Island Granville Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Ok Don't Laugh. My main SL rig is a late 2013 iMac. I have a first gen M1 laptop as well, but the onboard video is still sub-par, so I use the iMac exclusively for SL. It's solid, not exceptional, but there's part of me that loves how it powers through modern expectations, at its own pace, without complaint. Until this update, that is. This morning the new SL viewer installed itself as I was sipping the crema off an exquisite Americano. Updates take a while these days, and I'm happy to wait while my ageing iMac proudly reflects our parallel trajectory through time. Then LL failed us. Mac OS 10.13 is required for the new update, when they know full well that my sweet lifelong friend (ok decade long) caps out at 10.12... Why would they do this? So after 7 minutes of angst and another 3 minutes of searching, I spent 5 minutes downloading Firestorm. And I'm not sure why I never did this before. Maybe a longstanding false pride in SL purity kept me with the stock viewer? Old gear, old software? Maybe it wasn't broke, so I just didn't bother. But holy F**K I'm happy that this happened. The derender feature alone has allowed me to delete my massive and hideous neighbouring builds and restore my framerate - I can breathe again! Firestorm is awesome! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin Hird Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 MacOS 10.12 is ancient, and any machine that can run 10.12 can also run 10.13. The maximum system you can officially run on your iMac is macOS 10.15.7 (Catalina), so I suggest you upgrade your machine. You may even be able to go to Monterey by using https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/releases 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Island Granville Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 ah cool man, thanks, I'll try that. Honestly thought Sierra was the end of the road - software update stopped offering anything years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin Hird Posted July 12, 2023 Share Posted July 12, 2023 Check if you have turned off software updates for some reason. This support article tells you how to download High Sierra and never https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmeliaJ08 Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 (edited) The M1 GPU really can't keep up with the GTX775M 2GB in the 2013 iMac? I know M1 GPU performance is highly app dependent but I would have thought it would smoke the 2013 machine. Edited July 15, 2023 by AmeliaJ08 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beq Janus Posted July 19, 2023 Share Posted July 19, 2023 @Island Granville, firstly welcome to Firestorm; I am very pleased to hear that you are enjoying our viewer. I would advise you to follow Gavin's suggestions and do whatever you can to enable 10.13 updates. Gavin is very knowledgable (far more than I will ever be) on Mac stuff. Our (Firestorm) next release will also be moving to 10.13, the simple reason for this is that none of the build servers we have access to support anything below 10.13, and as such, we have had to move our minimum level up too. We will (as usual) have a 3-release policy where we will not block the current release until we have 3 newer ones. so you have probably a year or so left. In the past, we have also left a specific build available if it was "the last working build" for some given platform, but of course, with that accommodation, you do give up any hope of new features. I'm not sure whether we'll do that in this case (that decision comes from elsewhere) There are a lot of changes coming to SL, not least of which is improved graphical realism (known in the annoying techno-jargon that people seem determined to bamboozle users with as PBR - Physically based rendering); this is going to put a lot more demands on hardware and may well see the death of many older, less capable machines. If this does apply in your case, then, as noted in my previous paragraph, you'll get extended support in FS to a point, but there is a cut-off, so the more that people are aware and prepared less distressing this will be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Island Granville Posted July 20, 2023 Author Share Posted July 20, 2023 Update: I have successfully upgraded my OS to 10.13 and can run the default browser again. It's comfy to go back to - everything's in the right place - but I love my Firestorm environment now too, mostly because everything that bugs me has been permanently de-rendered and my frame rate is insane (for me). So I'm alternating between both now, depending on what I'm doing. @AmeliaJ08 Re: the M1 chip. SL default settings on both machines provide a similar framerate, with a marginal advantage to the older iMac, which had pretty great video for 2013 - that's why I bought it back then. But there's no doubt that the default settings on the M1 laptop provide a far superior visual experience in terms of rendering quality and realism. Like, gorgeously better. I just don't use the laptop unless I'm travelling due to the 13 inch screen - everything is too small, for me at least, and when I plug in my external monitor I get weird cursor glitching that makes camera control next to impossible. This week, since I AM travelling, I'll be looking into the particulars of the default video settings to see if I can improve the frame rate on the laptop. I'm certain that it will smoke the iMac without difficulty, but t's almost too pretty to mess with though. I'll also be putting Firestorm on the laptop so I can continue to obliterate offensive builds. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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