[Glyph]

Hi guys,

I have a new 3.06ghz MacBook Pro and yesterday I launched the game Halo on it to see what game pay was like. To my surprise the graphics quality was much worst that when I ran Halo on my old MacBook Pro 2.33Ghz.

It was all pixelated, choppy and lacked the detail I was used to. I tried switching between both 9400 and 9800 video cards, no different.

I'm wondering whether this is the Mac, or if it is Halo (v1.0.2). Does anyone know if the game is incompatible with the newer video cards shipping in the latest MBP's?

Otherwise it doesn't make any sense at all.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

[thatfilthyspringbok]

If you're talking the original Halo, it will not have been updated to take advantage of new Nvidia or ATI hardware. So if the 9400 and 9600 work differently to the hardware that it was designed on, you'll probably run into issues.

A better comparison test would be a current game, like WoW. I know it got a graphics overhaul as part of the latest expansion and it's designed to work well on as many graphics card types as possible (the more people that play it, the bigger their empire gets :P)

[Glyph]

I see. That makes sense. I couldn't imagine that the latest MBP from Apple would have such poor video performance.

I'll read up on it and see what the options are. I know it's a very old version of Halo and that I shouldn't be expecting to much from it.

Thanks for clarifying so quickly. This forum is full of really helpful people.

[SoVeReIgN]

Same size screen and resolution?

[Byrd]

Are you running the Intel binary of Halo - not the PPC one?

JB

[Glyph]

Not to sure. It says version 1.0.2. How do I check?

[~Coxy]

Get Info on the application and see if it says (Universal). If it says (PPC), update to the Universal Binary.

You should also check the screen resolution and graphic settings in-game. Make sure you're using the native res of your LCD screen and turn up the settings as high as they can go.

[gameon]

goto system preferences and into energy saver and at the top there should be an option for graphics

i cant remember the exact options but theres 2

1. better graphics performance
2. better battery

what this does is make the OS choose between the 9400m and 9600gt graphics cards

make sure you have better graphics performance ticked

[dche5390]

Even with the default 9400m, it would kick any GMA crap. The original halo was smooth as on my iBook 1.33 many years ago.

Halo is really dated. Awesome gameplay but graphically ancient. Even source engine looks amazing compared to Halo. You just can't compare say Crysis Ultra to Halo ...

Interesting that you get such a visual difference between two MBPs.

[~Coxy]

Originally Posted by dche5390

Even with the default 9400m, it would kick any GMA crap. The original halo was smooth as on my iBook 1.33 many years ago.

Halo is really dated. Awesome gameplay but graphically ancient. Even source engine looks amazing compared to Halo. You just can't compare say Crysis Ultra to Halo ...

Interesting that you get such a visual difference between two MBPs.

If his old MBP has a 8600m then using the 9400 would definitely be worse than it used to be. You're right though, Halo is an ancient game by now and should run perfectly on any current Mac.

[Glyph]

Ok latest update is that I installed Halo universal binary 2.0.3 and when set to the 9600 card on the MBP, the game appears to look like normal again. Thank god.

Setting it back to the 9400 made it lose quality again, which I am still surprised by but I guest it's due to the age/compatability of the game and not the Mac. However I'm going to do some real side by side comparisons on the weekend to see the actual difference.