Star Wars: The Old Republic Forum

I have two questions for the Mac users.

A: are you able to play the other classes besides Jedi/sith?
Mine freezes when on the loading screen and it's just black

B: have you had any loading issues with loading zones/ city's (dromund kaas)

I have a issue with two things in the game that make it unplayable literally. Firstly there is the issue that i cant play and class except a sith warrior or sith inquisitor. everytime i try to make another character (smugler, Emperial Agent, or bounty hunter) I have one of two things happen. one is i will be in the intro where it plays " a long time aggo, in a galaxy far far away" and right when the last line finishes it will freeze cutting off sound and response to my computer. The second thing that happens is it plays thrugh the intro fine but then when it starts first conversation cutscene the screene turns black and eventually freezes. If anyone has a solution for this problem please let me know :)

The second major issue im having is since im only able to play two classes i decided to play one of them obviously and i picked sith warrior, but after i make it to the capital (Droman Kaas) when i start the cutscene with the welcoming turminal it starts to load the conversation and the freezes. I even tried lowering graphics to verry low and it still froze on me. againe if anyone knows what i can do please let me know :)

Alex Chandler wrote:

I have a issue with two things in the game that make it unplayable
literally. Firstly there is the issue that i cant play and class
except a sith warrior or sith inquisitor. everytime i try to make
another character (smugler, Emperial Agent, or bounty hunter) I have
one of two things happen. one is i will be in the intro where it
plays " a long time aggo, in a galaxy far far away" and right when
the last line finishes it will freeze cutting off sound and response
to my computer. The second thing that happens is it plays thrugh the
intro fine but then when it starts first conversation cutscene the
screene turns black and eventually freezes. If anyone has a solution
for this problem please let me know :)

The second major issue im having is since im only able to play two
classes i decided to play one of them obviously and i picked sith
warrior, but after i make it to the capital (Droman Kaas) when i
start the cutscene with the welcoming turminal it starts to load the
conversation and the freezes. I even tried lowering graphics to
verry low and it still froze on me. againe if anyone knows what i
can do please let me know :)

Have you tried to 'repair' the installation by clicking on the gears in lower left corner of the launcher?
It shows up after log in. It will take a good deal of time. It will go through and verify that all files are downloaded and installed properly.

Jonathan Blaisure wrote:

I am trying to get swtor to work on a brand new macbook pro. I
followed all the steps outlined here. The game patches and loads.
The first time it went through the cinematics with no problem. After
that it sits on the bioware screen and the character selector never
comes up. Any help would be very much appreciated!

You'll want to try setting your system's Video Memory size as outlined in the Tips & Tricks section.

Axou wrote:

Hello everybody,

I'm using a Mac book pro 15' (2011) and this my situation. Using the
unsupported build and with having done all the settings in "tips and
tricks", I've managed to get past the 2 first cinematics with sound,
no problem there. But at the character selection I Can't see the
character. So I skipped that and just tried to play a sith warrior
for example. Cinematic, no problem. But then when I actually start
to play everything becomes black and all I see is the discussion on
the left. I Don't neither know why I saw for few seconds my skill
bar.

If anyone can help with this ? Ty !

Please, what graphics card do you have?

Wow thank you Alan i feel extremely stupid now lol heres hoping it works.

Short answer is... no it didnt work. I didnt think it would when i began the repair and it took roughly 15 mins. sooo i tried changing my VideoMemorySize to see if that is the problem

As an update, I was able to get it to work, however my video card is making it virtually unplayable. I have OS X Lion but it refuses to use my Nvidia GeForce 330m and only uses the on board Intel one. Does anyone know how to fix this without having to wipe and downgrade back to Snow Leopard?

Jennifer Bridges wrote:

As an update, I was able to get it to work, however my video card is
making it virtually unplayable. I have OS X Lion but it refuses to
use my Nvidia GeForce 330m and only uses the on board Intel one.
Does anyone know how to fix this without having to wipe and
downgrade back to Snow Leopard?

In Lion, go to your System Preferences and click on Energy Saver(the icon is a light bulb). Once there, at the top of the preferences, you'll see a check box for "Automatic Graphics Switching." This setting allows OS X to automatically choose which card to use based on what applications are running. If you uncheck the box, it will always use the 330m.

