Cities: Skylines (Steam) - Multiple Clicks Needed for Everything - Impossible to Play [M1 Mac]

[LemonsterOG]

Describe your issue
Multiple Clicks Needed for Everything - Impossible to Play

What is your game version?
1.13.1.f1

What expansions do you have installed?
After Dark, Snowfall, Natural Disasters, Mass Transit, Green Cities, Parklife, Industries, Campus, Sunset Harbor

What mods are you using?
Link to my active mod list: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1806847301

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
MacOS Big Sir
Link to my computer stats: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2041258834

Issue started on or about November 15th.

Problem is intermittent, but persistent. Sometimes computer restart helps, sometimes not.

Immediately following game load, at the main menu, multiple clicks are required on any given button, option, etc. Sometimes 2 clicks, sometimes 4. If I load a city (new or existing) I have to multi-click every menu option, selection, etc. It makes it impossible to play the game.

Can you replicate the issue? If yes, please explain how you did it.
I have no idea what's causing this. I've tested without ANY mods or assets and the problem still exists, but is intermittent.

Here are my exact steps:
Launch Steam client, which opens Paradox Launcher.
Click "PLAY" on Launcher window (single click works normal)
Game loads to main menu.
At this point multi-clicks are needed.

Again...this is intermittent and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to when it happens.

This just happened to me 8 times in a row. All those loads I continued into the game and was basically unable to play. I wanted to provide a fresh game log, just up to the main menu when the issue begins. Unfortunately, it's now working correctly with single-clicks again. I've now tried several times to the main menu and it's working. The next time this occurs, I'll capture the log and include it in this report.

Attachments (DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION)

 

[LemonsterOG]

And this issue just returned. I've attached to the game log (Player.log) from the time I reached the main menu.

 

[LemonsterOG]

I believe it's an issue with MacOS Big Sir. I've experienced minor oddities since that update and this may be related. I'm going to do some additional testing to see if there's a workaround.

 

[LemonsterOG]

This is bizarre. It's definitely related to MacOS Big Sir.

I've found a strange workaround, which may point to the root cause.

I'm on a MacBook Pro 16-inch 2019 (stats available in my original post). Here's how a nifty feature works. When you're doing something full-screen, you can do a 3-finger swipe-right to leave the full-screen and return to the desktop, then you can 3-finger swipe-left to return to full-screen. When I'm at the game's main menu and the issue is present, I can swipe out and swipe back in and the issue resolves itself and doesn't return during that specific game's play.

What I'll do moving forward is just that. If I load to the main menu and for whatever reason the issue is present, I'll swipe out and in of full-screen, then continue to play.

 

[LemonsterOG]

Well, it's been 12 days since I reported this issue and the problem persists. Fortunately, my workaround is effective, but I feel this should be addressed by someone, somewhere. Frankly, I'm surprised there hasn't been a single comment to at least recognizing I've reported the issue.

 

[AndrewT]

I was waiting until I went to Big Sur to confirm this, but it now looks like I won't be doing that until next year.

FYI I haven't seen other reports for this game.

You mentioned above that it happened, then went away, then happened again. Was that due to using that workaround you mentioned, or there is some other variable here?

Perhaps it is related to using the touchpad instead of a mouse? Is that something you can test?

 

[LemonsterOG]

Thanks for replying. So here's the scoop...

After I upgraded to Big Sur, the problem started and has been intermittent, as often as every other game launch. Sometimes happens 6 launches in a row, then doesn't happen for 3, then does for 1. I can't seem to figure out what triggers it. I can start my computer, launch Steam, launch C:S (doing absolutely the exact same steps every time) and get different results. It's bizarre.

I use a standard mouse with middle scroll wheel. The only way to get out of the full screen game and do something else while the game is running is the 3-figure swipe. Because I do extensive mod testing and player support on Steam, I've been using that swipe feature for years, because I have to be in and out of the game (while it's running) to do other things. The only time I ever use the trackpad is for swiping in and out of full screen and desktop.

It should be noted that when the issue occurs, you can tell immediately at the main menu, because you can't single click on anything, like "Load Game" or "Content Manager". The moment I see it's happening, I swipe out and swipe in and I can immediately single-click without issue again for the remainder of the time the game is running. Obviously, this swiping takes a total of 1 second of my time. The issue is that if I don't do it, I can't play the game.

You stated: FYI I haven't seen other reports for this game.

Does that mean you've seen this reported for other games?

Personally, I think the issue is on Apple's side, related to the full screen/desktop swipe in/out feature. Big Sur isn't handling it the same way previous OS versions have. I don't have a clue where I would report this to Apple.

 

[AndrewT]

You stated: FYI I haven't seen other reports for this game.

