Playing on a laptop? Integrated Graphics Card Magicka F.A.Q.

[PS_]

FC360
Magicka graphics is listed as "Required: GeForce 8800 / ATI X1900"
That is far above any Intel solution. And the Mobility Radeon HD 5470 in your laptop is actually less powerful then a Intel Core i5 solution. You are quite mistaken about the: so it's above the minimum specs .

It doesn't even make the same page. listing graphic cards. Look for yourself, list including GeForce 8800. Scoring 312, here is your 5470, roughly about 35% of the 8800.

I'm not trying to be rude, just making you realise your a bit over optimistic about the power in your 5470.

If you don't already, try using triple buffering. That should enable you to gain a few frames. Like this.

[jfunk825]

Originally Posted by FC360

Well this explains the lag I'm getting on my laptop which is silly as my laptop is above the minimum requirements and can play games that require a more powerful computer then Magicka. When the game says IGP what exactly does that mean? I have a laptop which has 2 graphics cards, 1 is the graphics on the intel cpu and the other is a dedicated ATI card. Now Magicka seems to struggle on the ATI card which is a Radeon HD 5470 so it's above the minimum specs which is a little confusing. Running the game on full screen gives me 20-30fps while running in lowest res on window mode only gives me 40 fps, SC2 gives me 100fps, borderlands gives me 60fps, minecraft gives me over 60fps, in fact most of my games give me way more FPS then Magicka can on the same card. I'm just baffled by the choice they made, It's even more baffling if you think about what type of gaming ppl are moving to now, casual gaming on mobile devices. These tablets and phones use IGP graphics, although sure some have dedicated but this means Magicka will never be able to be played on these devices which is just sad

Your 5470 is not an IGP, it's a discrete graphics card (the Intel is an IGP). They made this distinction with this thread due to the oddly large number of people with IGP's that chose to purchase this game despite their computer not meeting the minimum system requirements. There's nothing inherent about IGPs that make them not work with the game other than their generally terrible performance levels.

That being said, your discrete 5470 GPU does NOT meet the minimum system requirements. Not even close. The 8800GT listed is a vastly superior part in terms of performance, even though your Radeon is much newer. Newer does NOT equal faster. For general reference, your 5470 has performance about on par with a GeForce 6800 which was a good gaming card when it was released in 2004.

The games you list have very low system requirements. There are many games out that need more power than your 5470, and many more will follow. System requirements tend to go up over time, not down. While many games will be developed for mobile platforms, Magicka isn't one of them. It's designed to run on relatively modern graphics processors. You don't have to spend a lot of money to be able to play Magicka, but you likely have to have deliberately shopped for something that's purpose is playing games.

[cocossette]

Wow so pretty much your saying that you rather sell then make the game fun and playable for evryone ?you guys are thiefs.i feel dumb for trusting your team , i should have payd more attention and did more research on this game before buying it . but then again you guys dont really say (this game does not work on normal laptops , only the expensive new ones )do you ?You guys are lazy and a bunch of thiefs i hope your reading this!

[JTisTrue]

If The demo runs on my HP Pavillion g6 laptop (it does, my g6 is the 1d38dx model) can I run the full version? Can I run all the expansions? I was going to start buying them until I saw this post. oh and can someone please tell me how to read system requirements info? when i se "NVIDIA® GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon® X1900" it is Greek to me.

[PS_]

Originally Posted by JTisTrue

If The demo runs on my HP Pavillion g6 laptop (it does, my g6 is the 1d38dx model) can I run the full version? Can I run all the expansions? I was going to start buying them until I saw this post. oh and can someone please tell me how to read system requirements info? when i se "NVIDIA® GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon® X1900" it is Greek to me.

Is that a laptop with a Intel® Core™ i3 processor, and no dedicated graphics?
Like (exactly) this one ? http://laptopspec.wikispaces.com/HP+Pavilion+g6-1d38dx

Then Nooo! Do NOT buy Magicka if you plan to use that g6.
Magicka might run. But there's a very high risk you will get the "All grey//All blue Intel syndrome". Like: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...light=friendly

To be absolutely certain what you have inside your g6. Run a DXdiag and post the part below:
--------------
System Devices
--------------
Like this: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...66&postcount=6

[Hexatona]

With the latest Steam sales, undoubtedly many were caught unawares of the integrated card issues - perhaps this will motivate the staff to focus on optimizing their engine?

[iNouda]

Those complaining about the game not working for their budget laptops are seriously messed up in the head.

IGPs are Integrated Graphics Processors. They're built in graphic cards that aren't much good at serious gaming and you won't be able to run the newer games with it. You probably would be able to run games from 5-10 years back but a lot of the more intensive games need at least a dedicated graphics card such as the GT540M. Think of dedicated as specialist graphics card and integrated graphics cards as the ♥♥♥♥tier jack of all trades but master of none.

