Mac 64-bit Client FAQ [version 2.3.11 and onward]

KhajitFurTrader

1. What is the 64-bit client for Mac?
As of ESO version 2.3.0 (the first PTS build for the Thieves Guild DLC) the Mac client is now 64-bit only. The old 32-bit version is discontinued, and no longer available. The Launcher will always launch the 64-bit client binary, which is now the sole executable file within the game's Mac client repository.

Switching to a 64-bit memory model greatly increases memory management stability, as more memory can be used by the client process during runtime. This implies that only systems with more than 4 GB of RAM are really able to profit from it, as is stated in the 2.3.5 patch notes: Machines with 4GB of RAM may see a negative effect on game performance.

With the new 64-bit client came the switch to a new OpenGL 4.1 rendering engine, which greatly improves graphics performance (e.g., only one pass is now needed to render the ground, instead of two with the old client). Please note that the quality of textures on the High Quality setting has been improved as well -- while the game surely looks better with them, they also need more memory. Systems with only 4 GB of RAM, less than 2 GB of video RAM and/or integrated processor graphics (IPG) will most likely need to tune texture quality down from High Quality, even if the game ran with these settings prior to version 2.3.

Please also note that the switch made it necessary that shaders now have to be compiled on demand, as they are no longer able to be cached on disk in a compiled state. This inevitably leads to longer loading screens, but can be alleviated by using any version of OS X/macOS above Mavericks (10.9), as the latter is way slower at this than its successors.


2. What does my Mac need to run it?
First and foremost, your machine at the very least needs to meet the requirements of the minimum system specifications for Mac -- all of them. The most important ones are, en detail:

1. An OpenGL 4.1 compatible graphics card (GC) or IPG. Please refer to this compatibility chart from Apple to see whether your Mac's GC supports it. If your GC does not list OpenGL version 4.1 as being supported, you're no longer able to play ESO on this machine (you might want to try Boot Camp, but then your GC needs to support DirectX 11 at the hardware level on Windows Vista and up).
2. At least OS X 10.9 Mavericks for OpenGL 4.1 support, but any OS X/macOS version from 10.11 El Capitan onward is greatly recommended for the reasons stated above in section 1). All machines that are able to run Mavericks can run El Capitan as well (some newer OS X features like Continuity or Air Drop might not work due to missing or incompatible hardware components).
3. More system memory (RAM). If it is at all possible to upgrade RAM on your Mac, then do so, especially if you're sitting on 4 GB only. 8 GB will be a game changer and is the new recommended minimum amount of RAM (as per 2.3.5 patch notes). 16 GB is comfortable for all intents and purposes. 32 GB should not be necessary, unless you run lots of other stuff in the background.
4. A minimum of 1 GB VRAM (video RAM) on your Mac's GC. If your Mac has IPG, it will always use a portion of the system RAM as its video memory (called unified memory), which in turn will then be unavailable to the system and the game. Please refer to your Mac's documentation whether the IPG's maximum unified memory size is able to exceed 1023 MB at all. In most cases, the amount of unified memory made available as VRAM depends on the total amount of RAM installed. Caveat: if you're using a multiple monitor setup, especially with one or more Retina displays attached, VRAM available to the client might fall below the threshold of 1 GB, as the GC's or IPG's VRAM is split up between all active displays.

3. General performance tips

• As with every new patch, update your addons if available, or disable them for the time being. Running with outdated addons might lead to frequent crashes, as they will need to be adapted to changes to the game and its LUA API.
• Reset the Video Settings to their default, by pressing [X] in the settings menu.
• Run the game in Fullscreen mode -- not Fullscreen (Windowed).
• Always (yes, always) turn VSync OFF!
• Tune down Shadow Quality and View Distance, they might be set too high by default. The game still looks great on Medium/ <= 50.
• Due to the improvement of High Quality textures, you might want to try to take Texture Quality down a notch to increase frame rates. If your Mac has only 4 GB of RAM, you might need to.

