Beta Mac client doesn't work anymore

[greatlord365]

i still have to old beta mac client and it worked up to U16 but now it just crashes right before the character screen.
any ideas or help would be great thanks

[Almagnus1]

Use BootCamp to install Windows 8.1, and use the Windows Client?

[greatlord365]

Use BootCamp to install Windows 8.1, and use the Windows Client?

yes thats a option but should not be needed since it used to work good

[Almagnus1]

yes thats a option but should not be needed since it used to work good

Can you screenshot the error message you are getting when it crashes?

Does the issue persist through reboots of OSX?

[Valamar]

Yes, the Mac Client is completely unplayable with the Beta of U16.

I have bugged this with Turbine since Build 1; and the problem continues through build 3 (Waiting for build 4 on the patch server now.)

Basically, the MTBF with U16 for the Mac Client is under 60 seconds - or any Land-block crossing or Swift travel, whichever comes first.

I have also noted that the Mac Client has significant problems in Rohan (east and west).
However in "the old world" the "memory-leak cleanup" worked very well.
I have run a new Beorning up through Moria (into, but not through Dimrel Dale) and level 65 -- with many 4 and 6 hour sessions and never a crash.

We can only hope that Rohan and Gondor will get the same Memory-leak cleanup.

And yes, the problem is good ol' Awesomium.

[Valamar]

Can you screenshot the error message you are getting when it crashes?

Does the issue persist through reboots of OSX?

There are no "error messages" -- simply crash dumps -- all of which are the same -- Awesomium is addressing bogus memory locations.

[Valamar]

i still have to old beta mac client and it worked up to U16 but now it just crashes right before the character screen.
any ideas or help would be great thanks

You should be able to patch and get to the character screen, then into the game -- but not any further

[Almagnus1]

There are no "error messages" -- simply crash dumps -- all of which are the same -- Awesomium is addressing bogus memory locations.

That's good about Awesomium.

To define what I'm referring to, a crash dump is a file that contains a dump of all the memory currently allocated by a process, including the memory that's the OSX equivalent of kernel, user, and page file space.

What it does is provide a snapshot of the process when the error occurred, which is a very useful tool for figuring out what went wrong, and possibly fixing the issue.

I bring this up as I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing here.

[Valamar]

That's good about Awesomium.

To define what I'm referring to, a crash dump is a file that contains a dump of all the memory currently allocated by a process, including the memory that's the OSX equivalent of kernel, user, and page file space.

What it does is provide a snapshot of the process when the error occurred, which is a very useful tool for figuring out what went wrong, and possibly fixing the issue.

I bring this up as I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing here.

OSX conveniently generates a crash dump. If you have xcode installed, it will "bust" that dump for you.
It will tell you what the "cause" of the crash is -- for example
=======
Crashed Thread: 0 AwesomiumBrowserMain Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000
=======
It then provide all of the gory details on each thread that are worthless unless you have the code available.

Sadly, when last asked about it in one of the Thursday romps with Frelon, he indicated that Turbine had no Mac programmers on staff anymore.
That was about a month ago, so I don't know if that is still true.

What I don't know is if the problem is with Awesomium itself or with the interface between Awesomium and LOTRO.
Awesomium is used for both the LOTRO Store and the dialog interfaces with all NPCs.

= = = = = = =
With Build 4 - I just configured a new character in the E&G with no problems. Bought a Map to West Bree -- and "boom."

One presumes the basic issue is the same memory leak problem which has existed before, but I have no idea.
However, the end result is that U16 Build 4 is still unplayable on the Mac Client.

Oh well, Back to using CrossOver (WINE).

[HacyHo]

...Oh well, Back to using CrossOver (WINE).

Val,

I was unaware that the game launcher ever got fixed for Wine. I had just switched to the Mac client since the launcher stopped working months ago. The news that there are no longer any Mac programmers on staff is disconcerting; I think it will likely mean that when the Mac client breaks (which I always expect it to with any update) nothing will be done to fix it.

Anywho, I'm going to comb the Mac forums to see if I can detect how to get the launcher working again under Wine just to be prepared.

