Unable to start CoH as of i17 patch...

I seem to be having trouble starting CoH on my Mac. I played yesterday for a couple hours and all was fine. After the update today (4/28), when I click Next and I Agree from the updater, rather than getting the blue LOADING logo like I normally do and going to the main CoH screen, my screen simply goes black and stays that way. I get no music and no main screen. Is this a known issue, or perhaps something someone else has had a problem with? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ditto here.

Try starting CoH in safe mode, then once going adjust the the graphics options to suit your needs, that should work, I had the same issue with test server and resolved it as described.

I am having the same problem. Live client goes to Black but Test Client still works

17 inch MacBook Pro
9600M GT

Running Snow Leopard 10.6.3

Ok Edit. I just started in Test Mode then set my Graphic Settings to what I was running on test and now I am up.
Thanks mammalian!

For future reference, you can also follow the instructions here:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=199092

Thanks, I'm having the same problem. Gonna try safe mode now.

There's also a rare issue where the CoH for Mac client may start up with a black screen if the Mac's video is left in a certain unspecified state by another application. The workaround right now is to re-start the Mac before running CoH again.

I ran into the same problems.
I could get to the login screen and the server selection page without problems while the servers were closed for internal testing. After they opened up, I got a black screen instead of the initial full-screen "Loading" screen.
Deleted the prefs from the Library and retried.
This time I was able to login and select a toon. Without changing anything in-game (so resolution was still at the very low default), I quit and restarted.
Black screen again.
(Repeated the whole thing with a full restart of my MBP in between, but to no avail)

Will try again later today & keep you posted. Will report a support issue if it stays like this.

I was able to play for about an hour this evening, until it did the classic "Mac Freeze" and I had to option/command/esc to close the program.

Only now I am just continuously greeted with a black silent screen. Opened in safe mode, which worked, but out of safe mode same hanging blackness. I tried adjusting some of the graphic settings while in safe, but no apparent change.

Tired and irritated, I have too much work to do for this to be this much work. Hoping there is a actual fix for this.

I'm on last years MacBook Pro running most recent Leopard.

Edit-

I was able to open out of safe mode only with the unplayable resolution of 800x600.

Good times.

Everyone in this thread having problems, please open a Support ticket at help.ncsoft.com.

I'm so happy to find I'm not the only one having this issue (not happy we are having an issue)! Same as most of you, the Big Black Screen. Tech support told me to delete the preference file also, but I have to do it every time I want to play and have to play with the crappy low graphics setting. I sent a ticket right away and my system profile as well to help them narrow it down. I hope they get it fixed soon, I miss my beautiful wide screen mode though . I will definitely try to do the safe mode thing and see if it works.

This worked for my PC, I don't know if it will work with Mac, but it's worth a try:


If you've been unable to connect to the Live servers since Issue 17 launched, especially if you've found you can still connect to Test no problem, or you've been finding some generally poor quality graphics, try this:

Go into your City of Heroes installation directory, and yank out your settings folder (should be the folder named after your login), along with your Costumes, PowerCust, Missions, and Custom_Critters folders, then give it a shot.

It just might work for you... certainly worked here!
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May as well list myself here now...

I'll be filing a support ticket next, but here's what I have encountered:

On 17" MBP (GeForce 8600M) running latest version of (not-Snow) Leopard, I was able to log into the game and play once after the update. Second time I tried it, I only got to the black screen that everyone else seems to end up with. Trashed Preferences folder and was able to log in. Changed settings to Recommended. Logged out and back in, and was able to play again. Next time I logged in I once again ended up with the black screen. No change on that until I repeated the procedure.

I am also running into the same problem on my 13" MBP (GeForce 9400M) running latest version of Snow Leopard.

On both machines I don't have that issue when I am trying to access the Training Room.

Hope that info helps with the troubleshooting...(yes, I am looking at you CuppaManga - will they ever make you the MacDev???)

Thanks.

