"PrisonArchitect" is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash on macOS 13.1

[soulwinter]

When I upgraded my macOS to version 13, I found that my Prison Architect game could no longer be opened. An error message appears saying: "PrisonArchitect" is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash." This game was working fine on macOS 12. I have tried various solutions that I found online, such as using the xattr -cr command in Terminal and allowing installation of apps from all sources. I also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game, but none of these methods resolved the issue. How should I do to solve the problem?

 

[AndrewT]

You can see this issue being discussed here:

MacOS - All DLC's - Game Crash After PDX Launcher

I'm playing on MacOS and I own all DLC's. I launch the game from Steam, which opens the PDX Launcher. I click PLAY, the screen goes black, waits a bit, mouse turns to color wheel, then BAM...Red Screen of Death and app closes. I've tried...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

The short answer to your last question is, we don't know! It only affects a few MacOS 13 users (not me for instance) so it is a weird one. Why MacOS has decided this game's .app file is bad on a few machines is hard to understand.

I see one site recommending xattr -d rather than -cr, you could try that.


An explanation from another site:

When an application gets downloaded from any source other than those that Apple seems suited, the application gets an extended attribute "com.apple.Quarantine". This triggers the message: "<application> is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Bin."

Remove the attribute and you can launch the application.

To do this, open a console and type:

$ xattr -c <path/to/application.app>

Now you've effectively done that, but you could just use xattr to see what attributes the .app file has currently.


From what source do you have the game? A download from Steam or elsewhere, or something else?

 

[soulwinter]

Thanks for your reply! I have read the the discuss before, while it has no solutions

I downloaded it from Steam! Well, I tried using different arguments of xattr command, But it still never works

To be more detailed, I can open the Paradox Launcher, but I can't open the game. And the Mac is based on Intel chip. Hope this can be fixed soon!

 

[AndrewT]

It is unlikely to be fixed by DoubleEleven as it is pretty clearly not a game bug, but something MacOS is doing.

My Intel iMac is on MacOS 13.3.1 and does not see this.


If you just do xattr against the game' .app file, what does it say?

 

[soulwinter]

It is unlikely to be fixed by DoubleEleven as it is pretty clearly not a game bug, but something MacOS is doing.

My Intel iMac is on MacOS 13.3.1 and does not see this.


If you just do xattr against the game' .app file, what does it say?

When i ran the command in Terminal, there's no error message which probably meant the command ran properly, although it couldn't solve the issue. I'll try other methods! Thanks!!!

 

[AndrewT]

I thought it would display what xatts your .app file had ...

 

[Razdrakon]

I spent hours trying to solve it and finally it works. That's what i did:

1. xattr -c /Users/<username>/Library/Application\ Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Prison\ Architect/PrisonArchitect.app
2. Try to launch with the same "Move to bin" error.
3. Open System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Security section after "Allow applications downloaded from...". After the previous step PA appeared there as "blocked". Click "Launch anyway".

 

[Andrey_0407]

I spent hours trying to solve it and finally it works. That's what i did:

1. xattr -c /Users/<username>/Library/Application\ Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Prison\ Architect/PrisonArchitect.app
2. Try to launch with the same "Move to bin" error.
3. Open System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Security section after "Allow applications downloaded from...". After the previous step PA appeared there as "blocked". Click "Launch anyway".

I have an M1 chip Mac with Sonoma and I tried with all the steps and it works. Thanks

 

[All Da Games]

I spent hours trying to solve it and finally it works. That's what i did:

1. xattr -c /Users/<username>/Library/Application\ Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Prison\ Architect/PrisonArchitect.app
2. Try to launch with the same "Move to bin" error.
3. Open System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Security section after "Allow applications downloaded from...". After the previous step PA appeared there as "blocked". Click "Launch anyway".

OMG THANKS YOU!!! You are an epic person it worked for me! I was using epic games launcher and had another problem but fixed it so for anyone else if when your trying to do the xattr -c command and it says file not found what you need to do is when you install the game through epic games instead of installing it into Users/Shared installed it into the applications folder and it should work.