Mac Client Crashes Frequently

fried_funk

After patch 1.0.6 problem doesn't seem to be solved to me: I've always played on higher settings, had game crashes every 1,5-2 hours of gameplay, now the situation is pretty much the same (3 crashes in 4 hours of gameplay). My system is far over system requirements, OS version is 10.9.2. I'm quite used to this crash frequency because the other MMO I play on Mac has, curiously enough, the same problems but I hoped that, being this client supposedly developed from scratch for Mac OSX, things would have been better..a bit dissappointed so far but that won't keep me for playing (I could bootcamp and install under Windows but that goes against religious principles.. )

LavaDrop

Memory leaks should happen around the 3720 Mb mark, not 2750 Mb. I think they're just crashes for other issues and the logs show how much memory the client was using when the error happened.

_subjectnamehere_

Moonraker wrote: »

thatlaurachick wrote: »

And just got a crash - but it's not the memory leak bug (because the ZOS crash reporter actually popped up). Just because the memory leak bug was fixed doesn't mean the client won't crash at all. It was supposed to crash less...

It will also open the ZOSCrashReporter for memory crashes also. Just when it fails to do so you get the Apple log showing it instead.

if you look at the reports (here or own) at:

mem.current = xxxx

xxxx for memory crash will typically when it reaches 2700+. Perhaps a little more now since the small memory leaks. Sometimes it shows an erroneous value but mostly it at least gives a decent indication.

You can view memory at time of crash also via Activity Monitor > Memory and double click the eso process to open the window to show Real Memory and Virtual Memory. This way you can also reboot the game when it gets close to avoid the crash.

Moonraker, who knows what he's talking about, tells us that memor crashes occur at or around 2700+.

Gordainthic

hi zenimax, when you will work seriuosly on the issue on Mac, getting a 64-bit client ??? because after patch 6 the crash still occur, and it seems also you try to avoid the problem and not talking about it, even on 01 may news nothing about working very hard for mac, and i thinkt his should be one of the first priority by the fact you sell the game for mac users, i m sorry but it seems unhonest from you....aand it s look like a fraude selling a game for mac that we can t even play on recent mac .....you should hire extras team and competence team to focus on this problem, or maybe you don t really care on the mac community ???, by the way an extras comment , Cs sometimes are a bit rude on their response, they should respect their customer a bit better, if you are here it s because of us, remember this and respect, and a negative comment from us have to be taken positively. and i m waiting a response about when the issue will be fix for mac .

Moonraker

@_subjectnamehere_ It's not a straightforward thing and plenty of others a lot more knowledgeable in OS X programming than me here One of the great things of the Mac community.

Just that the ZOSCrashReporter is one way to gauge what might have caused the crash and the mem.current = xxxx element which will generally be around that value if it is an out of memory crash.

As posted above it can be monitored via Activity Monitor and is consistent when it crashes (seems to be a little higher currently after some fixes went in) around 2.7Gb Real Memory and 3.7GB Virtual Memory.

So from virtual memory allocations a typical example:

VM Region Summary:
ReadOnly portion of Libraries: Total=345.1M resident=133.5M(39%) swapped_out_or_unallocated=211.6M(61%)
Writable regions: Total=3.1G written=1.1G(35%) resident=2.8G(90%) swapped_out=0K(0%) unallocated=316.1M(10%)

REGION TYPE VIRTUAL
=========== =======
CG backing stores 14.0M
CG image 28K
CG raster data 112K
CG shared images 204K
IOKit 670.8M
IOKit (reserved) 4K reserved VM address space (unallocated)
Kernel Alloc Once 4K
MALLOC 1.5G
MALLOC (admin) 48K
Memory Tag 242 12K
Stack 74.9M
VM_ALLOCATE 912.7M
__DATA 37.0M
__IMAGE 528K
__IMPORT 4K
__LINKEDIT 93.4M
__OBJC 3884K
__PAGEZERO 4K
__TEXT 251.6M
__TEXT0 2224K
__UNICODE 544K
mapped file 82.9M
shared memory 68K
=========== =======
TOTAL 3.6G
TOTAL, minus reserved VM space 3.6G

It's shows the resident value (2.8GB in this example)

If you check back over the ZOS crash reports posted to the crash report thread you can see this consistency.

Basically ZOS crash report summary gives a rough & ready way to diagnose the memory crash.

anakaki

500mbit down/sec 100mbit/sec up internet COMHEM (Sweden, Stockholm)
3,5 GHz Intel Core i7
32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4096 MB
OS X 10.9.2

It doesn't matter what I'm doing. I keep crashing whether standing still near a WP, doing dungeons, crafting, you name it. Immensley long loading screens.

