Heavensward : Mac Osx Tips (Improve Performance/FPS)

[Sigg]

Hi,

After 2 weeks struggling with fps rates & lags, I decided to make this thread & provide the few tips i have to improve/enhance game performance on Mac version. This thread won't provide tips for Bootcamp, only Mac Osx. Keep in mind that those are only tips, & that the game obviously need to be reworked.

/!\ PLEASE read this before writing any sentence : I'm not here to argue about Windows being better or not & i really don't care. Ain't a pro mac (AT ALL), just making this thread to help people who are stuck on mac & can't bootcamp it. My config isn't clearly the best config at all, & i'm not here to compare config or D sizes. Some people can't afford both pc & mac because like me they bought a mac for Work. BUT i managed to run the game around 30 Fps (Which is a real improvement considering that fps was around 5-8 at the beginning) . This thread purpose is only to help people with Macs. Please let's not make this thread another "Fudge you mac windows is better " "get windows " like the billions we can already read everywhere on internet.

Give this thread a bit of feedbacks if those tips worked for you, & feel free to ask anything...

Mac Config :
Processor 2.4 Ghz core i7
Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graph AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1G

Upgrade & Update your OS :

Recently i noticed that Yosemite despite the awful feedbacks on it... eh well Yosemite is pretty decent & far better than maverick/mountain lion/skydiving gorilla(okay i'll stop with those stupid jokes...:roll eyes, performance wise. You just gotta learn how to make it run smoother, yes it's always the same issues with Apple anyway, they add too many useless features at each new OS they make.Also, I don't know if SE updated or fixed stuffs with Heavensward, but i was quite surprised when i saw that i could raise the graphics above standard without any FPS loss or stuttering. I'm usually all grumpy after installing new Mac Os, but this time i'm glad i did & it feels smoother & better. Try it out, you can still downgrade to Maverick in worst case, though i doubt you'll have to if you follow those tips :

1. Start by downloading & installing Yosemite. Install will take around a full big whole hour, not the "24 mn" written.

2. Do NOT activate the Firevault, it's another "hipstergeniusmart" apple feature.

3. When you're done, time to use this ol good disk utility (Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility) : verify & repair the permissions. Also, Verify you disk !


4. Go in System Preferences (by clicking the Apple, left upper corner on your screen) > Accessibility : In Display tab, & check Reduce transparency


5. Reduce Spotlight items : Go in System Preferences > Spotlight & Uncheck everything.

Check in the basic tips, there's a way to entirely disable the spotlight.

Basic tips

1. Clean your desktop. Yes, this is a silly tip. but a tidy desktop = better performance.

2. Free some space : Time to delete all those .rar & .dmg you downloaded & left everywhere, those Game of Thrones episodes you already watched & the apps you're not using anymore. The more space, the more perf.


3. Get Onyx applications from the App Store, it is free & will help you clean & delete unuseful files. Yes, i know, app store, ugh... Don't be a sloth & get it.

Open Onyx. Let it check Smart status & volume structure. When it is done, you can either go in Cleaning Tab & clean step by step :


Don't restart yet !

Or you can go in Automation Tab & launch the whole cleaning & verifying by clicking on "Execute" :


Don't restart yet !

4. Go in Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility : Select your Hard Drive & click Verify disk permissions, then Repair permissions.


5. Now time to fix your mac stupidity. Click the Apple icon in the left upper corner of your screen (in case you didn't notice...) > System preferences.

For Mountain lion, Leopard, Sea goat, whatever previous versions names :
Open Energy Saver : Now you can laugh at your mac who was running your games with Intel shitty internal card, ignoring your Gforce/Radeon... Uncheck this legendary silly option.


Well guess what now, If you're on Maverick/Yosemite/Yoshimitsu w/e, you're gonna struggle a bit more than that, cause Genius! Apple decided to delete this option. We gonna need to use GfxcardStatus.app to switch manually between your cards.

Get GfxcardStatus here https://gfx.io, install it & restart your mac. Now Open it, you'll see a new icon in your right upper bar, right click on it & click "Discrete only", finally enabling your Radeon/Gforce/Obviously better graphic card.
.

6. Disabling the useless genius mac services :
Now the fun time, see all those useless features, calendars, weather report, spotlight, all those mail/iphone/skype/w/e notifications, they're like maggots on a rotting carcass, eating your performance.


a. Open up your system preferences > notifications : disable & uncheck everything or at least the things you don't use.

c. Now time to start messing with the terminal. Go in Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app

Open it & type the following command :
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

This will disable the spotlight & free up some memory. If u wish to re-enable it re-open Terminal & type the following command :
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist


d. Go in System preferences > Dock. Switch from Genie (Genius Apple !) to Scale Effect.

e. Go in System preferences > User & Groups > Login Items tab. Disable all the useless apps launching at start.

SMC & PRAM reset :
Now Shutdown your mac.
Start your mac again & hold Alt+Cmd+P+R before the "Duuuuuh" noise.
This will reset your PRAM.

Re-Shutdown your mac. Now we gonna reset SMC :

MacBook With Removable Battery
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the power adapter.
Remove the battery.
Press and hold the power button for five seconds.
Replace the battery.
Plug in the power adapter.
Turn on the computer.

