After a couple of support tickets, I have been asked to raise my concerns/feedback here…
I am NOT running the test client, basically because I’m not running a high enough system version to use it. And it is THIS that is my concern…
Will using the native Mac client, when it’s released, be mandatory, or will I still be able to run Eve under Wine?
I got a message yesterday when launching saying "We may … older … ". I run (happily) under 10.13.6 - if you make a system later than that a requirement for Eve, that’s my career in Eve over - the end - overnight. I can’t believe I’m the only person running a somewhat old OS.
o7
Filed a few bugs on initial settings default graphics.
Really need to integrate retina support better. Having to scale the UI and resolution independently makes a very jarring experience.
I have a scroll wheel on a dell mouse, and it’s a lot more (too) sensitive to changes when compared to the Wine client.
First time loading is a bit janky with getting a big black screen and a teeny scrolling circle on the bottom left.
cmd-tab-switching the fullscreen client to the Finder is a very bad idea. It makes the mac super sluggish and input very non-responsive. This doesn’t happen if the client is in windowed mode.
Overall, pretty happy though! The CPU load reduction is amazing, and everything is very pretty!
Was there an issue here when you did this or are you comparing to the Wine client?
yes, currently when macos switches the default audio device, that change isn’t reflected in game. for example if default device is internal speakers and i plug in headset - macos will set headset to be default, but the game continues playing sounds on internal speakers.
I know you got one reply to this: but in the macOS system settings > keyboard you can just make it do the F-keys always act like F-keys instead of the default Mac functions. If @CCP_Caffeine can figure out how to get the EVE Client to appear in the Applications (or as an Application somewhere we can find it) folder, you can also make it so that when the EVE client is running the system will automatically switch the keys to F-keys and back when not in the client. (This ability was added with the Touch Bar)
The default screen shot keys for a Mac are Shift+Command+3 (? Double check in the systems > keyboard > shortcuts).
BUT!!! You are still best to do the screen shots with the in-game F12 for bug reporting as this sends the screen shots to CCP - no need to upload them.
The eye candy was taken in window mode (which worked for first client) max settings. FPS monitor running and my menu bar shows CPU, GPU, memory %s. MBP was getting a little warm, but no where nears a warm as with wine client.
Window mode was possible, but with the first transition to window mode, the mouse pointer was not aligned right. Going slow and finding the point in which the window options would highlight, I was able to change the resolution and got the mouse point to hover correctly. I ended up finally dragging the window to a bigger res which the client kept.
Second client booted (probably where most of my heat was coming from), but the screen was massively over res. Trying to change the resolution did not work, but I was able to click the Green Apple button to full-screen the app which fix the screen resolution, but was unable to get it to go into window mode.
I will do more testing - video capture - and bug reports tonight/Soon™. Off to bed, as I need to go talk to a guy and a gal about buying a house…
Thanks. Although your reply leaves me somewhat confused.
I’m happy not to be running the test software, and to not have access to Sisi.
I’m also NOT asking for a 32-bit version - the OS has been 64-bit since 10.7 (I simply don’t understand the statement quoted above) - to be sure my 10.13.6 is 64 bit (“getconf LONG_BIT”)
I’ve read, and re-read this reply - the playtest ends on April 21st, that’s 5 days time - I don’t see any assurance that, on that day, my Eve days will not, in an instant, be over.
Sorry, macOS versions before 10.15 are not 32 bit. As a matter of fact 10.13 and up display a warning that 32 bit apps are going to be deprecated soon and please switch to 64 bit versions.
It’s okay to refuse to support older Mac OS versions for other reasons, but please don’t lie that it’s because of 32 bit vs 64 bit.
It would be nice to support 10.14 at least because it’s the last Mac OS version that does run 32 bit apps, and some people keep their machines on that to have access to older games that haven’t been updated.
After the Singularity playtest, the Singularity client will revert to WINE and will work for all currently supported versions of macOS. At no point in this test is the TQ server moving off WINE. That is projected to happen at some unknown future date when the MacOS native client is completed- but may also come with expanded support for MacOS versions before 10.15.
This is not a beta or pre-release test, it’s a fact- and bug-finding mission for a relatively early-stage version of the native client. CCP needs more users and more computer configurations to see where they have gaps.
Hi. The Native Mac Client will not be reaching Tranquility in 5 days time. This is a time-limited test for Singularity only.
We have no dates, even internally, of when we will launch the Native Mac Client. There is a significant amount of data we need to go through from this test and defects we need to investigate.
A date will be communicated in advance of the Native Mac Client being released on Tranquillity.
