MikeBrWade
macrumors member
I have been playing crysis on it with no problems, it was freezing at first but it was also getting CRAZY burn you skin hot. I have a cooling pad for it now and it is great. Maybe you are overheating....
New MBP Gaming Issues
- Thread starter aaeyers
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i am only running on the 9600 in OSX and windows...
both set for MAX performance, no problems.
The only minor thing that bugs me is that in XP gaming, my CPU gets up to 73 Degrees Celsius sometimes....but no issues..
I am thinking of also getting a cooling pad or hopefully a new SMC fan controller comes out since the fans are only up to 2000rpm majority of the time
deltaiscain
macrumors regular
About that, i think vista lowers the fan speed. I am constantly overheating when using vista and i'm only installing like 2 apps at same time, something os x could easily do.
Crysis Settings
Here are the crysis settings that I just used which worked great for me. I'm using vista ultimate 64 bit and played on directx 10.
Resolution: 1280x720
AA: off
Full screen
Texture: High
Objects: Medium
Shadows: Medium
Physics: High
Shaders: Medium
Volumetrics effects: Medium
Game effects: High
Post Proc: High
Particles: High
Water: Medium
Sound: Medium
I'm also using drivers 176.54 from www.laptopvideo2go.com
I suggest those drivers (in general) and settings for crysis. I just played crysis with those and team fortress 2 without any problems! FINALLY, THOSE DRIVERS DID IT FOR ME! I hope that helps someone else...
Here are the crysis settings that I just used which worked great for me. I'm using vista ultimate 64 bit and played on directx 10.
Resolution: 1280x720
AA: off
Full screen
Texture: High
Objects: Medium
Shadows: Medium
Physics: High
Shaders: Medium
Volumetrics effects: Medium
Game effects: High
Post Proc: High
Particles: High
Water: Medium
Sound: Medium
I'm also using drivers 176.54 from www.laptopvideo2go.com
I suggest those drivers (in general) and settings for crysis. I just played crysis with those and team fortress 2 without any problems! FINALLY, THOSE DRIVERS DID IT FOR ME! I hope that helps someone else...
How do you install these drivers? It just tells me I don't have any compatible hardware...
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Download those drivers, unzip them to a directory. Download the modded inf file and put it in the directory you unzipped the original drivers. Replace the original driver with the modded inf. Run the install and you're good to go. These are supposedly desktop drivers of the card and the modded inf is to make it work for the mobile cards. If you don't replace the original with the modded inf that could explain that error.
I'll try to help if you have any more problems just post it here.
EmSeta said:
Download those drivers, unzip them to a directory. Download the modded inf file and put it in the directory you unzipped the original drivers. Replace the original driver with the modded inf. Run the install and you're good to go. These are supposedly desktop drivers of the card and the modded inf is to make it work for the mobile cards. If you don't replace the original with the modded inf that could explain that error.
I'll try to help if you have any more problems just post it here.
Aha, modded inf.. thanks.
Yep i believe so my mbp cuts out quite a bit qwhilst playing C&C Tiberium wars at full graphics... it can be quite annoyingi also have the black screen problem however the game runs on in the background just i loose the screen... most annoying thing ever.
So, what were the results?
Don't forget this is the most demanding game. Half-Life2 games run everything at the highest, vsync on and with AA and AF at 2x or 4x, I can't remember. I know that's an older game, but it's just for reference since we have the same system. You should be getting these same results in windows.
I use something called a "Adjustable Podium Pad". It's height adjustable to raise the back of the computer and it helps with heat so the air can circulate underneath of it. On the pad it says "www.roadtools.com" (I got it as a gift). You might want to look into getting something like that, I think it's worth it and it raises the screen up closer to eye level also making it easier to type on the keyboard. Oh, and you won't get that "slit your wrists" feeling from the edge of the MBP lol.
I used the latest drivers and got a hefty performance boost. Thanks.
I'm not sure about the exact FPS, but your numbers sound about right (I opted for 2xAA and set shaders to medium instead of low and lost some performance there, still well playable though).But, as many others have said in this thread, the thing gets HOT. Now, my old first generation MBP was known for heating up, but Crysis on unibody makes even more heat.
Kevenly
macrumors regular
I can guarantee you this isn't a problem exclusive to WoW or Boot Camp.
