OS X: Witcher 2 Mac Settings?

[Philalbe]

Hi. Last night (I'm sure like many others) I downloaded "The Witcher 2" from the Mac App Store. I'm using a 2012 Mac mini with 8GB ram and a 1920 x 1200 Asus monitor. I notice by default the game wants to use my monitors native resolution (or something close to it). This results in awesome looking graphics but very laggy performance even when specs are set to medium. I tried experimenting with other resolutions which helps with the smoothness of gameplay but sometimes made things look a little off (fat or stretched) maybe it's in my head I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good resolution. Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Phil

[sjz88]

How about setting specs to low? Witcher 2 is pretty demanding!

[Philalbe]

Originally Posted by sjz88

How about setting specs to low? Witcher 2 is pretty demanding!

Hi. Thanks for the response!

I agree...it is quite demanding. I think I found some settings that work for me though. I set the rez down to 1200x800 and put the settings back up to high and surprisingly it's running pretty smooth. Much shorter load times too. I was even able to leave "motion blur" enabled, althought I must admit it makes me feel kind of seasick

[sjz88]

Does it still look good that way? Have you tried leaving the native resolution on and setting the specs to low?
I assume the graphics still look good on low specs and it might run smoothly and look better at the same time.

[antonis]

Originally Posted by Philalbe

Hi. Thanks for the response!

I agree...it is quite demanding. I think I found some settings that work for me though. I set the rez down to 1200x800 and put the settings back up to high and surprisingly it's running pretty smooth. Much shorter load times too. I was even able to leave "motion blur" enabled, althought I must admit it makes me feel kind of seasick

I'm downloading it now, too, and wondering of the performance (on iMac mid 2010 though). Generally, if you reduce the resolution, you should always choose one with the same aspect ratio as your monitor's native (e.g. 16:9, 4:3 etc). Choosing a resolution with a different aspect ratio will result in one of the cases below:

1. black lines on screen borders (which is the good case)
2. stretched graphics (which is worst but also more rare as well)

[Dirtyharry50]

Originally Posted by sjz88

Does it still look good that way? Have you tried leaving the native resolution on and setting the specs to low?
I assume the graphics still look good on low specs and it might run smoothly and look better at the same time.

Generally speaking when it comes to games, leaving settings higher but reducing resolution results in the best looking display with improved performance - less pixels to push. If I am running something very demanding, the first thing I would do is try reduced resolution before tweaking much else except perhaps something like complex shadows in a game. I would not expect The Witcher 2 to run at native resolution on my 27" 2011 iMac with a 6970m GPU. I am much more likely to have a good experience maybe trying 1080p with settings turned up as much as I can get away with. I know my system is different but the basic idea here is the same.

[sjz88]

I'll install the Game when my new iMac gets here on tuesday. I'll report from my experiences with the 680mx. I'll definitely give it a try in the native res with settings high.

[Philalbe]

Originally Posted by sjz88

Does it still look good that way? Have you tried leaving the native resolution on and setting the specs to low?
I assume the graphics still look good on low specs and it might run smoothly and look better at the same time.

Hi. The graphics still look good. It's probably because despite the lower resolution I still have the specs on high. The only difference I see, and it could be my imagination, is that with the lower resolution I might be able to notice some "jaggies" on characters during gameplay. The cinematics seem to look identical despite the lower rez.

I haven't tried playing at the native rez with low specs yet. I think I was afraid that with the specs on low, I might lose too much of the atmospheric touches like light and shadows, etc.

[Philalbe]

I should mention on a humorous note, that despite spec or resolution settings there are some odd graphical glitches I noticed. At the beginning of the game the Witcher is supposed to be in a tent getting it on with his woman, when he's suddenly interrupted by a guard. The only thing is the tent is non existent. So it looks like the Witcher is having sex out in the open with a creepy guard miming pulling back a curtain.

On a less humorous note there's also odd little things like bushes that look partially composed of black blocks and now and then an annoying pink screen flicker (in fairness that one may have something to do with my monitor).

[Renzatic]

Originally Posted by Philalbe

I haven't tried playing at the native rez with low specs yet. I think I was afraid that with the specs on low, I might lose too much of the atmospheric touches like light and shadows, etc.

Honestly, it doesn't look that much different. You do lose some definition and atmospheric effects, but the gulf in quality isn't so big they look like two entirely different games. Case in point...





The top is ultra quality, the bottom low.

[Philalbe]

Originally Posted by Renzatic

Honestly, it doesn't look that much different. You do lose some definition and atmospheric effects, but the gulf in quality isn't so big they look like two entirely different games. Case in point...

Image

Image

The top is ultra quality, the bottom low.

Wow! They aren't that different. Is gameplay smooth with native resolution and low specs?

[Renzatic]

Ehh. It'd run better, but still not what I'd call great. I'd say 1440x900 with low atmospheric effects and high texture res is the best way to go overall.

[Philalbe]

Just incase anyone is interested. I did try running the game at native resolution with low specs. Gameplay itself is pretty smooth, but the load times are still atrocious. Still about 5 minutes or so.

[Trinite]

Renzatic, thanks for the pictures - they're really helpful. But those ultra and low views: what specs do you have?

(I mean, your computer...)

[Philalbe]

Anyone else being plagued by graphical glitches? The more I play the game, the worse they seem to get. Screen going pink or white, tapered geometric shapes piercing the atmosphere, characters getting blacked out during cut scenes, face textures appearing and disappearing, not to mention foliage and sometimes whole trees or bushes popping in and out of existence? There was one part of the game that played very well; when Geralt has to escape the dungeons. The gameplay at this point was amazingly smooth and stable. Maybe the glitches having something to do with the complex open world outdoor atmospheric graphics?

