[MAC] Game freezing every 1/2 hr to 1 hr, requiring power-cycle; repeats

[candelarius]

Hello - The game has been freezing on me every 1/2 hour to 1 hour of gameplay. Freezes seem random. I've reinstalled the entire game, deleting all folders and directories, including the Documents folder. Still freezes. I started a new campaign, and freezes there, too. The freezing, once it starts, seems to just get worse. Eventually the campaign becomes unplayable.

The game is now broken for me.

Here is the error log. Note that it would seem, from the log, that the error may be related to two of the DLCs, but even when starting the game without the two shield packs, the game still freezes. Even after a full reinstall.

[/Users/jenkins/jenkins-tmp/jenkins-tmp/workspace/CK2-1_07-Release-OSX/clausewitzII/clausewitzlib/graphics/texturehandler.cpp:169]: Couldn't find texture file: gfx//coats_of_arms//dynasties.tga.
[/Users/jenkins/jenkins-tmp/jenkins-tmp/workspace/CK2-1_07-Release-OSX/clausewitzII/clausewitzlib/graphics/texturehandler.cpp:169]: Couldn't find texture file: gfx//coats_of_arms//dynasties2.tga.


I have no idea what "jenkins" means, either???

Note: I have a Macbook Air 13 with HD 3000 card. Playing with 1.07 patch. GamersGate version. Game works perfectly except for this random freeze issue. Checksum is correct.

 

[AndrewT]

You say the checksum is correct, can you confirm it exactly please?

It does sound a little like an over-heating problem; if you don't have a way of reading the Macbook's temps, Google for and apply any app for that, I use iStat Pro. Check what temps it shows you at idle before game start, then after say 20 minutes' play.

 

[Sweordweras]

[/Users/jenkins/jenkins-tmp/jenkins-tmp/workspace/CK2-1_07-Release-OSX/clausewitzII/clausewitzlib/graphics/texturehandler.cpp:169]: Couldn't find texture file: gfx//coats_of_arms//dynasties.tga.
[/Users/jenkins/jenkins-tmp/jenkins-tmp/workspace/CK2-1_07-Release-OSX/clausewitzII/clausewitzlib/graphics/texturehandler.cpp:169]: Couldn't find texture file: gfx//coats_of_arms//dynasties2.tga.


I have no idea what "jenkins" means, either???

These error messages just mean that some of your DLCs are not registering correctly, and should have nothing to do with the crash bugs. To fix the DLCs, have a look here. "Jenkins" is just an oversight on the part of the programmers. I think during 1.06 it still had the username of the programmer himself, so this is a small improvement for anonymity's sake at least. Ideally it should probably read "[/CK2-1_07-Release-OSX/clausewitzII/clausewitzlib/graphics/texturehandler.cpp:169]:". Anyway, don't read anything into it!

Like AndrewT said, check your temperatures. If it gets too hot, you might want to look for an exterior cooling solution for your MacBook, or install smcFanControl, which allows you to manually increase the speed of your fans. Note that the last option may void your Apple warranty, so use it at your own risk.

Finally, it might not be the temperatures either, but just one of the remaining bugs for HD3000 cards. If I recall correctly, they were just fixed to basically work *at all* in 1.07.

 

[candelarius]

Thanks for the info.

How do I register the DLC correctly? There is no longer an reinstall button from within the in-game store menu, it just says "buy", but is grayed out and says I already purchased the DLC.

I suppose it could be the temp, the Mac does run very hot when playing the game. I'll check that out.

 

[candelarius]

you say the checksum is correct, can you confirm it exactly please?

It does sound a little like an over-heating problem; if you don't have a way of reading the macbook's temps, google for and apply any app for that, i use istat pro. Check what temps it shows you at idle before game start, then after say 20 minutes' play.

coqs

 

[Sweordweras]

1) Go to your DLC folder and unzip the DLCs in question. The dynastic coat of arms for example should be dlc001.zip and dlc010.zip respectivly.

2) Unzipping the DLCs should give you two /gfx/coats_of_arms/ folders. Copy and paste the contents of these folders to the corresponding /gfx/coats_of_arms/ folder of your CK2 main install. Be sure to only copy the contents of these folders over, don't overwrite the base folder itself or you will lose game data. In case of doubt, make a backup of your CK2 install first.

This bug affects the African Portraits, African Units, Byzantine Units, both Dynastic CoA packs, the Mongols, and all music packs, so repeat this method for each DLC you have.

 

[candelarius]

1) Go to your DLC folder and unzip the DLCs in question. The dynastic coat of arms for example should be dlc001.zip and dlc010.zip respectivly.

2) Unzipping the DLCs should give you two /gfx/coats_of_arms/ folders. Copy and paste the contents of these folders to the corresponding /gfx/coats_of_arms/ folder of your CK2 main install. Be sure to only copy the contents of these folders over, don't overwrite the base folder itself or you will lose game data. In case of doubt, make a backup of your CK2 install first.

This bug affects the African Portraits, African Units, Byzantine Units, both Dynastic CoA packs, the Mongols, and all music packs, so repeat this method for each DLC you have.

Isn't this the fix for the DLCs not showing up? They show up for me just fine....just the game freezes up seemingly randomly.


Side note: I tested the heating theory, too....I don't think that's it. My Mac is just as hot playing CK2 as it is playing Farmville2....and today the freezing up occurred even when my Mac was relatively ccool (it's 47 degrees F here currently).

