Game Crashing to Desktop - Possible Unresolved Issue Since Beta

Publius_Scipio · March 2014

@Moonraker‌ how are you? If you don't remember me I am the one how started that huge thread last beta session regarding Mac client crashes. Thanks again for your help back then.

Unfortunately I am here to report that I have once again crashed to desktop. Settings are on high and I lasted about an hour or so and then crashed to desktop. Memory leak still an issue?

Beta was beta, but this is the beginning of 5 day early access. Access which I paid for.

15" Macbook Pro retina (Late 2013)
Core i7 (highest spec option)
16 GB Ram
Intel Iris Pro + Nvidia GT 750M (2 GB)

Moonraker · March 2014

I am indeed @Publius_Scipio.

Ok, well there is a fix in place which made so I never got crashes on PTS. I did get a memory crash myself but after 4 hours play today.

With so many people on in towns etc. it is similar to the Mass testing and it's also going to effect PC users too.

I suggest to set Shadow Quality to Medium for better FPS and set Texture Quality to Medium. I also switched AA off for now too. This should help while we have such crowded situations.

If you get another crash perhaps you can copy/ paste the crash report here, removing personal account part and use the Spoiler feature will help keep it neat. It's under he Quote drop down menu in the post editor.

Publius_Scipio · March 2014

Moonraker wrote: »

I am indeed @Publius_Scipio.

Ok, well there is a fix in place which made so I never got crashes on PTS. I did get a memory crash myself but after 4 hours play today.

With so many people on in towns etc. it is similar to the Mass testing and it's also going to effect PC users too.

I suggest to set Shadow Quality to Medium for better FPS and set Texture Quality to Medium. I also switched AA off for now too. This should help while we have such crowded situations.

If you get another crash perhaps you can copy/ paste the crash report here, removing personal account part and use the Spoiler feature will help keep it neat. It's under he Quote drop down menu in the post editor.

Thanks for the quick response @Moonraker‌. I will give your suggestions a try and next crash I will post the report here.

I take it you are still in touch with the devs regarding Mac client issues and are sending them information as you get it? With all the info sent their way after the last beta I am optimistic that a final solution after some tweaking is not to far off?

Moonraker · March 2014

@Publius_Scipio I do send them direct but they now get all bug reports and Mac related tickets which is the official way and has the detail required. It's important that people do that to get the proper data and recorded instances.

Like I said, the client worked without issue on PTS in a full week of testing since the last beta so I expect when players thin out it will improve generally for all platforms.

khepra · March 2014

ï»¿[reporter]
version = 0.01

[extra]
ProductName = eso
Version = eso.live.1.0.0.941004
char.account = khepra
char.alliance = 2
char.name = Vadya Tor
client.executablebits = 32
client.mode = inworld
client.renderertype = OPENGL
client.session_start_timestamp = 2014-03-16T05:42:38.428Z
client.time_since_load = 517
client.uptime = 3505.6
computer.name = Tracys-iMac-2.local
computer.user = Tracy
cpu.count = 4
data.depotid = 4000
data.dir = /Applications/ZeniMax Online/The Elder Scrolls Online/game_mac/
data.syncm = databuild
data.version = 0.win.0.live.892348
exe.buildnum = 941004
exe.opt = release
exe.reltype = public
exe.type = client
gfx.description = AMD Radeon HD 6970M OpenGL Engine
gfx.deviceid = 0.0.0
gfx.driver = 2.1 ATI-1.8.19
gfx.vendorid = 0
globby.address = 198.20.200.25
globby.port = 24507
loc.wloc = 207 198405 11288 238105 53.23
loc.world = Deshaan
loc.worldid = 207
loc.zone = Deshaan
login.address = 198.20.200.25
mem.current = 3029
mem.peak = 3075
mem.physical = 12288
os.platform = mac
os.version = 12F45
realm.depotid = 0
realm.id = 4000
realm.name = NA Megaserver
reportfield.ver = 3

Moonraker · March 2014

khepra wrote: »

ï»¿[reporter]
version = 0.01

client.time_since_load = 517
client.uptime = 3505.6

mem.current = 3029
mem.peak = 3075
mem.physical = 12288

Yep. From that it shows client was up for about an hour. You can try turning down Graphic Textures to Medium should help while it's busy like this.