MacBook Without A Removable Battery
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the power adapter.
On the built-in keyboard, press the Shift, Control, and Option keys on the left side and the power button, all at the same time.
Release all three keys at the same time.
Turn on the computer.

Now time to open Heavensward !
Quit all other apps. Launch the game, when u're in game, not launcher, go back to desktop & Go in Applications > Activity Monitor. Open Terminal by going in Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app.

In the activity monitor, locate the PID (near user tab) of Final Fantasy XIV process : mine is for example 1776.

Go in Terminal. command goes like : sudo renice -19 PIDnumber
example : sudo renice -19 1776
enter your password if asked (letters won't appear) & push enter.
This will give high priority to FFXIV process.


Heating & Overheating
Whether you live in a hot country or not, mac heat can quite unbearable. & the heat will slower your mac. Quite every huge process will make your mac overheat (mostly Games & DAW softs) if you didn't clean the dust inside board & fans, which can be annoying if u don't wanna lose your guarantee.
Don't be like me. I didn't care at the beginning & i ended with purple burnt marks all over my legs... blame Apple genius for making computers in aluminium.
Well here's at least a little fix to keep your mac a bit cooler... i highly recommend buying external fans though, internal fans won't be enough.


You need to download SmcFanControl from here http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol, install the app & run it (you might need to restart), you will now be able to see the RPM of your fans & the temps of your macbook. Click on the new icon & click Preferences. Raise your fan speed to w/e setting you want, & keep an eye on the temps.



With those tips I'm around 25-30 fps in raids/dungeons, 20 in towns with Standard Graphics (Laptop).
{EDIT} After installing Yosemite & using the same tips, i can run the game around 30/35 fps everywhere (towns/raids/dungeons) even above Standard Graphics. Max graphics are still a bit "laggy" but that's probably because of my mac config.

I hope this thread will help people improve their game performance, i know this isn't a perfect thread, so any other tips are welcome here. Feel free to correct or add any useful informations about those performance issues. I'm staying optimistic & hoping that SE will improve/fix those issues.

[Catwho]

Seriously? Some Mac defaulted to using the onboard graphics instead of their graphics card? Wow.

[Sigg]

Yes it was an option designed for battery life purpose, but the option disappeared recently with updates.

[Bishop81]

Or install boot camp and Windows then run the game from there.

Seriously, from what I heard the Mac Client is effective a wrapper around the Windows client.

They might as well not release one.

[Sigg]

Sure, cause we on mac we want to buy both Windows & Mac Osx, then both FFXIV versions for Mac & Windows. Any other useful tip ? -_- Thread name is "improve osx performance", not "how to install bootcamp". Some games run pretty well on Mac, (Diablo, Starcraft, Eve Online, League Of Legends, Wow, etc...), if the game isn't working correctly on mac this is SE fault & the people they paid for making the game on mac (forgot the name). That's why they offered refund & that's why heavensward is not available anymore in stores.

[416to305]

Sure, cause we on mac we want to buy both Windows & Mac Osx, then both FFXIV versions for Mac & Windows. Any other useful tip ? -_- Thread name is "improve osx performance", not "how to install bootcamp". Some games run pretty well on Mac, (Diablo, Starcraft, Eve Online, League Of Legends, Wow, etc...), if the game isn't working correctly on mac this is SE fault & the people they paid for making the game on mac (forgot the name). That's why they offered refund & that's why heavensward is not available anymore in stores.

Those games work because they are designed for Mac. FFXIV for Mac is a wrapper making it work. It's basically like using Parallels Desktop or VMWare to play it which is why it's so slow and would never be as fast as the PC version.

[Sigg]

Yes I know & when i gave away those 60$ i expected a game coded properly for mac. Like any new games on mac i expected less performance of course because of OpenGL working differently than DirectX, but not this "middleware". Obviously the company SE paid for making the game on mac didn't care or maybe they hired monkeys to make the program... So until they fix it it'd be nice if people shared their tips here.

[AvathAlThor]

I'd forgotten about the PRAM thing. World of Warcraft had a bug with that a couple of years ago that would destroy your fps until you rebooted and cleared it. They did eventually fix it, but I remember the team at Blizz spending a lot of time trying to work out wtf was causing the problem in the first place.

[Bishop81]

Sure, cause we on mac we want to buy both Windows & Mac Osx, then both FFXIV versions for Mac & Windows. Any other useful tip ? -_- Thread name is "improve osx performance", not "how to install bootcamp". Some games run pretty well on Mac, (Diablo, Starcraft, Eve Online, League Of Legends, Wow, etc...), if the game isn't working correctly on mac this is SE fault & the people they paid for making the game on mac (forgot the name). That's why they offered refund & that's why heavensward is not available anymore in stores.

Just saying it's like pimping out a Peel P50 car ...

Games can run well on the Mac ... if they are properly coded for it and not just a wrapper around the Window version.

[Sigg]

Just saying it's like pimping out a Peel P50 car ...

Games can run well on the Mac ... if they are properly coded for it and not just a wrapper around the Window version.

True... but i guess there's people out there unable to get bootcamp & stuck with this "shitwrapper" hitting disposable kodak camera fps (5-8 like me at the beginning) even with decent machines, those are ways to at least improve a bit the perf while waiting for a better/correctly coded version