Game does not launch (Mac)

Bazeric

@Moonraker

Moonraker wrote: »

Well, to be fair we have that rare thing in gaming which is a native Mac client built by an experienced (and conscientious) Lead Mac OS X Engineer who has been in the development team for four years. I can say it doesn't often get better for us than that.

The Mac specific CS will improve I'm sure as the game ramps up and launch days are usually tough times to get good advice to everyone. Doesn't stop the frustrations though.

Sure, but they said that if I payed extra money they'd give me a product that would play on Mac and that I'd have 5 days before the main release to play. (I know the EA is basically a final beta before the big release, but there's a difference between actually playing the game and having it crash vs. not even being able to even launch the game. A point which is made worse by the fact that the actual beta didn't have this problem...which was free... irony) That's my biggest gripe. I imagine the pressure came from the higher-ups to release the game and ask forgiveness later. I just don't want to be a forgotten stray because they promised something but didn't care to execute it for everyone who payed... which includes me.

whitebeard00

Again thank you for all your comments and help @Moonraker. Much appreciated that you are taking the time to read and respond to these messages. I agree, the only real solution is to wait for ZOS to patch the launcher, hopefully with some compensation as they are charging not only for the game, but everyday for their online service.

Those who haven`t been able to even launch the game may find this as funny as I did.... After 3 days and 3 detailed messages sent this is the email I got from the support center copy/pasted directly:

Helping you is our passion!

We will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you within 120 days.

If your issue has not been resolved, you can respond directly to this email. We look forward to working with you again should you need us!

Moonraker

Bazeric wrote: »

@Moonraker

Moonraker wrote: »

Well, to be fair we have that rare thing in gaming which is a native Mac client built by an experienced (and conscientious) Lead Mac OS X Engineer who has been in the development team for four years. I can say it doesn't often get better for us than that.

The Mac specific CS will improve I'm sure as the game ramps up and launch days are usually tough times to get good advice to everyone. Doesn't stop the frustrations though.

Sure, but they said that if I payed extra money they'd give me a product that would play on Mac and that I'd have 5 days before the main release to play. (I know the EA is basically a final beta before the big release, but there's a difference between actually playing the game and having it crash vs. not even being able to even launch the game. A point which is made worse by the fact that the actual beta didn't have this problem...which was free... irony) That's my biggest gripe. I imagine the pressure came from the higher-ups to release the game and ask forgiveness later. I just don't want to be a forgotten stray because they promised something but didn't care to execute it for everyone who payed... which includes me.

I agree. But you need to aim your shot at those responsible for the Launcher errors and this was wide of the mark. In the end ZOS as a company holds the responsibility and I'm sure they will get it resolved.

In terms of time lost from the game due to the issue I would write to them setting it all out and/ or phone and do the same directly.

Bazeric

I was holding back a lot of my rage. Tried to filter it appropriately but oh well.
+1 for your optimism @Moonraker.

On my lunch break ATM and there is a 700 or so

MB update that the launcher is downloading. You can count on an updated report. Hopefully sans negativity. No promises . But the download will probably be longer than my break so it'll be this evening.

Bazeric

Or It will finish, only to have not fixed my problem. I'll post my updated information tonight. That's another day.....

agentflizzo

For me, the game is broken after the new patch. Now the game crashes just after I click play on the launcher.

Moonraker

agentflizzo wrote: »

For me, the game is broken after the new patch. Now the game crashes just after I click play on the launcher.

Looks like it is a general Launcher issue, much as before but now effecting others. Check this thread in CS.

ZOS need to seriously pull their finger out on this Launcher issue both for Mac & PC customers.

On PC side disabling Firewall helped some. if you have OS X Firewall on try disabling it;

Also worth ensuring the OS X Firewall is switched OFF during download and that any router firewall is not blocking it in some way.

System Preferences > Secuirty & Privacy > Firewall

This is in OS X 10.9 Mavericks, It may be slightly different in other versions.

Think it's worth also now looking at disabling Firewall in router to check this.

Moonraker

If you have an issue with the Launcher and use a Japanese or other symbol type keyboard, try setting it to an English keyboard like British or U.S. (others should work) in:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources

Let me know if you do try this.

Bazeric

Moonraker wrote: »

If you have an issue with the Launcher and use a Japanese or other symbol type keyboard, try setting it to an English keyboard like British or U.S. (others should work) in:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources

Let me know if you do try this.

