Spore running real slow on mac pro with ati 1900

[padré]

this is really really strange
the first stages as a cell went really well with all settings on high, and they my creature evolved to the ground, and in to the open world and everything is running extremely slow, but really i can count the frames, its like 7 frames a second or something like that.

i have 2 gig ram, a ati 1900 in a mac pro

:s

anybody else expierencing the same (it runs smooth when i put all the settings verry low)

[pdpfilms]

this is really really strange
the first stages as a cell went really well with all settings on high, and they my creature evolved to the ground, and in to the open world and everything is running extremely slow, but really i can count the frames, its like 7 frames a second or something like that.

i have 2 gig ram, a ati 1900 in a mac pro

:s

anybody else expierencing the same (it runs smooth when i put all the settings verry low)

Are you playing on a Mac or PC partition?

[Cabbit]

this is really really strange
the first stages as a cell went really well with all settings on high, and they my creature evolved to the ground, and in to the open world and everything is running extremely slow, but really i can count the frames, its like 7 frames a second or something like that.

i have 2 gig ram, a ati 1900 in a mac pro

:s

anybody else expierencing the same (it runs smooth when i put all the settings verry low)

Most likely your bottle neck there is that antiquated ATi Radeon X1900 its a bit on the low end these days, try shopping around for a X2800 or X3870 both have mac editions with the X4870 not far away ether. In the mean time lower your in game graphics settings.

[padré]

tx for the replies,

yeah i'm playing it on my mac partition, the strange thing is i can play crisis at high settings (no AA tho) so one would expect to be able to play this right ?

[Cabbit]

tx for the replies,

yeah i'm playing it on my mac partition, the strange thing is i can play crisis at high settings (no AA tho) so one would expect to be able to play this right ?

Mind it is a cider port of a game and not native and not optimized and that you are running a rather low performance GPU though it is on the minimum requirements but those minimum requirements are not for super high mode there for the lowest mode so because you match the box spec don't expect to be able to push the frames at settings the game was designed to push high end GPU's.

[kaltsasa]

Wait, where did you get Spore? I want so bad.

[dotcomlarry]

Wait, where did you get Spore? I want so bad.

I was wondering the same thing, especially since it's not available for sale yet. It's coming on September 7th, according to the Spore website.

[alkar]

Runs perfect here with 8800 GT... EXACTLY the same as the Windows version.

I hate to say this, but Transgaming really DID optimized this one.

[padré]

in europe its availeble since today (the 4th)

anyways i installed it on my macbook pro (with 8600 512 mb) and it runs like a dream, so i guess there something wrong with the ati drivers or something

i'll be ordering a 8800 soonish :)

[Cromulent]

Mine was shipped today, should arrive tomorrow :). From reading this I think I'll be playing it on my Vista partition.

[muldul]

This may also have to do with the massive graphic difference between cell and creature stages, try low or medium settings instead. Works fine on my macbook on high, so this is a bit strange (running under winXP) . I got it a day early, comes out on 5th in the UK, thank you game.co.uk

[otispunkmeyer]

Most likely your bottle neck there is that antiquated ATi Radeon X1900 its a bit on the low end these days, try shopping around for a X2800 or X3870 both have mac editions with the X4870 not far away ether. In the mean time lower your in game graphics settings.

yeah the x1900 is an old boy right now, but seriously.... spore isnt that intense, ive played the demo on a X800GTO (even more inferior than the X1900, at least 2x slower if not more) and it played well at 1280x1024, max settings, with a dab of AA. perfectly fluid. depending on the OP's res though, it could be an issue... id be more inclined to look at the fact that the games a port.

my x800 is on XP though

does spore use DX or OpenGL? ATi havent really been known for OGL performance, least not untill more recently.... Nvidia have always been strong (plus the 8800GT is a good deal better than the x1900) at OGL so if it does use OGL, then that probably explains why nvidias cards are having a better time of it.

[john.burn]

From the macbytes review...

"While its game design excels, Spore suffers from several technical problems. A major graphical error with ATI Radeon 1600- and 1900-based video hardware forces players to turn off a key visual effect, making the game look worse but run well. EA says that an OS X update will fix the problem, but Apple controls that rollout."

John.

[QCassidy352]

Most likely your bottle neck there is that antiquated ATi Radeon X1900 its a bit on the low end these days, try shopping around for a X2800 or X3870 both have mac editions with the X4870 not far away ether. In the mean time lower your in game graphics settings.

gimme a break, the x1900 is still better than many of the mid-range cards out there, and should be able to run a not-too-demanding game like Spore easily.

