[Man-Whore]

An understanding of my question is heavily dependent upon knowledge of the graphic enhancing .vp files available for FS2_Open found here.

Now for my question: Why can't my 2 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1GB RAM MacBook handle any of the media vps? I am running the latest Tiger build (just so ya know),  and the 3.6.9 build of FS2_Open (which is universal, for my intel needs), which, as far as I know, is the latest. I have no cranked up the resolution in the Launcher, and I have no put in additional mods. So why can't my uber sexy 'puter handle some pretty graphics? (By "not handle" I mean that it causes the game to lag to excess such that I must exit.)

Thanks in advance, but I'll be checking up on this for a while.

[jr2]

What's your graphics card?  Everything hinges on that... the rest of the system is fine.

[WMCoolmon]

I looked up on Wikipedia and it looks like the two most likely candidates are the GMA 950 (alternate review) and the X3100. Both are integrated graphics chipsets, and both don't score very well with games.

You should be able to run mv_core, though.

[Man-Whore]

What's your graphics card?  Everything hinges on that... the rest of the system is fine.

I'm GMA 950, which, as Coolmon said, is a good candidate.

[bizzybody]

There are external PCI Express boxes that connect to a laptop's ExpressCard slot. Unfortunately they're expensive and ExpressCard is only a x1 PCIe interface. The slots in the external boxes are x16 size but only have the single 'lane' connected.

The nifty? thing about PCIe is that all the cards are required to be able to run on 1 to the maximum number of lanes the card supports. You can plug smaller cards into larger slots but not larger cards into smaller slots. (If only they'd though about slots with an open end with reinforced buttresses on the outside at that end.) The downside of that is some motherboards have things like x4 slots that only have the connections for x2 speed.

So, if you're willing to spend the $$$, your MacBook Pro can have a GPU with the muscle to run this, but the x1 ExpressCard connection might still be too much of a bottleneck.

P.S. I'd like to see a double-wide ExpressCard connector and 54mm wide cards to use it. Should be able to fit x3 or x4 PCIe into it.

[Man-Whore]

There are external PCI Express boxes that connect to a laptop's ExpressCard slot. Unfortunately they're expensive and ExpressCard is only a x1 PCIe interface. The slots in the external boxes are x16 size but only have the single 'lane' connected.

The nifty? thing about PCIe is that all the cards are required to be able to run on 1 to the maximum number of lanes the card supports. You can plug smaller cards into larger slots but not larger cards into smaller slots. (If only they'd though about slots with an open end with reinforced buttresses on the outside at that end.) The downside of that is some motherboards have things like x4 slots that only have the connections for x2 speed.

So, if you're willing to spend the $$$, your MacBook Pro can have a GPU with the muscle to run this, but the x1 ExpressCard connection might still be too much of a bottleneck.

P.S. I'd like to see a double-wide ExpressCard connector and 54mm wide cards to use it. Should be able to fit x3 or x4 PCIe into it.

Mmkay, thanks everyone. I actually just now found the mv-710s which are not only transparent, but considerably less CPU intensive. I still can't run advanced effects, models, or shiny surfaces, but no surprises there. Everything else works super though; even with high resolution. (!)

Anyway, thanks again for the helpful knowledge.