4. Current workarounds

• Degrading addon behavior; seeing "Alert: Pending data load error (<memory address>) Debug/Ignore Always/Crash": There is speculation that the handling of LUA API memory (which addons depend upon) may be faulty or unstable in some circumstances, resulting in UI alerts and subsequent game crashes. A possible workaround could be to disable all addons for the time being, to see whether these issues disappear.
• Game logo splash/startup screens (videos) freeze: You can disable them by changing the following lines in your UserSettings.txt file like this:

  SET SkipPregameVideos "1"
  SET HasPlayedPregameVideo "1"
  

• Seeing pink or pixelated textures: This issue has been first been addressed by the patch to version 2.3.6. The 2.3.7 and 2.3.8 patch notes state that further improvements have been made regarding this issue, and that work on it is going to continue. This issue might be proliferated by a lack of available VRAM -- please refer to section 2), point 4) above for a possible explanation.

Hope this helps.

---

Edited to incorporate changes after the the first incremental patch 2.3.6 on March 14th, 2016.
Edited to estimate the impact of changes of patch 2.3.7 on March 21st, 2016 (section 4).
Edited on May 18th, 2016 to update post as the game moves toward version 2.4 (Dark Brotherhood DLC). Incorporated Mac-relevant changes from 2.3.8 to 2.3.11 and 2.4.0_PTS to 2.4.3_ PTS (if any), if they regard the 64-bit client explicitly. Removed old and now obsolete workarounds. Updated section 2 to reflect changes on minimum specs. Minor clarifications of wording.

seaef

You don't need to keep auto-loot off. Each time you start the game:

1. Turn off auto-loot
2. Loot something
3. Turn auto-loot back on

You can now auto-loot without crashing.

At least this works for me.

smacx250

If you are on 10.10 or later (which you really should be for the 64 bit client - for me it was a huge improvement!), you should be able to do the following instead of the "ulimit" change. This should persist until a logout or restart, and allow you to use the ESO launcher instead of manually running "./eso". As per the other instructions, open up Terminal.app, and then type the following:

sudo launchctl limit maxfiles 4000 unlimited

When prompted, enter the user password and hit "return" - should be good to go!

(If you want to check that it was changed, exit and restart Terminal.app, and then type "ulimit -n" - it should say "4000")

KhajitFurTrader

Great find, @smacx250!

Seedier

smacx250 wrote: »

If you are on 10.10 or later (which you really should be for the 64 bit client - for me it was a huge improvement!), you should be able to do the following instead of the "ulimit" change. This should persist until a logout or restart, and allow you to use the ESO launcher instead of manually running "./eso". As per the other instructions, open up Terminal.app, and then type the following:

sudo launchctl limit maxfiles 4000 unlimited

When prompted, enter the user password and hit "return" - should be good to go!

(If you want to check that it was changed, exit and restart Terminal.app, and then type "ulimit -n" - it should say "4000")

when i test with "ulimit -n" it just shows 256 (the original value) - the sudo command doesn't seem to work?

smacx250

Seedier wrote: »

smacx250 wrote: »

If you are on 10.10 or later (which you really should be for the 64 bit client - for me it was a huge improvement!), you should be able to do the following instead of the "ulimit" change. This should persist until a logout or restart, and allow you to use the ESO launcher instead of manually running "./eso". As per the other instructions, open up Terminal.app, and then type the following:

sudo launchctl limit maxfiles 4000 unlimited

When prompted, enter the user password and hit "return" - should be good to go!

(If you want to check that it was changed, exit and restart Terminal.app, and then type "ulimit -n" - it should say "4000")

when i test with "ulimit -n" it just shows 256 (the original value) - the sudo command doesn't seem to work?

Did you fully exit (as in command-Q) and restart Terminal.app?

Another check you can do: in Terminal type "launchctl limit maxfiles" (no sudo required), and see what it says - it should be something like: maxfiles 4000 10240

lowlifer

Hey man, thanks for the post!

Anyone experienced difficulties porting? I've noticed crashes when trying to use a ladder in the imperial city sewers and when grouped to do a daily pledge and trying to enter pvp campaign.

Any help would be great!

LowLifer.

ZOS_MollyH

Thanks @KhajitFurTrader for posting this! We look forward to seeing the help it provides and player feedback on suggestions and troubleshooting!

