High Sierra and games

[imaginex20]

High Sierra is the worst OS. After three dot releases and I am still facing performance issues.

 

[Paulk]

When I first got a Mac it was all very simple. Now it seems they have got so complex they are just as complex as Microsoft.

 

[jeanlain]

So this issue is not fixed yet?
Last I heard, it occurs only after putting the Mac to sleep and is fixed by restarting. It should be easy for Apple to reproduce it and hopefully fix it, assuming some of you have reported it.

 

[Janichsan]

So this issue is not fixed yet?
Last I heard, it occurs only after putting the Mac to sleep and is fixed by restarting. It should be easy for Apple to reproduce it and hopefully fix it, assuming some of you have reported it.

I haven't had the problem occur recently, but I'm fairly often restarting my Macbook at the moment (to boot into Windows).

I have reported the problem twice actually, once for 10.13.0 and once when it still wasn't fixed in 10.13.2. Not that I put much hope in Apple, as in my experience, they are in no hurry to fix non-critical bugs: there are others that I reported (e.g. the Dictionary pop-up windows becoming unresponsive) months ago, that still not corrected.

 

[Paulk]

It was the attempt to instal High Sierra on my old Mac that made it crash. I had refused to instal it precisely because I was afraid it would crash. In the end my decision not to instal High Sierra was over-ruled, and the installation was begun by the Mac people. I have no names, just the forced installation. My previous Mac did indeed then crash before the installation was completed. It was then that I was obliged to ask my wife to buy a new one, as my health is limited and the nearest place was in the local town of Gävle. She did this, and it came with Sierra installed.

Then something odd happened. The installation of High Sierra was begun. I let it go ahead, but for some reason there were problems with it. The next I knew the installation was cancelled. After a lengthy delay it seems to have been sorted out, but I did not attempt an installation. I still have Sierra. For the last week or so I did nothing. Just wanted time to hope that the Mac people would get their act together this time.

I have to say that after all the problems and having to buy a new Mac I will wait before trying to instal High Sierra.

 

[h9826790]

My gaming experience with High Sierra is actually OK. Even though I mainly gaming in Windows 10 now, but 10.13.3 actually can deliver good graphics with reasonable performance. Tomb Raider can stay above 60FPS @3840x1080 max setting.

The graphics in Dying Light also very good as well. Again, 3840x1080 max setting. I don't know the FPS because no way to measure it, but it's buttery smooth, so should be stably above 60FPS.

F1 seems more demanding. If I run it at max setting @3840x1080, the average FPS is 48, minimum just above 30. But definitely playable.

 

[jeanlain]

High Sierra issues appear restricted to laptops.

 

[Janichsan]

By the way: after running my rMBP a couple of days without restarting, it seems as if the problem has been fixed, at least for me.

So, Apple fixed a bug in High Sierra? Yay?

 

[rasamalai]

How has this not been fixed yet?
I've been trying to play vanilla MineCraft! If it doesn't even work for that I don't know what to say!

If anyone could please help me troubleshoot this issue I'd really appreciate it please!

 

[jeanlain]

You have yet to describe your issue (game and OS version, hardware, symptoms...).

 

[rasamalai]

First, thank you very much for your reply!

Symptoms: First beachballing hard a couple of days ago. It lasted a couple hours, could or not be related to current problem. I was told to do an Ethercheck (on the official Apple forums) but never heard back after I posted it:

Spoiler: EtherCheck

EtreCheck version: 4.1 (4A162)

Report generated: 2018-03-05 20:35:13

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 4:23

Performance: Good



Problem: Beachballing



Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.



No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.



Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.



Heavy RAM usage - This machine is using a large amount of RAM.

Unsigned files - There is unsigned software installed. It appears to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.



