Improving frame rate on Macbook Pro

[andsothisiscatherine]

I have a brand new Macbook Pro. My graphics card an is Intel Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB and I've got heaps more memory and processor power than the game's recommended specs. However! My frame rate is horrible - super laggy and jumpy. I know that games are often not optimised for Macs. My question is: what can be done to improve my frame rate? And does Paradox have any plans for improving graphics performance? Thanks!

[Razorblade]

Well the big problem is you don't have a real graphics card. The graphical requirements of CK3 aren't massive, but it's still expected for you to have something better than an integrated card.

Other than upgrading your hardware, best suggestion I can give is to make sure your graphics settings are cranked down to the bottom. If they are, you can try going from 1920 x 1080 resolution to 1600 x 900.

[Crimson Bolt]

It's not that games are not optimized for macs, it's that macs are not designed for gaming...as pointed out, your graphics card is an integrated graphics card that is generally meant for things like editing pictures/videos and things of that nature...not real time rendering at 30+ fps which is what games require.

You could look at getting an external graphics card that you can plug into the macbook and use that graphics card and you would be just fine at that point.

As for making it run better....lowest settings + lowering the resolution...not much more than that I am afraid as I have seen no guides or tips about tweaking files for performance.

[andsothisiscatherine]

Okay, thanks. I'll lower the settings and see how I go. I guess I was surprised at the poor performance seeing as though it doesn't seem like anything super fancy is going on with the graphics (it's not like it's a flight simulator or anything - the interface is a big map and some menus!. I can run other graphically demanding games pretty well. I'm hoping Paradox might address some optimisation in coming updates.

Any tips on what graphics cards to look at? Ideally ones that don't cost a fortune!

[Mansen]

It's a big 3D map with lots of 3D characters... and then a 2D interface.

As for what to do... your only bet is an external graphics card enclosure - if you have a Macbook with Thunderbolt 3.

https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/mac/best-egpu-mac-3673105/

[Crimson Bolt]

I am using a GTX 1060...the next gen (2000 series) is already out and the 3000 series is about to come out...so a 1060, despite being a good card that runs all games I throw at it perfectly fine, is considered old and should be pretty cheap! You should be able to find external versions of them.

[andsothisiscatherine]

Cheers, thanks for the tip! I'll have a look.

There are some other graphics things that seem more like glitches than frame rate problems - e.g. there are these weird shiny lines on the faces of some characters that look like one colour is being rendered incorrectly. Not sure what's going on there.

[Crimson Bolt]

Oh yeah I think that's just a rendering issue that needs tweaked...the light is too intense in that small area (usually around the eyes I have noticed it)

[andsothisiscatherine]

It makes them all look really sweaty, lol

[EA Latium]

One thing that could be advisable if you have the spare memory would be to install a Bootcamp and try with Windows, in general games perform better that way with same hardware.

[andsothisiscatherine]

Thanks! I'll give it a go.

[Mansen]

Originally posted by Crimson Bolt:

I am using a GTX 1060...the next gen (2000 series) is already out and the 3000 series is about to come out...so a 1060, despite being a good card that runs all games I throw at it perfectly fine, is considered old and should be pretty cheap! You should be able to find external versions of them.

It's obvious you don't have a Mac. Apple don't like nVidia. You're only getting any kind of eGPU experience on Macs with AMD cards. Something like a Vega 56/64 or the RX series (There's a list in the article I showed earlier)

[Crimson Bolt]

Originally posted by Mansen:

Originally posted by Crimson Bolt:

I am using a GTX 1060...the next gen (2000 series) is already out and the 3000 series is about to come out...so a 1060, despite being a good card that runs all games I throw at it perfectly fine, is considered old and should be pretty cheap! You should be able to find external versions of them.

It's obvious you don't have a Mac. Apple don't like nVidia. You're only getting any kind of eGPU experience on Macs with AMD cards. Something like a Vega 56/64 or the RX series (There's a list in the article I showed earlier)

No I don't...I am not that stupid

regardless I can only comment on what I own...so looking up an AMD equivalent would be the best bet from there

[andsothisiscatherine]

Do you think it would be worth trying running CK3 on a Boot Camp with a Linux distro, rather than Windows? Or is Linux likely to be just as bad as OSX, if not worse?

[Crimson Bolt]

Mac OS is actually a version of linux...so probably not

If you wanna give it a shot I mean it can't hurt to try but I wouldn't hold my breath too much. At the end of the day you still have the same hardware. The only way that would make it run better really is if it was able to utilize the hardware more efficiently which is unlikely.

[EA Latium]

Originally posted by Crimson Bolt:

Mac OS is actually a version of linux...so probably not

If you wanna give it a shot I mean it can't hurt to try but I wouldn't hold my breath too much. At the end of the day you still have the same hardware. The only way that would make it run better really is if it was able to utilize the hardware more efficiently which is unlikely.

It does for many games, back when I was studying I only had the Mac, with Windows it used to run the same games much better, but it mostly has to do with how the games themselves are ported.