ALSO PUT SERVERS IN EU ALREADY

Moonraker

anakaki wrote: »

500mbit down/sec 100mbit/sec up internet COMHEM (Sweden, Stockholm)
3,5 GHz Intel Core i7
32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4096 MB
OS X 10.9.2

It doesn't matter what I'm doing. I keep crashing whether standing still near a WP, doing dungeons, crafting, you name it. Immensley long loading screens.

ALSO PUT SERVERS IN EU ALREADY

Answered you in the other thread you started to explain this more.

Loading screen issues are nothing to do with the Mac client and are server-side or network issues. There are plenty of threads in Customer Support section on this.

Sparky

The mac client crashes are superbly annoying.

The only errors I get are OpenGL errors.

Moonraker

Sparky wrote: »

The mac client crashes are superbly annoying.

The only errors I get are OpenGL errors.

Not sure where it will indicate OpenGL errors? If you can post crash summary or source of that error
may be helpful to see.

Jagath

Does eso cause anyone else's Mac to crash back to the Mac profile login? This happens once or twice a day to me along with the numerous game crashes that pull up the crash reporter. I'm not sure if there is a fix for this but the game is pretty hard to play if its crashing in the middle of a dungeon or upon turning in a quest that you have to repeat once you log back in.

Moonraker

christopher.pesapaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Does eso cause anyone else's Mac to crash back to the Mac profile login? This happens once or twice a day to me along with the numerous game crashes that pull up the crash reporter. I'm not sure if there is a fix for this but the game is pretty hard to play if its crashing in the middle of a dungeon or upon turning in a quest that you have to repeat once you log back in.

Most likely the memory issue which is well documented here in the Mac Technical Support section. It is noted as a known issue here in the Known Technical Issues (Mac) sticky above.

There are other causes for crashes, lag and error log offs etc which are not Mac specific.

platone82

I have same problem, client crash every 10 minutes in RvR, i have iMac last version 8 GB ram.... what i can do for fix this?

Moonraker

platone82 wrote: »

I have same problem, client crash every 10 minutes in RvR, i have iMac last version 8 GB ram.... what i can do for fix this?

As has been posted extensively in this section and included in the Known Technical Issues (Mac) there is a memory issue in the Mac client which causes crashing over time. In PVE questing it is between 2-4 hours (depends on time in busy towns) and more frequently in PvP, typically 20-40 minutes in big battles.

The developers have added fixes for some of the leaks (see patch notes) and continue to work on addressing this issue.

Crashing every 10 minutes indicates other issues which do exist notably in Cyrodiil which are server-side. If you can post a copy/ paste of the next ZOS CrashReport error summary it will help identify the particular issue. Post to this thread.

Monsoon

Moonraker wrote: »

Crashing every 10 minutes indicates other issues which do exist notably in Cyrodiil which are server-side.

I really hate to ask again but can you please explain how a Mac crash every 10 minutes in Cyrodill is a server-side issue? That would mean that the server is sending data that is crashing the Mac client due to the client unable to handle that data and not that the client is crashing due to mismanaging its memory swaps.

I run with groups of people on PCs...8 of us. They do not crash or at least crash once a day max. I crash once every 10 minutes. We all run together in a group and I am the only one on a Mac. Why would I be the only one crashing and mentioning it on Vent? The statistical chances of this happening are virtually 0 especially when we play for 4 to 6 hours sessions.

Normally a server mis handling of information should result in a client disconnecting and not crashing. Can you please elaborate on what is the server sending the Mac client to make it crash? Is there some official comments on this or are you speculating and drawing your own conclusions again? I have seen nothing in terms of official comments from zos about the Mac client anywhere so I would like to know how you are aware of the particular issues?

platone82

IMac 27” 3.4 Ghz i7
OSX 10.9.2
Modello della scheda grafica ( GPU
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2048 Mb
8Gb ddr3
Cable internet T1 250Mbit 15Mbit

Crash only in Multiplayer Cyrodiil PvP Map! every 10-30 minute, sometime less
I try to play whit low graphics, same problem, i tray to change setting like you tell me, same problem.

Rhynchelma

Wow! Standing still near a Banker for about 10 minutes, watching some amusing chat -> crash. Is this ridiculous or what?

achimb16_ESO3

Yes, standing around in a town where many different players come along seems to trigger the crash faster - frequently the client had crashed while my char was at a waypoint or in the bank and I was afk for a few minutes.

Rhynchelma

It's worse since the 1.0.6 fix, or at least my perception of it is.

It's tiresome, to say the least.

