General MacOS Troubleshooting
Last Updated: June 29, 2023
Question: My game is crashing on my MacOS computer, what are some general troubleshooting steps?
Answer: Common issues on MacOS systems can be traced back to system permission problems, supporting programs being out of date, or problems with game preferences files.
In addition to verifying or resetting your system permissions, you can test whether or not you have correct system permissions by attempting to run the game using a different user. Booting the system in safe mode can help resolve some permissions and preference issues. Finally, ensuring that all available system updates have been downloaded and applied to the operating system can often resolve issues.
Verify File Permissions:
Verify that the file permissions for the drive where your game is installed by running Disk Utility:
Information on how to use Disk Utility to repair file permissions can be found here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201560
Delete Game Preferences Files:
Below are a list of games and their Preference folder locations. You should delete the files in these folders, but leave the folders intact.
GTA3 Retail and Digital:
~/Library/Preferences/Grand Theft Auto 3 Preferences/
GTAVC Retail and Digital:
~/Library/Preferences/Grand Theft Auto - Vice City Preferences/
GTASA Retail and Digital:
~/Library/Preferences/Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas Preferences
GTA3 Mac App Store:
~/Library/Application Support/Grand Theft Auto 3/
GTAVC Mac App Store:
~/Library/Application Support/Grand Theft Auto - Vice City/
GTASA Mac App Store:
~/Library/Application Support/Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas/
Try another user profile:
Logging in as a different user can help to determine whether the problem is with the hardware or a preference/setting file tied to your normal profile.
If the issue still occurs on a different User, the issue is hardware-related or caused by system files not tied to a user.
If the issue only occurs on the initial User profile, the problem could be related to a preference or setting unique to that user.
Reboot in Safe Mode:
To boot in Safe Mode, hold down the Shift key while restarting the computer.
This forces a directory check of the root volume, clears the dynamic loader cache, and only loads the necessary items.
Once the system has booted into safe mode you can reboot it normally and then try to launch the game normally.
Update Supporting Applications:
QuickTime Update: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/
Flash Update: http://www.adobe.com/support/flash/downloads.html
Verify all OS and Driver Updates
If you are experiencing performance-related issues that might related to hardware acceleration or other Apple drivers
To locate the updates for your operating system, check the Apple website at: https://support.apple.com/macos