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Battlefield 3 Beta

A

ahdickter

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 12, 2011
293
0
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
For anyone who is wondering how the BF3 Beta runs on an MBP:

*All settings on Ultra, with MSAA turned off, it hits roughly 60fps :D
*FRAPS is broken in the game, so its hard to be percise
*Vsync is also broken

Overall, it's looking like the new MBP owners can enjoy the game without any problems.

I run Windows with 11.6 drivers, so updating might be useful to those still on stock 11.1 drivers.

My specs:
2011 15" MacBook Pro
8GB RAM
2.2ghz Core i7
AMD 6750m 1GB VRAM


Good luck to everyone else! It's a game worth buying.
 
I have the same specs as you and yes the bf3 runs very smooth even on ultra. The game chose High settings for my system but even ultra was no issue. I have to admit the game looks great even on low settings so those who have weaker GPU than the 6750m, you will be happily surprised how nice the game looks even on low settings. Also you can download this amazing app called "throttlestop" by unclewebb and run your system at it's max potential.
 
Driver problems fixed

I actually had a huge issue with drivers and trying to get the beta to work. When I started it, it said that I needed Catalyst version 11.7 or later, and I still had 11.1. For some reason, every installer that I could find wouldn't actually replace the display driver (the one that actually matters). Basically, I would install 11.6, 11.8, or even the preview of 11.10 and nothing would happen. I finally found this one and it seems to have worked:

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/mobility-radeon-drivers-support/206549-ati-mobility-catalyst-11-8-display-drivers-notebooks-17-08-2011-a.html

So yeah, you might want to try that. I think the reason it wasn't updating was the installers only had drivers for the desktop versions of the 67xx series, and not the mobile versions.
 
ok, nice, was that on 1440x900 or 1680x1050??
And does anyone know how to install he latest AMD preview drivers meant for BF3 on an MBP??
Am a new mac owner and don't know if installing drivers in bootcamp is similar to installing them on a normal Win 7 laptop, if it isn't could someone guide me on how to do it, thnx.
Also if you could post a video of it it would be amazing
 
hawk1410 said:
ok, nice, was that on 1440x900 or 1680x1050??
And does anyone know how to install he latest AMD preview drivers meant for BF3 on an MBP??
Am a new mac owner and don't know if installing drivers in bootcamp is similar to installing them on a normal Win 7 laptop, if it isn't could someone guide me on how to do it, thnx.
Also if you could post a video of it it would be amazing
Click to expand...

It's basically the same process. Execpt AMD doesn't add the 6750m hardware ID lists, so we can't update them through the normal website. Follow the earlier post's link and just uninstall the previous ones (base 11.1 installed with bootcamp) then update to that version.

You actually DO NOT need 11.7 or later to play. A dialogue box will come up saying you need newer drivers, yet the game will still launch. I'm using 11.6


What I've found by playing is that when underground in the subway I can hit around 60fps on Ultra. But once outside where it renders every blade of grass, and every stone, i only get 40-50fps on all high.

Also, don't forget that the beta performance is without game optimization (making vsync work, getting rid of the random screen flashes, etc.) but also driver optimizations as well. Nvidia drivers got a 38% boost in performance from their recent driver update...and thats just the beta! Expect to get better fps as we get into the official release and for months after.

It's finally the first game designed for PC, not console, so its optimized to run well. We're used to running console ports, which cause us to lag (black ops...)

For anyone who wants to try the beta but didn't preorder, the open beta starts on August 29th!!

Good luck, and get your frag on :D

--------

I am playing on 1440x900
 
Last edited:
yeah did not preorder so am waiting for 29th. Am amazed at how well it runs. Great i was expecting it to run on low maybe med, not freakin high. Thnx man it is awesome.
 
Reports suggest that the graphics are locked to medium whatever you select, which sounds about right because my fps didn't really change between settings. Subway is definitely better in terms of fps but I'm not getting the figures the OP is posting with same specs and overlock..what's your overlock ahdickter?

11.10 driver on my PC gave really bad performance.
 
I'm getting a constant 23-30 outside and around 35-50 in the subway and all the settings are at low. I have 11.8 preview drivers installed. Any idea how I can boost my FPS ingame?
I have the 2011 i7 quadcore 2.2ghz 6750m 1gb and 8gigs of ram running on win7 64, any of you getting any higher frames?
 
You all need to say what resolution you're running the game at. You're gonna get a lot more frames if you're running it at 800x600 than you are at 1650x1050.

Personally I get ~35 when outside, sometimes getting up to about 50 when inside, with 1280x800 and custom settings (high texture and model quality, low shadows, medium effects, ect. taking advantage of that 1GB VRAM). I use the 11.8 drivers that I posted earlier.

Is anyone else having problems with the game crashing? It seems like it'll play for about 10 or 15 minutes and then crash at random points. In particular, when changing menu screens while dead it crashes a lot (makes the sting of dying that much more painful :p ).
 
I know BC2 use to be really frantic with OC'd cards and this might be the case once again.
 
