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    Question about fps

    puzzlezaddictpuzzlezaddict Posts: 1,877 Member
    in The Sims 3 Mac Discussion
    I feel so silly not knowing the answer, but should I be doing something to limit the fps on my mac? It hovers around 60-80 on land but can be almost double over the water. I actually searched the boards for any relevant information, but either there's nothing recent enough to apply to my computer, or I don't know how to pick my search categories. Regardless, any help would be greatly appreciated, as always.

    MacBook Pro (15", 2017)
    2.9 GHz Intel Core i7
    16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
    Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB

    Still on Sierra because I didn't want to ruin a good thing after I got TS3 running well (or maybe because I like to procrastinate).

    And yes, @igazor, you're welcome to give me the Bootcamp spiel, and you're right, but it won't do me any good if I burn out my graphics card in the meantime. Besides, the fact that my legacy save has started to run up against the 2 GB Cider-imposed limit is probably the only reason I'm getting anything else done in my life. With all the new EPs I've bought, I could easily spend two weeks glued to my screen, forgetting to sleep or eat. Okay, maybe not that bad, but only because my cat has learned to chew on power cords. So someone's going to get fed, at least.

    Comments

    • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
      Sorry, I'm far too busy whistling into my phone to get free long distance calls to really care (am still chuckling over that thread). ;)

      Actually, I'm waiting to hear the answer also. Historically, Intel integrated chips wouldn't really have been capable of throwing overly high frame rates like that but the 630s are a bit stronger than their predecessors. Windows players face the same challenge so this kind of thing would follow you over to that side anyway, except on Windows we tend to have more tools to work with or those more familiar to most of us anyway, to lock the fps rates in.

      @BluebellFlora ??
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    • BluebellFloraBluebellFlora Posts: 7,110 Member
      edited January 2018
      Well, I think you’ll find that the reason it has such high fps is because your Mac has a dedicated AMD Radeon Pro 560 with 4gb VRAM. At least according to the specs. you posted it should have :)

      That GPU isn’t supported but as it’s AMD it doesn’t seem to cause the issues that the Intel ones do.
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    • puzzlezaddictpuzzlezaddict Posts: 1,877 Member
      @BluebellFlora Thanks so much. If you say that's the graphics card, I'm sure you're right, since my computer is unmodified from its initial Apple-supplied state. I started worrying because of all the PC users who post about their own fps issues, but I'd never seen a comparable thread for macs. Plus, my computer does get a bit hot while I'm playing—not the 70-80º C of some PCs, but still hot to the touch (I don't have anything to measure temperature, but maybe 110-120º F or... 43.3-48.9º C). But if it's not going to be a problem, that's one less thing to deal with.

      Does this mean that when @igazor magicks a Bootcamp setup onto my mac one day when I'm not looking that I still won't have to worry about fps? Or do you think I'd be better off using one of the PC tools to limit it? I know you're not a PC person; I'm just wondering if the mac setup has any protective tools or functions that would get lost in translation when I took my computer over to the dark side.
    • igazorigazor Posts: 19,330 Member
      You know, I thought you had an AMD card on your Mac but I was too lazy to check prior posts and figured I must have had your model mixed up with someone else's. If you aren't having any obvious fps related performance issues like screen tears on the Mac version of the game, I wouldn't worry about it too much. And the time to worry is when your Mac gets pushed very hard but isn't hot to the touch, as that would mean heat is not being dissipated.

      On the Bootcamp side, the best tool I've found to lock things in is RivaTuner Stats Server (RTSS). It's very easy to use.
      o550pjoa47rpxo63g.jpg
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      Our new site is at http://nraas.net
    • BluebellFloraBluebellFlora Posts: 7,110 Member
      @puzzleaddict - macOS is very good at throttling power to stop it from overheating, this is a common cause of lag on lower end Macs as users have their settings too high so the OS compensates by slowing it down. Keep it elevated so air can circulate underneath as the aluminium casing helps dissipate the heat, as @igazor has pointed out.
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    • puzzlezaddictpuzzlezaddict Posts: 1,877 Member
      @BluebellFlora Now that you mention it, I remember a correlation between my old (2010) macbook heating up and subsequent lag in my game. Since I didn't know what was going on, I would just shut down for a bit (or at least stay away from TS3), and the problem would correct itself pretty quickly. Thanks again for not only answering my question, but actually teaching me something I would never have known about my computer. I'm not one to preach the gospel of Apple, but this is another reminder of how well made their machines (usually) are.

      @igazor I think I actually bookmarked one of your RTSS instruction manuals already; that would be the one with pictures. I'll just add that to the list of things to add when I Bootcamp my mac. Which I'm definitely going to do. Some day.
    • BluebellFloraBluebellFlora Posts: 7,110 Member
      Oh preach away, I'm such an iSheep :D

      Having a Boot Camped is so handy, basically two computers in one.
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