First time trying the singularity server, so not sure what to expect.
Model Name MacBook Pro
Model Identifier MacBookPro11,3
Processor Name Quad-Core Intel Core i7|
Processor Speed 2.3 GHz|
Number of Processors 1
Total Number of Cores 4
L2 Cache (per Core) 256 KB|
L3 Cache 6 MB
Hyper-Threading Technology Enabled
Memory 16 GB
Software version: Catalina 10.15.7
Wine client works very well in Tranquility.
The native client so far makes my system run extremely slow. It look a number of tries getting in to get anything besides a black screen (although the sound was great).
When I did get in I ended up with screens like this:
Chipset Model: Apple M1
Type: GPU
Bus: Built-In
Total Number of Cores: 8
Vendor: Apple (0x106b)
Metal Family: Supported, Metal GPUFamily Apple 7
Displays:
Thunderbolt Display:
Resolution: 2560x1440 (QHD/WQHD - Wide Quad High Definition)
UI Looks like: 2560 x 1440 @ 60.00Hz
Ok let me post a positive post too… i played this on my 2018 intel mac mini running Big Sur with zero problems and half the cpu usage vs the Wine version. Lowest end CPU too. All details on low except postprocessing on medium.
I should elaborate on this as it’s not really a ‘can only play on full screen’ issue. I should say that the choices are only ‘Play in full screen’ or “play in window”. On the current production Tranquility server I typically play in a “windowed full screen” on a second desktop. I can swipe to one side or another to access another desktop . I can also mouse to the upper left corner and reduce, minimize or maximize the window at will out of full screen mode into a smaller window.
On the current Singularity build, if I start in a window and go to full screen, I have to ESC into settings in order to come out of full screen. I’m not entering a “Windowed full screen” configuration. I am only entering “Full Screen”. It’s a small distinction, but it is an ability that I have no Tranquility that I do not have on Singularity and was something I noticed.
DoD seems to have skipped some things, I still got short delays and temporary low-poly models when undocking. Nothing too bad though.
Player and NPC portraits don’t seem to load?
The mouse scroll button is rather sensitive — zooming in and out is basically toggling between “a galaxy far, far away” or “right up your ass” (mouse: Logitech MX Master 2S)
confirming the “client closed unexpectedly” error upon quitting, just for the record.
I then took a few combat trips with different settings. (All PvE, didn’t run into other players)
Trip 1: Full Monty
All graphics settings maxed out. This is far from optimal on such old hardware, so I never expected top (or even good) performance. But the framerate was still pretty decent. Warping, gate animations etc were still much smoother than under WINE. But…
Any sort of “fog” effect, like in an asteroid belt or some combat anomalies, will bring the framerate crashing down into the single digits. Still playable against predictable NPCs, but only barely.
This also caused significant rendering artifacts, as already described by other players — flicker of lighting effects on asteroids, and seemingly random colored planes flashing over the skybox background.
At this setting the Mac client is an even bigger system resource hog than WINE. Since the effect is less pronounced when playing on lower graphics settings, that may to some extent be caused by my own setup though.
Trip 2: Going Potato
All graphics settings to minimum. Looks like Lego, runs smooth as silk. Framerate through the roof, no rendering errors of any kind.
Trip 3: Low to medium settings
Looks better (what can I say, I’m a sucker for eye candy), still very smooth.
Trip 4: Medium to high settings
Computer starts to struggle, especially in combat. Still slightly better than under WINE though.
Still no repeat of the first trip’s rendering artifacts.
One last test flight with shader ramped back up to maximum confirmed that this is what causes me problems, especially in sites with cloud effects.
I’m not too worried about the framerate drops — I suspect that’s mostly my old hardware straining to keep up. Those rendering artifacts OTOH need some looking into.
On the positive side: even on medium settings the Mac client does show effects that WINE would never render, like the moving “ship lights” in and around stations.
I forgot to try Mac shortcuts – having to switch between Cmd- and Ctrl- when copy-pasting between the WINE client and f.e. evepraisal.com was always a pain. Will try this next time.
All in all, this is still very promising, especially for a first test.
After a few more tries I was able to get my client working.
After I was able to get the settings to come up, I found that the default video settings was with all settings put at the highest level. I went and changed the settings to favor performance. Once I did that, the game was very playable, but rather mundane. I did more tweaking and got it to look a lot better. I did not try to optimize yet.
What I would suggest is that for macs you offer, (before going into the game if possible) a selector for the model of mac that they have. While this is not possible for PCs due to the variety of options, with a Mac, the choices are much more standard. I am sure the community would pitch in top provide optimal settings for the various models out there.
