Game crashes before character selection screen on MacBook M2

shovavnik · May 9

The May 6/7 update seems to have broken something and I can't launch the game anymore on my MacBook. The game has been running stable for a long time so this is definitely something new and almost certainly related to the patch.

Basically, when I launch the game, it shows the credits, sometimes it briefly shows the "REQUESTING LOGIN" popup, and sometimes it also shows the splash screen with the spinning eso loader at the bottom right, and then it invariably crashes. I play on the EU server though I'm not sure that's related since I think the game crashes before it logs on to the server.

I've tried a bunch of stuff, including forcing the display resolution, using a different monitor, removing all the addons, repairing and rebooting, reinstalling, clearing disk space and memory, and probably a few other things. Nothing works.

Some of the articles on the site say to try to open the game in windowed mode. However, it's already in windowed mode on my primary screen, and because I can't get to the character selection screen, I can't change the window mode setting anyway.

I opened a ticket on May 7 (26263784) and updated it with more details from my repeated attempts to solve this on my own but haven't gotten any replies whatsoever, which is frustrating. I figured I'd post the issue here to see if anybody else is also experiencing this issue.

Landschaft · May 9

I've just requested access to the forum to post the EXACT same thing. I've been playing without any issues for a while now, and after Tuesday, I'm no longer able to play.

None of the suggestions will work. Have tried them all as well (windowed mode, no shadows, repair the client, different monitor, no add-ons, reinstalling, etc). It doesn't seem to be on our machines but on a change they did somehow on that update, most likely.

Blaze13 · May 13

I have this exact same issue. Since the update/maintenance on May 6th, the game has unplayable. I have also sent in multiple tickets to no avail. It was working great before the maintenance and I was resting happily on the cyrodil leaderboards. Unfortunately now I can just watch as I lose my position and miss out. I manage to log on after longer loading screens but then the latency has gone through the roof. Waiting since May 7th for real contact with customer service regarding this issue. Ofcourse I have already gone through the grueling trouble shoot protocols and all sign point to something which changed during that maintenance.

Blaze13 · May 14

Kindly let us know when this issue has been acknowledged. The Mac Compatibility promise is almost insulting at this point. Would like to have the game running smoothly for us again.

shovavnik · May 14

Although ZOS hasn't replied to this forum thread, they did finally reply to my ticket earlier today asking for a bit more info.

I'm hopeful that this means that they're finally looking into it.

I recommend anybody experiencing this issue also open a ticket. It might make it easier for ZOS to fix the problem.

virtus753 · May 14

Blaze13 wrote: »

The Mac Compatibility promise is almost insulting at this point.

ZOS does not officially support ARM-based Macs:

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/59187

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/52307

That said, I hope they are willing to find a fix for this so you can keep playing.

shovavnik · May 14

@virtus753 I'm aware. However, the game has worked on the new Apple Silicon chips for the last year, at least. Something changed in the May 6 update that broke the game, at least for some of us.

I think what @Blaze13 is alluding to is that Apple no longer makes computers with Intel-based chips, probably since around 2017 or 2018. That basically means that, over time, the official "Mac support" basically disappears as more and more Mac users upgrade their machines. The last Mac officially supported by EOS is probably at least 6 years old by now.

Given that the game has worked with Apple Silicon-based chips, it would be great if ZOS could at least test to make sure that updates don't break on new Macs, even if it doesn't provide official support.

virtus753 · May 14

shovavnik wrote: »

@virtus753 I'm aware. However, the game has worked on the new Apple Silicon chips for the last year, at least. Something changed in the May 6 update that broke the game, at least for some of us.

I think what @Blaze13 is alluding to is that Apple no longer makes computers with Intel-based chips, probably since around 2017 or 2018. That basically means that, over time, the official "Mac support" basically disappears as more and more Mac users upgrade their machines. The last Mac officially supported by EOS is probably at least 6 years old by now.

Given that the game has worked with Apple Silicon-based chips, it would be great if ZOS could at least test to make sure that updates don't break on new Macs, even if it doesn't provide official support.

I'm all for ZOS fixing this so people who have been playing can continue to play. I hope they do. I would feel terrible if the game that had worked for so long suddenly stopped working for me over a change in an incremental. I'm with you on that.

I'm just pointing out to Blaze (I'm not sure whether they're aware or others who might be reading) that any promises of "Mac compatibility" are not universal and do have that very significant limitation, so the expectations here may not be addressed or fulfilled the same way as if modern Macs were officially supported. You're absolutely right to note that ZOS is effectively aging out support for Macs with this policy. But their statement back in 2020 and subsequent posts by CMs and other support staff since then have made it clear that they don't consider ARM-based Macs to fall under that umbrella of Mac compatibility some players expect. And they carved out for themselves a very big out to drop support for Macs entirely with that letter back in 2020. You already knew this, but I suspect many players using Macs to play ESO don't.

Personally, I also think it's highly misleading for the website to say "Model: Mid-2017 Macs and Newer" under minimum requirements without mentioning anywhere on that same page that only Intel-based Macs get official support. The page says it was updated March 11 of this year, so that's not an issue with being out of date, just apparently missing some critical information.

Again, I hope this does get attention and is fixed for you all sooner rather than later.

shovavnik · May 14

@virtus753 I understand what you're saying and I appreciate the support.

I play ESO through Steam, so when I started playing, all I saw was that there was Mac support. I didn't know that ZOS made a distinction between Intel and Apple Silicon and if it's explained somewhere on the Steam page, I didn't notice it. And it worked, for the most part.

It was only when things broke and I reached out for help that I discovered the partial support. Fortunately, I was able to use the various articles on this site (and maybe a post or two on the forum) to fix the issue and it's been mostly smooth sailing since then.

So all this is just to say that you make a good point about the ZOS messaging regarding Mac support.

Blaze13 · May 15

Thank you for the insight! You guys have been very informative and more helpful than support at this point.

Im waiting 6 days on a reply from Callum who has ghosted me after asking for my computer specs and info. It really is a shame, I have spent good money on apex mounts, invested 8000 hours and have friends in guilds - it would suck to have to say bye to them now.

What ever happened on May 6ths maintenance I just wish it could be reversed. Makes me wonder if there's any testing done on Macs at all before these "improvements" are implemented.

I do hope we get an honest response rather than something insincere. It would be heartbreaking if they close this thread commenting that "there's already many posts about this issue" and sign it off with a link to latency trouble shooting or something like that