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mentaluproar

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 25, 2010
1,837
273
Ohio, USA
The graphics on my ivy bridge 15" retina MacBook Pro are pretty poor in portal 2. It won't use the 5.1 setup either, even when I set the audio to it. Why settings do you suggest?
 
As far as I am aware, to get surround sound from any game requires a soundcard which outputs discrete channels or can encode (DD or DTS) via optical. I don't know if USB soundcards work in OSX.

As for graphics, can't you just try out different settings and resolution settings until it works? MacBooks aren't exactly gaming powerhouses.
 
As far as I am aware, to get surround sound from any game requires a soundcard which outputs discrete channels or can encode (DD or DTS) via optical. I don't know if USB soundcards work in OSX.

As for graphics, can't you just try out different settings and resolution settings until it works? MacBooks aren't exactly gaming powerhouses.

You can use the HDMI port to send out 5.1 audio. Most Feral games support 5.1 surround sound using this method. I have no clue if Valve support this in their games.

Edwin
 
MacBooks aren't exactly gaming powerhouses.

With the intel graphics equipped macbooks, sure. The 650m in the ivy retina is quite good. And should run this game without much stress.

I run the same game with the same hardware at 2560x1440 at maxed settings with a good and stable framerate.

I would try to reset the SMC. There is a guide on how to do it on Apple support pages. if you google SMC reset, it should come right up.

As for the 5.1 sound. Try to setup your speaker in the "Audio MIDI Setup" in the others folder in launchpad.
 
My audio system is an optical. It works, but there are no discrete channels being triggered. The receiver is still in that "guessing" mode. And yes, I am running mavericks. The framerate is pitiful and sporadic.

I finally got the boyfriend interested in portal, which worked great, but portal 2 is running like crap!
 
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If I roll back with an external drive and try to install on that, would it effect anything other than load times? I only have a really crappy external USB2 drive.
 
If I roll back with an external drive and try to install on that, would it effect anything other than load times? I only have a really crappy external USB2 drive.

Did you do the SCM reset.
There were firmware bugs in these MBPRs that would make it so only the
4000HD would kick in.

Theres been 1 or 2 apple updates for this..
But U swear I had seen the bug show up again after one of them.

If you can run the game... then enter windows mode so you can see the finder you can then bring up the about this mac under the apple menu.

Click the more info button and it will show you the currently active GPU.
 
It was connected to the tv via HDMI, and my understanding is the HDMI automatically activated the 650M. Anyways, I checked and the 650M was indeed activated by Portal 2.
 
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