State of ESO on the Mac 2020

smacx250

TheBunny wrote: »

I wrote the original game client... just trying to be useful... sorry to offend you...

@TheBunny - As far as I can tell, with respect to macOS integration, they've done nothing but break things since you left it. When the graphics guy had to get in there, with obviously little to no macOS experience, it got pretty wonky.

thedavidventer

Thought I'd chime in here (again) with a list of all the bugs I'm experiencing in ESO on MacOS thus far:

1) Steam integration (Crown Store) is broken - Unable to purchase Crowns In-game.
Steam overlay is not functioning in this game even though various in-game functions make use of (or require) the Steam overlay to function, such as: Attempting to buy Crowns in the Crown Store while in-game requires opening the Steam overlay except that it doesn't actually open. Trying to manually open the Steam overlay using Steam's assigned shortcut keys doesn't work either. It's as if Steam doesn't recognize that a Steam library game is actually running. A workaround for this would be to exit the game, manually browse to the ESO store on Steam and buy Crowns there but this is not ideal. The feature should work as intended and the Steam overlay should pop up allowing Crowns to be purchased while in-game. I do not have this issue in any other Steam game. The Steam overlay works as intended in other games.

2) Fullscreen (Windowed) Mode is broken - it's not actually Fullscreen, and Fullscreen mode locks you into the game.
This is not in fact fullscreen, it is simply Windowed mode. The graphics are also lower quality and blurry when running in this mode. A better graphic experience is possible in Fullscreen mode but entering Fullscreen mode basically locks you into the game and you can't do anything else or access any other apps on your Mac while running Fullscreen mode. The only viable option for multitasking here is Fullscreen (Windowed) mode but it needs to be fixed to actually provide a Fullscreen experience thus allowing multitasking/swiping out to other apps like discord/safari/etc. I do not have this issue in other macOS games. Fullscreen (windowed) mode works as intended in other games allowing a fullscreen experience and multitasking/swiping between apps.

3) Broken resolution implementation - No 4K resolution support on iMac 4K Retina Display.
The game resolution is currently locked to the macOS desktop scaling resolution and does not support full 4K on a 4K display. I suspect that this has something to do with the broken Windowed (Fullscreen) issue mentioned above or some other incorrect implementation related to the graphics settings for ESO on MacOS. I would like to run the game at 4K resolution on my 4K iMac with Retina display. Other games (such as WoW, for example) don't have this issue. The game's resolution settings should be independent of the macOS desktop scaling setting and should not be limited to the macOS desktop scale; it should be possible to set it to the maximum resolution allowed by the display itself. Games such as WoW, and Apple Arcade games that have this correctly implemented allow full 4K gameplay in Windowed (Fullscreen) mode. ESO is currently limited to a 2048x1152 maximum resolution on my 4K iMac.

4) Controller integration is broken.
macOS Catalina now natively supports various wireless controllers right out of the box such as the PS4 DS and the Xbox One Wireless Controller (I bought my Xbox Controller from Apple). Integration for these are broken in ESO with various buttons not functioning as intended and some not working at all. I do not have the issue with any other game on macOS that have controller support.

5) Game becomes unresponsive on 'Quit' and never actually quits.
The only way to quit the game is to force-quit it using macOS' Option-Command-Esc shortcut. Logging out of a character and clicking 'Quit' in the game simply causes the screen to go blank and the app to become non-responsive. This issue also leaves me with no viable option to run the game with a fullscreen experience as the current Fullscreen (Windowed Mode) is not full screen, but when running the game in Fullscreen mode, I'm locked in so a force-quit isn't even possible while playing in this mode. The only way to quit the game is to run in Fullscreen (Windowed) mode, which isn't actually fullscreen and then force quit the game when done playing.

I would love to support this game by buying crowns in-game, buying DLC's AND subscribing to ESO Plus but I will only do so once these frustrating bugs get fixed. Please Fix Steam Overlay integration, Fullscreen (Windowed) mode, and Controller integration for The Elder Scrolls Online on macOS Catalina.

demerdecanswrath

@thedavidventer and all,

Let's sincerely hope for some progress on ESO v6 (Greymoor, Update 26), we can have a look at the PTS patch notes tomorrow. @ZOS_GinaBruno said there are about 50 pages, so we can only keep our fingers crossed.

Last official bit of communication on the Mac client was last year, where we were essentially instructed to wait, as other issues were more pressing.

