Unplayable framerate with Mac mini Intel HD4000 graphics

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dogman
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Unplayable framerate with Mac mini Intel HD4000 graphics

Post by dogman »

I just purchased the new Mac mini with the Intel i5 Ivy Bridge, 4GM system memory and HD4000 graphics. Yes, the integrated graphics aren't high end but are supposed to be vastly improved over earlier integrated graphics. Benchmarks suggest that many demanding video games are at least playable with the new integrated graphics.

With BZFlag though I am getting horrible frame rates in the range of 1 - 3 fps when looking at modestly complex scenery and/or a lot of tanks. They is way worse then my old Dell/Win XP system with a 7-year old processor and integrated graphics or the same processor with a low-end add-on Radeon graphics card. I expected the new HD4000 graphics to give better fps, not way worse. Have played with the video settings in BZF, but that hasn't helped very much. It's as if I'm getting no hardware graphics acceleration, however BZF does recognize the OpenGL driver for HD4000 on startup.

Is this due to a dog-doo graphics driver in Mountain Lion? Anybody have a possible cause, or even better a solution?

Many thanks,
Dogman
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macsforme
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Re: Unplayable framerate with Mac mini Intel HD4000 graphics

Post by macsforme »

We are aware of the issue. It seems to be related to Apple's drivers for the Intel HD4000, as running BZ under windows with the same hardware does not cause the issue. It does seem to be related to the number of tanks in a scene (among other possible factors). The entire Mac build system is in need of updating to be built against Apple's current OS libraries, but is is unclear if this will correct the issue or not.

You could file a bug report with Apple regarding the driver bug. In the meantime, if you are able to, use a different machine or run BZFlag under Windows.
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JeffM
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Re: Unplayable framerate with Mac mini Intel HD4000 graphics

Post by JeffM »

Boot Camp fixes everything ;)
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macsforme
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Re: Unplayable framerate with Mac mini Intel HD4000 graphics

Post by macsforme »

Also, make sure you have the latest BZFlag Mac build (2.4.2). If you don't, try it and let us know if it makes a difference.
dogman
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Re: Unplayable framerate with Mac mini Intel HD4000 graphics

Post by dogman »

Thanks Constitution! Yep, I forgot to include the build version, which is 2.4.2. I might try 2.4.0 but I suspect it is indeed a Mac driver problem.
44magnum
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Re: Unplayable framerate with Mac mini Intel HD4000 graphics

Post by 44magnum »

must be a driver problem... tried everything(settings there is) and my new Mini doesn't change its meager behaviour for any reason :(
dogman
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Re: Unplayable framerate with Mac mini Intel HD4000 graphics

Post by dogman »

This is fixed in newer releases of Mac OS X. They fixed the driver problem but didn't announce it in their list of fixes. Thanks Apple :-/
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