

Can you play BF2142 on a SR MBP 2,2 ghz 2GB ram 128MB vram, or will it look bad?

[harveypooka]

I spoke to Transgaming support today who went through my graphics settings and tweaked them for improved performance.

I think much of my issue could have been resolved by me tweaking and lowering settings, instead of wishing they matched the settings on BF2142 in Windows.

The performance doesn't differ that much between OSX and XP, the game at times is a little laggy, but hopefully in time this will be solved in time.

For those of you with weird issues I'd contact Transgaming directly. Support were very helpful and assured me that they are looking into issues as they are reported and are keen to solve them. There are some issues with Application Enhancer (usually bundled with Unsanity products), so try disabling it before playing BF2142.

[giganten]

Can you play BF2142 on a SR MBP 2,2 ghz 2GB ram 128MB vram, or will it look bad?

Can I play the game with this computer. I don't want to play with all the settings to low.

[harveypooka]

Can I play the game with this computer. I don't want to play with all the settings to low.

I think it'll run quite well. I can run on default medium settings with 1024 x 768 on my first generation Intel iMac with 20-30FPS.

Just be careful what you increase as you don't have much VRAM to load textures into.

[giganten]

I think it'll run quite well. I can run on default medium settings with 1024 x 768 on my first generation Intel iMac with 20-30FPS.

Just be careful what you increase as you don't have much VRAM to load textures into.

Okay. I did order the game now. Will tell you how it works when I get it.

[redsteven]

I think it'll run quite well. I can run on default medium settings with 1024 x 768 on my first generation Intel iMac with 20-30FPS.

Just be careful what you increase as you don't have much VRAM to load textures into.

I have twice as much VRAM as him but I still don't have any settings turned up except for view distance and resolution.

[harveypooka]

I have twice as much VRAM as him but I still don't have any settings turned up except for view distance and resolution.

I have to admit, I'm getting odd performance again....

What machine are you running Redsteven?

[harveypooka]

When running BF2142, if you type in the tilde (~) you can enter commands into the console.

If you type in:

renderer.drawFps 1

You'll get an onscreen FPS counter.

On my Intel iMac Core Duo 2GHZ, 1.5GB RAM, X1600 128MB, I get a range of about 17-24 FPS. It generally hovers around 17FPS on medium settings on 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768.

If everyone could post their specs and FPS range and average, that'd be useful.

[meanderis]

I have a MBP 2.33 15" with 256mb vram.
The game runs great in widescreen at 1152x720 when playing online. single player I can play at 1440x900 no problem but something lowers framerate in network games.
add this to the bottom of your ~/Library/Preferences/Battlefield 2142 Preferences/config file to change resolution and activate widescreen mode.

[AppDefaults\\BF2142.exe\\transgaming]
;"cmdlineadd" = " +widescreen 1 +szx 1440 +szy 900"
"cmdlineadd" = " +widescreen 1 +szx 1152 +szy 720"


I just uncomment/comment the appropriate lines when I want to switch resolutions. If what ppl tell me is true I may be able to run native all the time once Leopard comes out... which would be nice.

[redsteven]

I'm not on my iMac right now, otherwise I'd post it from system profiler.

It's a first generation 20" 2 GHz Core Duo.
2 gigs of ram and the radeon x1600 with 256 megs of ram.

Just make sure have more than 1 gig of ram.

I've tried playing the game on my Macbook Pro... which is also first generation and has the SAME exact system specs except for a few things. 15" screen, 2.16 GHz core duo (.16 GHz faster than iMac), and only 1 gig of ram, not 2. Same video card. Only playable on this computer in games with very few people. I usually play big games, with as many players as I can find (ideally 40-64), but on the MBP I have to stick with smaller games, it's just way too slow.

[redsteven]

Yeah but it's just stretching the view right? The field of view is the same size, isn't it? And what size is your monitor. (and i never new you could comment stuff out in a game terminal like that... smart) I have a MBP 2.33 15" with 256mb vram.
The game runs great in widescreen at 1152x720 when playing online. single player I can play at 1440x900 no problem but something lowers framerate in network games.
add this to the bottom of your ~/Library/Preferences/Battlefield 2142 Preferences/config file to change resolution and activate widescreen mode.

[AppDefaults\\BF2142.exe\\transgaming]
;"cmdlineadd" = " +widescreen 1 +szx 1440 +szy 900"
"cmdlineadd" = " +widescreen 1 +szx 1152 +szy 720"


I just uncomment/comment the appropriate lines when I want to switch resolutions. If what ppl tell me is true I may be able to run native all the time once Leopard comes out... which would be nice.

