Minecraft – How to play Minecraft in retina resolution on a Macbook

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I was wondering if it was possible to play Minecraft in retina resolution on my Macbook Pro retina. The game seems to be a bit pixelated like some other applications do.

Best Answer

There are multiple ways you could play Minecraft in retina resolution.

OptiFine (Fullscreen only)

Using OptiFine you could play Minecraft in retina resolution by going to Options..., Video Settings..., Other... and set Fullscreen Mode: default to Fullscreen Mode: (Resolution of screen). This should be achieved by pressing the button once. Now set Fullscreen: OFF to Fullscreen: ON. Your Minecraft should now be in retina resolution if it's in fullscreen.

Custom resolution

An other option would be to change your resolution to the highest supported by the device. You can do this by downloading a 3th party application (I recommend Display Menu). Open this application and change your resolution to the highest resolution possible. To change it back, go to System Settings, and open Display and select default or any other resolution you want.

Note: All other programs get scaled down

Related Solutions

CounterStrike: Source stuttering on MacBook Pro

Remember to update both your game and graphics drivers to the latest version to check if this problem has been fixed, first.

There could be many reasons for this problem, namely

Overheating: Microstuttering is a very common symptom of overheating. Does the stutter happen as soon as he starts the game or after playing for sometime? Check the CPU and GPU temperatures before starting the game and after the stuttering starts and check how hot the system is running.

Configuration: Another solution you can try is one linked on the official Steam for MAC forums HERE

Edit or create autoexec.cfg located in users/your username/library/application support/steam/steamapps/your steam account name/counter-strike source/cstrike/cfg to match the following:

//_Set Netcode vars_
cl_cmdrate "66"
cl_interp "0.033" //try "0.0151515" if that is laggy for you.
cl_interp_ratio "1" 
cl_updaterate "66"
rate "25000" // you can try higher, I have mine set to 100000 (probably unnecessary but alwell it is smooth. )
fps_max "60"

Borderlands – Run Borderlands 2 at 2880×1800 on Retina MacBook Pro

It appears that Borderlands 2 can see only up to the current resolution. So if you have it set to the default, it can see up to 1440x900. If you go to the display preferences and set the resolution to "More space", it can see 2048/1280 (which is pretty close to full retina, and is easy to do).

To run at full resolution, download the Change Resolution app mentioned in Bora's answer. Then, change the resolution to 2800x1800. Then, start Borderlands 2. You will be able to set it to this resolution in the options.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to remember the setting. Furthermore, unless you have eagle eyes, you're probably going to want to move the resolution back down again when you are done. But changing the resolution tends to mess up your window sizes. There are tools that can help you with that, though, if it comes to be an issue.

A few caveats on running at full retina:

The game will be a bit choppy. You may need to actually pick one of the options below 2880x1800, just so it runs smoothly enough. Quitting all other programs and unplugging any external displays first can help. Also try adjusting some of the other video options. It will be even slower if you run multiplayer. Also, make sure your computer is plugged in, or else the video card and CPU will run at reduced capacity to try to save power. I personally just run at the default 1440x900 when playing multiplayer, as it's otherwise unplayable, but run retina when playing by myself, as it works reasonably well then.
The game literally thinks that you have a giant 2800x1800 monitor. So some things are going to be really small. In particular, the mouse and any caption text will be a quarter their usual size. This was also the case in Borderlands 1.
Certain game elements will not be retina. This applies in particular to the loading screens. It's not going to kill your game experience, but if you're going to show off the retina to your friends, do it with actual gameplay.
Like I said, it won't remember these settings. You have to change the resolution before you start Borderland 2 each time, and then go in and change the resolution.