Mac 64-bit Trouble Shooting

[rsardachuk 98]

Hello everyone.  I've been a bit overwhelmed trying to fix my game since it upgraded automatically from 32 to 64 bit without my permission via steam a few months back.  Ever since it switched to 64 bit, many mods have become incompatible, ultimately resulting a crash to desktop.  I upgraded my NAM to the latest version, which seemed to help a little bit, but i'm still experiencing brown boxes everywhere.   I was wondering if any of the mac users on here have had any luck narrowing down the "trouble makers" within the plugin folder, and if anyone has been able to come up with any solutions to these issues.   

[rsc204 21,814]

Absolutely we know where the problem comes from, but it's pretty technical and currently requires access to Windows to fix the affected files. Having just got access to the Mac version myself, I found two of my own mods had the problem and updated them accordingly. However, you can't expect this to happen without some feedback from Mac users, because very few who develop content have access to a Mac and these problems just don't occur under either Windows or previous Mac versions.

In the process of moving just one of my Plugins folders over from Windows, I've already found issues with the following items:

TE Reps (Buildings Exemplar) set to 1 not 0
This issue is well known about, it's always caused problems for Mac users and most newer content has been correctly updated. But literally the only modding tool we have for TEing lots, always resets this value to 1 after every save. So it means many TE lots exist with the faulty value, it's only the 64-bit update that caused them to start CTDing the game.

• Japanese NAM Facelift Mod - Neko 7.5m Ramps
• MAS71s Walls Pack 1, 2 and some addons based on them.

Reps in LotConfig Exemplar using 1 not 0 (Basic problem outlined from here)

• Gobias' SV Terrain Mod
• 2 of my own mods, my Underbridge Lots and Tennis Club
• 2 Stations in NAM36/earlier which when removed solve the problem.
  Fixed versions included in NAM37/later, which given the previous NAM installers were Windows based and made much work of installation on a Mac, the recommended solution is to use NAM 37 or higher.

This is about 1.5GB plugins total, so the problems are probably not as widespread as you think, just that handful took me a lot of time to track down. The later listed items caused a CTD before you can even start the game. Whereas the first two, whilst being a very similar data error, do not cause a CTD unless you try to place them in-game.

If you want to help (or just fix your own game), we need to know which items need patching, I'm trying to keep everything coordinated in one place here to supply fixes.

Those items causing CTDs when placed are the easiest here. Because you can find out exactly what it is by hovering over the item in the menu, you'll have to just test every lot you have and when it CTDs, remember where to find/reference it thereafter. All such lots will have some sort of TE (Transit Enabled) properties, most will be stations, but if it's TE'd, it could be a problem.

Those files which cause the game not to load are harder to track down, but somehow more of a priority. Basically, move a portion of your Plugins folder, until the game will load. Then start putting them back until it doesn't load once more. If you do this by splitting the Plugins folder and subsequent portions about 50/50 at a time, it will greatly speed up the process. Eventually, you'll be able to identify exactly which files when installed, cause the CTDs. At this point, give us the filenames and ideally a link to the download too, someone should be then be able to get these files corrected.

[rsardachuk 98]

So i'm slowly trying to widdle my way through the troblesome files.  I noticed the extra cheats mod doesn't work anymore neither.  have you been able to make it work?  also, do i need PC access in order to fix the game?

[rsc204 21,814]

Are you running on Catalina or Big Sur? Since Catalina, MacOS can no longer run x86 code, only x64 or 64-bit native code, which presents another problem for SC4 players. Whilst Aspyr updated SC4 so it's now 64-bit, the method used to make .dll mods work, developed by SimMaster07, MacInjector, was taken out by these changes. Making things even more difficult, the restrictions within the OS, intended for security reasons, make it hard if not impossible to inject code and alter how an App runs. Long and short, SimMaster07 has explicitly stated there will be no further development on MacInjectior, so .dll modding is no longer something that can be used on the Mac version.

Likewise, not only are pretty much all the modding tools Windows based, they are all pretty much 32-bit Apps too. There was some progress getting iLives Reader working through WINE, but again because you can no longer run 32-bit code, that's not possible on MacOS. SC4Reader, which can do a lot of the things Reader can, does have a 64-bit version, but as of yet no one has reported success running it under MacOS. It may be possible theoretically at least, to run 32-bit code using emulation, such as WINE, but developments there, at least when I last checked, had not presently provided this functionality. Honestly, it's all very much moot, I don't see anyone rushing to spend time coding solutions to this, knowing full well MacOS will ditch x86 entirely as the new ARM based processors are Apple's future. Anything done now would be little more than a stop-gap solution. Of course, when MacOS goes ARM only, which we can assume it will, legacy Intel Macs won't be supported any longer anyhow. How far down the road will Apple cut those off is anyone's guess, but I've a feeling if you bought a new Mac recently, you're going to be pissed when you find out it's probably only 1 or 2 updates down the line.

So in a roundabout way, access to Windows is really going to make your life not just easier, but give you some long-term stability to keep doing things you want to do now. Bootcamp is so ridiculously easy to setup, I really don't understand why some people make such a fuss about doing it. Windows 10 can be downloaded free, it will work indefinitely without activation too. That's enough to make what are really very simply changes to fix these problems. It's way more time consuming to identify all the problem files than it is to fix them. In that regard, it makes more sense for people to collaborate together, identifying and fixing these issues, as opposed to everyone doing it themselves. I've a dedicated thread for posting fixes, which is only really beginning to get updated. I am working on another where identified files can be reported/managed in one place, I just have yet to find the time to make it happen. In the meantime, if you or anyone else can either identify or provide fixed files, please add a post somewhere in the Mac forums and I'll be sure to make sure the data is all pooled together in one place.

Frankly though, there hasn't been a huge amount of feedback from the Mac community regarding these problems, so if that remains the case, the number of fixes will probably be minimal too. We still don't know exactly what is behind one of the two problems causing this, something I personally have struggled to get certain members of the community to listen to logic and reason on. But the fact is, although very similar, there are two distinct issues at play here and only having got the Mac edition in a sale a few weeks back, have I been able to absolutely confirm my theory behind the problem from earlier this year was spot on. I was a little surprised to find the issue affected two of my own mods, one of which could easily have come from copy/pasting the error from the sources I used to build the mod. But the other mod, I am racking my memory trying to pinpoint the exact methods I used to create them. I know for a fact, they would never have been created using any Maxis tools like the LE or PIM. Either way, the errors had to have come from PIM-X or Reader, but it may take a lot of testing to determine the exact circumstances that bring about the problem data. But I know 100% I would not have used any other tools to create my Tennis Club lot, which clearly had the faulty properties.

[rsardachuk 98]

Damn, I'm still running on Sierra haha.  i had no idea there was something new beyond catalina even.  

[countermoon 46]

Catalina (and onward) made many substantial changes in the OS.