I had previously listed this as a bug with the Client 1.8.8 version of Minecraft. However, I have now isolated the problem entirely to the new launcher supplied by the current Minecraft download as of September 2015.
As described in detail in bug report MC-88782, when installing the current Minecraft DMG and launching the game, it first successfully runs the game updater (downloading the code) - this completes successfully, as tested by launching that application separately.
The issue is the new launcher. It simply displays a window with title Launcher version 1.6.44 and a gray square for the client area. During this time, the program hangs (spinning ball) and has constant memory use and thread count (~29), while CPU usage starts around 7% on my computer and slowly increases. After 20 minutes it had reached around 25-27% where it plateaued. The game must be force quit. There are no buttons that come up to interact with.
The only solution to this problem is to uninstall minecraft and reinstall an older version of minecraft with the prior launcher. The problem is Mojang does not current provide a download link for a version with the previous launcher! Many people could be simply out of luck, unable to play minecraft.
In my case, I luckily had a dmg of Minecraft 1.8.3 still available, so I installed that, the old launcher worked, and I was able to select 1.8.8 in my profile. It successfully downloaded 1.8.8. and ran it flawlessly.
This launcher issue needs to be resolved, but until then, you seriously need to provide a link to the prior version of minecraft and STOP encouraging Mac users to upgrade to 1.8.8!!!
I didn't even THINK to save a copy of the prior version of minecraft, because this is the first time I've ever had a DOA release of minecraft and just assumed it would work fine. You need to warn people and you need to have a link to the prior version, not just the 32-bit ancient one from minecraft 1.01 you list on your wenbsite.)
So three action items here:
1) Find out why the new launcher is incompatible with Mavericks. See other bug report for more details.
2) Provide a link on your website to the prior version of Minecraft for OS-X with the older launcher.
3) Warn Mac users not to just blindly upgrade to the new 1.8.8 DMG as there may be compatibility issues to be worked out.
4) Please let me know when this problem is fixed, because I'm really eager to try out the latest version of minecraft, but I'm now in a situation where I can't safely upgrade.
Thank you very much for your help. 🙂
Jeff
Linked issues
duplicates 1
Comments 16
(Rebooting has no effect.)
I completely agree with you that there are at least 3 orthogonal pieces here. I have appeared to isolated the problem to JUST the launcher, and not the bootstrap, by executing the pieces individually and looking at the output.
But your statement is completely dodging the main and serious issue here: If a Mavericks user right now downloads and installs Minecraft, it will not run, and they will have no way to make it run. It matters little which of the 3 pieces has the issue.
I was able to play 1.8.8 client because (1) there is no compatibility issue with the client, and (2) I had a way to get the 1.8.8 client using an old version of the minecraft package I had. That was my luck - this is not a feature Mojang supplies.
You are claiming the new launcher is used regardless - I can easily refute that. When I use the version of Minecraft that works, I get the screen that says "PLEASE CONSIDER UPGRADING THE LAUNCHER", etc, etc. That is clearly the old launcher.
I can give you more info to help - screen shots, console outputs, etc. But for me, it seems clear that I have a choice in launchers and the old one works and the new one doesn't. In the past, if I've had Java issues, that would produce errors that were easy to track to missing java files.
I'm not saying the problem couldn't be something besides the new launcher. But I'm saying that's an immaterial point from a user perspective, since there's no way I can run the new launcher without the new bootstrap, etc.
Please attach any available console output. What version number is indicated on the launcher that is functional?
OK, when I run the working version, it does say "Minecraft Launcher 1.6.44", so it looks like you were right. I was just confused because at the top it says "You are running an old version of Java. Please consider using the new launcher which doesn't require Java, as it will make your game faster."
OK, so maybe it is just the launcher stub that's an issue. (For reference, my Java isn't so old - I'm using Oracle's 8 se 40.)
To get console output from the current launcher (or see anything), I have to launch it from a console... I will run launcher from the console, as that seems to have the same effect as launching Minecraft from the desktop...
> launcher[36737:507] Claimed it found a path: /Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents/MacOS/./launcher () 4096
This is weird - unlike before, now Minecraft just silently exits, with the only message being the one right above. It doesn't even do the game update any more. I will try to install again. There are two slightly different packages for the current Minecraft - the one from the download link in my working version launcher and the one on the main Mojang website...
Stand by - I will install the new version again and check.
OK, I'm installing the package linked to from the working launcher (with the old stub.) This time I'll launch it directly from Finder as you're supposed to...
OK, it's downloading the runtime successfully, just as the original time. Minecraft Updater.app always seems to complete without issue... 59.92 MB download for the runtime...
Taking awhile - move to next comment...
I guess the main point regarding this issue is that while I've found a work around for now, it is not a solution: I have to keep installing the 1.8.3 dmg forever, and new people with Mavericks who try to play Minecraft for the first time ever will not succeed. And all those Mavericks users tempted by the launcher add to download the latest version will find themselves in white screen hell.
Eventually, we'll all upgrade to El Capitan, but that's a good 6 months away for us, and by then I assume we'll be up to 1.9 already.
Sorry - I had thought i had been deleting everything by uninstalling minecraft and reinstalling it. If what you are saying is that installing minecraft will not overwrite the launcher jar in my local preferences, I'll give that a try and get back to you.
@Gavitron,
After upgrade to El Capitan can't run Minecraft at all. Even uninstalling with this and re-installing doesn't fix it:
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Minecraft.app
rm -rf ~/Library/Saved\ Application\ State/com.mojang.minecraftlauncher*
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Minecraft\ Launcher
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.mojang.minecraftlauncher
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.mojang.minecraftlauncherupdater
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/minecraft
Duplicate of MCL-3989 but should be fixed now 🙂
I think you're a bit confused about the difference between the game, the launcher, and the bootstrap. The game version, be it 1.8.8 or 1.8.3, is entirely independent of the launcher version or bootstrap. There are no "major issues" running minecraft 1.8.3 vs 1.8.8, and these do not require a different installer to use. The Launcher, currently on 1.6.44, has recently been updated, and that version is used regardless if you are using the old bootstrap (old "installer"), or the new one, which was recently released. Some users have experienced issues upgrading the bootstrap, which bundles java, as OSX caches certain files, and tries running the old one despite it not existing anymore. Restarting your computer should fix that issue.