Anyone on macOS Ventura and noticing frame rate drops for 3.5.x?

Ddwdwdwdw · Mar 16, 2023

I upgraded to macOS 13 Ventura and have noticed the frame rate on both editor previews and exported games dropping sporadically. These are 2D only and normally run at a solid 60 fps. But now they can go down to around 30 fps (just using sight and not any metrics).

I tried both 3.5.2 and 3.5.1 and can see from the debug monitors that the engine itself is outputting a steady 60 fps, so it leads me to believe there is something going on with macOS, perhaps a graphics API issue?

I am on an Intel Mac. Do any of you see this on Apple Silicon? When I went back down to Big Sur or Monterey, then I get 60 fps again.

TwistedTwigleg · Mar 16, 2023

Sounds like it might be graphics driver issues, but I am totally guessing. Maybe something with OpenGL changed between MacOS versions.

Godot 4.0 shouldn’t, in theory, have the same issue since it uses MoltenVK to translate Vulkan to Metal.

I don’t have a Mac though, so I can only speculate.

Mmrhamoom · Mar 23, 2023

Yup, I'm experiencing the same thing. I don't recall having so many performance issues before updating mac os.. I notice that even with vsync turned on the fps are double what they should be.

Not sure if its related to this:
https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues/56355

Ddwdwdwdw · Mar 24, 2023

I am using OpenGL and Apple has made it known that they have deprecated support for OpenGL since Mojave. For the most part, it hasn't had any impact... until now. So my guess is that the new Metal API that comes with Ventura broke something that the ANGLE translation layer for OpenGL uses. If one is cynical, one could also say that it's an Apple move to silently phase out older systems. They did fix this for Monterey, so maybe a fix for Ventura may come some day...

Just curious, are you on Apple Silicon or an Intel Mac? That adds another layer of complexity due to this transition period.

Mmrhamoom · Apr 12, 2023

I'm on apple silicon. I notice my intel computer was running at 120 fps as well though.. doing a better job of handling it though (maybe the gpu is better on an old macbook pro vs m1 air)

Ddwdwdwdw · Jun 14, 2023

I updated to 13.4 Ventura and it still did not fix this double frame rate issue. I have decided to continue with VSync on without forcing a 60fps target. I figured that while the 120fps makes the CPU load double, my 2D game still wouldn't see it go beyond 30% and the frame rate is stable on my 60Hz screen. Forcing a target fps actually made the frame drops happen. I can't understand why.

Of course, if you have a 3D game already pushing a heavy load, then this 120fps issue will likely see unavoidable frame drops.