Archire

I've been experiencing some crashes with Hel Ra tonight as well. I've tried everything described in this post and I have yet to entre a fight without crashing.

The crash, however, is somewhat different from what I have been used to. The screen just stands still, like there's no window telling me that the game crashed, it simply gets stuck on one image.

Any ideas what that might be?

I already did everything that is described in here... Nothing worked unfortunately

SlayerSyrena

Archire wrote: »

I've been experiencing some crashes with Hel Ra tonight as well. I've tried everything described in this post and I have yet to entre a fight without crashing.

The crash, however, is somewhat different from what I have been used to. The screen just stands still, like there's no window telling me that the game crashed, it simply gets stuck on one image.

Any ideas what that might be?

I already did everything that is described in here... Nothing worked unfortunately

That is how I crash too. The game just freezes and so does my entire Mac. I have to do a manual shutdown to get it working again.

KhajitFurTrader

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but could you, @SlayerSyrena and @Archire, please post your system specs here (Apple Menu > About this Mac)? Your current graphics quality settings would be interesting to know, too.

SlayerSyrena

I'm playing on Low quality settings, shadows/bloom/etc turned off. Crashes occur about 2-3 times an hour. I just crashed again in Imperial City while in combat.

iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)
OSX El Capitan 10.11.3
Processor: 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory: 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512 MB

ZOS_MollyH

Hey @SlayerSyrena - can you please send me a PM with your ISP? We may have you run a pathping or tracert just to rule out possible ISP issues.

Thanks!

KhajitFurTrader

ZOS_MollyH wrote: »

Hey @SlayerSyrena - can you please send me a PM with your ISP? We may have you run a pathping or tracert just to rule out possible ISP issues.

This may be a related question: do any of those who experience display freezes play over WiFi? Network packet losses may make the client lose the heartbeat, i.e. synchronicity with the server. Trouble with network connection problems is to pinpoint them; anything on your side of the router may be fixable (e.g., by using a network cable to rule out WiFi problems), the rest is in the hands of various third party ISPs and carriers. A pathping (Windows) or combined traceroute and ping (OS X et.al.) might be able to provide hints.

SlayerSyrena

ZOS_MollyH wrote: »

Hey @SlayerSyrena - can you please send me a PM with your ISP? We may have you run a pathping or tracert just to rule out possible ISP issues.

Thanks!

Hi @ZOS_MollyH , just sent you a message!

@KhajitFurTrader I can use wifi or a hard connection. I've been playing lately over WiFi.

KhajitFurTrader

SlayerSyrena wrote: »

@KhajitFurTrader I can use wifi or a hard connection. I've been playing lately over WiFi.

Well, now I'm very curious if using a network cable changes anything concerning the freezes...

strikeback1247

For anyone experiencing crashes: it helps if you start eso through the launcher instead of a shortcut. I crashed A LOT after the update, but using the launcher fixed it. I'm actually really happy with the new 64-bit client. I can use higher settings with a very stable 60 fps.

TitanJeff

I'm seeing the strange blue static hoof prints and spells since the last large update. Sometimes, a spell ends up with white static. I've seen a couple of pink items as well.

I have the MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014
Processor 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Was working well up to the update though the fan ran pretty high while playing. Only PvE so far using all the default settings except took shadow down to medium.

Any suggestions for settings to get a good mix between performance and quality and clear up this issue? Thanks.

Archire

Hey @KhajitFurTrader !

I'm using a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)
Intel i5 2,4GHz
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 Ram
Intel Iris 1536 MB
OS X El Capitan Version 10.11.3

My settings are run pretty much the same as before the patch:

Texture Quality: High
SubSampling Quality: Medium
Shadow Quality: Low
Water Reflection: Off
VSync: Off
Antialising: Off
Everything else is set to Off as well.

I have always had FPS issues, so I never run it at 60, it currently goes from 25 to 40... Inside some dungeons it can go as high as 50.

I doubt that the problem is my internet connection, because I use the Apple Airport Extreme with 802.11ac enabled. The current internet speed is never bellow 100mbps and the ping rate is never higher than 20ms (I've just done a Speed Test). And I have been using this for more than a year now... The connection speed at the moment is shown to be at 600GBps (I have no idea if this value is correct, I found it on the About this Mac window).