WonkyPanda said:
I know BC2 use to be really frantic with OC'd cards and this might be the case once again.
Click to expand...

I personally never had a problem OC'ing my card. I'm running the overclock at 770/900 @1.00v. Im also on 11.6 drivers, if anyone wants to know as well.

If it's true that the settings are locked on medium, then I guess we won't be running it as well as we thought! Although going from ultra to low does change appearance noticeably....

After going through some more testing, it seems that running on the high preset gives about 40-50fps outside, and 60fps underground in the subway (to be expected).

Open beta tomorrow!

----------
Crispy1 said:
I'm getting a constant 23-30 outside and around 35-50 in the subway and all the settings are at low. I have 11.8 preview drivers installed. Any idea how I can boost my FPS ingame?
I have the 2011 i7 quadcore 2.2ghz 6750m 1gb and 8gigs of ram running on win7 64, any of you getting any higher frames?
Click to expand...

It's also debatable whether newer drivers actually improve BF3 beta performance. Whenever I played BC2 on 11.8 drivers, my FPS actually dropped (though it raised Black Ops). Thats why I'm still on 11.6. The recently released 11.10 drivers are optimized for the BF3 beta, but those aren't yet laptops....so we're stuck.

The only other way is to overclock your GPU. If you are tech savvy enough to try it, give it a go. If not, don't even worry about it, it's not that big a deal.

P.S. Make sure you restart the game after you change graphical settings to achieve the full effects of the change. Good luck!
 
Ive got the new MBP, but the base model 2.0GHz. Anyone think itll do okay? even wih low settings....
 
ahdickter said:
I personally never had a problem OC'ing my card. I'm running the overclock at 770/900 @1.00v. Im also on 11.6 drivers, if anyone wants to know as well.

If it's true that the settings are locked on medium, then I guess we won't be running it as well as we thought! Although going from ultra to low does change appearance noticeably....

After going through some more testing, it seems that running on the high preset gives about 40-50fps outside, and 60fps underground in the subway (to be expected).

Open beta tomorrow!

----------



It's also debatable whether newer drivers actually improve BF3 beta performance. Whenever I played BC2 on 11.8 drivers, my FPS actually dropped (though it raised Black Ops). Thats why I'm still on 11.6. The recently released 11.10 drivers are optimized for the BF3 beta, but those aren't yet laptops....so we're stuck.

The only other way is to overclock your GPU. If you are tech savvy enough to try it, give it a go. If not, don't even worry about it, it's not that big a deal.

P.S. Make sure you restart the game after you change graphical settings to achieve the full effects of the change. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I'm thinking the 11.10 drivers simply suck, because I have to run the game at all low and 1280x800 just to get a playable fps (40+, low at 1680x1050 touches 30fps)
 
Tee2eye said:
Ive got the new MBP, but the base model 2.0GHz. Anyone think itll do okay? even wih low settings....
Click to expand...

me too and im wondering the same. beginning to think i should have bought the 2.2Ghz now but it will be mainly used for photo editing.

(ive not actually got mine yet, still waiting for it to be delivered by PC world in the UK and they take ages :( )
 
2010 MBP 15" NVidia GT 330M graphics

Hey guys,

I have a 2010 MBP 15" running Windows 7 x64 with a NVidia GT 330M graphics card and when I first tried to play the beta, it told me I needed the 285.27 drivers. When I did the search for the drivers, I found there was a 285.38 driver available so I downloaded that one instead of the 285.27, only to find it made the gameplay super jumpy and laggy for me to where it is unplayable now. Any advice on what to do? Thanks!
 
Tee2eye said:
Ive got the new MBP, but the base model 2.0GHz. Anyone think itll do okay? even wih low settings....
Click to expand...

I don't think it'll fare well with BF3. Not because of the 6490m (which is capable of playing the game) but the 256mb of VRAM. The game needs recommends at least 512mb.



Also, pressing CRTL + ALT + S will bring up a FPS counter (courtesy of enterbf3.com)

cstinson4 said:
Hey guys,

I have a 2010 MBP 15" running Windows 7 x64 with a NVidia GT 330M graphics card and when I first tried to play the beta, it told me I needed the 285.27 drivers. When I did the search for the drivers, I found there was a 285.38 driver available so I downloaded that one instead of the 285.27, only to find it made the gameplay super jumpy and laggy for me to where it is unplayable now. Any advice on what to do? Thanks!
Click to expand...


The 330m is not a powerful enough card to play. Sorry!


ViciousShadow21 said:
Meh MW3 is going to be a better game.
Click to expand...

MW3 is using the same engine as MW2. Looks the same.
 
How are any of you getting good FPS on ultra? I have to play on a mix of low and medium, and I have a top of the line 2011 15" MacBook Pro. I'm getting 30 FPS max outside.
 
13 mbp 2.3 i5 8gb ram.

install went fine but I can't get the game to start after joining the server. anyone else with a 2011 mbp confirm?
 
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