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COD4 mac fps is a fail!!

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exoskel8

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2009
2
0
Hey guys I'm new to the forums so hi.

Ok, I bought cod4 about a year ago, but never got into it. Now, I recently started playing and it was fun. My fps, though, was absolutely terrible.

I have lowered the settings down to very low (no depth of field, shadows)
it still hovers around 15-20

my computer is a white macbook (2008)
i have a 2.1 GHz processor
my graphics card is an Intel GMA X3100
and i have 2gb ram, i'm upgrading to 4 soon.


Also, on a side note, sometimes when i'm in a dark area of a map, my weapon, and all the stuff around me (aside from walls), like the scenery goes pitch black. This is just weird and looks bad because it dosn't seem to happen to other people.
 
ayeying

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
It's your video card. The X3100 is horrible at games.

And no, you cannot upgrade your video card because it's soldered onto the motherboard.

And no, upgrading the ram won't do much because the limitation is the video card.
 
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El Cabong

macrumors 6502a
Dec 1, 2008
620
339
If it's any consolation, CoD4 is terribly optimized for OSX. Playing in Boot Camp Vista on my MBP gets me a significant boost in frame rate over running in OSX, even with higher settings.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, your computer simply isn't up to the task. The RAM upgrade won't do you much good.
 
Richdmoore

Richdmoore

macrumors 68000
Jul 24, 2007
1,956
355
Troutdale, OR
Yeah, I think most of the people I know (including me) who want to game go with a Mac & combine an xbox or playstation with it. (I have a GMA 950 macbook.)
 
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bsblvnv

macrumors regular
Jan 29, 2010
154
0
Las Vegas
skinnylegs said:
Honestly, I don't think it's realistic to expect a satisfying CoD4 gaming experience on a Macbook.
Click to expand...

That's not true, on my MB COD4 played great. I just got it today. I am definitely disappointed to, but I am disappointed in the game not the MB. It was so short, I beat the thing in 4 hours. When I pay 50 bucks for a game I want more than a few good hours of game play. I know, I know I could play it again and again. But once you beat it the first time, you know whats next so it's not that fun anymore IMO.
 
DoFoT9

DoFoT9

macrumors P6
Jun 11, 2007
17,586
99
London, United Kingdom
bsblvnv said:
That's not true, on my MB COD4 played great. I just got it today. I am definitely disappointed to, but I am disappointed in the game not the MB. It was so short, I beat the thing in 4 hours. When I pay 50 bucks for a game I want more than a few good hours of game play. I know, I know I could play it again and again. But once you beat it the first time, you know whats next so it's not that fun anymore IMO.
Click to expand...

yes but you have a 9400M, the OP has a X3100! the differences in power are crazy.
 
roadbloc

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
When I had COD4 for Mac my fps was 35-40, which is fine. It must be your hardware that cannot support the game.
 
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bsblvnv

macrumors regular
Jan 29, 2010
154
0
Las Vegas
DoFoT9 said:
yes but you have a 9400M, the OP has a X3100! the differences in power are crazy.
Click to expand...

I understand that I was just trying to let people know you can have a good gaming experience on the MB I didn't think we were talking about anyone in particular.
 
S

Sambo110

macrumors 68000
Mar 12, 2007
1,686
0
Australia
bsblvnv said:
That's not true, on my MB COD4 played great. I just got it today. I am definitely disappointed to, but I am disappointed in the game not the MB. It was so short, I beat the thing in 4 hours. When I pay 50 bucks for a game I want more than a few good hours of game play. I know, I know I could play it again and again. But once you beat it the first time, you know whats next so it's not that fun anymore IMO.
Click to expand...

The multi player is what COD games are all about, which they unfortunately casualised in MW2.
 
edddeduck

edddeduck

macrumors 68020
Mar 26, 2004
2,061
13
exoskel8 said:
my graphics card is an Intel GMA X3100
Click to expand...

Yup that line is the problem, the GMA cards are a pain when you need gaming performance. The good news is the newer MacBooks have a better 9400 card that allows you to play newer games like BioShock on medium settings.

Then again if you want to be gaming spending a little more money on a machine with a good card is worth it as it means you Mac will stay playable for that little bit longer. Although buying a MacPro is a little overkill :)

Edwin
 
PiusPatronus

PiusPatronus

macrumors member
Jan 14, 2010
33
0
DoFoT9 said:
yes but you have a 9400M, the OP has a X3100! the differences in power are crazy.
Click to expand...