From the macbytes review...

"While its game design excels, Spore suffers from several technical problems. A major graphical error with ATI Radeon 1600- and 1900-based video hardware forces players to turn off a key visual effect, making the game look worse but run well. EA says that an OS X update will fix the problem, but Apple controls that rollout."

John.

That's what I was about to link to. :) It should be fixed in the future.

[smacky!]

MAN! i was SO looking forward to this game until now...glad i checked the forum, tho' - didn't do that with HOMMIV, and that bad experience *almost* put me off mac gaming for life! :(

Shoot - well, EA, i won't be buying this until Apple releases a fix...does anyone know if it affects JUST OS X? TIA!

[padré]

still i installed the game on my macbook pro, and played it under windows and mac (no difference in performence) and i love it, its extreamly addictive and keeps me to much away from my conceptartist job.

On the other hand its really sad about the bug with the ati 1900 tho even with lower graphics the game is really sweet to play.

i really recomend buying it, or alteast try it at somebodies place

cya

[tyr2]

I have this problem, I really don't want to have to resort to Windows.

From the macbytes review...

"While its game design excels, Spore suffers from several technical problems. A major graphical error with ATI Radeon 1600- and 1900-based video hardware forces players to turn off a key visual effect, making the game look worse but run well. EA says that an OS X update will fix the problem, but Apple controls that rollout."

John.

Any idea which 'key visual effect' needs to be turned off? I'd tried reducing them all to medium but it didn't make much difference.

[Sorkvild]

I don't mean to steal this thread, but it makes sense to ask here instead of making a new one.

Ia anyone playing Spore on a 2.4 Ghz iMac with the ATI 2600, and how does it run?

[tyr2]

Well I've just given it a go with the 1900XT in Windows and it works very nicely in Creature Mode at 1600x1200. So waiting for a fix from Apple by the looks of things, hope it makes it in 10.5.5 and it isn't too far away.


Edit: Just been fiddling with the settings on the OS X version of Spore. If you set 'Lighting Quality' to low then it works just fine, with all the other settings set to max, and doesn't look too terrible. I can certainly live with it for the time being

[chris898]

I have stuttering too(not as bad as you). If you have a graphics card by nvidia that is less than 256mb, then this will happen.Unless you change the graphic settings to low.

[padré]

U can keep everything at high

exept for lightning (that has to be low)

or u can keep ightning high but u'll have to change effects to low

[ndlawman]

Disappointed that it is running so low on my MacBook Pro with the x1600 as well. Will try the fix mentioned above. Any update from ATI that will solve this problem?

Thanks in advance.

[MacRumorUser]

Disappointed that it is running so low on my MacBook Pro with the x1600 as well. Will try the fix mentioned above. Any update from ATI that will solve this problem?

Thanks in advance.

Its probably not ATI's problem, but a bug in the Spore coding for mac. EA are obviously well aware of the situation so there should be some solution soon as I hate having to boot back and forth into bootcamp.


@ babyjenniferLB

Oh and yeah on XP (bootcamp) with X1900XT I am running with everything on very high so to say its the X1900XT's fault for being an outdated card is utter FUD of the highest order.

[tgebauer]

Hey Mac friends,

Thought I'd put in my few cents about m Spore experience on an X1900 ATI-

I downloaded Spore yesterday via EA's online service, I believe it's DirectDrive.

My system specs:

Dual 2.66 dual core Xeons, 8gb RAM, Radeon X1900 512mb.

And it ran like crap once I got to land. I was so disappointed. The Radeon X1900 is not a bad card, not the best anymore (although it was at least up there when I got the system), but it's definitely capable of running this game. It ran Prey on high settings last year, for chrissakes.

Following advice I saw on this thread, I turned the lighting setting down to "low", and this fixed the problem. Great framerates; no problems. However, the graphics are definitely not as good:

In other words, the game doesn't *look" as cool as it could with the lighting on (key visual effects there, like the bug report said). I suspect this includes all sorts of bump mapping and fun things of that nature.

I suspect this is a driver issue, considering that I can't even remember the last time a new driver came out for the X1900 / Intel combo.

(ATI/AMD are pretty much dead in the water now, by the way, for those of you who might not follow that sort of thing). Pretty sure that mac is the only company keeping ATI alive.

