Screen "tearing" or "flicker" after update 1.101 on mac

[Cyprian747]

Just wanted to bump this thread a bit. In my own case, the game is playable. Specifically, the problem is with unit and city textures (and banners) constantly flickering. Is there anyone who's been able to fix this with gamma/refresh rate/screen resolution? No setting seems to do it, but maybe I haven't hit the sweet spot...


EDIT: Disregard the above post. Basically, if you have anything less than the NVIDIA GeForce 9600, the graphics won't work properly. Thanks, AndrewT for your help in this matter.

 

[Thorpe]

Well, I was hoping against hope that the newest beta patch would fix the retina macbook issues, but still no luck. Ugh.

 

[Kaiser Andreas]

I have now switched between the Intel card and the Nvidia one. I found that the games start up was faster with the Intel one, but the game itself ran smoother running the Nvidia card. Alas, there was no change in hickups or screen tearing between the two cards. I should add that I also run crusader kings 2 on bootcamp, with no flickering, so this cannot be a question of graphic cards, but rather mac vs windows.

 

[AndrewT]

We know now that the OpenGL drivers in OS X are not as good and not updated as frequently as the Direct X drivers in Windows. I don't seem to have asked you what OS X version you have; if it's not 10.8.4 I suggest you update to that, as the drivers in that version are definitely better than 10.7 or earlier. If you're on that already, I don't have anything else to offer, I'm sorry.

 

[es333]

I use the utility mentioned above, and I don't have to force a switch, it happens naturally.

I should point out that the latest patch does not crash CK2 on my MacBook Pro, but it does kick the fans in a lot.

The only difference between my MacBook and bjornbekk or Thorpe's is that I have 16 GB ram. That should not make a difference, but it's worth noting for your troubleshooting.

16GB of Ram is needed to run CK 2 properly on a Mac... Well that's just wrong. Most Mac users have laptops and not everyone have the retina versions.

 

[AndrewT]

16GB of Ram is needed to run CK 2 properly on a Mac... Well that's just wrong. Most Mac users have laptops and not everyone have the retina versions.

That is not the case. The documented minimum is 2gb, 4gb should be plenty. These issues are almost certainly to do with video drivers and/or the game bugs; the post you quoted should not be taken as an official statement in any way.

MAC System requirements

OS: Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later
Processor: Intel Core Duo Processor (2GHz or better)
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 2 GB
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 6750 / NVIDIA GeForce 320 / NVIDIA GeForce 9600 or higher

 

[Exonico]

Hi,
I also have some issue on my macbook pro retina. Only it is not the same issue, well it starts the same way : huge fan activity, and after a while, the game juste freeze completely. Music is still running, i can move the mouse cursor, but cannot click on anything anymore. Hard reboot is the only way out of it. Works like a charm under windows through bootcamp.
I hope OSX 10.9 will bring some more enhencements to those video drivers, specially the OpenGL4 support.

 

[es333]

That is not the case. The documented minimum is 2gb, 4gb should be plenty. These issues are almost certainly to do with video drivers and/or the game bugs; the post you quoted should not be taken as an official statement in any way.

Well, it's probably just a coincidence that the guy with 16GB of RAM has no problems at all with CK 2, while all us other Mac users with 2, 4, 6 GB of Ram tend to have different problems.

For CK 2 to run on Mac, there minimum requirements should be double of the official minimum requirements.. With every passing patch, my game crashes even more. I gotta do autosaves after every 6 months and then force shut-down my Mac when the game crashes and start everything again.

 

[es333]

Hi,
I also have some issue on my macbook pro retina. Only it is not the same issue, well it starts the same way : huge fan activity, and after a while, the game juste freeze completely. Music is still running, i can move the mouse cursor, but cannot click on anything anymore. Hard reboot is the only way out of it. Works like a charm under windows through bootcamp.
I hope OSX 10.9 will bring some more enhencements to those video drivers, specially the OpenGL4 support.

This is an extremely common problem, I also have it. It only gets worse with every passing patch.

 

[Bud_Backer]

Well, it's probably just a coincidence that the guy with 16GB of RAM has no problems at all with CK 2, while all us other Mac users with 2, 4, 6 GB of Ram tend to have different problems.

While I don't have the problem with the screen anomalies this thread was talking about, I mentioned that only for helping Paradox attempt diagnostics, not to claim that you need 16GB ram.

And I do have problems that Exonico posted...UNTIL I started using SMC fan utility and set the fans to full speed when playing, disabled all DLC's except Ruler Designer, Legacy of Rome, Sword of Islam, Republic, and The Old Gods. So far I've probably played 20 hours without any issues using that configuration.

 

[Kaiser Andreas]

Has not been fixed yet. Annoying.

 

[Exonico]

Thanks Bud_Backer. I've tried this SMC Fan Tool and so far, no freeze in 8 hours or so. Hav'nt disabled any DLC though.

 

[Bud_Backer]

Thanks Bud_Backer. I've tried this SMC Fan Tool and so far, no freeze in 8 hours or so. Hav'nt disabled any DLC though.

You're welcome.

FYI - if you want SMC to run the fans at really max speed, I believe you have to go in the preferences and run the fan seed sliders to the right and save that as a preset.

I have normal, medium and max as the presets on mine, and always run the fans at highest speed when playing CK2. Since I started that over 40 Game Hours ago, no hangs.