Spore and other games doesn't wonk on one account

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Spore and other games doesn't wonk on one account

Hello,

Spore and other games which use Cider to run (NFS, The Sims, etc) do not work on one account on my iMac. They run in other accounts... If I try to run these games on account, where they don't work any icon of the game appears and bounces i the dock for like 3 seconds and then disappears. So now I have to use 2 accounts: on for everything and the other for gaming...

How can I make these games run on my main account? Thank You!

iMac late 2007, Mac OS X (10.5.7), iMac 24'' 2.8GHz late 2007

Posted on May 21, 2009 6:32 AM

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Answer 1

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nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

May 21, 2009 8:53 AM in response to Nopix

Welcome to Apple Discussions:
Since the games work on your other accounts, it's obviously an app or a corrupted file on your main account that is causing the problem.
Run the console.app (in utilities folder) and see if there is any info about the problem listed there.
Also run Activity Monitor.app and see what else is running in your main account that is not running in the other working accounts.
Also check the apps in your login Items list in the Accounts preferences. It might be one of them.

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Answer 2

Nopix Author

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May 21, 2009 11:46 AM in response to nerowolfe

Thank You,

This appears in Consola.app when I try to run Spore on my main account:

20:00:27 tgUpdate [ 4352 ] tgUpdate:INIT (0x0)
20:00:27 tgUpdate [ 4352 ] tgUpd:init
20:00:27 tgUpdate [ 4352 ] tgUpd:init
20:00:29 tgUpdate [ 4352 ] Error 70000005
20:00:29 tgUpdate [ 4352 ] tgUpdate:DEALLOC (0x0)
20:00:29 tgUpdate [ 4352 ] tgUpdate:DEALLOC (0x0)
20:00:29 [ 0x0-0x111111 ].com.transgaming.spore Invalid path "e:\tg-Tomáš Mjartan" for temp directory: does not exist

The numbers you can see in second column are in [] brackets but this discussion forum changes it into links
(Tomáš Mjartan is my name-so you are not confused what it is)

There is nothing special in login items: just iTunes Helper and SpeechSynthesisServer

There are processes that are running in main account but not in the second:
187 aosnotifyd cpu0.0 threads2 2.34MB/587.60MB
248 AppleSpell.service cpu0.0 threads1 8.62MB/603.54MB
182 Speech Synthesis Server cpu0.0 threads7 26.21MB/965.21MB

I also noticed that animation of minimization of windows to the dock has a bis lower fps on main account than on the other

What to do now?

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Answer 3

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

May 21, 2009 12:41 PM in response to Nopix

You did not say whether the problem exists in the second account, or not.
The 7th error - invalid path - says to me this is a Windows version you are trying to run.
There is no path "e: ..." on a Mac.
I believe that the com.transgaming.spore is a plist that contains this invalid path.
If you find a file with that name in your
"user"/library/preferences directory
drag it to the desktop and reboot. See what happens.

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Answer 4

Nopix Author

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May 21, 2009 12:45 PM in response to nerowolfe

This problem is not on the second account, only on the "main" one... will try to find that file, i will tell you if it helped

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Answer 5

Nopix Author

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May 21, 2009 12:49 PM in response to Nopix

Ok there isn't such a file in that directory in both accounts. I guess it is "windows-like" because these games use Cider-it is windows version made to work on mac or something like that...

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Answer 6

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

May 21, 2009 4:03 PM in response to Nopix

Nopix wrote:
Ok there isn't such a file in that directory in both accounts. I guess it is "windows-like" because these games use Cider-it is windows version made to work on mac or something like that...

The file may be elsewhere. Use Finder to search for it on your complete computer, and then drag it onto the desktop and reboot.
I think that is your main problem. Somehow it thinks it's on a Windows Box 🙂

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Answer 7

Nopix Author

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May 22, 2009 10:18 AM in response to nerowolfe

Ok, I found that file, it was in ...\Cashes... actually it is a folder. I dragged it to the desktop, rebooted, it didn't help, then I replaced it with the same file from the other account where it works, I did the same things with "SPORE Preferences" folder. It did not help.

I don't think that the problem is in one of Spore's files since any of games which uses Cider do not work on the main account. Can you please help me?

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Answer 8

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

May 22, 2009 2:09 PM in response to Nopix

It could be a conflict with some other program.
You could uninstall it completely and reinstall it and see what happens, unless you have already done that.
You can also look in your console.app logs for anything that might be useful.
One of the cleanup apps such as Onyx that clears out cache, etc., might also be useful.

Message was edited by: nerowolfe

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Answer 9

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

May 23, 2009 12:31 PM in response to Nopix

How many accounts do you have? Just two? If so, make a third one and try it there. If it works in only one account and not in any other accounts, the problem might be permissions related and I think I know how to fix it. Post back with the info.

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Answer 10

Nopix Author

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May 24, 2009 12:18 PM in response to Király

It works in third account, but I thing there is some permissions problem: As adviced, I ran Onyx. It did the routine disk controlls and then asked me for password, I entered it but it didn't work, I tried in in the second accout and it doesn't work too. It told me to repair permissions by Disk Utility.app. I did so, but it didn't help... what the **** is happening to my iMac??? 😟

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Answer 11

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

May 24, 2009 1:48 PM in response to Nopix

Log in to an admin account, launch Terminal, and enter this:

sudo chmod +rwX (hit spacebar, drag the game app into the Terminal window, press return, enter password when prompted)

See if the game will now run in all accounts.

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Answer 12

Nopix Author

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May 25, 2009 8:56 AM in response to Király

Didn't help. Thank you anyway!

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Answer 13

May 28, 2009 11:32 AM in response to Nopix

Spore will only work on the account that was used to install the program. I had the same problem when trying to run Spore on two accounts. Also, Spore will not load on a 'Managed' account with Parental Controls set to anything but full 'Allow Unrestricted Access to Websites'.

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Answer 14

Nopix Author

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Jun 3, 2009 9:31 AM in response to Nopix

Thank you all for your help, but I think you did not understand me... Spore was just an example. Any game which uses Cider to work (that means Spore, Need for Speed etc.) can't run on the main account. There aren't any parrental restrictions in it. Anyone, please?

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Answer 15

Jun 15, 2009 3:50 PM in response to Nopix

A couple more thoughts - 'Spore' does work on a late 2008 20" iMac Intel. We've been using it since it was released with no problem on the main administrative account.
Have you contacted customer support for your registered product? They were very helpful when I was trying to figure out the 'two account' issue.

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