TitanJeff

Today's update was supposed to fix some of the mac issues. Right now, the pixel issue on things like the horse prints and some spells remains blue. I don't see the pink horses I was getting yesterday. No crashes either.

I did run a repair. I also have adjusted many of my setting to turn off VSync, AA and turned down shadow and water reflection. Nothing seems to fix it yet.

I have the MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014
Processor 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Archire

Ok, apparently now every time I entre combat, my screen freezes and the only way is to force quit the game and star all over again.

Never mind, it was an add-on I was overlooking

henrycupcakerwb17_ESO

this is like a dream came true before pantheon " rise of the fallen 's 2017 commercial release!!

KhajitFurTrader

Updated for 2.3.7.

krismissee82

@KhajitFurTrader
@smacx250

With update 2.3.7, I was seeing more pink textures than before. I reapplied the following command in my terminal:

sudo launchctl limit maxfiles 4000 unlimited

Since I added that back in my terminal, I'm not seeing the random pink objects in the world. I thought I would mention this incase it helps anyone else.

KhajitFurTrader

krismissee82 wrote: »

Since I added that back in my terminal, I'm not seeing the random pink objects in the world. I thought I would mention this incase it helps anyone else.

That's a bit odd, because the client sets the file handle limit to 5000 at launch, so it would overwrite any other settings that were made beforehand:

$ ./eso
The soft FD limit is 256
The hard FD limit is 9223372036854775807
Setting FD limit to 5000, 5000
   The soft FD limit is now 5000
   The hard FD limit is now 5000
****************************
ESO Start Up! 
****************************
Args = ./eso  
****************************
Current Working Directory = /Applications/ZeniMax Online/The Elder Scrolls Online EU/game_mac/pubplayerclient/eso.app/Contents/Resources/ 
****************************

krismissee82

Interesting. How did you pull this up? When I check the ulimit, with ESO running, it still says 4000. Maybe I'm missing something, as I'm not fluent in code

tfraley

Hey guys,

I've done a bit of testing as well.

If I goto /Applications/Zenimax Online/Launcher.app/game_mac/pubplayerclient/eso.app/Contents/MacOS
then run
ulimit -n This will output the file limit.

By default this outputs 256, my assumption is when I run the game this should change..
Short version is I was wrong it's not changing.

If I launch the launcher and tested I get 256
During login screen I get 256
During character creation screen I get 256
When loaded into game it self in a city I still get 256

I don't see where the client is making this change.


With the suggestion from Chris setting it to 4000 with ulimit -n 4000
You can use ulimit -n and see it's 4000.

So it seems it's not being set in the same way, maybe where ever there setting it is missing something..

Just me 2 cents' hopefully we can get to the bottom of this sooner then later...

KhajitFurTrader

@krismissee82, in a shell (Terminal.app), I launched the client's binary file directly from the ESO.app folder. It's in Contents/MacOS.

@tfraley, the global limit is instanced for every shell session, their respective environments don't influence each other.

tfraley

@KhajitFurTrader

Thank you for clearing that up, I wasn't aware of that is how it worked.

I understand we can launch it from terminal and see the limit there but is there a way of launching the game normally and testing to make sure the limits are in place.

I've encountered the same things when launching through terminal with 4000 things seem to be fine however when ruing the client on it's own.. pink horses.. I've also rebooted in between tests.

Some that has to be different between the two.

krismissee82

@KhajitFurTrader

Thank you.

duncan_cougarpreeb18_ESO

btw. you don't need to run it from the terminal directly, you could also use the Automator tool (comes with OS X) to create an app that then executes the terminal commands for you.

just open automator and do the following

1. select "create new app"
2. look up utilities / tools in the library
3. choose execute shell script
4. paste script into it

   ulimit -n 1024
   cd "/Applications/Zenimax/The Elder Scrolls Online EU"
   ./game_mac/pubplayerclient/eso.app/Contents/MacOS/eso
   

5. save app
6. try and enjoy