Thanks so much for the help! That worked to use the Nvidia card...however when I am using the card it crashes the game now. :( Any ideas?

I'm able to install, patch, and enter game once. Now sound continues while video freezes when either loading to zone (game hung there), or during cinematics of another character. Any ideas?

I just installed this build today and I am happy with the results mostly.

My system:

iMac 27" 2.93 ghz core i7
4 gb ram
1024 mb ATI Radeon HD 5750
OS: 10.6.8

Things that I have noticed:

1. After initial install and patching, the start up movie won't go to the character selection screen -- screen goes black and I ended up quitting the application.
2. Choppy frame draw (i set the graphics down to "low" and it helps out somewhat).
3. Delay when going into a conversation with a NPC
4. Long load time to the character selection screen
5. A long delay upon leaving the game.

I would say that this is playable for me. I am not sure what to tweak to help with the choppy frames.

Thanks,
Genna

Jennifer Bridges wrote:

Thanks so much for the help! That worked to use the Nvidia
card...however when I am using the card it crashes the game now. :(
Any ideas?

Have you set your video memory size?

I am having troubles running this.
The game installed fine and when I press play on launcher I get a black screen. I hear the videos and the music of the loading screen on the back ground but nothing shows. after a while the music stops as well and i just have a black screen.

The only thing installed in the bottle are DirectX 9 (Not "DirectX modern") and the game. I am using the unsupported build on an Ubuntu 11.10 32bit installation. My rig has an ATI 6870.
I have setup the registry keys for the video size memory and the gsl and launching from a bottle with a virtual desktop.

Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: I installed DirectX Modern and now i do not even hear the music on the background. Only the game cursor is showing on a black screen.

Caron Wills wrote:

Jennifer Bridges wrote:

Thanks so much for the help! That worked to use the
Nvidia card...however when I am using the card it crashes the game
now. :( Any ideas?

Have you set your video memory size?

Caron how do you set this and how do I make it so that it uses my Radeon graphics card because i am getting slow loading screens and major pc lag with the game running lots.

Manage bottles
Select your SWTOR bottle and then in "Command:" type "regedit" (without the quotes), click "Run".
In the Registry Editor go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER//Software//Wine
Right click to create the key (if it is not already there):
Direct3D
Right click to create the new string:
"VideoMemorySize" without quotes
Enter the amount of your graphics card's memory (for example "1024" without quotes)

I replaced my Ati HD6870 with an nvidia 560 Ti and now the game plays fine with the unsupported build. Loading times are the same as with windows, and the frame rate is very good as well. I still have not properly played for a long period so I do not know about crashes etc.

Well so far, I have been able to get it to download and install passed the point it got stuck in the past few builds. I'm not sure if it was an update to the client or some sort of bug, but the Play button in the bottom right doesn't have the usual button box around it, just the words. It still works fine, so I guess that's all that really matters. I'll post back to see how well it works after I can get it up and running.

I was able to successfully install and run SWTOR after using the small memory trick. The first time I started up, there was a small bug where my 27" Cinema Display was showing the game at a much smaller resolution than what the options said. In order to fix that, I just changed to a different resolution and then back to the default. However, this got rid of the sound and I couldn't hear a thing. So, I restarted the game and I was able to get that functioning properly. Once I finally hit to enter into the game with my character, it got stuck on the loading screen and the entire Crossover software required a force quit. Hoping it was a one time occurrence, I restarted again and got stuck I'm the same exact screen. No sound, no movement. I am running it on a mid 2010 MBP 2.4 ghz with an NVIDIA GeForce 320m.

Edit: So I was able to wait and this time the progress bar finished after several minutes. The only problem is that it returned to the character selection screen, sadly. I'm trying again to see if it will work this time. My character is currently located on Tatooine. Also, all of the characters that display on the screen are always shown backwards by default. I'm not sure if this is a bug or anything.

Edit 2: Still no luck as of yet.