I understand ZoS has started this thing from nothing, providing fundamental support for all major platforms and they work very closely with the community. The increasing success of this game admittedly though, leaves very little room for oversight in QA and their business processes.

After the loooong-long-awaited Skyrim chapter, I personally wouldn't mind for an entire year of ZoS adapting and perfecting the client for all platforms, striking the perfect balance between being open and having a maintainable codebase. I'm certain there is no shortage of creativity there as to how they'll pull that kind of year off.

Enough rambling, I just know for a given fact tomorrow's PTS v6.0.0 patch notes will mean absolutely nothing to us Mac users, since that same client will still crash, refuse to quit, hijack the main system thread, stutter, "ghost" our mouse cursors, refuse to cooperate with foreign keyboard settings and gamepads, require at least one hack to get up and running, not go true full screen and so much more. No amount of "antiquities" or "Skyrim" or "year-long adventures" will ever end this frustration.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

demerdecanswrath

OK, some news: Dark mode and new anti-aliasing options coming to the Mac in Update 26. I will try to report on the performance improvements as soon as Greymoor launches.

Thank you ZoS. Keep at it!

BlueRaven

demerdecanswrath wrote: »

OK, some news: Dark mode and new anti-aliasing options coming to the Mac in Update 26. I will try to report on the performance improvements as soon as Greymoor launches.

Thank you ZoS. Keep at it!

The dark mode I can take or leave, but anti-aliasing option? I did not hear about that. Hopefully that helps the issue I am having with southern Elsweyr.

thedavidventer

That’s some good news but honestly I’d rather have a properly functional “Windowed (Fullscreen)” mode and fixed Controller integration than only a dark mode update but it’s great that the macOS client is at least getting some improvement.

My only presumption as to why the Windowed (Fullscreen) option is not getting fixed is that the devs probably don’t use macOS much and have no idea how it’s supposed to work and they probably assume that Windowed (Fullscreen) simply means maximized, which in macOS is not the case. It’s supposed to actually go full-screen (no menu/task bar, window border or dock visible) and the ability to swipe out of it to other app spaces. But here’s hoping that’ll eventually get fixed as well. Their argument might then be that “Fullscreen” mode achieves this but alas that locks you into the game, no swiping out to other apps, no multitasking.

When I contact support about the controller issue they assume that it should be working and advise me to just set gamepad mode to “on” instead of “automatic.” But that doesn’t solve the problem. Here’s hoping they’ll realize it’s actually broken and needs a fix.

I’ve been trying to reach out to Ellen Clarke (the producer) directly about these issues by sending emails to Zenimax and Bethesda for her attention. Here’s hoping it’ll reach her and make her aware of these frustrations on the macOS game client.

Despite all this, I’m still enjoying the game. It’s a masterpiece and I’m grateful that the macOS game client is at least getting some updates. Thank you Zenimax! Keep up the awesomeness. Here’s hoping for more fixes and improvements coming soon!

BlueRaven

thedavidventer wrote: »

That’s some good news but honestly I’d rather have a properly functional “Windowed (Fullscreen)” mode and fixed Controller integration than only a dark mode update but it’s great that the macOS client is at least getting some improvement.

My only presumption as to why the Windowed (Fullscreen) option is not getting fixed is that the devs probably don’t use macOS much and have no idea how it’s supposed to work and they probably assume that Windowed (Fullscreen) simply means maximized, which in macOS is not the case. It’s supposed to actually go full-screen (no menu/task bar, window border or dock visible) and the ability to swipe out of it to other app spaces. But here’s hoping that’ll eventually get fixed as well. Their argument might then be that “Fullscreen” mode achieves this but alas that locks you into the game, no swiping out to other apps, no multitasking.

When I contact support about the controller issue they assume that it should be working and advise me to just set gamepad mode to “on” instead of “automatic.” But that doesn’t solve the problem. Here’s hoping they’ll realize it’s actually broken and needs a fix.

I’ve been trying to reach out to Ellen Clarke (the producer) directly about these issues by sending emails to Zenimax and Bethesda for her attention. Here’s hoping it’ll reach her and make her aware of these frustrations on the macOS game client.

Despite all this, I’m still enjoying the game. It’s a masterpiece and I’m grateful that the macOS game client is at least getting some updates. Thank you Zenimax! Keep up the awesomeness. Here’s hoping for more fixes and improvements coming soon!