[greatlord365]

Thank you everybody, Sorry i have not responded to the thread but yes i have bugged it also and i don't see anything changing as of right now. i hope a staff member from turbine can assist us with the issue and maybe give us some insight on what the eta is on fixing it or i hope the can get it fixed before U16 goes live.

[greatlord365]

This is a video if the mac client crashing on my system.

https://youtu.be/Zo3d-IrFTiM

[Almagnus1]

Sanity check: Are you using any plugins? IIRC they are loaded after the character login has begun, which is much later in the login process, but we may as well cover all bases.

When was the last time you observed the Bullroarer client working as expected?

Also, when was the last time you updated your graphics driver? If I had to guess, it looks like it's getting to the stage in loading where it initializes the in game graphics, as that's what it looks like the game is using at the login screen.

For that matter, how up to date is OSX?

Is there any way to do a client repair from the launcher?

The only other thing I can think of is a reinstall, but that's not going to be of much help as I don't know where either the OSX or Windows installer for Bullroarer is currently located >.>

[Valamar]

Val,

I was unaware that the game launcher ever got fixed for Wine. I had just switched to the Mac client since the launcher stopped working months ago. The news that there are no longer any Mac programmers on staff is disconcerting; I think it will likely mean that when the Mac client breaks (which I always expect it to with any update) nothing will be done to fix it.

Anywho, I'm going to comb the Mac forums to see if I can detect how to get the launcher working again under Wine just to be prepared.

The answer here is "yes, but no."

I use a combination of the old PyLotRO launcher to Patch the client with, and then delve down into the .app bundle in the bottle to launch the launcher directly from inside the bundle.
This then frequently requires multiple attempts.
Typically, the first attempt stalls on the Akamai search for download files. After about a minute I abort (X) that attempt and then re-launch.
The second attempt typically "hangs" on download the first EN transition screen.
Sometimes I will kill it here and re-launch again, other times, if I'm doing something else, I will just let it run.
After about 5-15 minutes I find that I have gotten the login-window to pop-up.

There are some comments about this over at WineHQ, but I have not payed close attention to them lately. Mainly because they are all about Linux, nobody talks about the Mac versions.

https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManag...sion&iId=31545 -- the current version (Update 15 Gondor Aflame)

https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManag...sion&iId=29436 -- the previous version (Update 12 Helm's Deep)

[Vyvyanne]

We are looking into this

[Valamar]

Sanity check: Are you using any plugins? IIRC they are loaded after the character login has begun, which is much later in the login process, but we may as well cover all bases.

When was the last time you observed the Bullroarer client working as expected?

Also, when was the last time you updated your graphics driver? If I had to guess, it looks like it's getting to the stage in loading where it initializes the in game graphics, as that's what it looks like the game is using at the login screen.

For that matter, how up to date is OSX?

Is there any way to do a client repair from the launcher?

The only other thing I can think of is a reinstall, but that's not going to be of much help as I don't know where either the OSX or Windows installer for Bullroarer is currently located >.>

Starting with the second question -- The Bullroarer Client worked as expected with Update 15. It has never worked under Update 16.

Under OSX, it is NOT possible to update any driver. Apple's "walled garden" prevents the installation of any third-party (including vendor supplied) drivers.

How up-to-date is OSX? is a two edged question. One edge refers to the version currently released by Apple 10.10.3 with the Supplemental update (17 April) whereby Apple "fixed" the graphics drivers they screwed up in 10.10.3 the week before. The second edge refers to which version the OP has installed.

Not certain what you mean by "Client Repair." The Turbine Launcher for either platform (PC or Mac) does NOT provide any kind of client repair capabilities. If you try a Client Repair from Steam, it will check-sum your patched and updated version of LOTRO and compare those checksums with their un-patched (by 2 expansions now) version and simply download a new unpatched and obsolete client. Of course, this only works for the Live version. Steam doesn't support the Bullroarer client.

You can set the "Graphics defaults" and some other defaults via the Launcher and the Options/repair window. For the Mac Client, resetting the Graphics to the defaults has always worked well for me.

The other recommendation I have come to make on a routine basis for Mac Client problems -- especially after any OSX update:
1- Power Cycle your Mac. (not a reboot - Shut it all the way down and power it off.)
2- Run Applications/Utilities/Disk Update "Repair Disk Permissions."