The slow loading bug (only on MAC) is caused by slow mmap() function in Mac OS X. see these numbers (osx 10.7.3)

MMaping 1 GB File
MAP_PRIVATE                 OSX     LINUX
1000 mmaps 4KB blocks:    22483ms    20ms    
1000 mmaps 64KB blocks:   22381ms   264ms
1000 mmaps 1024KB blocks: 24862ms  4227ms

MAP_SHARED                  OSX     LINUX
1000 mmaps 4KB blocks:       18ms    19ms    
1000 mmaps 64KB blocks:     170ms   268ms
1000 mmaps 1024KB blocks:  2730ms  4302ms

There are 3 possible scenarios how this can be fixed:
1) Apple will fix this bug (Apple has addressed this issue, but when it will be fixed, is not known)
2) Wine/Codeweavers will rewrite the code to use pread() instead (highly unlikely)
3) Hero Engine developers will optimize the engine to do less reading.

I did a ton of trial and error with Wine 1.4 before following the instructions for the unsupported Crossover patch. Plus, I don't know how what I did in Wine might affect Crossover, cuz I'm a real Ubuntu newbie. Otherwise, I would post the steps I took in detail.

The short version is it's working like a dream, almost but not quite as nice as when I was running it on Win 7. My specs:

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS - 64-bit
Intel i7 1.73GHz x 8
6 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M Video Card

I have DirectX9 and DirectX Modern in my bottle, as well as MS Visual C++ Redist. Installed the game from the downloadable client without any problems. It loads pretty doggone fast, and there are no problems with the graphics (I keep them on the LOW setting anyway):

Two minor issues:
1) Minor static in the audio
2) I have to run the command echo 0|sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope prior to launch, or the launcher will never connect to the Internet. It seems this is a known issue with 12.04

Jonathan Blaisure wrote:

I am trying to get swtor to work on a brand new macbook pro. I
followed all the steps outlined here. The game patches and loads.
The first time it went through the cinematics with no problem. After
that it sits on the bioware screen and the character selector never
comes up. Any help would be very much appreciated!

This is the exact issue I've been having on my MBPro. I've tried both unsupported and the new 11.2 with the same result. I've got a AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1024MB Ram (I have set the video memory with no changes). Also, I've tried using virtual desktops, disabling graphics switching but no change.

OSX 10.8
2.75 Ghz Intel Core i5
20GB 1333 MHz DDR3
512 AMD Radeon HD 6770M

I installed the unsupported build(which required I install XQuartz 2.7.2), Directx9, DirectX Runtime- Modern. I launch the game and I get two windows. One is a white window and the other is a black window. Am I doing something wrong?

I'm going to let it sit and will update in case something happens.

e: ok, it will give graphics if I set the Wine Config to emulate a desktop. 1000x615 will give a window. I'm patching now.
e2: patch timed out. But there's an update to 11.1b2 to 11.2 so I'm going to give that a go.
e3: you will get an error 208...this seems to be intermittant? Not sure. The official support site says stuff about having the .net frameworks installed. I dropped in .NET 1.1 and its patching again?
e4: had to go into /Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/SWTOR/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts/BioWare/Star Wars - The Old Republic/swtor/retailclient/LoadingScreens and rename both files to .old Now I'm at the Server select screen and its not letting me onto a server.

Eh, some of us would like to just be able to play the game (in OSX). I still have issues with the unsupported build. I get to the character screen and everything but when I try to enter the game, it literarily just hangs. I know there have been reports of it being slow but I walked away for hours and nothing. Even the little blue twirl stops moving. I've tried all the tips and tricks and just gave up. (This happens on both my Mac Pro and MacBook Pro.) Maybe one day it will work.. Until then, back to Windows 7 and boot camp I go.

I was wondering when the unsupported build of code for the product would make it into the supported code base, please?

I was wondering the same thing - I just upgraded to 11.3.0 tried again and got nowhere. I did try with the unsupported build and didn't get anywhere either.

Interestingly, when I first failed to run SWTOR in CrossOver, I tried in VMware Fusion - worked fine for a while, then I stopped playing (family & friends playing other games). When I came back to it a week ago, SWTOR had failed in VMware Fusion, with graphical glitches including repeated changes of resolution. Interestingly, I also tried under Parallels, which had exactly the same behaviour as Fusion with the DirectX 9 model, but worked flawlessly under DirectX 10. I understand Fusion's emulated graphics card only supports DirectX 9?