HOLY *4 letter obscenity!!!!!!!!* @Moonraker you are... *HUGS* How'd you.... I dont' even... ...okay kidding aside I'm past the Intro branding and have a login screen.....and onto the Character Creator!!!

I'd hadn't even noticed that mine was set to 'Romaji'. I'll note that when I went to change it back to 'U.S.' that 'U.S.' had been completely removed and I had to add it back. I'm suspicious that you (Moonraker) might have done some voodoo to get into my Mac... but I'll let it slide. I might be sharing some mead with you after all.

Thank you for all you help. ZeniMax give @Moonraker something special. They've earned it.

I guess I'm of to the far reaches of Tamriel after all. I'll check back if things change. So far changing my Keyboard back to 'U.S' has worked. Why it disappeared to begin with is a mystery though.

Moonraker

Bazeric wrote: »

Moonraker wrote: »

If you have an issue with the Launcher and use a Japanese or other symbol type keyboard, try setting it to an English keyboard like British or U.S. (others should work) in:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources

Let me know if you do try this.

HOLY *4 letter obscenity!!!!!!!!* @Moonraker you are... *HUGS* How'd you.... I dont' even... ...okay kidding aside I'm past the Intro branding and have a login screen.....and onto the Character Creator!!!

I'd hadn't even noticed that mine was set to 'Romaji'. I'll note that when I went to change it back to 'U.S.' that 'U.S.' had been completely removed and I had to add it back. I'm suspicious that you (Moonraker) might have done some voodoo to get into my Mac... but I'll let it slide. I might be sharing some mead with you after all.

Thank you for all you help. ZeniMax give @Moonraker something special. They've earned it.

I guess I'm of to the far reaches of Tamriel after all. I'll check back if things change. So far changing my Keyboard back to 'U.S' has worked. Why it disappeared to begin with is a mystery though.

And I'll let you know, that tip came direct from the Lead Mac Developer So I can't grab all the glory and reflects hopefully the fact that they do care and working hard on this Mac client and Mac players.

The Launcher is still needing real work on it which is another development and still no excuses for that ATM.

There is a fix submitted for this bug. It was a fairly obscure one.

I'm in EU so not so much to NA Megaserver but I do intend play some there as a night owl. Character is same as name here.

Hope it goes well for you from here

Bazeric

Moonraker wrote: »

There is a fix submitted for this bug. It was a fairly obscure one.

To put it mildly Game crashes when a user tries to launch be cause the user has foreign character keyboard available.

I'm not sure what it was set to prior to all this, just that 'U.S.' had gone missing if that helps anyone out there..... Bueller?...... Just me then? Well that's pretty much par for the course.

Moonraker

Bazeric wrote: »

Moonraker wrote: »

There is a fix submitted for this bug. It was a fairly obscure one.

To put it mildly Game crashes when a user tries to launch be cause the user has foreign character keyboard available.

I'm not sure what it was set to prior to all this, just that 'U.S.' had gone missing if that helps anyone out there..... Bueller?...... Just me then? Well that's pretty much par for the course.

No. Most foreign character keyboards seem fine including Russian Cyrillic, Hindi etc. Just a few like Japanese, Chinese. And not available but selected as keyboard from what I tested.

Your U.S. keyboard selection could have gone for a number of reasons in OS X. Just add it back via System Preferences.

No idea what the last part was about.

mistermacintosh

@Moonraker‌ & @ZOS_MichaelD:

Still having the following issue (since 0500 Sunday): I hit PLAY and am taken to a black screen with heroic music playing in the background and a movable white triangular mouse pointer - no graphics or fields to enter info into - and I have to force quit to close the app. (multiple tickets open which have allegedly been forwarded to people working on these issues: 140330-014534, 140331-090237 & 140331-090489)

What I was wondering is since I was able to play Beta without issue (the last 3 sessions), is there really any reason to believe that messing with my firewall settings will fix my launcher?

I'm understandably reluctant to revert my OS or compromise security to play a video game. Then again, I've tried just about everything else (including the UserSettings.txt fixes and the US keyboard thing)... I'm even doing yet another "fresh" install...

---

I also wanted to say thanks to you Moonraker for sticking with us and trying to help. I didn't plan to spend this much time on the forum (or troubleshooting this launcher), but now that I have I see that a lot more Mac users would be SOL if you weren't actively participating. If our roles were reversed I would be in Tamriel, not worried about this mess at all. Cheers to you for being selfless!

Also, thanks to ZOS_MichaelD for your posts. I think so far they have been the most helpful of the Moderator posts... which isn't saying much, but at least we can see that some of you guys are there and trying to help. That makes me feel a little better.