Hardware Information:

iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)

iMac Model: iMac12,1

1 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-2400S) CPU: 4-core

8 RAM At maximum

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1333 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

2 GB DDR3 1333 ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

Empty

BANK 1/DIMM1

2 GB DDR3 1333 ok



Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 512 MB

AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 512 MB

iMac 1920 x 1080



Drives:

disk0 - WDC WD5000AAKS-402AA0 500.11 GB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) 499.25 GB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD [Recovery] 650 MB



Mounted Volumes:

disk0s2 - Macintosh HD 499.25 GB (457.51 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /



Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en1: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge



System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D102)

Time since boot: About 2 hours

System Load: 1.73 (1 min ago) 1.59 (5 min ago) 1.47 (15 min ago)



Security:

System Status
Gatekeeper Mac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity Protection Enabled


Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Helper-Tool

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

Executable: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater -bgcheck

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK



32-bit Applications:

Name Version
Curse Updater 6.2.0.0
Twitch Updater 6.2.0.0
quicklookd32 5.0
DVD Player 5.8
InkServer 10.9


System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded] 8 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 178 Apple tasks
[Running] 104 Apple tasks


System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded] 36 Apple tasks
[Loaded] 186 Apple tasks
[Running] 109 Apple tasks


Launch Agents:

[Loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (? 3ef3749c - installed 2018-02-22)


Launch Daemons:

[Loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (? e3fefdd2 - installed 2018-02-22)


User Launch Agents:

[Running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (Spotify - installed 2018-01-26)
[Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-02-03)


User Login Items:

Messages Application (Apple, Inc.

(/Applications/Messages.app)

Flickr Uploadr Application (Yahoo/ Inc.

(/Applications/Flickr Uploadr.app)



Internet Plug-ins:

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-01-31)

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 161 build 12 (installed 2018-02-22)



Safari Extensions:

AdBlock.safariextz - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (installed 2018-01-14)
Pin It Button.safariextz - Pinterest, Inc. - http://www.pinterest.com/ (installed 2018-01-14)


3rd Party Preference Panes:

Java (installed 2017-12-19)



Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!



Top Processes by CPU:

Process (count) Source % of CPU
Google Chrome Helper (20) Google, Inc. 52
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 14
WindowServer Apple 11
kernel_task Apple 2
hidd Apple 1


Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count) Source RAM usage
Google Chrome Helper (20) Google, Inc. 3.26 GB
kernel_task Apple 769 MB
mdworker (7) Apple 467 MB
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 415 MB
mds_stores Apple 187 MB


Top Processes by Network Use:

Process Source Input Output
mDNSResponder Apple 64 KB 14 KB
apsd Apple 5 KB 4 KB
netbiosd Apple 810 B 558 B
SystemUIServer Apple 0 B 72 B
kernel_task Apple 0 B 0 B


Top Processes by Energy Use:

Process (count) Source Energy usage (0-100)
Google Chrome Helper (20) Google, Inc. 7
WindowServer Apple 3
Google Chrome Google, Inc. 3
coreaudiod Apple 1
hidd Apple 0


Virtual Memory Information:

Available RAM 1.91 GB
Free RAM 37 MB
Used RAM 6.09 GB
Cached files 1.87 GB
Swap Used 0 B


Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-03-05 19:29:02 Finder.app Hang

2018-03-05 18:19:19 Last Shutdown Cause: 3 - Hard shutdown

2018-03-05 17:58:55 Safari.app Hang

2018-03-05 07:52:39 Minecraft.app Crash



End of report

Issue: Minecraft (Vanilla and with a texture/resource pack) lagging, freezing and disconnecting (I used to be able to play heavily modded packs online, before updating to High Sierra.)

Specs:
macOS High Sierra Version 10.13.3
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)
Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 MB

 

[PracticalMac]

So, well, what are your experiences with High Sierra and games?

I can summarise mine with one four-letter-word, that I cannot write here without drawing the ire of the moderators.

Pretty much every game I tried runs like crap: Hitman, Grid 2, Borderlands 2, Kerbal Space Program, Euro Truck Simulator 2, War Thunder (in OpenGL mode), Elder Scrolls Online, Total War: Shogun 2 – none achieves more than something around 15 to 20 fps. That's when they are not freezing or crashing (like War Thunder in Metal mode, Unreal Tournament, Rome: Total War). The few exceptions that seem to run fine are Empire at War, XCOM, International Snooker 2012 and Minecraft.