Publius_Scipio · March 2014

Crashed again after a while (this time no crash reporter, just said unexpectedly quit).

Please @Moonraker‌ do everything you can to get the Mac issues sorted out with the devs!

Moonraker · March 2014

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Crashed again after a while (this time no crash reporter, just said unexpectedly quit).

Please @Moonraker‌ do everything you can to get the Mac issues sorted out with the devs!

You already know that I just try to help guys via forum. I don't have any influence over who things get done. Only pass things along.

This is also happening to PC guys also. I am not surprised considering the large amounts of players on a launch day. The fix has resolved the frequent crashes certainly. I am tweaking down my graphics for the while which makes a big difference especially Texture Quality that has been mentioned before.

On PTS I didn't have a memory crash in over a week of testing. It just shows it is more related to density of players not the client as such. Things will calm down over the next few days as guys spread out.

Publius_Scipio · March 2014

Moonraker wrote: »

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Crashed again after a while (this time no crash reporter, just said unexpectedly quit).

Please @Moonraker‌ do everything you can to get the Mac issues sorted out with the devs!

You already know that I just try to help guys via forum. I don't have any influence over who things get done. Only pass things along.

This is also happening to PC guys also. I am not surprised considering the large amounts of players on a launch day. The fix has resolved the frequent crashes certainly. I am tweaking down my graphics for the while which makes a big difference especially Texture Quality that has been mentioned before.

On PTS I didn't have a memory crash in over a week of testing. It just shows it is more related to density of players not the client as such. Things will calm down over the next few days as guys spread out.

I understand. I'm not a code expert but if this problem was "fixed" shouldn't it be a none issue right now? I know the ultimate solution is a 64 bit client, but why must the 32 bit client crash? Can't code be written for ESO to hit a hard ceiling as far as RAM use goes?

Moonraker · March 2014

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Moonraker wrote: »

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Crashed again after a while (this time no crash reporter, just said unexpectedly quit).

Please @Moonraker‌ do everything you can to get the Mac issues sorted out with the devs!

You already know that I just try to help guys via forum. I don't have any influence over who things get done. Only pass things along.

This is also happening to PC guys also. I am not surprised considering the large amounts of players on a launch day. The fix has resolved the frequent crashes certainly. I am tweaking down my graphics for the while which makes a big difference especially Texture Quality that has been mentioned before.

On PTS I didn't have a memory crash in over a week of testing. It just shows it is more related to density of players not the client as such. Things will calm down over the next few days as guys spread out.

I understand. I'm not a code expert but if this problem was "fixed" shouldn't it be a none issue right now? I know the ultimate solution is a 64 bit client, but why must the 32 bit client crash? Can't code be written for ESO to hit a hard ceiling as far as RAM use goes?

A 32-bit process is allocated 4GB of address space which is their limit. The application uses this space for stuff it uses to run the game (textures etc) this gets swapped in/out. Ideally the memory not needed then gets freed but over time will fill up if not freed up. When the space fills it starts to try to access other space and crashes the process. That's really simplistic but gives an idea why there is a hard limit already, and the way 32-bit works. It's why nearly everything else apart from games uses 64-bit now (and other reasons).

OSX memory usage is different from Windows and the PC client uses RAM differently. It means the Mac has to use some of this limit for game stuff and this makes it more liable to this memory issue.

The fix in place basically app tempts to monitor memory usage (Real Memory) and when it gets to a certain
level will swap in Medium quality textures which reduces the memory load a lot. However it can't balance the heavy demands of memory usage when there are literally hundreds of players in a town which is making lots of work for all the required textures, objects etc. they need to be drawn and displayed.

Like I said, this is very much an issue with lots of players around mainly. In quieter times like on PTS it becomes a non issue. We are continuing testing and monitoring to help the developers even now and especially for PvP. If needed the memory limit will be adjusted to try and get the proper balance.

If it was easy I'm sure it would have been done

Any MMO is a complex beast and there are a lot of things going on unrelated to the mac client side which impact this too. Main thing is that they are aware and continue to monitor and respond. Long term the 64-bit client will take this issue away.