New Macbook Pro crashing when trying to play Civ VI - (GPU Crash?)

Hello. I just purchased a new MBP about a week ago, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M, 2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9, 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4. I got a good way through a game of Civ VI with no issues then suddenly it froze and crashed. It appears to have caused some kind of graphics processing error, as nothing will display correctly, highly fractal/vectored. I managed to force close the program and reboot. I reloaded the game and the exact same error occurred at on the exact same move. Force close and reboot the system again. Reloaded, then managed to use a different sequence of turns and it worked for about 10 minutes then crashed. No matter how many times I close, uninstall and reinstall, it always eventually freezes and crashes in the same manner. Nothing seems to work to correct this, tried turning the graphics down to lowest settings and still had issues. I have tried several setups and can get around 200-250 turns completed. However, under seeming completely different circumstances, other than game progress, it always eventually errors out and cannot be played past that move. This has crashed my system nearly every time. Seeing as this computer is so new, I have stopped attempting games in case it is somehow damaging the system. I did manage to get a screen shot so you can see what I mean by 'distortion/fractal/vectoring'. It gets significantly worse than this, but I am not able to get a screenshot that isnt all red or all black when that happens. Please note, I did redact my tab in 'notes' as it contained personal information.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Aug 22, 2020 2:21 PM

Top-ranking reply

davey1107a

Level 1

39 points

Posted on Dec 6, 2020 3:01 PM

Dec 6 2020 Solution

Machine: 2020 iMac 3.3 GHz

OS: Big Sur

Civ 6 Ver 1.0.7.9

Issue: Civ 6 seems to be causing two types of crashes, 1.) a catastrophic crash requiring a hard shut down of the machine, 2.) a more minor game crash, which allows access to OS to force quit Civ 6 app. The first crash seems to be related to a GPU issue that Aspyr is aware of but has not fixed. I would experience the catastrophic crash every 20-30 minutes, even when running no other apps.

Solutions:

Put the app into low resolution mode. Close the app and Steam. Locate the app file through a Finder search looking for "Civilization VI" (the app is in the Library not the app folder). Right click app and choose Get Info. Check "Open in Low Resolution." This prevented most (but not all) catastrophic crashes for me.
Adjust display options in Civ 6. These worked for me: resolution 2560x1440, anti-aliasing: disabled, performance and memory impact: low. Advanced options: Frame limiter: 30 FPS. High Quality Visual Effects: Low.

It's unfortunate we can't take advantage of the Mac's 5k retina, but the game still looks fine and this allowed play without any crashes.

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22 replies

Jan 2, 2021 7:01 PM in response to Jason Zwolak

I didn't have any of these problems on my old macBook Pro running Catalina.

Feb 20, 2021 4:06 PM in response to davey1107a

Was really hoping this would work but immediately crashed when I changed the settings. Hope they get this fixed.

Bradsuth

Level 1

4 points

Sep 19, 2020 2:02 AM in response to youlovefuture

Hi, I have the exact same problem only I have a new iMac (August 2020). I raised an issue with Aspyr 25 days ago and followed it up but they never reply. I contacted 2k and they did reply but they gave me instructions for a PC user and have not replied to my request for Mac instructions, although this was only two days ago.

I have tried everything I can think of. I lowered the resolution, I upgraded the RAM by 32gb, changed the mouse to a non-bluetooth mouse and I have loaded the saved game onto my MacBook Pro, played a few turns without any issues, then saved the game and loaded it into my iMac only for it to crash after a few actions.

If I get a solution I will post it here for you.

Sep 21, 2020 7:01 PM in response to youlovefuture

I have this exact problem as well. Aspyr is hopeless, and I'm desperate. The only way to fix it that I know of is to downgrade to Mojave from Catalina. I tried it, and it works. But it's unfortunate that the OS seems to be at the center of it.

Bradsuth

Level 1

4 points

Sep 22, 2020 12:36 AM in response to fegetaboutit

Thanks so much for that. It is not easy to downgrade to Mojave as I need to back everything up and then reinstall, so can I just ask: did you play Civilization VI through to the end of the game a few times? If I reach a point where the game keeps crashing, I can load it on my MacBook Pro and continue playing, and that has macOS Catalina.

Sep 22, 2020 8:14 AM in response to Bradsuth

I haven't completed a game yet since downgrading, but I've made it way further than I did without it crashing. With Catalina I would start crashing around turn 80, and it was pointless to play after that. With Mojave, I've had a couple of games past turn 200 now without any crashes.

I should note though that downgrading definitely has drawbacks. For example, you have to re-download all applications (as Catalina apps won't work on Mojave). Photos in particular doesn't work anymore, so your entire photo library is inaccessible unless you have a pretty competent understanding of how computers work.

I downgraded my old MBP (2014) that I wasn't using anymore and kept my new MBP (2020) with Catalina because the downgrade was too dramatic for my practical day-to-day use.

Dec 30, 2020 10:58 AM in response to Jason Zwolak

Oh... and Windows 10 can be used free. When unlicensed, some features are disabled, but nothing that affects game play other than a watermark in the bottom right suggesting activation after running Windows for 30 minutes. https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/

I find this can be a good solution until the problem is fixed.

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New Macbook Pro crashing when trying to play Civ VI - (GPU Crash?)