Download Snow Leopard Graphics Update
Apple has released a Graphics Update for Snow Leopard, and this is particularly good news to Mac gamers. Remember those pesky Starcraft 2 crashes I wrote about two weeks ago? This update specifically addresses some of the problems with Starcraft 2 for Mac as well as other issues with Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Aperture 3.
If you are a Mac gamer it is highly recommended to install this update. You can download the graphics update through the Software Update control panel, accessed through the Apple menu.
Here are the release notes from Apple:
The Snow Leopard Graphics Update contains stability and performance fixes for graphics applications and games:
Addresses frame rate issues occurring in Portal and Team Fortress 2 by Valve, on iMac (Late 2009 and Mid 2010), Mac mini (Early 2009 and Mid 2010), Mac Pro (Early 2009), MacBook (Early 2009 and Mid 2010) and MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) or MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010) models.
Resolves an issue that could cause Aperture 3, or StarCraft II by Blizzard, to unexpectedly quit or become unresponsive.
Resolves an image corruption issue that may occur when disconnecting and reconnecting external displays while the system is running.
The hardware and software affected by this performance update are the following: MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009), MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010), MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010), iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009), Mac Pro (Early 2009), Mac mini (Early 2009), Mac OS X 10.6.4, Mac mini (Mid 2010), iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010), iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010), MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2010), Portal, StarCraft II, Team Fortress 2
Starcraft 2 loaded noticeably faster after the update. Once. Now it hangs on the login screen. Spinning beachball of death until reboot.
p.s. 1280*800 not 1280*1024 %)
Installed the update. Huge difference in frame rate in all Steam’s titles. Have a MacBook mid 2009. GeForce9400m
Half life 2, HL2 episode 1, Portal etc… All set to high except AA, AF set to 4x. Before update played without lags on 1024*768, now playing with same settings on 1280*1024 still without lags!
Starcraft II – no noticeable difference %( Waiting for an update from Blizzard? %)
I installed the update and I don’t notice any changes in Starcraft II or Team Fortress 2. Very disappointing, but I think this means that Apple has done their part and now it’s up to Blizzard and Valve to do their part and release patches for their poorly optimized software
[…] the problem and working on it – Update: some of the random crashes have been fixed with the Snow Leopard Graphics Update, it is highly recommended you install this […]