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MBP 15 i7 2.66 - Gaming - Really Bummed

W

whatusername

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 10, 2010
24
0
Before I get the reply of..."mac is not a gaming machine"....let me say..I know.

BUT - you would think that the top of line MBP Pro via Bootcamp could at least play current games at a decent level of quality. I just tested Battlefield Bad Co 2 and I can't even play it at 1280x800 using low quality, 1x alias, etc with a consistent frame rate. Its actually quite frustrating.

Anybody having any better luck with other games.

My 3 year old PC with an old graphics card smokes this and that is sad. What is even more sad is I've now gone all mac, assuming I could at least play games at a basic level on a brand new mac.

Bummed.
 
Hmm.

whatusername said:
Before I get the reply of..."mac is not a gaming machine"....let me say..I know.

BUT - you would think that the top of line MBP Pro via Bootcamp could at least play current games at a decent level of quality. I just tested Battlefield Bad Co 2 and I can't even play it at 1280x800 using low quality, 1x alias, etc with a consistent frame rate. Its actually quite frustrating.

Anybody having any better luck with other games.

My 3 year old PC with an old graphics card smokes this and that is sad. What is even more sad is I've now gone all mac, assuming I could at least play games at a basic level on a brand new mac.

Bummed.
Click to expand...

I've seen some preliminary gaming videos on the new mac with moderate to high settings running very well. I'm not sure what's up with your mac. Mine has not shipped yet so I can't say from experience what the problem is. Hope you can figure it out.
 
Uh yeah, that's definitely not right.

Someone did a test of WoW (yeah, not a demanding game I know) but settings at the maximum at 1920x1200 and it was kicking out like 28 fps or something. And about 24 for 2560x1600.
 
I have WOW under OSX and it runs well, but Batt Bad 2 not doing well under Bootcamp. I question the drivers, but im not able to upgrade to current drivers via nvidia site.
 
whatusername said:
I have WOW under OSX and it runs well, but Batt Bad 2 not doing well under Bootcamp. I question the drivers, but im not able to upgrade to current drivers via nvidia site.
Click to expand...

I wrote a guide on how to modify your own inf so you can install a driver from nvidia.com

Guide for Updating Video Card Drivers From Nvidia

1. Go to http://www.nvidia.com and download the notebook specific driver for your version of windows and your video card (either 9400 or 9600).

2. From the Start Menu in Windows, go to run and type dxdiag. Once the window appears, on bottom right hand side there is an option to "Save All Information". Save this information on your Desktop. It will save a .txt file to your desktop.

3. Within this text, file search for "Device Key". You only need to use a certain piece of the Device and Subsystem ID such as "DEV_0863&SUBSYS_00B9106B&REV_B1" from my base MacBook Pro 13. This will be important in the next step.

4. Now you will need a tool like WinRar to extract the files from the Nvidia driver executable. Once you have WinRar or similar installed, you can right on the Nvidia driver executable and choose extract.

5. Within the file folder extracted from the Nvidia driver executable, you will need to open the file nvam.inf with notepad or another text editor. Once the file opens, scroll to the bottom of the file and you should begin to see text such as "NVIDIA_DEV.0862.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G"".
Find the first line associated with your video (either 9600GT or 9400M). Now copy the number following NVIDIA_DEV. such as "0862". Now you will need the Device and Subsystem ID found earlier in Step 3.

6. Return to the top of the nvam.inf file, and from your text editor's menu, choose find and enter the number found in Step 5 such as "0862". There are two instances to find. Once you have found the first, towards the end of the line you should see the text "PCI\VEN_10DE&", highlight all the text following this and paste the Device and Subsystem ID found earlier in Step 3. You should end up with something like "%NVIDIA_DEV.0862.01 = Section52, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0863&SUBSYS_00B9106B&REV_B1".
Make sure to do this for both instances.

7. Now you must uninstall the nvidia display driver from the control panel. Make sure to only uninstall the display driver as that is all you are updating (my MacBook Pro had four drivers associated with the Nvidia uninstaller).

8. Now you can reboot. Once your computer has restarted, within the file folder extracted from the Nvidia driver executable, you can simply double click the setup.exe, and your new driver will install.

Credit goes to this site for getting me an idea how to begin
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=8596214
Click to expand...
 
and this is why I will never game hardcore on a laptop.... I am 100% fine with WC3, SC, and some emulators for on the go. When I wanna game I'll play on the PC I built last year.

I guess if I had sprung for the i7 model I would expect more as well but I got the 13 and couldn't be happier(my first mac :D)
 
I love the MBP, very happy with the purchase, its my main system now. Coming from PC desktop, my setup is much cleaner now and more productive.

That said, after this, might have to consider putting my screaming gaming PC back in action or just game via XBox/PS3.
 
kny3twalker

did upgrading the drivers provide you with any better bootcamp gaming results
 
whatusername said:
kny3twalker

did upgrading the drivers provide you with any better bootcamp gaming results
Click to expand...

I have a 2009 MBP 13", so I did not write the guide for gaming. I did it because the bootcamp 3.0 video driver would make the LCD's backlight hum. Very Annoying!

After Apple released the 3.1 drivers, I have not updated them.

But in general for gaming, the newest drivers are the best to use.
 
The 330M is trash. Bad Company 2 is an incredibly demanding game, and requires both a hefty GPU as well as a fast processor.
Apple made a questionable decision by including that GPU, which is a pathetic excuse for a card even for midrange.
 
thebeautyisfake said:
The 330M is trash. Bad Company 2 is an incredibly demanding game, and requires both a hefty GPU as well as a fast processor.
Apple made a questionable decision by including that GPU, which is a pathetic excuse for a card even for midrange.
Click to expand...

Do you think it is better than the 9600?
 
330m with 512 MB= Excellent. You are able to play any games for next two or five years. Not the "graphic-intensive" ones, but medium graphic-intensive games, such as SC2 and SC2 (Starcraft 2, Supreme Commander 2).
Don't worry about it, it will work, even with 256 MB.
 
whatusername said:
Before I get the reply of..."mac is not a gaming machine"....let me say..I know.

BUT - you would think that the top of line MBP Pro via Bootcamp could at least play current games at a decent level of quality. I just tested Battlefield Bad Co 2 and I can't even play it at 1280x800 using low quality, 1x alias, etc with a consistent frame rate. Its actually quite frustrating.

Anybody having any better luck with other games.

My 3 year old PC with an old graphics card smokes this and that is sad. What is even more sad is I've now gone all mac, assuming I could at least play games at a basic level on a brand new mac.

Bummed.
Click to expand...


Actually from what I have read before, I think gaming on my i7 MBP is quite decent. I have played Mass Effect 2, which looked pretty cool and I also do have BFBC2 & Crysis, so I'll check those out as well.

The only thing that annoys me is the constant sound of the fans.
 
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