TBH I have basically given up on any help from ZOS. After reporting the issues I am having with Southern Elsweyr, I don'ts much hope in fixes coming.

And the only use these forums pose is help from other players, getting help from ZOS is not going to happen here.

thedavidventer

BlueRaven wrote: »

TBH I have basically given up on any help from ZOS. After reporting the issues I am having with Southern Elsweyr, I don'ts much hope in fixes coming.

And the only use these forums pose is help from other players, getting help from ZOS is not going to happen here.

Yeah, it’s unfortunate really. Having the Mac logo everywhere on marketing platforms would make one assume full support for macOS and the macOS player base, not just a sub-par and buggy experience in the game with dead silence from the devs on the Mac support forum. I’m still hopeful though because I love this game. I really want to subscribe to ESO+ and buy some quality of life goodies from the crown store but I will only do so when I see that there is actually support for macOS and that these issues get fixed. It’s not difficult to fix either. I made a post on the bug report forums about the fullscreen and controller issues along with links to Apple’s developer guides with instructions on how to make use of the fullscreen, spaces and game kit API’s to get things working as they should. Most of it is literally just changes to one line of code for each issue. I don’t understand why this is being ignored. I’ll remain hopeful though. They’re at least making some progress with the dark mode issue so here’s hoping for more fixes to come. I wish they would just hire someone specializing in macOS development to properly integrate the client with macOS’s fullscreen/spaces/multitasking functions and to fix the resolution and controller issues as well, for Mara’s sake.

Edit: P.S.Thank you Zenimax for the free week trial of ESO+. It’s been great! I’ll subscribe as soon as you fix the fullscreen, resolution and controller bugs.

JoLeSi

Originally I played ESO on my 2012 MacBook Pro, I even got in on the Beta. Played through the original game, then came and went for a while. When I came back for Summerset my Mac was old. I decided to play on PS4, which I still do occasionally. However, now I've purchased a new 16" MacBook Pro and I thought I'd jump back in on Pc/Mac side. I wanted all of my characters and my inventories. Problem is buying a new Mac mattered little in this case, as the game is just broken. I don't mind playing on PS4, but I want all the original toons I made. A couple were crafters that made levelling alts a breeze. Playing on PS4 was only ever a stopgap until I could buy a new Mac and go back to my account.

Sincerely,
A Mac user, who will continue to be a Mac user.

kyle.wilson

JoLeSi wrote: »

Originally I played ESO on my 2012 MacBook Pro, I even got in on the Beta. Played through the original game, then came and went for a while. When I came back for Summerset my Mac was old. I decided to play on PS4, which I still do occasionally. However, now I've purchased a new 16" MacBook Pro and I thought I'd jump back in on Pc/Mac side. I wanted all of my characters and my inventories. Problem is buying a new Mac mattered little in this case, as the game is just broken. I don't mind playing on PS4, but I want all the original toons I made. A couple were crafters that made levelling alts a breeze. Playing on PS4 was only ever a stopgap until I could buy a new Mac and go back to my account.

Sincerely,
A Mac user, who will continue to be a Mac user.

Apple abandoning the Direct X platform for Metal is the biggest reason for the issues.
It's high time Apple buried their beef with NVidia and sold computers with graphics power. If the new Mac's were AMD Ryzen/with NVidia GPU I'd be all in. I much prefer the MacOS for it's simplicity, but Apple's hostility towards self/third party repair is a deal breaker.
I'd imagine that a comparatively small portion of the ESO PC community plays on Mac. So apple is requiring game companies to bend over backwards to accommodate them.

JoLeSi

Never mind.

demerdecanswrath

People miss a serious point: Macs aren't PCs. Macs aren't consoles either. Macs are macs.

They might not be a big market, but they are a solid market. With a strong tendency to spend. It is kind of a shame that we're still in the middle of a massive transformation for the Mac - Metal APIs & DriverKit for software, ARM chips for hardware -, but this will only serve what the Mac always did best: remain a solid platform with a loyal customer base for the decades to come.

Unfortunately, this means the following @kyle.wilson mentioned:

kyle.wilson wrote: »

.. So apple is requiring game companies to bend over backwards to accommodate them.

We're dead center in the middle of this transformation, and some industries are still trying to play the Electron game and find a cheap cross-platform solution that insults people's intelligence.

