Multiple (separate) errors requiring machine or app reboot . . . (MAC)
Hi,
Some specs to start this post off:
Machine: iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)
OS: macOS Catalina 10.15.7
CPU: 3.8 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i7
Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16 GB
I recently purchased this computer to update my hardware, and specifically with the hope of playing the Mac client (really a WINE-wrapper version of the PC client) of FFXIV. (My previous Mojave-running 2014 iMac could load the game, but it really barely had the specs to play it. )
I've had the machine for a week, and since then I've had THREE massive errors that in one case impacted the whole machine and required reboot of the app, and in two cases required a soft reset of the machine itself.
I'm not sure if I should be making one or multiple tickets, but so far FFXIV Customer Support over email hasn't been able to help me. (Their advice is word-for-word identical - copypasted - for any issue I have mentioned, and some of their 'Troubleshooting Tips' are suggestions that as far as I know Mac users simply cannot do [e.g.: manually clean install or update graphics card drivers - Mac users get their drivers through System Update and cannot do it on their own - or asking if I use a have a freesync or G-sync monitor, which MacOS has never supported] despite them making it clear they know I'm on a Mac.)
I should also note that I have run two benchmarking programs, to make sure that there wasn't a GPU hardware error on my end (with cooling/throttling or with an uncommonly accessed bad sector), and they came up fine. It's clearly FFXIV causing the problem.
Here's what's going on:
Error 1: Loud *POP* Noise And All System Sound Off Until I Quit
This happened at the beginning of the Tam-Tara Deepcroft dungeon cinematic, meaning that I had to go through the dungeon with no audio (which so far has been the smallest of my problems.)
Once the dungeon was over, I was able to test if the sound absence was system-wide. It was. I tested if I could still hear sound if I plugged in my headset. I could! Could I unplug the headset again and hear on internal speakers, effectively 'resetting' them? No. But when I quit the app, there was another loud *POP* . . . and the sound came back for the whole system.
This is the latest of multiple Mac FFXIV bugs that take down something system-wide when they happen.
I also opened up Console a bit later . . . and saw three new crash logs, right when that happened. They were for the MTLCompilerService, a GPU compiler that "compiles a machine-agnostic version of Metal (Apple’s shader language for 3D rendering on their GPUs) into GPU code that runs on the specific GPU in your device, with the current graphics settings" -- https://www.quora.com/What-does-Appl...ilerService-do . Whatever took out the audio system-wide due to FFXIV seems to be related to these three simultaneous thread crashes. I could share more details about the crashes if useful.
~~~
Error 2: Cinematic Fills Screen With Flashing Color Blocking
That's about the sum of it. In the middle of the series of cinematic cutscenes that happen when you travel by airship the first time for the main questline, the screen did this: https://youtu.be/KhbO4QyYw_w Yes, that is video of my screen.
As you can see, the color-blocking fills the whole screen. I play windowed, and it wasn't just in-app. The only other thing that's visible is the '...' cursor. I was able to get the system menubar to render, and even get over to the Apple menu, but the screen would redraw the color blocks so quickly that I couldn't actually see the Force Quit window to Force Quit FFXIV. I had to soft reset by holding down the power button.
This bug was what first had me worried that there was something wrong with my graphics card. But i ran the Heaven benchmark overnight at pretty high specs, and it was fine.
~~~
Error 3: System Lock Before Cutscene
As the game tried to start the cinematic cutscene before an Arcanist receives Topaz Carbuncle, the game froze. A little frustrating, but no big deal . . .
. . . I went to try to type CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up the Force Quit menu, but the keyboard wasn't working. I went to move the mouse to use the GUI to Force Quit, and the mouse wasn't working either. Again, I had to soft reset.
I have spoken with Apple reps twice now. We've done all the usual diagnostics and Disk Utility functions one might do to make sure there isn't a major underlying system problem, and there isn't. By all reports, the machine is fine.
But I haven't found a way to play FFXIV that's not only stable, but doesn't cause system-wide errors, most of which are fatal errors.
What's going on here, FFXIV team?