Mac OS X vs. Windows 7 Performance

[JohnnyDNGRSLY]

Hi! First post.

Has anyone had experience with comparing KSP performance between similar (or identical) computers, running OS X and running Windows? I'm just curious because I can configure Boot Camp and install Windows 7 on my Mac if it'd see [markedly] better performance.

I understand both would only be running the 32-bit version…

I'm currently on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) with 2.4GHz Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz), 8 GB memory, and Intel Iris graphics. Playing the game at half-Retina resolution, 1280x800.

Thanks!

[Cydonian Monk]

Using the model of 13" MBP just before yours (non-Retina), I saw no _performance_ differences between running in Windows (via Boot Camp) vs running in OS-X. The issue I did see, however, is that KSP on OS-X will crash and spin the beach ball once it hits 3.2GBs of virtual RAM (which seems to happen anywhere between 2.2GBs-2.8GBs of Actual RAM). Windows can push that a bit further, and handles out-of-memory crashes a bit more gracefully. (Basically: Windows KSP crashes to desktop, OS-X forces me to kill -9 it.)

There's also the whole thing with KSP on OS-X being rather unstable and random since 0.24, to the point of being occasionally unplayable. And little nuances that just haven't been right for some time. Ex: I toyed with 1.0.4 a bit on OS-X last night and it would only recognize half of my mouse clicks in the VAB. Every other scene was fine, but the VAB was being wacko. Restarted and that issue went away.

YMMV. And it's probably downright nice on an OS-X machine with a real graphics card. Or maybe not.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Cydonian Monk

[Shawn28]

i have the exact same Mac KSP works amazing. i haven't installed Windows yet, but i do have Linux on Boot Camp and KSP works way better on OS X. the only thing i really don't like about playing KSP on OS X is the KSP + OS X instability issue, which is almost impossible to play with in OS X 10.10.3 :/ that issue isn't because of OS X, it's because KSP 1.0.x is made with Unity4; which is not compatible with OS X 10.10.3 :/ so when KSP updates to Unity5, it should work perfect on OS X (no promises, they might also finish KSP 1.1.0 when a new Unity/OS X version coms out :/ so you never know)

if you are patient, i think it will be better to just play KSP on OS X without shadows (fastest rendering quality); which fixes the KSP OS X instability issue, and wait for KSP 1.1.0. but having windows on a mac is pretty useful, so if your going to use it for other things too, then i think you should get it

-Shawn-

[JohnnyDNGRSLY]

…KSP on OS-X will crash and spin the beach ball once it hits 3.2GBs of virtual RAM… Windows can push that a bit further, and handles out-of-memory crashes a bit more gracefully. (Basically: Windows KSP crashes to desktop, OS-X forces me to kill -9 it.)

Thanks for this info. I've since tried using a completely "vanilla" KSP, which has been more reliable. But things certainly do get worse the longer I play.

I toyed with 1.0.4 a bit on OS-X last night and it would only recognize half of my mouse clicks in the VAB.

I've had that as well. I have "Tap to Click" turned on and get only intermittent success in some games. Absolutely no issues with clicking (or tapping) in the KSP front-end, though.

YMMV. And it's probably downright nice on an OS-X machine with a real graphics card. Or maybe not.

Ha! Nice. In Windows, I've actually been quite pleased with the performance I get with games like F1 2013 and Aerofly FS.

Anyone else willing to chime in on Mac vs. PC performance?

[selfish_meme]

It isn't stable for some people there is no overall bug. My macbook 2011 runs it perfectly and I can't even remember if I have had a crash to desktop, i run 10.10.3, even with mods (not visual ones or big parts packs). You may see an FPS increase because of using Directx 9 with Windows which seems faster than OpenGL

[ColourOfFire]

It isn't stable for some people there is no overall bug. My macbook 2011 runs it perfectly and I can't even remember if I have had a crash to desktop, i run 10.10.3, even with mods (not visual ones or big parts packs). You may see an FPS increase because of using Directx 9 with Windows which seems faster than OpenGL

Same here, no issues on a 2011 macbook pro.

My 0.25 did crash/glitch every once in a while, but that had a ridiculous amount of mods on it.

[322997am]

My terrible windows 7 runs KSP at 60fps no problem unless I do make a behemoth of a rocket which has 1200 parts and also x64 is only a few steps away from running on windows 7 so go windows 7 which is y I run win 7

Edited June 27, 2015 by 322997am

[Majorjim!]

My terrible windows 7 runs KSP at 60fps no problem unless I do make a behemoth of a rocket which has 1200 parts and also x64 is only a few steps away from running on windows 7 so go windows 7 which is y I run win 7

So a say 900 part ship runs at 60FPS for you?

[carlorizzante]

KSP 1.0.4 is finally stable on my Mac.

I dual boot OSX / Linux (Ubuntu), and on Linux is even stabler, but it has some issues with mouses and key shortcuts.

I've played KSP on Linux for a while, since the 1.0.2 was literally unplayable on my machine (MPB Retina early 2013, with 16 Gb ram).

However, on OSX KSP runs more smoothly than on Linux, 'cos drivers are better optimized. I'm so looking forward to be able to run KSP at 64 bits on Mac!

[ColourOfFire]

KSP 1.0.4 is finally stable on my Mac.

I dual boot OSX / Linux (Ubuntu), and on Linux is even stabler, but it has some issues with mouses and key shortcuts.

I've played KSP on Linux for a while, since the 1.0.2 was literally unplayable on my machine (MPB Retina early 2013, with 16 Gb ram).

However, on OSX KSP runs more smoothly than on Linux, 'cos drivers are better optimized. I'm so looking forward to be able to run KSP at 64 bits on Mac!

It's very weird that the newer macbooks seem to have more issues. Maybe it's because my old one can't handle fancy graphics anyway, so I turn them down quite a bit. Even mods don't hurt stability on mine, only several huge packs like KW Rocketry and B9 running together runs into problems.

[johnnyhandsome]

I play on an old 2009 Macbook running the lastest OSX and 2011 Windows 7 desktop. The Windows machine is faster, but seems to handle crashing much worse. The Mac has only 4 gigs of ram, but handles virtual memory so much better. Windows can be flaky, even though it has 8 gigs of ram.