ZoS: Apple will always be Apple. Don't try to overcome it, delay it or even ignore it. Start scheming and get some actual resources on it, the Metal move was superb just keep "honing" the client!

P.S.: It all comes down to decoupling that PC-slash-Mac term you see everywhere in ESO's marketing and storefronts. Provide some real support please instead of just throwing a bone every now and then. This was fun the first three years, now it got old.

thedavidventer

Guys, I caved. Despite my efforts to “vote with my wallet” and not wanting to subscribe or splurge on the crown store until the fullscreen, resolution and controller issues are fixed on the macOS game client - I’ve subscribed and bought some goodies. It’s an epic game, I’m having fun and the ESO+ benefits are awesome. I also want to support the creators of the game. Here’s hoping they’ll show me (us) the same kind of support and actually fix the controller, full screen and resolution issues. Please ZOS, for Mara’s sake! Fix these things. I want to play with a controller in windowed fullscreen that’s actually fullscreen!!! Thank you. xo

demerdecanswrath

thedavidventer wrote: »

Guys, I caved

Right on! The game isn't broken, it's just difficult to live with. I subscribed for a month too due to the lockdown and that was time/money well spent.

evolkerb14_ESO

Like others here I've run into some issues with the macOS client. I'll post my issues, as well as some of the workarounds I've found (some of them aren't pretty.)

1) Mouse control issue. When I logged into ESO for the first time, the camera would spin around my character with incredible speed. I couldn't stop it, or get control of my character. I had to allow ESO to "use the accessibility features of my Mac." One problem resolved.

2) Mouse cursor occasionally disappearing. To fix this I had to ever so slightly increase the size of the mouse cursor. I believe this forced macOS to use a software cursor instead of a (default) hardware cursor.

3) Unable to play at full/native resolution. My 16" MacBook Pro has an admittedly odd resolution of 3072x1920. In Full Screen/Exclusive mode, the highest resolution I can select is 1680x1050. In order to have an acceptable experience, I had to enable anti-aliasing (FXAA.) I wasn't too happy with this, as playing at non-native resolutions introduces 'jaggies'. Even though AA is available, FXAA is a fairly poor implementation. I then tried running Windowed (Full Screen) which brought its own issues.

4) Windowed (Full screen) mode has some bugs. First and foremost, the dock, menu bar and title bar all remain visible. My workaround for this problem was to (temporarily) enable auto-hide for the dock and menu bar. That still leaves the menu bar, but it's somewhat better than the default state. To resize the window after doing this, I had to double-click twice on the menu bar.

What I have now is a mostly playable experience, but this is not as smooth an experience as it should be. If possible, the accessibility features should be automatically enabled, or at least the user should be prompted during installation. The cursor issue Is probably just a problem with ZOS' implementation of the hardware cursor. But the nonsense with the resolution shouldn't be an issue.

Hope this helps someone else out, and that ZOS quits ignoring these problems. But I must say this is the only MMO I've ever played that I've actually enjoyed. That's probably due to the fact that you *can* solo most of the content.

EDIT: As an experiment, I just hooked up a 4K monitor to my MacBook. The game was able to detect the correct maximum resolution of 3840x2160. And I was able to play at Medium settings at 4K. So it's not a video memory limit or anything, it just seems to be the weird resolutions that Apple favors. Still, the ESO client should be able to run at the laptop's native resolution.

evolkerb14_ESO

I’ve figured out how to get the Mac ESO client to display native resolution on Mac’s with “non-standard” resolutions. It’s simply a matter of editing a configuration file, disabling desktop scaling, then relaunching the game. I’ve outlined the steps necessary below.

1)

First, you will need to disable any scaling that is happening on your Mac. This may result in really small text. You can adjust this back to normal later, but it will need to be turned off again whenever you run the game. You can disable scaling by going to System Preferences>Displays>Display and setting Resolution to Scaled, then select the menu preview on the far left. In my case, it is labelled “More Space”. You can then close the Display menu for your built-in display.

2)

Next you will need to know your display’s native resolution. Going to the Apple menu, then About this Mac, then Displays will generally be the best way to get this information. It will be listed in the format (width) x (height). In my case, my MacBook’s built-in display is 3072x1920.

3)

Launch the game and choose one of characters, then click Play. Once in the game, hit ESC, select Settings, then choose Fullscreen and select the highest resolution possible. Exit the game, and then exit the launcher.