Does that mean you've seen this reported for other games?

No, it does not

Personally, I think the issue is on Apple's side, related to the full screen/desktop swipe in/out feature. Big Sur isn't handling it the same way previous OS versions have. I don't have a clue where I would report this to Apple.

I see some ways of contacting Apple listed here:

The Best Ways to Send Apple Your Feedback and Bug Reports

Find out how to send feedback or bug reports to Apple. We explained both ways to do it if you're using public or beta software.

appletoolbox.com

But your original description said

Immediately following game load, at the main menu, multiple clicks are required on any given button, option, etc.

so it seems to me the swipe option is not involved at that point? Or have I misunderstood something?

 

[LemonsterOG]

Thanks for the link to Apple.

I've changed my mind about it being the OS. I've tested and retested on all my Steam and non-Steam full screen games. This issue only exists with Cities Skylines.

Something is (or is not) happening at the time full screen is activated by the program. At that point, it's as if the program causes issues recognizing clicks properly, but once I swipe out of full screen to the desktop and back into full screen, it resolves itself.

I have no clue. I just wanted to make sure someone reported it. It seems highly unlikely that i"m the only player experiencing this, however, I would image the number of Cities Skylines players on MacBook Pro with Big Sur is limited.

MacBook Prop (and MacOS in general) is not known to work will with Cities Skylines (and many other games) due to their ability to perform. I've played on 3 different MacBook Pros over the past 2 years. I continued to upgrade until I found one that Cities Skylines ran well on. It's flawless on this one. Everything has been fine up until the Big Sur update.

 

[AndrewT]

I'm starting to get reports that Big Sur chooses the wrong GPU to run this game on, it uses the Intel when it should be the AMD of course. Can you tell which one it is on, for you?

 

[LemonsterOG]

Wow! You're correct. It's using Intel and not switching to AMD.

I have an app that allows me to disable dynamic switching and force it to use AMD. It had an interesting result. When I loaded to the main menu, the single-click worked every single time, however, when I went to exit to desktop I got the red screen of death every single time.

Interesting.

 

[AndrewT]

Okay then, that will be the problem for sure. Please contact Apple to report this, the more users that do it the better!

 

[LemonsterOG]

I've reported the issue (by telephone - only option) to Apple.

Interestingly, Big Sur is not having any issue using the GPU on games/apps from the Apple Store, so it seems specific to Steam.

 

[LemonsterOG]

Here's another tidbit of info:

While Steam games don't seem to trigger the GPU at all, I found that when you play an Apple Store game that typically uses the GPU, not only does it switch to GPU, but then it won't turn it back off once you leave the game. The only way to return to Intel is to restart the computer.

I reported this to Apple as well.

 

[AndrewT]

Thank you for doing that! I hope they get onto it quickly.

 

[LemonsterOG]

It looks like the Apple Store games "sticking" on AMD was a one-time fluke, maybe due to the other testing I was doing at that time. Those games do dynamically switch to and from GPU. It's only Steam games that have the issue. Therefore, I'm not sure if the issue is with MacOS or Steam. It seems to me it would be MacOS, since the issue began when I upgraded to Big Sur, but I don't know for sure. I wish there were a way for both sides to work together to resolve the issue.

For any MacOS players with this issue, here's a link to the gfxCardStatus app I use that has the capability of forcing GPU: https://gfx.io

I use the app to force the use of the GPU ("Discrete Only" setting) before I launch the game, then switch it back to the "Dynamic Switching" setting when I'm done playing.

 

[AndrewT]

It is MacOS's responsibility to choose the correct video card. Neither Steam nor the game have any influence over that choice.

 

[LemonsterOG]

Ah...great point. I agree.

 

[Akhu117]

Hi, thanks for posting your issue, I got the problem too. I though I was the only one ahah.

I am on the latest M1 Max, so its probably not a problem with the GPU on my side at least. Your workaround indicate more of a system event propagation issue within the click itself. But it only do that on CitiesSkyline for me so, the game can cause the issue too.

 

[AndrewT]

Hi, thanks for posting your issue, I got the problem too. I though I was the only one ahah.

I am on the latest M1 Max, so its probably not a problem with the GPU on my side at least. Your workaround indicate more of a system event propagation issue within the click itself. But it only do that on CitiesSkyline for me so, the game can cause the issue too.

Technically speaking the M1 machines are not supported hardware for this game, and so far as we know this game will never be ported to native M1 code. So we have to rely on Apple's Rosetta emulation for processing and the graphics.

That said, if this was general to the M1 you'd think we'd have other reports like yours by now. We've had reports of various graphical anomalies but I don't recall any about mouse clicks.

Is you issue identical to the one reported in this thread a year go?