I tested this on a 2016 15" rMBP with a AMD Radeon Pro 460 (4 GB).

So much for the promised driver optimisations…

If it not too much, could you post your full Specs and a CLOG file from a recent match?
You could post it in WT Forums Mac section if not here.

They are most welcome for more diverser feedback to improve the game (lack of such, hard to fine tune the game).

That said, WT has been having issues with AMD chips on PC as well, so it is not just a Mac issue.

o7

 

[Janichsan]

If it not too much, could you post your full Specs and a CLOG file from a recent match?
You could post it in WT Forums Mac section if not here.

They are most welcome for more diverser feedback to improve the game (lack of such, hard to fine tune the game).

That said, WT has been having issues with AMD chips on PC as well, so it is not just a Mac issue.

o7

This is not only too late (as the problem has apparently been fixed, see above), but also wouldn't make much sense, as it wasn't a specific problem with War Thunder, but a general problem with pretty much every game, i.e. Apple's problem.

 

[rubyphoenix696]

From the replies, I'm getting the drift that this problem seems to be limited to MacBooks Pros.

I have a Macbook air purchased in 2013. Recently upgraded to High Sierra and now I can't get Sim City to play. Keeps crashing at all different points int he game. Sometimes I get a minute, sometimes 5 minutes. I checked other forums and it seems to be a known issue. For my game EA Games aren't doing anymore updates for Sim City and Apple aren't fixing game bugs either. Seems those of us who purchased the game have to cut our losses as it is now unplayable.

 

[PracticalMac]

This is not only too late (as the problem has apparently been fixed, see above), but also wouldn't make much sense, as it wasn't a specific problem with War Thunder, but a general problem with pretty much every game, i.e. Apple's problem.

My bad, did not go though the other pages.
Although seems an Apple issue, will give developers data to discuss with Apple and make adjustments to program.

Thanks.

 

[Yamcha]

I'm having issues with High Sierra and games as well. I haven't tested all games but Diablo 3 is performing horrendously and I don't know what to do. I've tried upgrading to Mojave just to see if it would resolve the issue but it's the same.

I think it has something to do with the Nvidia drivers, whatever it is it's impossible to game on this machine without using Bootcamp. I'm so annoyed =/. High Sierra is the Vista of Mac..

 

[960design]

How has this not been fixed yet?
I've been trying to play vanilla MineCraft! If it doesn't even work for that I don't know what to say!

If anyone could please help me troubleshoot this issue I'd really appreciate it please!

I've been playing Vanilla Minecraft ( and snapshots, mostly snapshots ) on MBPr for years. Pretty much the only 'game' I play on a regular basis.

Go to minecraft.net > Log In > Click Download Nav element at top of page > Click big green download button.
Once installed let us know what does not work.

 

[Irishman]

I'm having issues with High Sierra and games as well. I haven't tested all games but Diablo 3 is performing horrendously and I don't know what to do. I've tried upgrading to Mojave just to see if it would resolve the issue but it's the same.

I think it has something to do with the Nvidia drivers, whatever it is it's impossible to game on this machine without using Bootcamp. I'm so annoyed =/. High Sierra is the Vista of Mac..

If you're worried that it's the nvidia drivers, have you tried switching to the default macOS drivers?

 

[TomO22]

Whenever I look for Metal 2 online, I also get "VR Capable GPU" in the same article. This translates to an AMD RX 480 (8GB). Sorry, yours falls short...



AMD RX 580, I would imagine, would work fine...

Also running AMD RX 580, and I have all of the same problems. I can't get faster than 20fps without crashing and several games won't even open. New iMac.

 

[jeanlain]

Also running AMD RX 580, and I have all of the same problems. I can't get faster than 20fps without crashing and several games won't even open. New iMac.

I have the same iMac and never had any problem with game on Sierra or High Sierra. Everything runs well.