Mac client does not run at all

The launcher starts fine, but when I click "Play", a new window appears, which is just a black screen. The mouse cursor does change to the FFXIV cursor. My only option then is to force quit.

Anyone else having this problem?

2018 MacBook Pro 13-inch
2.7 GHz i7
16GB RAM
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 1536MB

OSX 10.15.1

I ran into a similar “black screen” problem this week with the latest update. What fixed it was Config>Reset System Settings (which helpfully does actually say “this option is recommended when the game fails to launch.”)

Note that this does delete your UI, hotbar, macro and gear sets so you will probably want to back them up beforehand using Config>Back Up.

In my case I had a server side backup but when I restored it it was somehow deleted, so having a local backup is also good. I also had screenshots of my hotbars and old macros, but just ended up making new ones from scratch.

I'm having the exact same issue right now -- launcher starts great, I log in, the play button appears without a hitch, but when the new window opens for the game itself, it stays on a black screen while giving me the XIV mouse cursor. The cursor moves around just fine, it's clearly not frozen. And slowly but surely, my fan will rev up harder and harder until I have to force quit it.

Doing the system setting reset was pointless for me as this was me trying to even load the game for the first time (bought the mac version because of Black Friday to supplement my PS4 habits). But i tried the system settings reset anyway. No luck. Still the same problem.

I'm able to launch the game but if I move my mouse diagonally it completely tanks the FPS. It is making the game unplayable since every time I try to look around I start to drop to single digit frames.

Here's a couple videos showing it -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqdOxwgSI4A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk2Kj6dwCHg

In the 2nd video you can see that I am running in Windowed mode, I have turned my refresh rate down to 60 (from 144). It only drops the frames when I move my mouse in-game when it is the active window.

I've tried clearing my user settings, I've tried turning my graphics down, using the OS cursor instead of the FFXIV one. I completely reinstalled the game cleanly and it didn't change anything.

Any help would be much appreciated. I can't play the game when it's doing this. :(

Specs:

Mac mini 2018
i7 6-Cores 3.2GHz
32GB Memory
Razer Core X eGPU with a RX 590
macOS Catalina (fully updated)

Anyone else having this problem?

Yes. I am having exactly the same problem. Running a 2018 13 inch Macbook Pro.

Resetting system settings didn't help.

No problems until I updated to Catalina.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Avalon_Albrook

I'm having the exact same issue right now -- launcher starts great, I log in, the play button appears without a hitch, but when the new window opens for the game itself, it stays on a black screen while giving me the XIV mouse cursor. The cursor moves around just fine, it's clearly not frozen. And slowly but surely, my fan will rev up harder and harder until I have to force quit it.

Doing the system setting reset was pointless for me as this was me trying to even load the game for the first time (bought the mac version because of Black Friday to supplement my PS4 habits). But i tried the system settings reset anyway. No luck. Still the same problem.

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Same here, bought the Mac version in Black Friday sale so I can play on my laptop while I'm travelling around during the holidays, but it seems I've wasted my money.

I am somewhat glad to see that others have the problem after upgrading to Catalina, so at least it's not my hardware that's preventing the game from launching.

That is too bad. I am running Catalina and the 64-bit FFXIV client with no problems at the moment.

Catalina does add some new permission restrictions.

I think I added the following changes to System Preferences>Security & Privacy>Privacy:
Files and Folders: give FFXIV access to Documents and Desktop folder (not sure if either is actually necessary.)
Accessibility: enabled for FFXIV.

Regarding the mouse issue perhaps you might have different results with the OS pointer vs. ffxiv software pointer. You could try adjusting the ffxiv mouse pointer settings.

One difference for me is that I am not using the intel integrated gpu - perhaps there are issues with it.

Until they fix the issues you could try running under Windows/boot camp. It is annoying to have to reboot (and to have to buy another copy of ffxiv) but I find that the Windows client has about double the frame rate of the macOS/WINE FFXIV client on the same hardware.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Avenger

Regarding the mouse issue perhaps you might have different results with the OS pointer vs. ffxiv software pointer. You could try adjusting the ffxiv mouse pointer settings.

One difference for me is that I am not using the intel integrated gpu - perhaps there are issues with it.

Until they fix the issues you could try running under Windows/boot camp. It is annoying to have to reboot (and to have to buy another copy of ffxiv) but I find that the Windows client has about double the frame rate of the macOS/WINE FFXIV client on the same hardware.

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Thanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately setting it to either OS cursor or software cursor doesn't fix the issue. I'm not using the integrated GPU either, I'm using an eGPU, or I'd try that out.

Running in Bootcamp would definitely solve the problem for now but I only own the Mac version of Shadowbringers. Hopefully they fix this soon.

Thanks for the suggestion. I already had access to Documents and Accessibility enabled. Even tried giving it full-disk access, that didn't work either.

I submitted a ticket about my diagonal mouse issue on Saturday and got an automated response earlier telling me simply to post an in-game bug report. Hopefully you all can get your black screen issue resolved sooner rather than later.

I'm having trouble with it downloading the Update for the launcher. FFXIVboot - 2019.11.01.0000.0001 it gets about have way then stops and gives error message saying it can't download. I'm on the 2017 MacBook Pro 15 inch.