[Valkyre]

Originally Posted by Philalbe

Anyone else being plagued by graphical glitches? The more I play the game, the worse they seem to get. Screen going pink or white, tapered geometric shapes piercing the atmosphere, characters getting blacked out during cut scenes, face textures appearing and disappearing, not to mention foliage and sometimes whole trees or bushes popping in and out of existence? There was one part of the game that played very well; when Geralt has to escape the dungeons. The gameplay at this point was amazingly smooth and stable. Maybe the glitches having something to do with the complex open world outdoor atmospheric graphics?

Those things sound like gpu overheating, check your temperatures just to be sure. The game shouldnt play like this.

[Philalbe]

Originally Posted by Valkyre

Those things sound like gpu overheating, check your temperatures just to be sure. The game shouldnt play like this.

Hi. Thanks for the quick response! I'll definitely check the temps. If it's a case of overheating I suppose I should close all unnecessary background applications as well.

[Valkyre]

Originally Posted by Philalbe

Hi. Thanks for the quick response! I'll definitely check the temps. If it's a case of overheating I suppose I should close all unnecessary background applications as well.

Ι believe that if it is indeed gpu overheating you should definetely stop playing the game on these settings and try and lower all settings until you see no geometrical artifacts and such graphics glitches. If even at the lowest settings your get artifacts then I suggest not to play this game at all and check your machine thoroughly.

Check to see if your mbp gets way too hot and make sure the fans are working properly. Hope everything works out!

[Philalbe]

Originally Posted by Valkyre

Ι believe that if it is indeed gpu overheating you should definetely stop playing the game on these settings and try and lower all settings until you see no geometrical artifacts and such graphics glitches. If even at the lowest settings your get artifacts then I suggest not to play this game at all and check your machine thoroughly.

Check to see if your mbp gets way too hot and make sure the fans are working properly. Hope everything works out!

Hi. Thanks for the advice. I hope it's not a problem with my machine. I'm actually using a 2012 Mac mini with 8GB ram.

[Bantz]

Isnt the Mac Mini GPU very poor?

[Philalbe]

Originally Posted by Bantz

Isnt the Mac Mini GPU very poor?

Hi. Could be? I may have been a little naive, assuming just because it's a new computer it would be sufficient. Otherwise I've had pretty good results with my mini as a gaming machine. Via bootcamp I've been playing games like Resident Evil 5 and Dead Rising 2 with medium specs and very smooth and stable gameplay. I've also been playing the Mac version of Assassins Creed 2 with very smooth gameplay. Downloaded the first Witcher game last night and cranked all the settings up to the max and it plays very smooth. Then again the original Witcher is getting a little long in the tooth

[antonis]

Witcher 2 is pretty demanding. It is way more demanding than - even - Skyrim. I was able to run the latter under wineskin (I bought the original windows game and wrapped it) quite smoothly on my iMac (mid-2010).

However, for the Witcher 2, I had to reduce the native resolution and choose low graphics on the same machine, even though it is a native port.

The bright side, though, is that it still looks and plays great with these settings.

[Philalbe]

Originally Posted by antonis

Witcher 2 is pretty demanding. It is way more demanding than - even - Skyrim. I was able to run the latter under wineskin (I bought the original windows game and wrapped it) quite smoothly on my iMac (mid-2010).

However, for the Witcher 2, I had to reduce the native resolution and choose low graphics on the same machine, even though it is a native port.

The bright side, though, is that it still looks and plays great with these settings.

Wow! So it looks good and plays well on your 2010 iMac? I wonder why I'm getting so many graphical glitches on my 2012 Mac mini? Maybe it has something to do with the mini's intel graphics card? Despite the cards relative power, maybe it's just not fully compatible? The funny thing is during parts that take place in dungeons or caves the graphical glitches go away

[antonis]

Originally Posted by Philalbe

Wow! So it looks good and plays well on your 2010 iMac? I wonder why I'm getting so many graphical glitches on my 2012 Mac mini? Maybe it has something to do with the mini's intel graphics card? Despite the cards relative power, maybe it's just not fully compatible? The funny thing is during parts that take place in dungeons or caves the graphical glitches go away

Absolutely this. Intel integrated graphics are too underpowered I'm afraid, and definitely are not supported by heavy-graphics games. You definitely need a dedicated gpu to even think of playing smooth such graphic-intensive game. I guess dungeons and caves feel smoother as there isn't much for the card to draw in a close space, in contrary to the external places where it has to draw more objects, in more depth and more atmospheric effects etc.

I was looking to the game requirements just now, at the App.Store. Even for my dedicated gpu card it recommends 1440x900 on low settings - I'm actually at the lower end of the supported cards. Sadly, Intel graphics are not even in the "minimum specs" list.

Most funny thing is that there isn't a single card in that list where "high" graphics settings are recommended.

[Philalbe]

Originally Posted by antonis

Absolutely this. Intel integrated graphics are too underpowered I'm afraid, and definitely are not supported by heavy-graphics games. You definitely need a dedicated gpu to even think of playing smooth such graphic-intensive game. I guess dungeons and caves feel smoother as there isn't much for the card to draw in a close space, in contrary to the external places where it has to draw more objects, in more depth and more atmospheric effects etc.

I was looking to the game requirements just now, at the App.Store. Even for my dedicated gpu card it recommends 1440x900 on low settings - I'm actually at the lower end of the supported cards. Sadly, Intel graphics are not even in the "minimum specs" list.

Most funny thing is that there isn't a single card in that list where "high" graphics settings are recommended.

That's true. The game's been repackaged for Mac and yet it seems that none of the listed Mac graphics cards can handle the game on it's ideal settings

I wonder how it plays an a newer Mac Pro tower?