June 28 patch crash

Tambit · June 2021

I got ESO working on my mac again after a couple of months and even got the add-on errors all gone. On my macbook pro, it runs for about an hour before it gets choppy and I need to restart.
But after I installed today's patch, it has not been good.
I am crashing almost every time after character select, but it doesn't give an error. Just outright program shuts off and I'm staring at desktop. I did manage to get on once. I purchased and decorated a home, but when I left the home to go to Southern Elsweyr, it crashed again and then wouldn't let me back in without crashing out.

Am I the only one with this problem?

doesurmindglow · June 2021

Hi Tambit,

You're not the only one with this problem. It seems to be every Mac user since the Flames of Ambition patch. ZOS is apparently working on it, but is for some reason kinda bad at acknowledging the problem and updating us on their progress. I have no idea why. I don't see the upside to their keeping us in the dark and frustrated.

That said, I can offer a little advice from months of living with the same problem: DO make sure to open a ticket with them so they get YET ANOTHER report of a Mac user crashing on port between instances: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/incident?fresh

They will link a very old and completely ineffective troubleshooting article, and tell you to disable your add-ons and repair your client installation, neither of which will be responsive to the issue. Do the steps anyway so you can tell them they didn't work. Escalate the ticket. Ask them explicitly to pass the issue on to the Mac development team, who is ultimately responsible for resolving this.

In the meantime, there are a few workarounds that have emerged on the forums that seem to work for reducing the frequency of memory-related crashes on instance changes:

Unsummon/disable any pets, assistants, or companions before attempting port (or leaving a house).
Exit fullscreen before attempting port.
If you get a chain of said crashes (I usually do this after a couple in a row), reboot your computer and reset its virtual memory (most Macs require you to hold a combination of keys on reboot to do this, though the combination varies somewhat based on model)
Avoid porting into busy areas, especially major cities, that require the loading of large numbers of character models. This won't be an option for the crashes that are frequent with player housing, dungeon instances, or the Imperial City, but it might help avoid some of the crashes you can have leaving those places.
With that last tip in mind, I've been able to further reduce crashes from IC and dungeon instances by moving my character to a less busy area before accepting the dungeon or IC queue. This means when I exit I'll be porting into a less busy area.

None of this will provide a complete solution, but could help you reduce the frequency to a more manageable level. Good luck!

ZOS_Bill · July 2021

@Tambit

As mentioned in the post above, we recommend opening a ticket with customer support so our support team can investigate and get more information on these crashes.