Recommended Settings - Mac OSX 10.11.4

[mike]

I have read a lot about "optimizing" for Macs - and mostly the recommendations are to go low on the Memory options.

I purchased this game yesterday - left everything default - and played for 4 hours with out any problems at all.

System Specs:
iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)
Processor: 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory: 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2048 MB

When I loaded it up to play again today - everything slowed to an absolute CRAWL! Even loading my Single Player game takes > 5 minutes. When it finally loads, the game is impossible to play - it is choppy and slow.

So after reading lots of optimization advice, I am now running:

Launch Options: USEALLAVAILABLECORES -sm4 -d3d10 -nomansky -lowmemory

Screenshot of in-game options: http://imgur.com/NfIKOPA

So it begs the question - why did it work so well out of the game - and slow down over night? I have run the "Verifiy Integrity" option - all works. In my activity monitor, it is taking up between 45 -> 75% of CPU and 3.2GB of RAM (at the menu screen).

I am baffled - loved the 4 hours I got - but frustrated that the experience changed like that... any suggestions?

(and don't bother with the "get a PC" crap - I have read it to death, so save your fingers from typing it!)

Thanks ;)

[Acandri]

one of your problems are those devestating commands you are using.

with 32gb of ram you don´t need -lowmemory (forces the game down to max 4gb and kills graphic and can cause lags).

the commands -sm4 and -d3d10 are also known for trouble. they could cause crashes and the -d3d10 command can lower the fps in certain cases. furthermore only use ONE of those two, -sm4 is part of -d3d10 and using both can also cause problems.

you could add -high for a little smoother gameplay and make sure you don´t go in powersafe mode.

one other problem is the opengl-api which works very bad for demanding games. your hope could be vulkan if they implement it (it is like dx12 and works for all os).

furthermore
- lower your resolution a little, with the lower resolution scale you play already at 720p
- don´t use windw mode, it uses more power and can cause fps drops, freezes and crashes

[mike]

Thanks for that. I made those adjustments to the launch commands - and it seemed to help. I also adjusted the quality to low in the in-game settings.

It chugged along for a while - but then seemed to speed up. Dunno why - or why it would be slow and skippy for a while, and then speed up, and still occasionally hiccup slow again - but it has at least made it more playable...

Cheers!

[Qarayetti]

Macs use OpenGL, not DX. So the -sm4 and -d3d10 commands are null.

Keep an eye on disk usage when it hiccups. All of the stuttering and frame drops that I experience are tied to disk usage when loading new areas into active memory.

[WheatBran]

Very interested to hear of other people have any more suggestions to running the game on mac...Used to have a great time when it first came to mac but now I can barely play.

Its been most dissapointing... Been trying to monitor my computers processes while running Ark, however it doesnt seem to show that its struggling at all just the game runs pretty poorly now.