Moonraker

dethbl00ms wrote: »

@Moonraker‌ & @ZOS_MichaelD:

Still having the following issue (since 0500 Sunday): I hit PLAY and am taken to a black screen with heroic music playing in the background and a movable white triangular mouse pointer - no graphics or fields to enter info into - and I have to force quit to close the app. (multiple tickets open which have allegedly been forwarded to people working on these issues: 140330-014534, 140331-090237 & 140331-090489)

What I was wondering is since I was able to play Beta without issue (the last 3 sessions), is there really any reason to believe that messing with my firewall settings will fix my launcher?

I'm understandably reluctant to revert my OS or compromise security to play a video game. Then again, I've tried just about everything else (including the UserSettings.txt fixes and the US keyboard thing)... I'm even doing yet another "fresh" install...

All I would say on the Firewall thing is that you only need to disable it while testing to see if it helps when trying to launch the game. Then just revert after. If it does resolve it then you can use the firewall and update your ticket with that information which can help with diagnosing the issue.

I also wanted to say thanks to you Moonraker for sticking with us and trying to help. I didn't plan to spend this much time on the forum (or troubleshooting this launcher), but now that I have I see that a lot more Mac users would be SOL if you weren't actively participating. If our roles were reversed I would be in Tamriel, not worried about this mess at all. Cheers to you for being selfless!

Your words are appreciated @dethbl00ms.

I was fortunate enough to get access to the PTS server before launch for testing the Mac client, so I had time to explore then. I'm in no hurry to level fast so I don't mind time here to help other players get to enjoy the game as I do. And supporting a native Mac game client is important to me. Once the initial launch period has passed and things smooth out, I'll be out there don't worry

whitebeard00

@Moonraker, Thank you so much!!! That was indeed the issue, I use a Japanese keyboard and type in Japanese, unclicking the option in system preferences to type in Japanese worked immediately. Wow.

Moonraker

whitebeard00 wrote: »

@Moonraker, Thank you so much!!! That was indeed the issue, I use a Japanese keyboard and type in Japanese, unclicking the option in system preferences to type in Japanese worked immediately. Wow.

Glad to help @whitebeard. Being able to help other Mac users get in the game make's the time in this forum worthwhile.

Bazeric

Moonraker wrote: »

No idea what the last part was about.

Basically a stateside pop culture reference used to emphasize the rarity of this bug and how I was probably the only one who had it. (Thankfully it seems to have helped @whitebeard00‌ too. Fun thought: We should have a Japanese Characters Bug party sometime whitebeard00 & Moonraker *and anyone else affected by this bug* if we are ever on the same server.)

Was able to play last night and only had one crash with an unknown error with no code so that's pretty good. Most my problems in beta were PvP so I just I'll see when I get there.

Moonraker

Bazeric wrote: »

Moonraker wrote: »

No idea what the last part was about.

Basically a stateside pop culture reference used to emphasize the rarity of this bug and how I was probably the only one who had it. (Thankfully it seems to have helped @whitebeard00‌ too. Fun thought: We should have a Japanese Characters Bug party sometime whitebeard00 & Moonraker *and anyone else affected by this bug* if we are ever on the same server.)

Was able to play last night and only had one crash with an unknown error with no code so that's pretty good. Most my problems in beta were PvP so I just I'll see when I get there.

Glad it went well last night.

I think there will need to be some serious efforts still on a lot of aspects in Cyrodiil big battles including the Mac memory issue. It was very ambitious to aim for such large-scale events with the associated demands on servers, clients, networks etc. Guess time will tell.

I was guessing Ferris Bueller but didn't know the reference

IBhaRa

.

Moonraker

IBhaRa wrote: »

Encountered similar problem. Considering partitioning hard drive, installing Windows, and then installing ESO on Windows on Mac. Is there another solution?

@IBhaRa Did you try launcher the Mac client direct? or check the UserSettings.txt file is installed? Se the first page and my first posts there to start.

Can you post your System requirements which will help to provide advice;

Apple icon (top left of menu bar) > About This Mac > More info…

ethyreal

Moonraker wrote: »

If you have an issue with the Launcher and use a Japanese or other symbol type keyboard, try setting it to an English keyboard like British or U.S. (others should work) in:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources

Let me know if you do try this.

Moonraker thank you, the mac developer who told you this, the whole world!

I have had the same problem as the op since last sunday. I've been playing everyday on my bootcamp partian on both my macs. I was seriously getting depressed thinking I wouldn't be able to play this one OSX even though I played the betas.

