Hardware Detection Wrong

[Podge]

I have a MacBook Pro 17” with a 3.06GHz CPU from mid 2009. This means two things: I am a cheapskate who doesn’t like buying anything new and also I have an NVIDIA 9600T GPU with 512Mb of VRAM. Universe Sandbox seems to work fine on the machine, albeit a little bit stilted sometime, but quite acceptable. However, when I start the simulation and it tries to profile my hardware it tells me I only have 256Mb of VRAM and I should get a new computer or a refund! Is it finally time to buy some new hardware or is this a bug? I was sort of attached to the old thing and they don’t do a 17” version any more!

[Podge]

This is worth remembering if anyone asks you. This particular line of MacBooks has two graphics adapters: A 256Mb and 512Mb one. Altering the setting described in the article fixes the issues and switches on the right adapter (even on wall power):

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201851

I am now off to play with my new toys now...

[Jar]

Thanks for the tip! Yeah, a 2009 laptop is reaching pretty far back into history in terms of computer time . But Universe Sandbox does do a pretty good job of running on a huge range of hardware. Generally speaking, that message on starting Universe Sandbox is just a warning, as you saw when it ran (relatively) fine.

As a heads up, we do raise our minimum and recommended requirements over time as we update Universe Sandbox to take advantage of newer technology. We try to offer a timeline of major releases, though, so if the day ever comes when it no longer runs on that hardware, you should still be able to access and run the last compatible version. 

Thanks again for the tip, we'll keep that in mind for any future users with the same issue!

[Podge]

Thanks Jar!

I have to say that running US2 even on this old crate of a machine shows an incredibly impressive piece of work and effort. I promise to upgrade to something with a higher specification as soon as funds permit.

Wishing you and all the others on the team every success.