Trying to get HD 4600 acceleration to work on Lenovo M93p tiny on Big Sur and OpenCore

[René Rhéaume]

Hello,

I installed macOS Big Sur 11.6.8 on a Lenovo Thinkcentre M93p Tiny (about the same physical size as a Mac Mini) having

• its stock Core i5-4570T CPU
• only Intel HD 4600 integrated graphics
  • in Firmware settings, minimum VRAM is set to 64MB and limit is set to Maximum. Also, VT-d is disabled.
• and 3 display outputs : VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort

For macOS installation, I used the Haswell Notebook (the Desktop variant crashes) EFI folder from this site for my installer USB key, then added the -igfxvesa boot-arg to its OpenCore config.plist . After installation, I was able to make it bootable without the USB key.

However, graphics acceleration is disabled, making  any software having Chromium-based code, such Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Visual Studio Code, unusable.

• On VGA, I am limited to a 1280x1024 resolution, and removing the -igfxvesa option changes nothing (same limitations as before, but no worsening)
  • About This Mac reports Intel HD 4600 Graphics with only 5 MB of VRAM
  • I read on other forums you must not use VGA output for this hardware on macOS. So I stopped using it.
• On HDMI, I can go up to 1920x1200 (yes, that's an older 27" 16:10 monitor), but still no acceleration
  • About This Mac reports Intel HD 4600 Graphics with 8 MB of VRAM
  • The above mentionned apps are still unusable.
• I have not tried DisplayPort yet as I must get a DisplayPort cable.

My questions are :

1. Can I get graphics acceleration with the HDMI output?
2. How do I enable graphics acceleration? No problem with purchasing a DisplayPort cable.

Thank you in advance.

[MaLd0n]

U can test little video patch with platform id 0300220D and device-id 12040000 

for example

Quote

<key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0)</key>
            <dict>
                <key>AAPL,ig-platform-id</key>
                <data>AwAiDQ==</data>
                <key>device-id</key>
                <data>EgQAAA==</data>
                <key>framebuffer-fbmem</key>
                <data>AAAAAw==</data>
                <key>framebuffer-patch-enable</key>
                <data>AQAAAA==</data>
                <key>framebuffer-stolenmem</key>
                <data>AAAABA==</data>
            </dict>

 

[René Rhéaume]

I tried the patch and I get the same result as before. That is, using the HDMI output.

Edited August 4, 2022 by René Rhéaume
Adding a precision

[MaLd0n]

Read in link bellow

https://github.com/acidanthera/WhateverGreen/blob/master/Manual/FAQ.IntelHD.en.md

[datafeedexpert]

On 8/4/2022 at 12:09 AM, René Rhéaume said:

Hello,

I installed macOS Big Sur 11.6.8 on a Lenovo Thinkcentre M93p Tiny (about the same physical size as a Mac Mini) having

• its stock Core i5-4570T CPU
• only Intel HD 4600 integrated graphics
  • in Firmware settings, minimum VRAM is set to 64MB and limit is set to Maximum. Also, VT-d is disabled.
• and 3 display outputs : VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort

For macOS installation, I used the Haswell Notebook (the Desktop variant crashes) EFI folder from this site for my installer USB key, then added the -igfxvesa boot-arg to its OpenCore config.plist . After installation, I was able to make it bootable without the USB key.

However, graphics acceleration is disabled, making  any software having Chromium-based code, such Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Visual Studio Code, unusable.

• On VGA, I am limited to a 1280x1024 resolution, and removing the -igfxvesa option changes nothing (same limitations as before, but no worsening)
  • About This Mac reports Intel HD 4600 Graphics with only 5 MB of VRAM
  • I read on other forums you must not use VGA output for this hardware on macOS. So I stopped using it.
• On HDMI, I can go up to 1920x1200 (yes, that's an older 27" 16:10 monitor), but still no acceleration
  • About This Mac reports Intel HD 4600 Graphics with 8 MB of VRAM
  • The above mentionned apps are still unusable.
• I have not tried DisplayPort yet as I must get a DisplayPort cable.

My questions are :

1. Can I get graphics acceleration with the HDMI output?
2. How do I enable graphics acceleration? No problem with purchasing a DisplayPort cable.

Thank you in advance.

Use this Properties for Your Display HD 4600

 

<key>PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x2,0x0)</key>

<dict>

<key>AAPL,ig-platform-id</key>

<data>AwAiDQ==</data>

<key>AAPL,slot-name</key>

<string>Internal@0,2,0</string>

<key>device-id</key>

<data>EgQAAA==</data>

<key>device_type</key>

<string>VGA compatible controller</string>

<key>enable-hdmi20</key>

<data>AQAAAA==</data>

<key>framebuffer-con0-enable</key>

<data>AQAAAA==</data>

<key>framebuffer-con0-type</key>

<data>AAgAAA==</data>

<key>framebuffer-con1-enable</key>

<data>AQAAAA==</data>

<key>framebuffer-con1-type</key>

<data>AAgAAA==</data>

<key>framebuffer-con2-enable</key>

<data>AQAAAA==</data>

<key>framebuffer-con2-type</key>

<data>AAgAAA==</data>

<key>framebuffer-fbmem</key>

<data>AACQAA==</data>

<key>framebuffer-patch-enable</key>

<data>AQAAAA==</data>

<key>framebuffer-stolenmem</key>

<data>AAAwAQ==</data>

<key>framebuffer-unifiedmem</key>

<data>AAAAgA==</data>

</dict>

[René Rhéaume]

1. Using a DisplayPort cable instead of an HDMI one changed nothing
2. Unfortunately, what datafeedexpert posted did not improve the situation.

Looking the WhateverGreen Intel FAQ, there is a line about STOLEN memory. Where and when this line is outputted to the console? I can't see it.

[René Rhéaume]

OK, the problem was I was editing the wrong config.plist, i.e. not the one effectively used by OpenCore. When I understood that, I simply had to change the platform ID in the config.plist file inside the hidden ESP partition that I mounted with ESP Mounter Pro.

Thanks nevertheless.