4)

Open Finder and navigate to your Documents folder. Open the “Elder Scrolls Online” directory, then open the “live” directory.

5)

In this folder will be a file called UserSettings.txt. Make a copy of this file and put in a safe place.

6)

Next, open UserSettings.txt with TextEdit. Search for “Fullscreen Width”. Change this number to the first number in your Mac’s resolution. E.g., my resolution is 3072x1920, so I would put “3072”. Make sure you leave the quotes around this value.

7)

The next step is to search for “Fullscreen Height”. If you have a default config file, it may be right above or below “Fullscreen Width.” Change “Fullscreen Height” to the second value in your resolution. For example, my resolution is 3072x1920. So I would put “1920” here, and again, remember to leave quotes around the number.

8)

Now you should have two lines that look similar to the below:

SET FullscreenHeight "1920"
SET FullscreenWidth “3072"

Remember, these values should be equal to your resolution.

9)

Save your edited config file by pressing CMD-S, then CMD-Q to exit TextEdit.

10)

Start the ESO launcher, then press Play. You should now be playing at your built-in display’s native resolution. Unfortunately I have not found a foolproof way to verify the exact resolution that the game is running at, but in my case it was much sharper and noticeably slower in terms of framerate. A clue is that the resolution in the game’s settings menu shows nothing. DO NOT CHANGE YOUR RESOLUTION. Doing so will overwrite the modified config file we just created.

11)

Once you’ve verified that your game is running at maximum resolution, you will want to lock the config file. If you don’t, and accidentally change the resolution, or forget to disable scaling in Systems Preferences>Display before playing the game, your modifications will be overwritten. Open Finder, go to Documents>Elder Scrolls Online>UserSettings.txt. Right click on the file (or just click on it and then hit CMD-I) , then select Get Info. At the bottom, click on the checkbox next to Locked to make sure the file remains unaltered.

If any of this causes the game to crash, not launch or otherwise misbehave, just delete the modified UserSettings.txt and replace it with the default copy you saved in Step 5.

If this works for anyone, please let me know. Also, if anyone knows how to confirm for sure that the game is actually running at native resolution, please post that info in this thread.

demerdecanswrath

@evolkerb14_ESO Not trying to rain down on the 11 step parade there but, I think installing SwitchResX and maximising the resolution before launching the game is far less meddlesome. I will not bother trying though, I'm "ok" with the current situation.

Please keep in mind the Greymoor update will also bring TXAA anti-aliasing to the table, which is considered superior by most. Doesn't compare to native Retina 2x resolutions, but we have to appreciate what we're given.

kylewwefan

Maybe it’s because I’m not super proficient with things on computer, but I won’t go full screen because of the other issues. like when the game wants to freeze, crash or lock up...generally I have to force quit the game anyways.

In full screen mode, it’s locked up, not responding and not give me access to even force quit.

And I don’t know what to do other than reach behind The iMac and hold down the power button. This is not ideal.

If I just play in windowed mode, it insures I have capability to shut it down when things go awry.

henrycupcakerwb17_ESO

deel

Rowjoh

My Mac (good GPU,CPU,SSD) died recently, and after ruling out replacing it with the latest and greatest due to the ridiculously high cost, I took the plunge and went PC side (good GPU,CPU,SSD).

OMG what a difference.

Gone are the texture glitches, freezes, stutters, add-ons not working, random loading screens (except Cyrodiil), random crashes, spinning character, game stuck on exit etc etc.

The overall performance in comparison is night and day so I can only surmise that the Mac platform hasn't been optimised and isn't maintained to the same standard as PC.

demerdecanswrath

6.0.4 out on PTS, nothing else for the Mac. It's seriously not worth having a stuck cursor or no true full screen or any the countless experience-impairing issues that'll mentally yank me out of western Skyrim's magic the second it loads.

As much as I 100% LOVE what Greymoor is all about, I'm holding out as long as I can.

I'll be here playing casually in time, but the excitement is gone, ZoS. It's just gone.

rluke

LoL the only mac Patch Notes/Fix is:

Mac Game Client:

The client window is now compatible with dark mode.

-.-

thedavidventer

rluke wrote: »

LoL the only mac Patch Notes/Fix is:

Mac Game Client:

The client window is now compatible with dark mode.

