[2.6.2 TPOW] Game freeze and graphical error

[Little Rocket Ship]

Since I've started playing with patch 2.6.2, my games consistently freeze and graphically 'freak out' after 20-60 years. I play on a Macbook Pro laptop with OS X 10.9.4, Ironman with no mods, using all the main gameplay DLC except for republics, and I've never had this problem occur on 2.6.1 or any previous version of CK2. Today I did a full clean reinstall of CK2 (deleted from Steam, as well as manually deleting files from My Documents and within the Steam folder) but the problem's still occurring.

Essentially, at some point within the 20-60 years the game will suddenly freeze, and all display tabs and menus will disappear. Then the graphics get weird - it'll start with the map just being different colours, or with static in various areas, and sometimes it will flicker madly. Sometimes I'm able to bring up the menu and quit back to desktop, but if I load the game the whole screen will be map-shaped static snow and I can't interact with anything. Most of the time I have to manually turn off the laptop because I can't exit the game. I've attached photos of how the graphics progressed during one playthrough (screenshots don't work):

Spoiler: Photos (are large)

 

[[Arthur-PDX]]

Hey, we're looking into it as much as we can (we don't have laptop Macs here, so we're doing with desktop Mac).

From early hypothesis, it might be a problem of your computer overheating and thus causing the issue to happen.
Another thing, have you made sure "VSync" in Video Options is checked ? We've had similar problems with Linux that were caused by unchecked VSync.

We'll run some tests and keep you updated on whether we find something or not.


Arthur

 

[AndrewT]

We've seen this under OS X 10.11 and later, usually caused by the nVidia driver Apple ship in those versions. The fix is a manual install of an updated driver from the nVidia site.

Whether so few people are still running 10.9 that we get no reports on it any more, I'm not sure. Any particular reason for not being on 10.9.5 BTW? Or indeed a later major version?

What actual video system is in your Macbook?

 

[Little Rocket Ship]

Thanks so much for all the work you're doing guys. From what I understand, the Mac version of Vsync (Beam Sync) is automatically enabled on my version of the OS X.

As for not keeping updated with the latest OS X, I'm pretty casual with my computer use, so I don't see the need to constantly upgrade my system unless I really need the new version for whatever I'm doing. In line with my limited know-how, if you mean my graphics processor it's a NVIDIA GeForce 320M. Please let me know if I'm way off the mark. I installed the NVIDIA CUDA driver update relevant to 10.9.4, but the new game I started had the same problem occur.


Edit: I reverted back to 2.6.1 and started up another game just to see what would happen, and the same problem cropped up again. It's never happened on a previous patch version before, and I haven't made any drastic changes or installed anything significant on my laptop between the 2.6.1 and 2.6.2 patches. And I know it's subjective, but I haven't noticed the comp fans running any hotter than usual. Would it help if I uploaded a save file?

 

[AndrewT]

Can you duplicate the problem with that save file on a different computer? If not, there's no point adding it here as the issue must then be in your machine somewhere.

The 320M is technically below the minimum requirement for the game, which is the desktop 320. Can you check your CPU and GPU temperatures before you run the game, then after say 20 minutes' play please. I use iStat Pro but there and many other free apps out there for that.