 

[Sweordweras]

The error log you posted showed that at least the dynasty CoAs could not be found. If they show up in game despite the errors, nothing needs fixing I guess. If the DLCs caused this freeze, I don't see why it would happen after some time and not the moment you load the game. But if you are desperate, it would not hurt to try either, at least it would rule out the DLCs as the source of the problem 100%, up from 99%.

As for the crash bug, you could perform an Apple Hardware Test, to rule out that it is faulty hardware causing these problems. The fact that other games work normally oftentimes is not enough. If it is not your hardware, it is very likely a bug deeper within the CK2 code and nothing that can be fixed on our ends... best file a bug report with all the info you gathered and hope for a patch. On this note, as you are suffering from hard-lockups, I don't think there are any OS X crash reports avaiable? Do check your Console app or ~/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/ for anything suspicious.

 

[candelarius]

Thanks StoneTheCrow. I don't believe it is my Mac, it works fine otherwise, and all other games and apps work normally. No, there is nothing suspicious in my CrashReporter, I checked. Because it only freezes at seeming random intervals (usually, it seems, when I am clicking through the interface, such as arranging a marriage or viewing a battle, something involving a dialogue box) on it's own. I believe it is a coding issue, especially because I see older patches for CK2 were intent on fixing random freeze issues, too. I'll just uninstall and wait for another patch (again). It's disappointing: I invested close to 60 bucks on this game and still can't play it months later. Funny thing is, I switched from PC gaming because it seemed every PC game needed a half-a-dozen patches before they would work reliably, too. One has to wonder why the computer gaming target market is so willing to accept products that don't work 100% out of the box without errors, especially considering this particular product type is totally non-refundable! Oh well.


EDIT: Sorry for the rant above. I deleted all my installation files, everything, and I'm re-downloading the game again. I'm going to give it another shot. This time, I'm not going to load the two shield packs, just in case those were really were the issue. We'll see. I don't give a hoot about shields anyway, I wouldn't know which ones are historically accurate and which are not anyway. Cross your fingers....

 

[mawenbo]

I'm getting the same issue on my mac. This only began to happen after the latest patch and continues to happen more and more frequently. Sometimes the game begins to slow down before it freezes but when I try to quit the game it just goes to a black screen and doesn't return to the desktop forcing me to shutdown the computer by holding down the power button.

 

[candelarius]

Good news! Either I fixed my freezing issue or the random freezing just hasn't happened yet. But I've been playing a new game after doing a full reinstall....and I DID NOT INSTALL the two shield packs....and have been playing now for about 4 hours without a single freeze. I was only able to play before for about 1 hour tops.

So, I think the two shield packs were causing the problem, as I originally thought. I simply didn't install them when I reinstalled the game. The other DLCs (I have them all) work just fine. GamersGate, or whoever, needs to fix those two shield DLC packs...

I'll let everyone know if the freeze occurs again.

 

[Sweordweras]

Very peculiar. The mysteries of CK2 code!

If you did not try it yet and have some time on your hands, would you try and see if unzipping the dynasty CoAs and manually placing them in /game/gfx/coats_of_arms/ affects the freeze bugs? I'm curious if they are related to the bug that causes the game not to recognize the DLC files in the DLC folder.

 

[unmerged(179734)]

Exact same problem on my Mac. It's gotten worse with the 1.07b patch. Basically unplayable.

 

[candelarius]

Very peculiar. The mysteries of CK2 code!

If you did not try it yet and have some time on your hands, would you try and see if unzipping the dynasty CoAs and manually placing them in /game/gfx/coats_of_arms/ affects the freeze bugs? I'm curious if they are related to the bug that causes the game not to recognize the DLC files in the DLC folder.

I'm afraid too! I spent five hours last night conquering England....AGAIN....and I don't want to take the risk of having to reinstall the game again. :blush:

 

[candelarius]

Exact same problem on my Mac. It's gotten worse with the 1.07b patch. Basically unplayable.

Do you have the two dynasty shield packs? If so, I reinstalled the game (make sure you delete ALL folders, even your My Documents Paradox folder) without downloading the shield packs and the freezing problem went away.

 

[john_who]

Same problem on my macbook air 4.2 (13" mid 2011): total freeze after variable amount of time (ssh keep working btw, I can login but /sbin/reboot hang up with a grey screen, so only option is power cycle).
As for what candelarius suggested - re-installing without downloading the shield pack - how can you tell Steam to not download the DLC? I only have the Dynasty CoA Pack 1 and the Mongol Graphics Pack btw...

 

[john_who]

Sadly disabling the DLC from the launcher did nothing to prevent random freezes.
So is this bug reported? Is it being worked on?

 

[AndrewT]

I have reported it, yes, I have no way of knowing whether it's being worked on, sorry. I will post a bump in the internal forum.

 

[john_who]

Thanks AndrewT, much appreciated.
On a side note, today I grew tired of the freezing and rebooted to bootcamp. I loaded the savegame from mac version and was able to play for a good half hour when a crash occured. No total os freeze as in OS X, but the Windows 7 "Crusader Kings II has stopped working" pop-up. No useful infos on logs, just the usual "Sound naval_battle_background not found" error.
I have no luck with CK2 on this macbook

 

[candelarius]

Just to report back in: The random freezes went completely away for me by not installing the shield packs. I have the GamersGate edition, btw.