Subnautica FPS is low :(

Cavy

Ok I have a late-2011 Macbook Pro with a 2.2GHZ intel core i7 processor and 16G memory, quad core.

I have 2 graphics cards. One is an Intel HD Graphics 3000 and the other is a AMD Radeon HD 6750M.

My FPS is on average around 20FPS. From other people I've seen playing theirs seem to be at 50FPS or more. Am I doing something wrong? I'm currently playing on Mid settings, but whenever I try to change them it goes down to 4FPS.

Does Subnautica not work very well on mac? Will this be improved? I don't know if my graphics are good or not, could someone tell me?

WarViper

Sounds about right for a system with those specs. You could turn down the graphical settings some more. What resolution are you running the game in?

crane476

The only thing you're doing wrong is expecting high frame rates on a 5 year old laptop with such a weak gpu.

Cavy

@crane476 - Are those graphic cards weak then? Sorry I really have no idea what is good and what is not. Kind of sucks that those graphics cards suck

buffalobills113

Time to upgrade the whole PC my friend. Good deals on amazon or newegg.com my 2 favorite places. Got my super PC from amazon on black Friday for 200$ added a $200 video card and runs anything u want on ultra settings. Best deal IV ever done.

Cavy

@buffalobills113 - This is a Macbook Pro, I don't think I can do the same thing

Racer1

You can do the same on a Mac - you just add an extra zero to the end.

crane476

A general rule is to never expect to do heavy gaming on a mac. Its just not happening. Macs don't have good gpus and they probably never will. You would have been fine before the H2.0 update but now you need a decent rig to handle the update to the lighting system. Not to mention the game is still in dev so low frame rates are to be expected. Even with my gtx 980 and i7 4790k I still drop down into the single digits sometimes.

yomama

And if you have to use a laptop because you travel, you should add at least 50% up to double the price depending on what you want to do. VR ready laptop is around 3k, vr desktop is under 2k.

Myrm

yomama wrote: »

And if you have to use a laptop because you travel, you should add at least 50% up to double the price depending on what you want to do. VR ready laptop is around 3k, vr desktop is under 2k.

Yep. I paid £2.5K for my VR ready laptop. Took me a while to save for it but it's awesome and just laughs at SN's spec requirements >.<

MrRoarke

Cavy wrote: »

@crane476 - Are those graphic cards weak then? Sorry I really have no idea what is good and what is not. Kind of sucks that those graphics cards suck

Hey man,

So, your first graphics card is the "on-board" GPU that lives on your laptop's motherboard. It's designed to handle normal-duty stuff like running the OS and surfing the web. The Radeon chipset is supposed to handle heavier graphics requirements like games, but, like the other dudes have said, graphics cards have progressed quite a long way since 2011, and yours is not likely up to the task of running a brand-new game who's graphics requirements are growing literally as we speak.

Your best bet with the computer you have is to turn the graphics down, sadly. There aren't many ways to make a computer perform out of its element.

I have always thought it was callous of forum posters to suggest you "simply" go drop upwards of $1k to buy a new rig that will handle running Subnautica. It's not like Black Friday is right around the corner, either.

A computer needs to meet your needs, and those are likely broader than simply playing an indev video game. If your Macbook otherwise meets your needs, then hang onto it until such time as you need to buy a new one.

The rest of their advise holds true, though. Macs have never been known for gaming, unfortunately, and they can't really be "built", as far as I understand it.
Expect to pay a $1k premium above what a new desktop would cost to get a laptop that will run a modern graphics-intensive game. The fact that everything in a laptop has to be smaller and run cooler means it costs more. Any retail computer with "gaming" in its title will also add $500 to $1k to the price.


If you have the time to save some money, and you're willing to learn a little bit and watch some YouTube how-to videos, then you can build a custom desktop that will scream for under $1k. You can fill it with heavy duty components, allow for exapandability, and stuff it full of cooling that will keep everything running great for a lot longer than a retail rig. That's what I did. With the proper education on the front end, putting it together was remarkably easy, and real satisfying.

I'm running an AMD FX 8-core processor at 4.0GHz, 8 GB of ram on a Gigabyte motherboard, with a Gigabyte Windforce graphics card with Radeon R9 graphics and 2 GB of ram, all inside a Fractal R4 case.

I didn't go top-of-the-line on anything, and got a really good, really reliable rig for about $800. You'll have to add a competent monitor to that, so figure you'll spend roughly $1k total for a package that would cost you over $1500 retail.

Check out pcpartpicker.com to start a build list, and watch some YouTubers like JayzTwoCents for some very good how-to videos and education on parts selection. I'm not a shill for either of them, it's just how I went, having never built a computer before, and I was really happy with the results.

But that's only if that sort of thing suits you. You do you.

J

yomama

I agree that the advice to go spend $ comes off as callous. HOWEVER if your pc will not run this game and running this game is important to you, you will have to do exactly that. Or decide that it's not such a priority.

I'm running Subnautica on a 3 year old $1200 laptop that has an integrated gpu. I hold my breath with every update and wonder if this is the one that makes the game stop working for me.

When that day comes I will have a decision to make.