Unexpected crashing while in game

FierceSam

protofeckless wrote: »

Yesterday: I got 2 hours of gameplay without a crash. Doing writs, the event dailies, and some skill point grinding.
Today: First crash after ~2.5 hours. Same content as above. Lots of zoning. Second crash after 3-3.5 hours grinding psijic and skill points (lots of zoning).

So there seems to be some progress this patch. I'm almost confident to run a trial if my guildies allow me to relaunch right before starting. But there's still lots to fix. It aint working yet. A night of PvP on a pop-locked server? Yah no joy.

Still have the issue of the game crashing on quit. Every time. Infinite spinner. Have to force quit.

Looking back at update 4.2.11:
"Mac Game Client
Fixed an issue where visuals would randomly flicker when moving around the world.
- Not sure what this means, but if it's erratic fps, then NOPE
Fixed an issue that would cause Mac clients to crash when quitting the game.
- Nope. Never fixed.
Fixed an issue where the Mac client would consistently restart in windowed fullscreen, even after changing it to fullscreen mode.
- I don't play fullscreen mode 'cause this game is the only app ever to lock MacOS (not crash, not kernel panic, not process dump - just lock the whole damn box into frozen state - after playing in full screen. Didn't even think this was possible on MacOS. Will never do fullscreen mode again. That said, every launch starts in a low rez / small windowed screen regardless and needs to be resized manually. I don't think it's relaunched into it's previous state once since Murkmire.
Fixed an issue where Command+Tab wasn’t working while in fullscreen mode.
- Nope. Well IDK, define "working". I can Command+Tab to put the game in the background, but that = death for this game. If I put it in the background and bring it forward again, no keyboard input is recognized by the game. Other open apps function normally. This game however, dies. I can't recall if this behavior started with Murkmire, but I think it goes back longer than that even. By my definition, Command+Tab doesn't work in any view.

In summary, the evidence doesn't suggest any of the reported fix code in 4.2.11 actually made it into that patch.

Hey Protofeckless

Re a couple of the issues you outline above

Mac game client visuals
I’m guessing that fortunately you didn’t experience these, because they were massive video tearing of backgrounds. It was nasty. But it does seem to have been fixed.

The crashing issue on quit (where you you quit and the game would quit but give you a crash report) has been upgraded to the black screen of death. Neither of these is game killing as they only happen when you actually want to quit and are easily kludged around, but they are significant in that they highlight an inability to properly code for the Mac.

Glad you almost feel confident enough to go trialling, I went through 3 dungeons with my guildies without crashing yesterday for the first time since November, so I’d say go for it.

Cautiously positive about this update, although more work is required.

Ruenn

I have only crashed once since the update, so overall seems to be better. Thank you to all for the support on this thread!! Thanks to ZOS for getting the issue mostly resolved! I hope you continue to work toward better performance on Macs.

coulterk

I have found the crash happens less - in fact I have only had some DC's when in Cyrodiil which seems different. So I have not had a crash really.

I have seen an increase in stuttering, lack of response when fighting, when traveling the time it takes to settle and be able to move is not as good - and at times causes a death where it would not happen before. I have seen this in both Cyrodiil and in dungeons.

So it has made the game playable for me again at last, but I think there are still issues to resolve before it is back to what we had last year.

FierceSam

One workweek on from the last update my experience is exactly the same as Coulterk's

The crash issue has not been sorted, rather the time between crashes has merely been extended. So while this issue might appear solved if they, say, doubled the integer/time delay related to this, it clearly does not address the underlying cause.

I've been able to actually run dungeons and do pledges, but the game still crashes at a random point during gameplay.

FPS wise, there seems to have been a minor increase in FPS. However, getting across Alinor still reduces my FPS to low single digits. And there is still a lot of stuttering and lag. Both of these are annoying but not game breakers for me.

More significantly, the latest update seems to have introduced a significant increase in delay in firing skills. This is intermittent, but is more likely to happen the more action is taking place. I have not had this issue prior to the .13 (Feb 11 update). Now I find there can be a long delay between keypress and action. This IS gamebreaking, but clearly not as gamebreaking as the constant crashing was.

Ticket #190215-002002

FierceSam

Crashed again.

But only after running through a whole set of pledges, one SO trial, and two Cloudrest trials. Haven't played so much with my guildies in ages. So a massive improvement on where things were a week ago.

Still, it's a crash. Have a ticket

Ticket #190216-003308

FierceSam

in vet Bloodroot Forge.

Then on my desktop

Not optimal, but it was vBF and we were in there for quite a bit....