I am not running WoW nor Windows in any form. but I am having this same problem with apparently any game I try out so far.
I don't have any newer games, but so far Postal 2, 4x4 Evo 2, and the latest Eternal Lands client all manifest this problem.
Usually within minutes of starting the game the screen goes black (even the backlight goes dead) and usually music or audio loops continue to be played.
The only way out is a hard reset. Usually nothing appears in the log.. But if I let it sit there a while sometimes a "NVChannel(Display): graphics channel timeout!" might show up in the log.
Apple Hardware Test shows no problems found - I even let it run for 8 hours looping. Tech Tool Deluxe shows all tests passed.
This ONLY happens with the 9600M GT enabled. I can do anything all day long on the 9400M with no problems. It also only seems to occur with games, and nothing else such as regular computer use, screen savers, iTunes visualizers, videos.. Nothing but games.
Searching around I am finding a lot of posts about this problem, but it's not being consolidated into one thread or topic.
All I know is I can't use the 9600M GT in this brand new MBP because it locks up with a black screen every single time.
I am not running WoW nor Windows in any form. but I am having this same problem with apparently any game I try out so far.
I don't have any newer games, but so far Postal 2, 4x4 Evo 2, and the latest Eternal Lands client all manifest this problem.
Usually within minutes of starting the game the screen goes black (even the backlight goes dead) and usually music or audio loops continue to be played.
The only way out is a hard reset. Usually nothing appears in the log.. But if I let it sit there a while sometimes a "NVChannel(Display): graphics channel timeout!" might show up in the log.
Apple Hardware Test shows no problems found - I even let it run for 8 hours looping. Tech Tool Deluxe shows all tests passed.
This ONLY happens with the 9600M GT enabled. I can do anything all day long on the 9400M with no problems. It also only seems to occur with games, and nothing else such as regular computer use, screen savers, iTunes visualizers, videos.. Nothing but games.
Searching around I am finding a lot of posts about this problem, but it's not being consolidated into one thread or topic.
All I know is I can't use the 9600M GT in this brand new MBP because it locks up with a black screen every single time.
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Why aren't you running these in windows through bootcamp? Try it that way and see if it helps.
Kevenly said:
Why aren't you running these in windows through bootcamp? Try it that way and see if it helps.
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You opted for 2x in which game? I've got 2x aa and 2x af for the orange box with everything on high. Crysis I wouldn't use aa, it just kills your fps. Shaders and shadows make the big difference in crysis both in looks and frames. I'm glad that helped you though. Any time you have a game running slower, get rid of the aa and af first.
EmSeta said:
I used the latest drivers and got a hefty performance boost. Thanks.
But, as many others have said in this thread, the thing gets HOT. Now, my old first generation MBP was known for heating up, but Crysis on unibody makes even more heat.
You opted for 2x in which game? I've got 2x aa and 2x af for the orange box with everything on high. Crysis I wouldn't use aa, it just kills your fps. Shaders and shadows make the big difference in crysis both in looks and frames. I'm glad that helped you though. Any time you have a game running slower, get rid of the aa and af first.
Kevenly
macrumors regular
I don't have Windows and I don't have the Windows versions of these games. These are native OS X versions of the the games. Aside from the three games I listed that I have tested so far, all of which lock up, others here and on Apple Discussion Forum have reported the screen blackouts with Spore, WoW and WC3 as well. I will be happily surprised if this is not a hardware fault, but with people returning their MBPs and having the replacements be blackout-free, my confidence in a driver/firmware update resolving it is diminishing.
The main reason for me to post in this particular thread is to elucidate on the fact that this problem is definitely not specific to WoW or Boot Camp.
I originally thought this was only a problem with Postal 2 until I started trying other games and having it happen with them as well.
Once I thought the problem had gone away, until I realized the system had set itself back to the 9400M chip after a lockup. When I put it back on the 9600M GT, the screen blackouts resumed.
I treated myself to 2xAA in Crysis, it makes the image quality look so much better. I might have to turn it off when the action starts ramping up though.
Now about that heat.. I might have to get a cooling pad to avoid having to worry about my computer melting. Even the keyboard gets uncomfortably hot at times around the "QWERSDF" area, if you know what I mean.