[kkat69]

I have a MBP 2.33 15" with 256mb vram.
The game runs great in widescreen at 1152x720 when playing online. single player I can play at 1440x900 no problem but something lowers framerate in network games.
add this to the bottom of your ~/Library/Preferences/Battlefield 2142 Preferences/config file to change resolution and activate widescreen mode.

[AppDefaults\\BF2142.exe\\transgaming]
;"cmdlineadd" = " +widescreen 1 +szx 1440 +szy 900"
"cmdlineadd" = " +widescreen 1 +szx 1152 +szy 720"


I just uncomment/comment the appropriate lines when I want to switch resolutions. If what ppl tell me is true I may be able to run native all the time once Leopard comes out... which would be nice.

Not sure if that trick is graphics card specific but it doesn't work on my iMac as stated on your original post:http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=353651

No matter what I set it to (whether my machine can or cannot support the different resolutions I tried) it still reverts to the default resolution. This may be related to the graphics issues with the new iMac it may not.

[harveypooka]

I have a MBP 2.33 15" with 256mb vram.
The game runs great in widescreen at 1152x720 when playing online. single player I can play at 1440x900 no problem but something lowers framerate in network games.
add this to the bottom of your ~/Library/Preferences/Battlefield 2142 Preferences/config file to change resolution and activate widescreen mode.

[AppDefaults\\BF2142.exe\\transgaming]
;"cmdlineadd" = " +widescreen 1 +szx 1440 +szy 900"
"cmdlineadd" = " +widescreen 1 +szx 1152 +szy 720"


I just uncomment/comment the appropriate lines when I want to switch resolutions. If what ppl tell me is true I may be able to run native all the time once Leopard comes out... which would be nice.

This will stretch the screen, not enable a wider view.

Could you run a network game and type in the console renderer.drawFps 1? and let us know what FPS range you get (min and max) and what it roughly hovers round?

[kkat69]

Confirmed today that this game does not work on the new 24" iMacs. Anyone saying they have it running needs to provide screenshots or it didn't happen. :)

A Mac Genius and I installed it on one of their iMacs and blame same graphics glitches. He was surprised as well as curious why it didn't work. Said initially sounds like a card issue but now looks like immature drivers.

Blizzards comments on the Pixel Shader incompatibility with the new iMac's ATI card just re-confirms that in that they state Apple is aware and have an engineer at AMD working on it.

SO this widescreen fix probably won't work for some since it appears BF2142 is having trouble identifying the 24" monitor through the graphics card and only posting 2 possible resolutions and trying to force anything else is futile as it will revert back to it's native resolution.

[meanderis]

This will stretch the screen, not enable a wider view.

Could you run a network game and type in the console renderer.drawFps 1? and let us know what FPS range you get (min and max) and what it roughly hovers round?

I think it cuts the tops and bottoms of the screen off. but I prefer to have the full display being used instead of having black bars on the sides.

Just did a quick game to get the fps for you.... really should be sleeping...
pretty much stayed mid 30 to mid 40's going up to 50-60 once in while and somtimes getting down to 20's. artillery strikes and some of the shaders effects can drop the framerate down low like that. If you really want best performance close out of extra apps you have running... the less running the better till leopard. I really hope what ppl are saying about opengl performance of leopard is true.

[giganten]

I have the game now. :D
I have a littel problem too, When I should do the EA Account creation they ask for a email. I only have the keyboard on my MBP and it wont let me do any @, how should I do?

[harveypooka]

I have the game now. :D
I have a littel problem too, When I should do the EA Account creation they ask for a email. I only have the keyboard on my MBP and it wont let me do any @, how should I do?

Are you running this in Windows or MacOSX?

I've not setup an account in OSX as I had an existing one, but if it's being weird, try SHIFT + ". This might give you the @.

[giganten]

It is the OS X verison of the game. And shift + " will not work, I did try to copy to but that didnt work.

[giganten]

Works very good :D.
I did ask a friend to make an account for me. Think I have to buy me a keyboard, will apples aluminum keyboard work? anyone here play with one of them?

[kkat69]

Works very good :D.
I did ask a friend to make an account for me. Think I have to buy me a keyboard, will apples aluminum keyboard work? anyone here play with one of them?

I use it. It works just fine on my setup. Can't say that for anything other than my setup but it does work fine for me.

[harveypooka]

It is the OS X verison of the game. And shift + " will not work, I did try to copy to but that didnt work.

Sorry, I meant SHIFT and ".