-.-

That’s disappointing. No fullscreen (Spaces) fix? No controller input fix? No resolution fix? But yay, dark mode! Ok. Cool. I pre-ordered Greymoor because I’m in love with this game but ZOS needs to stop neglecting the macOS game client! Fix fullscreen! Fix controller input! Fix resolution! It can’t be that hard. Come on.

demerdecanswrath

thedavidventer wrote: »

It can’t be that hard. Come on.

This specific feature requires mediocre googling skills and exactly two new lines of code. I guess 2 > 0 ..

I was an avid ESO+ subscriber and day-one owner of every Chapter so far, but now I have uninstalled the client from my Mac until any news surface about all those persistent and experience-wrecking mega-bugs/omissions. Not advocating for anyone else to do it, I just had enough of "trying" to immerse myself in Tamriel and failing miserably.

demerdecanswrath

Sooo I thought of giving ESO a go with the Greymoor update and whatnot, I was deeply mistaken:

Dear ZoS, move your Launcher devs in-house. It's a simple piece of software with the most critical functionality. Currently it downloads the game and un-packs it, requiring twice the space in an otherwise already large game. I was unable to install it, a throwback to 2015 when I started playing.

The unspoken answer would be "we have more pressing issues" and I agree, but doesn't that say anything about your strategy/business continuity? How long are you going to outsource dev work left and right until you realise you're an MMO studio with real-world, real-time problems?

thedavidventer

demerdecanswrath wrote: »

Sooo I thought of giving ESO a go with the Greymoor update and whatnot, I was deeply mistaken:

Dear ZoS, move your Launcher devs in-house. It's a simple piece of software with the most critical functionality. Currently it downloads the game and un-packs it, requiring twice the space in an otherwise already large game. I was unable to install it, a throwback to 2015 when I started playing.

The unspoken answer would be "we have more pressing issues" and I agree, but doesn't that say anything about your strategy/business continuity? How long are you going to outsource dev work left and right until you realise you're an MMO studio with real-world, real-time problems?

The installer requiring double the space is a big issue. I convinced someone from reddit to give the game a try but even with nothing but the OS installed on his MacBook, with more space than what the actual game requires, he couldn't install it because the installer required more space than what was available and what the game actually required. He ended up requesting a refund from Steam. It's honestly ridiculous that the installer requests more space than what is required from the game. No other game I have played on macOS has this issue. Something is seriously wrong here.

Dear Zenimax Online - @ZOS_MattFiror - please hire a developer specialising in macOS app development and macOS API’s to fix the launcher/installer, fullscreen, resolution, gamepad input, and crash issues. Thanks.

Vivifier

My 10.15.5 experience.

Most of my problems existed in 1440p including crashes in elsweyr , fps drop to 1-8 in certain capital cities random screeching sounds on loading screens and a very rare bug that closes the game client but leaves you in the game to the point were you can listen to the game dialogs still while the game is crashed.

Not a fix that i found but it made my gaming much easier. Dropping the resolution to 1080p all crashes gone and a 20~ fps more in the chapter /dlc zones.

Problems not solved are the clay/playdoh textures in older zones like craglorn/ wrothgar for example. I havent checked cyrodiil or trials yet

Mouse cursor problem was fixed by changing its size in accessibility settings of display ( as suggested in really past posts )
The character spinning doesnt exist for me right now ( could be because i did a OSX reinstall and game reinstall , still i think adding launcher and eso app in accessibility in security options should still work)

Red frame, minor problem but when i launch the game i get 1 red screen frame before the logos pop up normally.

The client and performance need more work but 1080p makes gaming really playable. I think its a 7/10 .

Could be 9 / 10 if the problems mentioned in this thread are fixed and all mac players will welcome the changes and the effort of ZoS because right now there is minimal effort from ZoS side.

A good note for farewell ; Antiquities are fun and addictive. Please don't forget or abandon the mac client ZoS

BlueRaven

1080p? I will give it a shot. Thanks!

Vivifier

BlueRaven wrote: »

1080p? I will give it a shot. Thanks!

My settings are on a "modified" high. High preset minus ssao and aa and distortion off. You ll still get fps hicups in towns but lasting less, you ll still get playdoh textures and occasional weird bugs BUT the game is much more playable even after hours of antiquitiy hunting through various zones. Please try it as much as you can and let me know if it also works better for you as well.

I have a 27" late 2017 imac with 16gb ram

BlueRaven

@Vivifier my iMac is very similar to yours but I have a bit more ram.

I take it you are playing in full screen, not windowed?