Post by soooch in How do I switch to the Metal rendering API

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Resolution: 2560x1600 \| GPU: Iris Plus 655 \| Settings: Maxed	OpenGL (fps)	Metal (fps)
On Fishing Ship + No Pixelation + vsync	~35	~52
On Fishing Ship + No Pixelation + no vsync	~50	~52*
On Fishing Ship + Default Pixelation + no vsync	~180	~100*
Clump of Trees near Debt Guy + No Pixelation + vsync	40-49	~53
Clump of Trees near Debt Guy + No Pixelation + no vsync	50	~54*
Clump of Trees near Debt Guy + Default Pixelation + no vsync	~130	~120

*There was some really weird judder for these Metal results, it felt like it was running slower than real time

Really weird results actually. I only did the first test earlier, which lead me to believe Metal was strictly superior, however OpenGL performs pretty well in some situations, which is odd given how poorly supported it is on macOS. In particular, without vsync on, the Metal implementation was practically unplayable. Additionally, OpenGL seemed to benefit significantly more from pixelation.

Also, after doing some testing with the Intel Power Gadget, there is no appreciable difference in power consumption for the two runtimes. One actual difference is the color management (or lack thereof in OpenGL's case). The Metal version of the game targets sRGB, but the OpenGL version just outputs to the Mac's native gamut.

OpenGL outputs to the native gamut

OpenGL outputs to native gamut

Metal outputs to sRGB

These images may appear the same if viewed on a noncolormanaged OS or on a sRGB monitor. Basically the OpenGL version is much more saturated than the Metal version, and perhaps not the best representation of your artistic intent?

soooch4 years ago

I've updated the results after the recent update, and the numbers are now very different. Metal now performs significantly better*, with up to 30% higher framerates. Additionally, the Metal version no longer had judder issues at 60fps, though it did have some issues at 30fps.

Unfortunately, OpenGL seems to have regressed. Framerates slightly below 60 are completely unplayable. If the framerate is at 58, for example, it's necessary to lock fps to 30 for the game to stay responsive.

*Sometimes the Metal version gets stuck in a weird state where it can't get above 80fps. This can be solved by going into the settings and toggling between different pixelation options.

Resolution: 2560x1600 \| GPU: Iris Plus 655 \| Settings: Perfect	OpenGL (fps)	Metal (fps)
On Fishing Ship + No Pixelation + vsync	~57	60
On Fishing Ship + No Pixelation + no vsync	57	~65
On Fishing Ship + Default Pixelation + no vsync	~230	~300
Clump of Trees near Debt Guy + No Pixelation + vsync	~57	60
Clump of Trees near Debt Guy + No Pixelation + no vsync	57	~60
Clump of Trees near Debt Guy + Default Pixelation + no vsync	~200	~250

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