I am not surprised that Spore will run with no problems on systems using nVidia cards.

I suspect Mac will have to fix this issue with an update to the OS. I could be ill informed jackass, but let's hope that there is a software fix coming out after the Let's Rock Media event this week http://tinyurl.com/646trp

But, who knows, maybe we X1900 users are just screwed. But I hope not!

[SilentPanda]

What other video cards are available for the Mac Pro? I have the ATI x1900XT but am unsure of an upgrade path for that. Not sure I'm even going to upgrade but more curious. I have the quad core 2.0 which I believe is an "early" Mac Pro.

Is the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT the only option out there? I'd prefer not to do any funky firmware flashing.

[P-Worm]

Turning lighting down did it for me too. I can't just go out and get a new graphics card because FCP programs like Color are made just for ATi cards. Bleh.

P-Worm

[SilentPanda]

It's just unfortunate that the lighting setting is such a drastic change. Many games I don't require the settings to be maxxed out but the visual difference between lighting at low and high is enough to make me want to wait until a patch for either the game or OS X comes out to play it. The flowers look like little junky lego blocks or something with lighting on low but look really nice on high. The models look dull in comparison between the lighting levels.

[Infrared]

Hey Mac friends,

Thought I'd put in my few cents about m Spore experience on an X1900 ATI-

I downloaded Spore yesterday via EA's online service, I believe it's DirectDrive.

How big is the download, please?

Thanks.

[Artofilm]

Spore doesn't seem to be too demanding of a game.
I'm running a MacPro 2x2.8 w/ 2GB ram and the Radeon 2600XT graphics card and everything runs very nicely with all settings to high and the resolutions set to 1680x1050.

I'm up to the civilization stage now and there really hasn't been any slow downs yet. I wonder how the space age will take...

On another note, anyone considering getting Spore, BUY IT, its a great game. Especially for the casual gamer. It doesn't require you to devote your entire life to the game and it's easy to pick up and go!
It also is awesome to have a dual boot PC/Mac disc, where you only need to install the game with the CD and never have to use the CD ever again!

[tgebauer]

How big is the download, please?

Thanks.

Hey Infrared,

The download, all told, was 3 gigabytes.

Tom G

[tgebauer]

Turning lighting down did it for me too. I can't just go out and get a new graphics card because FCP programs like Color are made just for ATi cards. Bleh.

P-Worm

I feel your pain. I feel like since I spent almost 500 dollars on this card when it was new, it could at least work as well as the ones that, at the time, cost 150 dollars.

[Infrared]

The download, all told, was 3 gigabytes.


Oh, that's not excessive. Thanks.

[kikikawai]

I am so having the same exact problem!
I don't know what to do about it!
it works a little faster on lower settings, but even then its super slow! :mad:
This is ridiculous.

[neilg]

Lighting Quality is set Low - everything else is High - the game runs smoothly, nice animation, the world renders quickly, it's very playable and looks great.

Play the game at Normal setting, it becomes much more interesting than at the default Easy.

I'm enjoying it - it feels big.:)

[MatchFrame]

What settings (lighting, depth of field, etc.) are worth trying to keep as high as possible? Which of these are the ones that really give it that extra pop in the graphics?

And which ones aren't worth the resources to max out? As in, what you get isn't worth the processing power?

[Jave27]

Please update to Mac OS 10.5.5. It contains driver updates that fix this issue.

[tipman2000]

i suppose this is a pretty old thread, but i guess i might as well say what happened to me anyway: so i have the late-2008 aluminum macbook 13" 2.0GHz and this game runs like crap unless i put mostly everything on low. btw i have 2 gb ram and a 9400m. at first i was disappointed because i was really looking foward to getting spore after all those years of hype, and it looks like a game from 2002 with low settings. i can choose to turn up 1 or 2 things to high but after that it gets really slow. so usually i just use high graphics effects and high lighting. i was looking foward to the "5x better graphics performance" of the "revolutionary" 9400m but it did not show at first. later i got COD4 and it plays nicely on medium settings, and it looks a hell of a lot better than spore. pretty good for an integrated GPU, dont ya think? looks like ill have to put spore on bootcamp... it disappionting though because i'll usually just be bored and click spore to play for a while, i dont want to have to boot windows every time... i guess it's worth it if the gfx improve but i already beat the game so there is less motivation for me to reinstall it.......