If you're having the black-screen issue on the Mac client I'd like the following information to try and form some kind of pattern:

Mac Model, video processor, video RAM:

Installed RAM (memory):

MacOS Version (Leopard/Snow Leopard and version):

What you were doing when it got stuck:

The last thing you saw before the black screen:

What date/approx time you patched to Issue 17 (it sounds silly but there's a reason):

If there's anything in the Console Log just before the black screen:


The console log is located in Applications > Utilities > Console. You can copy one or several lines and paste them in a reply.

Also, while you're sending this info, send a copy of it to NCSoft support at help.ncsoft.com as well so the devs can track the issue with the same info.

Hi CuppaManga,

Strangely the MBP 17" was starting up the last couple of times I tried it, so I am putting down the info for the MBP 13" only. Will add the 17" once it acts up again.

Mac Model, video processor, video RAM:
MPB 13" 2.26Ghz Core 2 Duo, GeForce 9400M GT, 256MB

Installed RAM (memory):
4GB

MacOS Version (Leopard/Snow Leopard and version):
Mac OS X 10.6.3

What you were doing when it got stuck:
Not sure if I get what you are looking for...I was starting up COH.

The last thing you saw before the black screen:
Is the User Agreement.

What date/approx time you patched to Issue 17 (it sounds silly but there's a reason):
Today...about 1PM Pacific.

If there's anything in the Console Log just before the black screen:
(This is after I hit the NEXT button on the User Agreement)
Apr 30 18:26:56 Liza [0x0-0x4f64f6].com.transgaming.cityofheroes[8485]: Could not stat /Applications/City of Heroes.app/Contents/Resources/transgaming/f_drive (No such file or directory), ignoring drive F:
Apr 30 18:26:57 Liza [0x0-0x4f64f6].com.transgaming.cityofheroes[8485]: Flushing log files to disk
Apr 30 18:26:58 Liza mdworker[8464]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.

Thanks.

Further investigation: It seems the version of CoH for Mac on Live is different from the one on the Training Room.

So if you have a black screen problem on Live, see if the Training Room works. If it does, hopefully the newer Mac client will push to Live soon.

EDIT: Completed investigation between the Training Room client and the Live client. Conclusion is posted here: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...59#post2827559

Short version: If you're using anything other than Macs released THIS YEAR (2010) turn off Shadow Maps and Environmental Reflections until the Mac build that's on the Training Room makes it to Live. The issue *HAS* been fixed - it just hasn't been published yet.

I used COH the day I17 came put. Has not worked since that day. Blank screen only. I'll file a support ticket. Lowering graphics settings is not acceptable option to me. I'll just move on to another game that supports mac I guess.

I have found that this does the trick (must be done before EVERY game session):

rm -rf ~"/Library/Preferences/City of Heroes EU Preferences/p_drive/User/Local Settings/Application Data/NCSoft"

This way you will not lose your graphics settings.

NOTE: I assume that US players does not need the "EU" part of the path. Should be easy enough to change for you.

Mac Model, video processor, video RAM:
15" MacBook Pro, GeForce 8600M GT, VRAM 512GB

Installed RAM (memory):
2GB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz x 2 (4GB total)

MacOS Version (Leopard/Snow Leopard and version):
Mac OS X 10.5.8 (9L31a)

What you were doing when it got stuck:
Launching CoH

The last thing you saw before the black screen:
License Agreement Page

What date/approx time you patched to Issue 17 (it sounds silly but there's a reason):
First I17 patch installed April 28th, 8:00am Mountain, latest patch May 4th, 8:00am Mountain (didn't help)

If there's anything in the Console Log just before the black screen: Last entry in console is on 3/12/10

3/12/10 9:41:40 PM com.apple.launchd[111] ([0x0-0x417417].com.transgaming.cityofheroes[6884]) Stray process with PGID equal to this dead job: PID 6892 PPID 1 cider


I have tried Shutting down the winserv in activity monitor and rebooting. Deleting my checksum file, and deleting my preference file. So far the is the only way I can run CoH is to delete my preference file every time I want to launch the game. I can start in safe mode, change the display setting to my monitor size, and re log to get the nice graphics again, but this only works once, then I have to delete the preference file and start all over the next time I want to play.