Ticket #190217-002702

FierceSam

Just bimbling in Murkers

Still, got a couple of hours in before everything collapsed.

have another ticket

Ticket #190218-002044

vgabor

Just got a new type of crash... Started game, logged in, select character and booom, game crashed during the character load while there's obviously is no UI at all just a loading screen... yep, with zero game time... sigh...

FierceSam

Seems to be a bit of variation in terms of uptime.

Yesterday was great (only crashed the once - amazing how that counts as great eh)

Today 50 minutes in doing rotations on my dummy.

Still a lot of work to be done before this qualifies as fixed

Ticket #190220-001747

FierceSam

Still crashing intermittently. There seems to be no pattern. Sometimes the uptime will be long enough to enable you to do pretty much everything you want, sometimes it's 20 minutes.

This time it was 20 - 30 minutes

Ticket #190220-003711

ErinSparkblade

I haven’t crashed since the last update. The only major thing I’ve noticed that’s different is that you have to get a lot closer to stuff before it’s rendered properly. My guess is the client was writing cheques that a lot of Mac cards couldn’t cash, and they’ve reduced the render range to fix that.

@FierceSam , I don’t know what your settings are, card etc, but have you tried dialing down the settings, especially any render ones, and seeing if things are more stable?

For the record, I’m on medium settings with an M380 2GB card - occasionally choppy, but not insta-crashing.

Wodinn

My fps and ping are still VERY inconsistent and I get regular screen freezes. I still have to force quit the game every time as it hangs up on quitting. However I have not had nearly as much game crashing as FierceSam, luckily. But it's far from perfect.

Mophet

ErinSparkblade wrote: »

I haven’t crashed since the last update. The only major thing I’ve noticed that’s different is that you have to get a lot closer to stuff before it’s rendered properly. My guess is the client was writing cheques that a lot of Mac cards couldn’t cash, and they’ve reduced the render range to fix that.

@FierceSam , I don’t know what your settings are, card etc, but have you tried dialing down the settings, especially any render ones, and seeing if things are more stable?

For the record, I’m on medium settings with an M380 2GB card - occasionally choppy, but not insta-crashing.

I still crash every 2hrs ish but I don't think the slow rendering of the game is just graphic card problems as Ive got a Radeon Pro 580 8 GB and get it a lot. Even 3-5 second game freezes while in Cyrodiil. Its worse on the first approach to certain areas but its certainly got me killed a few times.

FierceSam

Wrathstone update

Still haven't fixed that 'Mac crashes when playing the game for a long time' bug

Although the long time is a number of hours. I did the whole of Depths of Malatar vet, which took a very long time (and is brutal).

Still, a crash is a crash, so have another ticket

Ticket #190225-002727

Viscous119

Everything was working well, now it has started crashing once again. Sad..truly sad. The developers are clueless.

demerdecanswrath

Literally crashing on the first two minutes of gameplay. I wrote a ticket but a) No submit button found, b) Won't let me upload any kind of file (says it's unsupported, even if it's a simple txt)

At this point feels like being in an abusive relationship with ZoS.

I've been rooting for the devs from the start of this fiasco, now I'm just wondering if all this is even legal at this point..

Ruenn

I have been relatively stable since last update, then 3 crashes today.

Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?

FierceSam

Just when you think it's safe to get back in the water.....

Slaughterfish

Another random crash in Alinor (which sounds disturbingly like a Sven Vath album)

Have a ticket

Ticket #190301-001163

FierceSam

And again.

This time I got less than 10 minutes. Another random crash - this time in Clockwork City

Pinch and a punch and a kick in the nuts for the first of the month

Have another one

Ticket #190301-001190

otab

I wanted to chime in here and say that, unlike the unfortunate experience @FierceSam has had, I've only experienced one crash in the past month on my 2018 MacBook Pro.

So, there is definitely progress, at least for some subset of the mac userbase.

@FierceSam, I hear your frustration, amigo. Sorry your experience is not improving

FierceSam

otab wrote: »

@FierceSam, I hear your frustration, amigo. Sorry your experience is not improving

Thanks for the support Otab.

I have to say my experience HAS improved massively over the last couple of weeks. Instead of randomly crashing every 20 - 30 minutes, which fundamentally ruled out any cooperative/guild activity and was annoying as *********, I now have an up time of hours and can do pretty much any content without feeling I might crash out at any moment. 3.5 hours doing vet DoM may have left me psychologically scarred but I was super happy I could do that without crashing.