I could kiss you all

Moonraker

ethyreal wrote: »

Moonraker wrote: »

If you have an issue with the Launcher and use a Japanese or other symbol type keyboard, try setting it to an English keyboard like British or U.S. (others should work) in:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources

Let me know if you do try this.

Moonraker thank you, the mac developer who told you this, the whole world!

I have had the same problem as the op since last sunday. I've been playing everyday on my bootcamp partian on both my macs. I was seriously getting depressed thinking I wouldn't be able to play this one OSX even though I played the betas.

I could kiss you all

Just happy to help @ethyreal. Kisses are always acceptable payment

IBhaRa

.

IBhaRa

.

Moonraker

IBhaRa wrote: »

@‌Moonraker

Moonraker wrote: »

IBhaRa wrote: »

Encountered similar problem. Considering partitioning hard drive, installing Windows, and then installing ESO on Windows on Mac. Is there another solution?

@IBhaRa Did you try launcher the Mac client direct? or check the UserSettings.txt file is installed? Se the first page and my first posts there to start.

Can you post your System requirements which will help to provide advice;

Apple icon (top left of menu bar) > About This Mac > More info…

Hi,

The file "UserSettings.txt" does not exist and was not included with the client download in the Zenimax Online folder. The error message was Internal error... Abort: Pointer is NULL ; And the location referenced by the error does not exist.

Thank you for your support.

The UserSettings.txt file is created when you log onto the game the first time. it is created with other files in a new folder which is not in the Zenimax folder in Applications. it is separate and stored in Documents:

~/Documents/Elder Scrolls Online/live/UserSettings.txt

Without the system details I can not help much more I'm afraid.

Moonraker

IBhaRa wrote: »

@‌Moonraker

Moonraker wrote: »

IBhaRa wrote: »

Encountered similar problem. Considering partitioning hard drive, installing Windows, and then installing ESO on Windows on Mac. Is there another solution?

@IBhaRa Did you try launcher the Mac client direct? or check the UserSettings.txt file is installed? Se the first page and my first posts there to start.

Can you post your System requirements which will help to provide advice;

Apple icon (top left of menu bar) > About This Mac > More info…

Hi,

The file "UserSettings.txt" does not exist and was not included with the client download in the Zenimax Online folder. The error message was Internal error... Abort: Pointer is NULL ; And the location referenced by the error does not exist.

Thank you for your support.

From Support:

When trying to run the Mac/OSX launcher, I'm getting a "Null Pointer Error."

- Click "Network".
- Select your internet connection in the menu on the left side (it will have a green dot).
- Click "Advanced" on the right hand side after your internet connection is selected.
- Click the "Proxies" tab.
- Uncheck the box for "Automatic Proxy Discovery".

Moonraker

IBhaRa wrote: »

IBhaRa wrote: »

@‌Moonraker

Moonraker wrote: »

IBhaRa wrote: »

Encountered similar problem. Considering partitioning hard drive, installing Windows, and then installing ESO on Windows on Mac. Is there another solution?

@IBhaRa Did you try launcher the Mac client direct? or check the UserSettings.txt file is installed? Se the first page and my first posts there to start.

Can you post your System requirements which will help to provide advice;

Apple icon (top left of menu bar) > About This Mac > More info…

Hi,

The file "UserSettings.txt" does not exist and was not included with the client download in the Zenimax Online folder. The error message was Internal error... Abort: Pointer is NULL ; And the location referenced by the error does not exist.

Thank you for your support.

Currently, The Elder Scrolls Online Launcher application is reading "Loading..." and that is an improvement I am thankful for.

Glad it is improving a bit. See other posts. If still a problem feel free to post again.

IBhaRa

.

Moonraker

IBhaRa wrote: »

Thanks to some help from you and others I have unchecked the "auto proxy discovery" button located in the "advanced" tab in the "network" tab of the "system preferences" application and the problem has been solved. I guess I should have studied computer science and programing in college instead of engineering drafting and design.

Glad it's help fix it for you @IBhaRa Once things settle down I'll post a FAQ and Known issues posts which should help gather up all these things. And network stuff can be such a nightmare these days.

Main thing you are in Tamriel! have fun.

whitebeard00

@Moonraker , thanks again for all the help. Heard from support, recommended again that they offer some compensation for the lost time to those affected by this bug. I also asked them to forward on any compensation to you, hopefully this happens and anyone else affected also does the same.