Anyway, I think this means in the last few months SWTOR has done something to break itself under DirectX 9 (and thus both the unsupported build, Fusion, and Parallels with DirextX9), which means it's now going to be even more difficult for CodeWeavers to support SWTOR. ☹️

Are these patches available in the current release?
Or is it required to download the modified version of cx11 still?

Guys i have two issues. Firstly, the unsupported version keeps hanging halfway when i try to load swtor. Even other programmes like steam hangs as well. Secondly, if i use the normal version, the game can install. It can even patch and load the game. Everything was fine even for the first cinematics. The first problem i face is the loading screen after the cinematics. Its been loading nonstop and i cant get to server or character page.

Ok guys i have uploaded the tutorial on youtube for those who dont understand my steps =p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI5idkHf3FM the written steps are over here https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/browse/name/?app_id=7626;forum=1;msg=150818 if you cant access youtube

Okay so i have been trying this forever and then it ended up working with a few issues like when i opened up the map it would crash or if i would stand still for awhile it would crash which is fine i can deal with that kind of stuff i just want to be able to play again. It stopped working so i deleted the bottle wanting to restart and see if it would work and i dont know if i continuously do something incorrectly that i did right the first time but it will not patch and i need help if someone is willing to help it would be greatly appreciated contact me at luke.nelson18028@yahoo.com please and thank you!

Do you mind assisting me email me at luke.nelson18028@yahoo.com

I have installed it on crossover 12 and everything works fluently until the patch it says it has an unspecified error and i dont know how to fix it any ideas??? it says initializing and then stays there forever and then comes up with that unspecified patch error any suggestions?

I have everything needed like direct x 9 and fonts and i can't get past loading screen before character selection pls help!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_3265452755&feature=iv&src_vid=tI5idkHf3FM&v=L0F47SnItEI

Check out this link. Everything you need to work the game will be explained here.

(This method is done through using Crossover, please support the great people who brought us this convenience)

I've tried both the method that was explained in the first post, and the method explained in the video linked in the previous post, and none of them works for me unfortunately. In both cases the game launch window pops up but it's all white and freezes there. When I press cmd alt esc it says that crossover is not responding and I have to force quit the program.

Please help anyone!

Hmm, that's unusual.

Are you using the latest Crossover? That's 13.2.0

What are your system properties?

Yes, I do.

OS X 10.8.5
2,5 Ghz Intel i5 (quad core)
16 GB RAM (1333 MHz DDR3)
512 MB AMD Radeon HD 6750M

Any ideas?

It should work.

This is my system:

Version 10.9.4
2.5 ghz intel core i5
4gb 1600 mhz ddr 3
Intel hd graphics 4000

This is a mid 2012, 13 inch macbookpro.

I've read in other forums that TOR works on 2011 macs.

You have to open the swtorfix.exe first, then the game from the launcher.exe in the bottle C: drive, not the application itself. Dont lose hope, try it couple more times, maybe there is a step you missed from the link?

It does work, I've been playing it for two weeks through Crossover now.

Where do I find the swtorfix file?

This is what I do:

1. Make sure that I have no other version of Crossover installed
2. Install the unsupported build from the first post in this thread
3. Open it, install the updates that it forces you to install if you want to use the program
4. Open "manage bottles", creates a new winxp bottle
5. Install directx9 from the Crossover browser into that bottle
6. Install swtor from the Crossover browser into the same bottle
7. Then what?

Thank you for helping me so far!

No just follow the youtube link I posted. It has everything that you need. You will download the game from the official website.

Hey there, I'm pretty new to all this...
my mates have got me hooked on swtor and i have to play. I've installed crossover 14 on my mac, installed swtor and its downloaded the game, played the first cinematic, but i can't get any further than that, it just stalls at the loading screen, the cog in the corner stays spinning but the game just doesn't go any further, can anybody help?

we are all stuck there waiting it to start.
No answers ever on wether it is a Crossover 14 issue or a Yosemite problem, or just the game not working anymore with crossover.
Starting to think I wasted my money with crossover :(