This is one of those "black magic" rituals which should have no effect -- but it does fix things that it shouldn't have any effect on.
(However, sacrificing chickens to the Mighty Favog does NOT seem to have an effect.)

[Valamar]

We are looking into this

Thank you!!!

[Almagnus1]

What version of OSX are you using and exactly what Mac are you using?

That's info that will help Turbine zero in with the issue.

Starting with the second question -- The Bullroarer Client worked as expected with Update 15. It has never worked under Update 16.

Any other changes to the system between BR U15 and now?

This helps with figuring out what went **BOOM**

Under OSX, it is NOT possible to update any driver. Apple's "walled garden" prevents the installation of any third-party (including vendor supplied) drivers.

**Facepalm**

I tend to get updates for my NVidia graphics drivers about weekly. That's bugs and performance tweaks that they are applying to the code, and as my current theory is that the render did something stupid.....

How up-to-date is OSX? is a two edged question. One edge refers to the version currently released by Apple 10.10.3 with the Supplemental update (17 April) whereby Apple "fixed" the graphics drivers they screwed up in 10.10.3 the week before. The second edge refers to which version the OP has installed.

It's essentially the OSX equivalent of "Have you installed all the Windows Updates?" I don't know what that would translate too, as I don't really know OSX (which is why some of these questions make sense in a Windows context but don't in an OSX context).

Also, how difficult is it to move from one released version to another? Is it a herculean task to get to the latest released OSX product?

Not certain what you mean by "Client Repair." The Turbine Launcher for either platform (PC or Mac) does NOT provide any kind of client repair capabilities. If you try a Client Repair from Steam, it will check-sum your patched and updated version of LOTRO and compare those checksums with their un-patched (by 2 expansions now) version and simply download a new unpatched and obsolete client. Of course, this only works for the Live version. Steam doesn't support the Bullroarer client.

Well, that shoots that idea. I was hoping for some way for the BR Mac client to fix itself.

[Almagnus1]

We are looking into this

There any point in continuing to troubleshoot, or should we let y'all handle it?

[istvana]

>(However, sacrificing chickens to the Mighty Favog does NOT seem to have an effect.)<

I've heard differing opinions on this. Of course, the wise person may choose to *say* that The Mighty Favog, blessed be Her name, is efficacious regardless of such person's actual belief.

At a minimum, such ritual propitiation of She who must be obeyed (sorry Ayesha) tends to produce the beneficial effect of dinner most fowl.

[greatlord365]

As of right now there is still no fix for the Mac Client. I am not sure when U16 is going to launch but i feel that this is getting very scary. I just hope we can get a fix

[greatlord365]

As of right now there is still no fix for the Mac Client. I am not sure when U16 is going to launch but i feel that this is getting very scary. I just hope we can get a fix

Any news on if they will be getting the mac client fixed before launch of U16?

[Stilgaard]

Any news on if they will be getting the mac client fixed before launch of U16?

Something tells me they didn't, since I'm getting the same crash error after crossing into Rohan (ANY post U16 content) on live, ands searching my crash brought me to this thread.

Prior to crossing the river I could play for hours with no crashes at all, now its unplayable for more than a few min

OSX 10.10.3, i7 iMac Retina, 64GB RAM

[Valamar]

Something tells me they didn't, since I'm getting the same crash error after crossing into Rohan (ANY post U16 content) on live, ands searching my crash brought me to this thread.

Prior to crossing the river I could play for hours with no crashes at all, now its unplayable for more than a few min

OSX 10.10.3, i7 iMac Retina, 64GB RAM

The latest sticky "Bullroarer client Installer - DOWNLOAD LINKS" - includes a "new" Bullroarer Mac Client download.
Once you progress through the Gatekeeper ritual, the download works as expected and patches. Since Bullroarer is still down (12:30 EDT) I can't tell how well the client works.

[Stilgaard]

Well,
I'll keep an eye out for your feedback on the new version since I barely have time to play on live (where I am crashing), I was merely commenting here since my searches brought me here on the fact that crashes seen here in the last Bullroarer version appear to had made it through to live in areas south of Great River (and suspiciously happen mostly when mounted!)

I may just need to hang up my main for a while and level up another character in areas that don't crash on a Mac every several minutes.