ValveSoftware
MacOS issue - mini spikes whenever loading any new shaders (?) in-game
Your system information
- System information from steam (
Steam->Help->System Information) in a gist: Any MacOS device really - but tested and confirmed on both Intel and M2/M3 Macbook Pros - Have you checked for system updates?: [Yes/No] Yes
- Are you using the latest stable video driver available for your system? [Yes/No] Yes
- Have you verified the game files?: [Yes/No] Yes
Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:
When playing the game, it seems that whenever the player sees some in-game shader for the first time, the game stutters. It can range from mild (5-10 ms) to severe (200ms+). It's really obvious at the start of the game, because as players cast their spells for the first time, it has to load it. It becomes less apparent later in the game as most things have already been used. (Unless players are using newly bought items or found neutral items that have some animation).
Workaround for the loading thing: At the beginning of the match, move the minimap around to "see" everything on the screen and pre-load all the things, so they don't lag you when pulling it into the screen for the first time later in the game at a critical moment.
Steps for reproducing this issue:
- Start a game
- Have other players move into your screen or cast spells, basically just introduce the camera to things it has not seen that game so far. OR - move your camera around the map to areas it hasn't seen yet.
- Game will stutter.
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWDAAh6IREA
This video demos the issue at around 2:00 (not my video) but interesting that he has the same issue - so I'm guessing it's just a MacOS thing that has to do with not pre-loading or caching certain things in-game? Unsure.
Let me know if I can provide any more details!
Can confirm I see the same behavior on M3 MBP and M1 MBP.
It seems to get better over time and only happen for new spells/effects, so my guess was also shader compilation
Same on Intel i9 + Radeon 5500M MBP. In bootcamp everything works fine on ultra settings even from an external USB drive.
same here. freshly installed dota2. only option turned on in video settings is precompiled shaders. without it it works just fine.
if I remember correctly there used to be an option (from outside the game) to do exactly that, so it doesn't have to be done while playing. anyway it's a really bad player experience with mini lags (2-3 seconds) with every new spell being used that hasn't compiled yet.
specs: Apple M1 Pro 14.6.1, 16 cores GPU, 32gb
The issue still persists on Apple Silicon. Has anyone found a workaround in the past 2-3 years?
Same issue report here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Dota2-Gameplay/issues/1181
Probably won't be fixed anytime soon, so gotta buy pc and run omarchy for dota 2 😄
the only thing i can recommend is to watch a few spactator games with different heroes so most shaders will be compiled ¯\(ツ)/¯. you only have to do it once
Update: I might have resolved this issue but I can't confirm without reproducing the issue on another machine and trying out the fix. In Dota 2 graphics settings, select "Use advanced settings" and uncheck all options except "Compute shaders". I additionally set Texture and Effects quality to Low and Shadow Quality to Off.
I'm not sure which specific settings are mitigating the issue -- or if the issue was actually resolved because I've played enough games to compile all shaders over time. But, I'm assuming that's not the case because I've uninstalled and reinstalled Dota a few times and the spikes haven't appeared even on a fresh install... and AFAIK, the cache is cleaned when a game is uninstalled on Steam.
Specs: M1 Pro 2021, macOS Sequoia 15.7.1 (24G231)
I've tried the updated tip above
For me it was a lil bit better this time the amount of stutters went down, but still playin' on MacOS is far from comfortable. Or maybe my M1 Pro based model is not suitable enough...
M1 Pro / 16 GB Ram / 15.5 (24F74) Sequia