Well I'm not sure about OSX games since I haven't tried any yet. In windows the problem was with the 9600m gt nvidia driver. Many people replaced this with the ones from laptopvideo2go and everything seems much better. Unfortunately you can't change those video drivers in OSX.
Oh, one more thing...are you only experiencing the blackouts with gaming or in general on OSX? If it's only in gaming, I'm pretty sure it's the driver. If you are getting black screens randomly in OSX then I would go to an apple store because that isn't normal. I was getting random lockups in windows vista 64 bit when I would scroll a web page until I changed my drivers. I was also getting the black screen where I had to hold the power button down until it turned off.
Actually another thing... I was having half life 2 black screen, and other steam games until I uninstalled steam completely and reloaded all of my games. So far I haven't had any problems (knock on wood). I reinstalled my games after updating to the 176.54 drivers (on windows) which doesn't really help you any. I would try backing up one of the games and reinstalling it to see if it gets fixed that way.
Kevenly
macrumors regular
I only get the blackouts when I try to play games... This is very odd to me because I have to wonder why screen savers, iTunes visualizer, etc do not cause the blackout. It has never ocurred during any other use. The games I have are all older, I don't have anything more recent. The screen doesn't just go blank, whole backlight of the display turns off. No crash or panic log is recorded, as if the system doesn't even know a problem happened. I'm not sure what to think about that.
What adds to my confusion is that several people (over at Apple Discussion Forum) have exchanged their MBPs due to this issue and say it solved their problem. There seems to be a lot of people experiencing it, but no concrete answer or solution. Possible fan control issues and overheating are the only theories anyone has experimented with so far that I've seen. It could be true. Sometimes when I start a game, the fans come on immediately. Othertimes the fan does not come on.. Noticing the fans not coming on but prior to a blackout, I quit the game and checked the temps and the GPU was at 91 C. I've read they shouldn't even reach 70 so perhaps there is an overheating problem. Anyway it's all speculation.. and very frustrating.
I would be interested to know if the folks who have resolved this occurrence in Boot Camp/Windows have an issue when gaming in OS X with OS X game versions.
Well I just tried a couple things:
1.) I downloaded smcFanControl2 and made a new profile. Default I have set around 2,000 RPM and I have one called "Higher RPM" with that set to 4,000 RPM. This is just the minimum to have the fans go, and they will go higher if they need to. I right click on SMC fan control at the top in OSX and select the higher rpm profile to make the fans go to 4,000 RPM minimum then restart into bootcamp (vista 64 bit) and the fans keep at that speed.
2.) Installed 180.48 laptopvideo2go.com drivers (download modified inf file and replace the original also) after uninstalling my old drivers.
I'm noticing smoother gameplay for the orange box and that the computer seems to run cooler. This could have to do with the fans not kicking up soon enough in the first place or the drivers. The drivers were meant for stability more than for performance and they seem to do the job. I also noticed my nvidia control panel which was gone with the other drivers is now back with these. So far I've played (and finished) half life 2 episode 1 with no problems, team fortress 2, and crysis and they all ran pretty well. Well, "pretty well" for crysis which wasn't bad for a laptop. The orange box runs at all settings high(est) with 2x AA and 2x AF and average 60fps (in windows vista ultimate 64 bit). I just thought I would share in case anyone was interested.
Oh, and crysis was at a mix of medium and high. Shaders of course set at medium. This was the demo btw and it seems this is the only game that gives any computers problems. There's always that one game that they make so you feel the need to upgrade your computer lol. Any other game plays pretty smooth with all settings high or close to it that I've seen. I've seen youtube videos of people saying the same thing.
Check out both smc fan control and those drivers. SMC fan control will not let you set your fan speed below the default fan speed (which is good and 2,000 rpm for the unibody MBP). You don't exactly need to set them lower anyways because I can't hear them at all on 2,000 rpm unless I put my ear down to it.
1.) I downloaded smcFanControl2 and made a new profile. Default I have set around 2,000 RPM and I have one called "Higher RPM" with that set to 4,000 RPM. This is just the minimum to have the fans go, and they will go higher if they need to. I right click on SMC fan control at the top in OSX and select the higher rpm profile to make the fans go to 4,000 RPM minimum then restart into bootcamp (vista 64 bit) and the fans keep at that speed.