Zhengshi

@Rhynchelma‌ , Mine is definitely seeming less consistent. Was doing around 2hours between crashes during PVE. today has been around an hour of play time.

GreySix

Played a couple of hours with no crashes at all today, and I play with a number of add ons.

_subjectnamehere_

There have been improvements, but unfortunately, they have not solved the problem yet.

Yshaar

So, I am really happy with the game but after more than 30 days, we still crash constantly in PVP. Bugs and stuff is fine for a starting mmo but game crashes are a no go, even for me. /sad face

And change the policy that no dev can talk on these forums!

Kuiper

I remained subscribed, but been playing on a PC while two very high-end Macs sit around. Giving Zenimax until the end of May to:

1) release Craglorn so I can see if it can re-generate interest in an otherwise boring VR10 character & game (ran out of game a week ago - close to 4000 achievement points).

2) Fix Mac ESO Client problems so I can use the client on the intended Mac machines, and stop using WinCrap PC.

Once you hit VR10, you've seen ALL the content in the game, and I pressed-on to wrap-up an extra 1000 or two achievement points to experience the rest of it; no point rolling an alt, no new content. I suspect Craglorn will just be generally ultra-hard and annoying, especially since i'll have to party-up to even explore, let alone grind two more VR levels.

As much as I enjoy the Elder Scrolls universe and lore, the botched Mac client, general questing bugs and lack of end-game content, frustrating VR content and imbalanced PvP, and crafting idiocies makes me want to stop playing altogether.

Zenimax should have delayed PC/Mac client ALONG with the delayed Console releases to Dec.2014 - they were released prematurely and have totally soured my outlook on ESO's future prospects.

Gajalu

I was just scratching my head, asking myself if I should give ESO another chance since I did not extend my subscription (didn't even play the whole 30 days). Wanted to take a look if anything has been fixed because I was really looking forward to finally play PvP on my Mac.

Thank you Kuiper for your post. Looks like nothing has changed and there is absolutely no reason to re-sub. I'll see myself out. I love the ESO universe but releasing a half finished game really killed the experience for me.

What's left now? Waiting until the next new MMO with Mac client gets released (and hope for it to be better than this ESO disaster).

Strongblade

From my experience virtually all the bugged quests seem to be fixed. Haven't encountered a bugged quest in a while. Really just the Mac Memory crash that I encounter anymore. Otherwise most of the other stuff has been fixed.

Moonraker

Strongblade wrote: »

From my experience virtually all the bugged quests seem to be fixed. Haven't encountered a bugged quest in a while. Really just the Mac Memory crash that I encounter anymore. Otherwise most of the other stuff has been fixed.

I have the same experience mostly due to me spending most of my time on forums for the first two weeks so
I think a lot of the worst broken quests have been fixed.

There is quite a list for 1.1 also so looks like they are getting on top of those.

dmharms

Just want to leave my word in here, but I experience this problem as well.

I've had crashes 10 minutes apart to about 4 hours, and yes, it does seem more frequent in heavily populated areas, but I crash plenty outside of towns as well.

Just to be clear, there is no lag or anything like that to speak of prior to the actual client crash, as I've experienced in other games with memory leaks. There is no sign of an immanent crash. Just...poof, done. I run on custom settings between medium/high.

Mid 2012 MBP
2.6 GHz Intel Core i7
8 GB 1600MHz DDR3
nVIDIA GeForce 650M 1 GB
Running on Mac OSX 10.9.2, clean system.

I truly hope this gets resolved without visual loss. I'm very impressed that ZOS is putting any effort into a Mac client at all. I will be patient, but eagerly anticipating a fix so I can enjoy my ESO time that much more.

EDIT: Worth noting that the latest patch that "fixed" various Mac leaks has not seemed to help this at all.

Moonraker

@dmharms The memory crash will just 'crash' with no warning though you can monitor memory use in Activity Monitor and reboot game when it gets close to 2.7GB Real Memory or 3.7GB Virtual Memory will avoid it happening when fighting etc.

If you check this thread there are some more memory fixes in today's patch on NA server so hopefully they will also help.

GreySix

So really, the fix will probably be the release of a 64-bit client.

KhajitFurTrader

GreySix wrote: »

So really, the fix will probably be the release of a 64-bit client.

Well, not necessarily. A remaining memory leak would still gradually fill up all physical memory. But the crash frequency might be so prolonged that, for all practical purposes, the client would't crash during "normal" play sessions' lengths anymore.

A 64-bit client has other advantages as well. Context switching between app and kernel is much faster, more stuff can be cached, and talk has been about upgrading the OpenGL version to three-ish. So yeah, a 64-bit client will be much appreciated.