That said, the fix is clearly not comprehensive and the Mac client still has significant build flaws that need to be addressed. Also a more enlightened communications strategy from ZOS re the Mac community would be a great QoL improvement.

otab

FierceSam wrote: »

That said, the fix is clearly not comprehensive and the Mac client still has significant build flaws that need to be addressed. Also a more enlightened communications strategy from ZOS re the Mac community would be a great QoL improvement.

Agreed wholeheartedly.

FierceSam

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Crashed right at the end of the final boss fight in vet Spindleclutch 1. Wrecked the group’s hopes of any no death or speed run achievements. And no loot or mask motif for me as the boss was non-lootable by the time I got back.

Bah Humbug!

Alhatariel

Thank you for fixing our crashes and thank you for listening to our complains! The game works now perfect again and I can finally do all runs without crashing!

FierceSam

Aaaaaaaaaargh (pt 2 million)

Last boss vet Vaults of Madness, no death speed run pledge. And then we’re on the desktop AGAIN.

When I finally get back I get,

No credit for boss kill
No dungeon completion
No pledge completion
No loot
No achievement
Derision and pitiless scorn from my guildies who are laughing it up (and taking THEIR no achievements quite well to be honest)

Admittedly this was after about 3 hours of gameplay so it’s not as bad as it was.

Clearly ZOS still need to double or quadruple whatever variable they are slowly increasing in their attempts to deal with this.

And while they do, they might consider how it is that my game can successfully crash to desktop in an instant yet stall for over an hour when I attempt to actually quit.

TL:DR More work still needed to make a bone fide Mac client. More/some communication would also be appreciated.

Evilspock

My framerate is fine for the most part but the game crashes all the time. This is not acceptable considering how freaking long ZOS load screens are. How long has this game been out? So many core issues with this game but instead of fixing those we get endless cash grab expansions that are more of the same (motif, dungeon, mind-numbing quests)

keto3000

@ZOS_AlexTardif @ZOS_SarahHecker @ZOS_GinaBruno

UPDATE based upon my recent PvP experience:

NO IN-GAME PROBLEMS AFTER LAST PATCH:

I've participated in lots of long, intense keep sieges with lots of action & high numbers of players. FPS: ~ 60 Ping: ~115-140

Note: Running PvE errands in Rawl 'Kha i.e. bank, writs, decon, crafting, etc are fine now. Did some side quests on my alt and all was fine. FPS: ~30 steady Ping: 105-120

Game still mostly NOT RESPONSIVE to QUIT. Usually, I have to use Mac Force Quit, however, now, I notice that it sometimes works correctly.

***My problems (BEFORE last 2 fixes/patches) of game stuttering, freezes, pixelation, sudden crashes seem resolved for me.***


I will try some BG's and PvE dungeons this week and report back on those.



I've used the same graphic settings since 2015 (my machine model tends to overheat on long gaming sessions). They work perfectly fine for me.

FierceSam

Back again.

The Mac client still crashes randomly. However, the gametime between crashes is now measured in hours rather than minutes. If ZOS were able to make it days rather than hours, almost no one would notice.

The same usual issues remain with gameplay - low FPS, massive lag (especially in Depths of Malatar, where it is of Cyrodiilic proportions at times), massively shortened field of vision (so some environment elements don't appear until you are within 10m of them). So still a lot of work to be done before this can be called anything other than a grade C, low class client. And of course it still bricks your computer on quitting.

I am less interested in exciting cosplay than I am in knowing when there will be a stable, functioning Mac client for this game.

Have yet another ticket Ticket #190314-007122

@ZOS_AlexTardif, @ZOS_SarahHecker and @ZOS_GinaBruno

Kaytlin

Game client still crashes, but takes much longer. Extremely long load time between zones. Lag in cyrodial is almost unplayable sometimes 250 ms to 1500ms that's 1/4 sec to a second and a half at times. Stuttering is still present. Doesn't seem that much improvement and in some cases the client is worse than before latest poor attempt at resolution of this long standing problem.

Deeprave

Kaytlin wrote: »

Game client still crashes, but takes much longer. Extremely long load time between zones. Lag in cyrodial is almost unplayable sometimes 250 ms to 1500ms that's 1/4 sec to a second and a half at times. Stuttering is still present. Doesn't seem that much improvement and in some cases the client is worse than before latest poor attempt at resolution of this long standing problem.

<sad face>

Hasn't crashed on me yet, but I rarely get to play more than a couple of hours of time during the week.

BTW a 250ms ping would be absolutely stellar for me. I'm from AU, and pings are always more than 300 (though it used to be lower a few months ago) and generally 350-400 on average. So... welcome to my world! lol

/d