2.) Installed 180.48 laptopvideo2go.com drivers (download modified inf file and replace the original also) after uninstalling my old drivers.
I'm noticing smoother gameplay for the orange box and that the computer seems to run cooler. This could have to do with the fans not kicking up soon enough in the first place or the drivers. The drivers were meant for stability more than for performance and they seem to do the job. I also noticed my nvidia control panel which was gone with the other drivers is now back with these. So far I've played (and finished) half life 2 episode 1 with no problems, team fortress 2, and crysis and they all ran pretty well. Well, "pretty well" for crysis which wasn't bad for a laptop. The orange box runs at all settings high(est) with 2x AA and 2x AF and average 60fps (in windows vista ultimate 64 bit). I just thought I would share in case anyone was interested.
Oh, and crysis was at a mix of medium and high. Shaders of course set at medium. This was the demo btw and it seems this is the only game that gives any computers problems. There's always that one game that they make so you feel the need to upgrade your computer lol. Any other game plays pretty smooth with all settings high or close to it that I've seen. I've seen youtube videos of people saying the same thing.
Check out both smc fan control and those drivers. SMC fan control will not let you set your fan speed below the default fan speed (which is good and 2,000 rpm for the unibody MBP). You don't exactly need to set them lower anyways because I can't hear them at all on 2,000 rpm unless I put my ear down to it.
chieferich
macrumors newbie
I have the same issue. After installing the 180.48 drivers, I noticed the black screen/ lockup happening much less. I have also started to make a habit of letting the machine warm up first until fans reach a higher speed. This seems to help.
Essentially, these things are heating up too fast (the fans are not keeping up initially). I think a driver will likely correct the problem. Considering how many people I know have this issue, but are not reporting it directly - I'm not holding my breath though.
Best thing to do is for people to report the problem to Apple and be happy you did their R&D work for them.
Essentially, these things are heating up too fast (the fans are not keeping up initially). I think a driver will likely correct the problem. Considering how many people I know have this issue, but are not reporting it directly - I'm not holding my breath though.
Best thing to do is for people to report the problem to Apple and be happy you did their R&D work for them.
i'm sorry, i just couldn't let this one go.
spyware that comes with vista? omg. i've never heard something so ridiculous in my life, wow.
lavasoft as in adaware? first of, whatever it 'removed' was vulnerabilities that spyware might take advantage of, either in the network settings or in the security center. unless this isn't a legitimate copy of vista and came loaded with things that aren't normally there, in which case, totally your fault and not totally unheard of.
but back to the issue: this sort of lock-up is something that shouldn't be happening, in vista/xp/osx, whatever, if it's happening for people in either os, i would chalk it to a hardware issue and get it checked out immediately, take pictures when it happens, keep 'evidence' because this something apple would return the machine saying 'unable to replicate' so be on top of it in that fashion.
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I couldn't let this one go either.
Yes, spyware/malware/vulnerabilities that could be taken advantage of. Really, what's the difference. I should have said "got rid of the unnecessary ******** that comes with windows for no known reason in the first place." oh and yes I was talking about adaware. The program is from the company lavasoft I guess.
Yes I'm running a legit copy of windows. No, it isn't hardware related, it's entirely software. Search the forums you'll see I'm not the only one.
Next time don't come on here belittling me like that. If you have a point to make, make your point...but talking to me like I'm an idiot who doesn't know what he's doing isn't the way to do that.
Ampidire said:
I couldn't let this one go either.
Yes, spyware/malware/vulnerabilities that could be taken advantage of. Really, what's the difference. I should have said "got rid of the unnecessary ******** that comes with windows for no known reason in the first place." oh and yes I was talking about adaware. The program is from the company lavasoft I guess.
Yes I'm running a legit copy of windows. No, it isn't hardware related, it's entirely software. Search the forums you'll see I'm not the only one.
Next time don't come on here belittling me like that. If you have a point to make, make your point...but talking to me like I'm an idiot who doesn't know what he's doing isn't the way to do that.
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Try smc fan control for osx, change the default fan speed to 4,000 rpm then restart into windows and it will stay at that speed.
chieferich said:
Try smc fan control for osx, change the default fan speed to 4,000 rpm then restart into windows and it will stay at that speed.