MacOS 10.12.1 Crash on Startup

Hello,

I have an issue getting Stardew Valley to launch on Mac. I used to be able to launch it, but the last time I played was in August, and since that point I've updated to MacOS Sierra and Stardew Valley has gone to 1.11; something appears to have broken.

What happened: Whether I start from Steam or Terminal, the game fails to launch.
What I was doing: I was trying to launch Stardew Valley from the Terminal.

I was able to trigger the crash repeatedly by trying to start the game.

This was on MacOS Sierra 10.12.1 on a Late 2013 21.5" iMac, 2.9gHz with 8GB 1600mHz DDR3 RAM and a 1024MB nVidia GeForce 750m graphics processor. I usually play full screen, but a black window appears for a short moment before crashing.

I can't find the error logs on my computer; Finder denies that ~/StardewVally/ErrorLogs exists. I put the Terminal error log under a spoiler and attached it as a .txt file.

[ERROR] FATAL UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path "/Users/russellspiker/.config/StardewValley/startup_preferences" is denied.
at System.IO.File.Delete (System.String path) <0x14f78fa20 + 0x00205> in <filename unknown>:0
at StardewValley.StartupPreferences.savePreferences () <0x14f78e880 + 0x000b2> in <filename unknown>:0
at StardewValley.Menus.TitleMenu..ctor () <0x11268a270 + 0x01c80> in <filename unknown>:0
at StardewValley.Game1.UpdateTitleScreen (Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameTime time) <0x14f7786f0 + 0x0063c> in <filename unknown>:0
at StardewValley.Game1.Update (Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameTime gameTime) <0x14f793160 + 0x03221> in <filename unknown>:0
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.DoUpdate (Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameTime gameTime) <0x14f792e80 + 0x00057> in <filename unknown>:0
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Tick () <0x14f792870 + 0x00396> in <filename unknown>:0
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.SdlGamePlatform.RunLoop () <0x14f792500 + 0x00056> in <filename unknown>:0
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Run (GameRunBehavior runBehavior) <0x110d540a0 + 0x0020b> in <filename unknown>:0
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Run () <0x110d54030 + 0x0002d> in <filename unknown>:0
at StardewValley.Program.Main (System.String[] args) <0x104b94fa0 + 0x000f8> in <filename unknown>:0

BuildID 1379940

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

-Farmer Bellis

 

Hey Bellis,

I remember seeing some other Mac users with a similar issue. Their fix was to take back ownership of that folder.
Run the following line in the terminal:

sudo chown russellspiker:staff ~/.config


It should give you back permission of that folder, and let you start up the game.

 

Thanks! I actually tried that after a few error messages because I remember it used to work. It gives me permission for the folder, but I still get the same error message and crash. It's very strange.

 

Oh, okay. Since it's still giving you that error; go ahead, and try deleting the 'startup_preferences' file that it references.

I don't think I've ever seen it happen to a Mac user, but I've seen some Windows users get errors related to a process getting stuck on the 'startup_preferences'; essentially locking it til it was deleted.

 

Thanks again for your help! I tried deleting the startup_preferences [after backing it up] and still got the same message. However, solved the problem and wanted to follow up.

From what I understand, this was the solution:

Step 1: sudo chown username:staff ~/.config
Step 2: sudo chown username:staff ~/.config/StardewValley
Step 3: sudo chown username:staff ~/.config/StardewValley/startup_preference [I'm 99% certain this had no effect, but I was just being cautious]

I also moved the startup_preferences file back to the folder after trying the first command and getting a failure.

It didn't work when I gave it access to just the .config folder, but when I gave it access to the subfolder it worked. From my understanding, that's really weird, as the first command should give permission for the folder and all subfolders, but that didn't seem to be the case. In any case, the crash at startup issue was solved.

Now I've got an issue where the game only recognizes new saves, but that's for another thread.

Thanks!

 

Hrm, that's pretty odd. Glad you got it worked out though!

As for the saves; let us know if you need help. Possibly more permission issues, or a corrupt 'SaveGameInfo' file. As long as the "FarmerName_RandomNumbers" save file is intact; you can restore the entry for the Load screen.

 

hi,
I'm having the same problem, but when I enter
sudo chown username:staff ~/.config/StardewValley
into the terminal, it asks for a password, and no matter what I type, nothing shows up, there is just a key with a grey box around it. Does anyone know how to fix this?

thanks,

a frustrated individual

 

I bought StardewValley through Steam. It wouldn't launch. I went through several of the suggestions in other fora (Verify Game Cache, Run Through Terminal, etc.) and they didn't work. I just got it working, and this thread seems to be the solution.

It turns out I had the exact same problem as Bellis except that my Terminal error message said the following (without the "startup_preference" part):
"/Users/username/.config/StardewValley" is denied.


This solution DID work, though I only had to type the following command into Terminal (I didn't have to do the other steps Bellis had to.)
sudo chown username:staff ~/.config/StardewValley

To answer B0bthem0n: it also asked me for a password and displayed the key. When I typed my (Mac system) password it didn't display anything, but it evidently paid attention because when I hit enter it displayed an open prompt in Terminal, and StardewValley worked when I ran it the next time.

Good luck, future Mac users! Hope this helps.