Not too much about the power actually.
Yes the 9400M is definitely more powerful that the X3100 but so I have heard ages ago that the X3100 has capabilities and becomings of being a good integrated video card.
Problem is mostly is that its an INTEL video processor and anyone in the industry knows that those are not particularly the ones you use for "gaming" if you get my drift.

Im quite surprised that the OP got the frame rates that he had. I remember playing Counter Strike: Source on lowest resolution and lowest settings that had 3-5 FPS (on my old X3100 laptop).
 
edddeduck

edddeduck

macrumors 68020
Mar 26, 2004
2,061
13
PiusPatronus said:
Not too much about the power actually.
Yes the 9400M is definitely more powerful that the X3100 but so I have heard ages ago that the X3100 has capabilities and becomings of being a good integrated video card.
Click to expand...

The hardware features on the 9400 are way more powerful than the X3100, true the Mac drivers are not as optimised as the PC but the 9400 is still has enough hardware features to run games like BioShock were as the X3100 does not.

For example all Feral games (including BioShock) run quite well on the 9400 (better than some dedicated cards in older Intel Macs) but the X3100 is only supported for the older or less complex titles like LEGO Batman or Rome Total War.

As you said the Intel card was designed to primarily run an OS and normal applications not graphics intensive things like games.

Edwin
 
Z

ZazenZach

macrumors member
Dec 23, 2009
98
1
skinnylegs said:
Honestly, I don't think it's realistic to expect a satisfying CoD4 gaming experience on a Macbook.
Click to expand...

that's not true at all. cod4 plays at mid high settings on my macbook

it's just not reasonably to play a game on such an old videocard
 
S

Sargiel

macrumors member
Jan 2, 2005
77
0
West Sussex, England
Just had to chime in and say I was happy with the FPS on my iMac. Aspyr ported COD4 well and the performance was very close to the windows version on similar hardware.

For reference mine is a 2.33Ghz Core 2 Duo, 3GB and 7600GT.
 
archurban

archurban

macrumors 6502a
Aug 4, 2004
918
0
San Francisco, CA
well, I don't play games on mac os x because of a lack of recent updated games. call of duty 4 is in version of 2008. it's almost two years behind as mac games have been always. mac gaming developing is not bring fortune nor wasting time. 99% of gaming are all depend on windows side or console box. I have heard that mass effect 2 has been sold more than $2 millions in four days. it's huge success ever in 2010. anyway, you mac users can't even play mass effect 2 on your mac yet. I don't think that Bioware will make mac version ever. so you should use bootcamp, play damn games you want. that's only you can do. but comparing to PC machine, fps is still not good as much as windows. I have 4 macs and PCs (combined laptops, and desktops). I never play games on my mac because performance is not well what I expected. PC is still (forever) better than mac.
 
J

JoeDukey

macrumors newbie
Feb 6, 2010
1
0
plano
i was thinking about buying cod but the only reasone i would want it is to play it online, so my question is, does anyone play online and if so are the alot of players cus i hate getting a game and when you get online theres like 4 people
 
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Hmac

macrumors 68020
May 30, 2007
2,130
4
Midwest USA
JoeDukey said:
i was thinking about buying cod but the only reasone i would want it is to play it online, so my question is, does anyone play online and if so are the alot of players cus i hate getting a game and when you get online theres like 4 people
Click to expand...

Last I looked, there were about 12,000 COD4 servers up and running. The game gets a lot of play. Many or most of the PC gamers didn't go to MW2 because of the peer-to-peer baloney that Infinity Ward tried to force down everyone's throats.
 
eXan

eXan

macrumors 601
Jan 10, 2005
4,731
63
Russia
bsblvnv said:
That's not true, on my MB COD4 played great. I just got it today. I am definitely disappointed to, but I am disappointed in the game not the MB. It was so short, I beat the thing in 4 hours. When I pay 50 bucks for a game I want more than a few good hours of game play. I know, I know I could play it again and again. But once you beat it the first time, you know whats next so it's not that fun anymore IMO.
Click to expand...

Dude, the real gem is the multiplayer. Ever heard of it? :/
 
H

Hmac

macrumors 68020
May 30, 2007
2,130
4
Midwest USA
eXan said:
Dude, the real gem is the multiplayer.
Click to expand...
I agree. I only play the single player one or two levels, enough to get used to the weapons and physics. I've always found SP on these FPS to be kind of lame - especially true of MW2 IMHO. And now that MP in MW2 is so bad...well, I don't play MW2 at all now.
 
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