How to run KSP better on my Macbook Pro

[Wilbrick]

I got Kerbal a while ago off of Steam, and even though it works well (Smooth 30-60 fps), I find that whenever I even start building a rocket, my computer's fans start working overdrive, creating unpleasant whirring noises.

I have one theory, which is that I bought the game from Steam, so Steam must be on whenever I play. Is there any way to detach Kerbal from Steam, so I don't need to have it on all the time, sucking up RAM?

Other than that, I'm also willing to turn down the quality of the rendering, and other stuff, but I already have the graphics on quarter-resolution, and can only go down to eighth!

Is there anything more I can do?!?!?

Thanks!

-Wilbrick

[RexKramer]

Well, the tongue-in-cheek answer is that if you are playing KSP and you don't hear your fan running, you are about to have serious problems.

Seriously, I also run KSP on a fairly new MacBook Pro. The fan runs while playing KSP. I downloaded from the KSP store, not Steam, so Steam is not causing your fan to run- KSP is. As for running KSP without Steam, I'm certain you can do this even if you downloaded from Steam. As a non-Steam user, I can't help here, but have no doubt someone will answer this quickly.

I personally wouldn't be concerned about fan operation, it's simply your computer doing what it is supposed to, namely keep the circuits cool. Even if your fan dies, the MacBook (I'm assuming all modern computers also..) is smart enough to shut itself down if temperature goes above a set limit.

[Wallygator]

Same here. MacBook pro 15". Fans run at max with ksp regardless of graphics settings. So I set the graphics at slightly below max and just play untill the regular OSX crash to desktop occurs. I then don't restart till the fans shutdown completely.

Some people have suggested that running graphics intensive programs like ksp reduces the life of the GPU but I rather think it's more likely the fan life which will be affected.

[milter]

I'm running the game on a 13" macbook pro with i7 processor. My fans run all the time as well, but I suspect it is because the integrated graphics chip is working in overdrive:) I'm trying to find out if there are any recomended settings (resolutions, details etc.) for macbooks with integrated graphics. If you guys know of any, I'd be happy to get some more out of the game.

By the way just stared playing yesterday, and I'm really amazed with this game I forsee it will steal many hours from me in the near future!

[Wallygator]

Basically, on a MacBook, if you want your fans to not run, you have to set KSP to OFF. ;-)

Seriously, the fans will run like mad no matter what you do when you run KSP - always. I have started to use headphones - to seems to really help.

And welcome to the KSP experience - I can attest you will loose (use) many hours of your life (which you would have normally spent doing something useless anyway - at least you can really enjoy those hours now!)