The 2010 MBP's Steam for Mac Performance Thread (+ Why CSS won't come soon)

[MikhailT]

Nice, how large is the download. Is it just HL2, any addons

~5GB for HL2, ~2GB for EP1, ~6GB for EP2.

 

[Dozerrox]

~5GB for HL2, ~2GB for EP1, ~6GB for EP2.

I haven't ever tried EP1 and 2. I always assumed they were just quick games, are they full extra games?

 

[MikhailT]

I haven't ever tried EP1 and 2. I always assumed they were just quick games, are they full extra games?

They have their own source engine updates that's not the same as the HL2 engine.

 

[mikeo007]

I haven't ever tried EP1 and 2. I always assumed they were just quick games, are they full extra games?

Episode 1 was very short, Ep. 2 is a bit longer, but still not a full length game when compared to HL2.

 

[Fuzz02]

First post yay

On the PC, source games use a lot of the same content, so download sizes can vary.

For example, a few weeks ago I pointed out the free Portal to a friend and told him it was a 5-6 gb download (I had downloaded it the night before on my macbook) but for him it was only 3 because he had several other source games installed.

Not sure if it's the same on OS X because I don't have enough room and can't run source games natively on my macbook

 

[Libertine Lush]

It's funny, I've never been a PC gamer, but since I've gone mac, I've started to play a couple of games (just Portal and Monkey Island).

Same here. Switching to Mac resulted in a newfound obsession for tech and more demanding expectations from the OS I'm using, as I've found OSX does most things better than every Windows I've used previously; but consequently I also have a greater appreciation of Windows 7 too now, as a result of becoming a power user via OSX, I find so many great things in Windows 7 I wouldn't have recognized, bothered with, or cared for before.

Despite not having gamed much on computers before, I've already purchased 2 games, 1 via Steam, and downloaded a handful of demos for my MBP. And I'll likely get Orange Box within the week, as it seems the $21 price tag, which lasts a week, will include automatic download of Team Fortress 2, whenever they're ready to release it for Mac. If I wait for TF2 to be released, that $21 might go back up to $30.

 

[Ampidire]

I'm not sure if you guys know, but the 60/30 fps change is based on VSync and the way the frame buffer works, VSync is a necessary evil on LCD's to keep from experiencing 'tearing' by having unsynced fps #'s, when you're getting 60FPS, you're actually getting equal or greater than 60 fps but it caches/buffers it and only spits out 60 of those frames, when you get 30, it means you're above 30 but below 60 and it caches/buffers it and only spits out 30 of those frames, things look best at numbers easily divisible into 60, so 20, 30, 60 are generally 'playable' frame rates, where 60 all the time would be preferred but anything over 30 is where the speed should be in order to keep the game working smoothly. The number 60 coincides with the refresh rate of the LCDs in our Macs, some LCDs are capable of 75hz or 120hz, but not the ones in our machines, and not in most machines actually either, 60 is the defacto standard for LCD refresh rate with 120 and higher catching on in the TV/3D line ups in order to provide motion blur or dual pictures at the same frame rate as one another, so yeah.

If you're interested in a bit more reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_synchronization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refresh_rate

You guys will probably all get 30 or 60 fps all the time with small fluctuations up or down 1fps just because of a rounding fluke in the way the application reports fps.

So if you really want to test what the machine is capable of, disable VSync and see what the frame rates are, but be aware you'll see a lot of screen tearing on an LCD with non divisible into 60 frame rates that are not 20/30/60, it's just the way it is. You're better off leaving VSync enabled and enjoying a smoother gameplay experience and "losing" a few fps than you are disabling it and dealing with all the tearing.

I hope that 10.6.4 brings some graphics performance improvements, it seems a lot of the focus is going to graphics drivers so I hope that is the case.

Also, HL2 is based on the same engine as CS:S, and since HL2 was updated to the new engine already and released 5/26, I can only expect that CS:S is closer to release than some of you may think.

 

[Libertine Lush]

I'm not sure if you guys know, but the 60/30 fps change is based on VSync

I completely forgot about VSync even though it's clearly in view in settings. I like testing it to see if I actually notice any tearing, and as with another Mac game I got recently, I saw no adverse affect. Now I can improve visuals further and still achieve great frame rates. So here's my take again, but this time with VSync off, in 2 scenarios. Settings fully maxed now, with AA and without:

15" MBP, i7, Hi-res
Resolution: 1680x1050
Settings: Fully maxed and enabled
No AA, AF at 16x
Portal Depth Rendering at 2 (What is this setting by the way?)
Frame rate is about 44 with one portal open. About 37 with 2 portals.

Resolution: 1680x1050
Settings: Fully maxed and enabled
2x AA, AF at 16x
Portal Depth Rendering at 2
Frame rate is about 29 with one portal open. About 23 with 2 portals.