Yes! I've been having the exact same problem, it's sad because I just bought it and I was really excited to play it ;-;

My Mac info is:
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
Processor: 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5
Memory: 8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 1536 MB
OS Catalina 10.15.1

I have tried changing my wifi, resetting the system settings, giving access to documents & folders in privacy settings, and I am still having the same problem.
If anyone could offer any advice it would be greatly appreciated, and I'm sure it would be appreciated from the others having this issue as well!

Just to keep this alive because it's bugging the crap out of me, is this what it looks like for the rest of you? It sounds like this is exactly what we're all going through, but just to see it directly...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_iw0e8rnLo

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skyler_Hawkins

I'm having trouble with it downloading the Update for the launcher. FFXIVboot - 2019.11.01.0000.0001 it gets about have way then stops and gives error message saying it can't download. I'm on the 2017 MacBook Pro 15 inch.

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That sounds like a different problem from the black screen problem that people with the 13” MBP and intel iris graphics are experiencing.

When I have had download issues it has usually been due to either (1) running out of disk space or (2) a download server becoming inaccessible for some reason, for example being blocked by a firewall or due to a DHCP lease or WiFi password expiring or some other network disconnection. It could also be related to (3) the new disk access permission settings in Catalina.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Avalon_Albrook

Just to keep this alive because it's bugging the crap out of me, is this what it looks like for the rest of you? It sounds like this is exactly what we're all going through, but just to see it directly...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_iw0e8rnLo

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Two things about the video:
1) dark mode - maybe that is interfering somehow?
2) he only waited 48 seconds - sometimes the startup takes longer than that for some reason (I think I have had to wait 2 minutes or so on occasion? Not sure why that happened.)

One strange thing I noticed was that when the black screen problem happened for me it seemed that it was skipping the opening load screen, because the game start screen sound started almost immediately. So listening to sound and noting when/if it starts could be another data point.

Question: if you command-tab and switch between FFXIV and the Finder, do you see the game screen appear for an instant and then vanish quickly as if it is being displayed on the wrong space? That is another symptom I noticed with a black screen issue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Avenger

Two things about the video:
1) dark mode - maybe that is interfering somehow?
2) he only waited 48 seconds - sometimes the startup takes longer than that for some reason (I think I have had to wait 2 minutes or so on occasion? Not sure why that happened.)

One strange thing I noticed was that when the black screen problem happened for me it seemed that it was skipping the opening load screen, because the game start screen sound started almost immediately. So listening to sound and noting when/if it starts could be another data point.

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I've tested it out of dark mode and the same problem persists. And while I may have stopped the video because seeing the same thing for 10 minutes straight would be boring, it goes on forever. The screen never once changes while the FFXIV cursor is active as shown.

Is there any way to contact a square Enix support worker? On other threads I have seen them answer on the same day a question is asked, but we haven’t gotten anything yet from them;-;

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rosette016

Is there any way to contact a square Enix support worker? On other threads I have seen them answer on the same day a question is asked, but we haven’t gotten anything yet from them;-;

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I sent in a support ticket about my issue and was just sent a template reply to submit a bug report. I unfortunately don't think they really have much else to tell us Mac players right now. CodeWeavers are the ones doing the Mac version so I am hoping that they are at least aware of the problems and working on trying to fix them.

Regarding the black screen problem: Could the silence be related to the fact that the intel graphics card on the MacBook Pro is not supported?

The frustrating thing is that the game ran fine until I updated to Catalina. And from what I understand, downgrading the system is complicated.

I feel the general consensus is, although Intel graphics is not officially supported, people have had the game running just fine until Catalina came along.

Is there anyone out there with an officially supported Mac model that has it running on Catalina?

Yeah, at this point, it's pretty clear this is Catalina related for one reason or another.

Black Screen after Login and after installation of Catalina. Happening both on MacBook Pro and iMac Pro. Reinstallation of client, reboots and etc didn't fix problem.

PS: Everything was running great until I updated to Catalina. So I know its one way or another related to Catalina.

The latest update didn’t fix the black screen issue. And updating Catalina to 10.15.2 didn’t help.

The only solution seems to be to revert back to Mojave.

I am also having this problem still, bumping this in hopes of someone having found a fix. SE support said it was most likely a communication issue with my router, but this thread definitely makes me think otherwise (especially since I tried opening ports, hardwiring, etc. to no avail).

I don even play FF on my Mac, and it's bin a quiverin pile of goo since Catalina (Late 2016 Macbook, don judge me)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Momoku

I am also having this problem still, bumping this in hopes of someone having found a fix. SE support said it was most likely a communication issue with my router, but this thread definitely makes me think otherwise (especially since I tried opening ports, hardwiring, etc. to no avail).

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Yeah, it's definitely not that. I've tried on multiple networks, wired connections both at private homes and at work, wireless routers, turning settings and crap on and off... same problem, every time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Avalon_Albrook

Yeah, it's definitely not that. I've tried on multiple networks, wired connections both at private homes and at work, wireless routers, turning settings and crap on and off... same problem, every time.

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It is almost certainly not a router/firewall issue. The issue appears to be with FFXIV + macOS Catalina + intel HD graphics.