It's amazing how many people are so clueless about all this. If you were buying a car, and you were going to take a loan, wouldn't you MAKE SURE you can pay the loan and interest? It's the same concept. If you want to play this game, check out the SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS or at least DOWNLOAD THE DEMO to see if it works. It's common sense (which a lot of people here are apparently short on).

You would have thought that with the almighty Google around people would actually be trying to figure that out instead of buying impulsively. It's your own fault for it not being able to run. They've clearly stated the requirements. If you've conveniently chosen to ignore it, it's not their problem, it's yours.

I bought my laptop for gaming and I was basically clueless about all the different specs (RAM/Graphics Cards, Processors...etc) but I did weeks of research on the various brands and laptops in a dozen different stores (and online) before finding the best value for my money ($650). If people did at least as much research as I did, there wouldn't be this many issues.

[Hexatona]

I think the issue is that many laptops with integrated cards actually do pretty alright for gaming, (the faq mentions people being able to run games like crysis), and so it just comes as a surprise when a game like this one offers trouble. It's true people should do research, and verify minimum requirements, but you can at least appreciate where the afflicted are coming from.

[MEITTI]

hardware-noob here. So I bought Magicka from Steam for LANning purposes. Game runs otherwise great, but it overheats my laptop like crazy, forcing it to shut itself after half an hour of gaming. I think this was a bummer, because what I managed to play was some of the funniest LAN gaming time I've had for years. Its really a shame if cannot play it just because it decides to make my laptop melt. Checked the temps with HWMonitor, and just before the laptop shut down, the temperature had crept up to 90 celsius, even with the cooling pad below! I didn't really expect a technical issue like that from a game which looks like a neat minigame, and which runs otherwise fine with maxed settings.


Anyway, the question is whether theres any workaround on the issue, if theres say some sort of visual setting, DX-mode, or anything that might be causing it, something that I could switch off, or tweak. I don't mind lowering graphics options (as long as it doesn't factor into the gameplay itself), since I'm not a candy-eye. I'd really like to get this working properly, I really liked the multiplayer gameplay a lot.

[PS_]

MEITTI
There is the option of using triple buffering and also setting Vsync ON. ( Like this) Will take some strain of your graphics.

Maybe reducing resolution, if possible.

Also, on some systems Magicka seam to run a lot smoother windowed. If that really helps, there is also an option for removing borders around the window. Like item [12] in this post.

[MEITTI]

Sadly, I have to inform that none of those workarounds fixed the problem. Its a shame, because otherwise the game runs very smoothly. I guess Magicka's staff can add ATI mobility Radeon HD 4650 to the known overheating graphic cards list. I just wonder what is it exactly in that game that overheats my computer so badly.

[PS_]

I'd say .NET/XNA combined with using shader 3 and not being able to optimise the game with such a base to work with.

To bad. Does your fan speed up properly. From what I've read, no personal experience, on some ATI cards the fan speed control is a bit unresponsive related to how warm it gets. Also, check so it's fairly dust free. But your 4650 is between 1/2 - 2/3 of the power in a discrete 8800 // X1900. ( The required ) So naturally the 4650 will struggle.

Just for testing you could try the "extreme low" resolution. ( Item [14] ) But I'm not sure how much less a job that's for the GPU.

[Glov]

Hello guys,

Soon I'll be moving to another country and I'll abandon my desktop in favour of a notebook. Since this is a 2011 thread, I have to ask:

How is Magicka in terms of notebook support right now? I plan on getting this notebook, hopefully it runs magicka:
http://usa.asus.com/Notebooks/Multim...specifications

[jfunk825]

Originally Posted by Glov

Hello guys,

Soon I'll be moving to another country and I'll abandon my desktop in favour of a notebook. Since this is a 2011 thread, I have to ask:

How is Magicka in terms of notebook support right now? I plan on getting this notebook, hopefully it runs magicka:
http://usa.asus.com/Notebooks/Multim...specifications

Magicka works perfectly fine on laptop computers that meet the minimum system requirements. There is nothing at all inherent about laptops that cause a problem.

If you purchase a laptop with a GPU that supports SM3 and has a relative performance level at or above that of an 8800GT, it will work fine.

edit: the 650M in that laptop should play Magicka. It would be better if they had used the GDDR5 memory instead of GDDR3, as that will be a bottleneck is some situations, but regardless it should be fine for Magicka (and most other current games).

[PS_]

Glov
I totally agree with jfunk825. The 650M is no extreme card, but should do just fine for Magicka.

Just remember, when you move to a laptop:

Originally Posted by PS_

The first thing to do is to make a graphic profile for Magicka.exe to MAKE SURE the game actually use your nVidia graphics. Like this.

Having that done, for Magicka tweak a bit using triple buffering and set Vsync ON. Like this.

After that, realise the required average GeForce 8800 is a pretty powerful card. Keep settings according to your cards actual power.