Hero Lab on Mac Needs Update for New OS
 

I have noticed that we have not had an update to Hero Lab for Mac for over a year. In that time a few major OS upgrades have happened. With no updates for Hero Lab, the application itself has started to become slow and sometimes unresponsive. The application needs to be updated/compiled against new OS code . The app even states this message that the app needs to be updated when opening it and stops you from opening it. You have to use a different menu to open the app to bypass the OS check. Is there any chance this can happen in the near future? If not I will be forced to stop using this app because of the slowness and unresponsiveness.

I have not seen this issue (yet); I'm running Catalina, fully updated.

The slowness is because there is a bug in terms of how dependent fields get updated and LW couldn't find a fix, so they set the engine to entirely regenerate all fields whenever a single field changed. This makes it extremely slow when you have anything but a simple first or second level character! (At least, with the PF1e data set.)

Don't hold your breath waiting for an update. Contrary to assurances, HLC is basically dead. (Yeah, I'm being pessimistic. So prove me wrong.)

This is correct. HL is not compatible with Big Sur so any Apple system purchased after 11/2020 can not run the application and any one upgrading past Catalina will lose their 32 bit apps, including HL.

I have been told that a 64bit version is NOT on to do list at this time so do not expect a fix any time soon.

A point to LWD, any 64bit app made for the M1 processor will run on every iOS device and almost every Mac notebook or desktop sold since 11/2020 so the days of MacOS and iOS development are gone.

This is not true. I'm running a 64-bit HeroLab on my MacBook Pro with a fully updated Big Sur (macOS 11.4) right now.

For most things, only a recompile would be required. But my understanding is that HLC uses a bunch of third-party libraries that may not be available for the M1 yet, if ever.

And Mac vs. iOS development are going to remain different for the foreseeable future. While Catalyst can provide some crossover from iOS to macOS, they are still very different beasts.

As someone who's played a bit with developing iOS apps, I can tell you that while Apple may want these systems to be more compatible over time, they're not in any hurry. (The same applies to tvOS. watchOS is obviously going to be quite different for some time to come.)

Hero lab or hero lab online?

I am also running Hero Lab (desktop version) on Big Sur on a non-M1 MacBook Pro. It just runs with some major lag every so often. That is why I was also saying a simple recompile might do the trick.

My first post already explained the slowness. Recompiling won’t help; LW needs to find and fix the bug, but with no resources working on HLC, I’d say the chance of that is less than zero. :rolleyes:

Hm, I thought I specified HLC, but I only did that in the second part of my post, not the first.

But yes, I’m running Hero Lab Classic on an Intel MBP from late 2019. The 64-but version of HLC has been available for almost two years, maybe a little more.

I clean installed Big Sur yesterday and it won't let me install HLC at all.
“Hero Lab” can’t be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software. This software needs to be updated. Contact the developer for more information."

we have less idea compare to some of users here. but we just asking can we try windows 11 ?? now not launch but after some months it happen so can we??

dont mind just asking

Sorry for the (somewhat) thread necro. I was looking for other stuff and saw this question, so...

It sounds like you have run afoul of Apple's attempt to protect you via a tool known as GateKeeper. It doesn't allow software lacking a digital signature to be installed. By default, at least.

Apple's support site includes instructions for bypassing GateKeeper when you know and trust the source of the software. You can find that information here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202491

Good luck, and happy gaming!

I've been playing with HLC via Rosetta 2 on a shiny new M1 Pro machine and so far it seems to work fine. With a complicated PF 1e character everything runs at about the same speed as it did on my old Intel machine (including the same slight lag on tab-switching and scrolling).

Things work, but I get a lot more crashes lately (last 9 months) than in the past on macOS Monterey.

So I need to save often or risk losing changes.

I also need to often click "allow access to documents", some times many times when opening herolab.

My Silicon chip Mac was also running Hero Lab Classic fine via Rosetta 2 until I updated to Monterey 12.6 today.

Now when I try to open the app it crashed immediately with the usual problem report pop up. Does anyone else have this issue? I already reinstalled Hero Lab from the site, but that didn't help...

I can certainly post the text from the Problem Report if that helps. I think this is the relevant part, but am not sure:

Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 4 Illegal instruction: 4
Terminating Process: exc handler [1636]

Application Specific Information:
*** CFRetain() called with NULL ***

I am seeing the same thing on an Intel mac with 12.6. So it isn't limited to Rosetta.

Yeah, same. MacOS 12.6 brought the hammer down on HeroLab. Help!

I am in the exact same boat as Farganger here. To what they posted, I would add that this issue is NOT specific to Apple Silicon systems.

I run HLC on both a 2017 iMac Pro and a 2020 M1 MacBook Pro. HLC crashes with the same exception on both systems after upgrading to Monterey v12.6.

I submitted a support request with the full application crash report to support@wolflair.com. I have a LOT of non-Pathfinder content (Mutants and Masterminds in particular) that isn't accessible via HLO or HL iPad, so I hope this can be resolved soon!

Hey there everyone,

I just wanted to pop in here to let you all know that the issue with the newer Mac OS and Hero Lab Classic is a known problem, in large part, this is due to users like yourselves reaching out to let us know and to send along detailed crash reports.

As usual, being the mere ley-support person I don't have any substantial news with regard to any ETA on an update or fix to the situation but the senior dev team has already been appraised of the issue, been provided documentation on the crashes, and are talking over how to get this taken care of swiftly. I'll be watching the situation closely and as soon as I get word that we have something ready I will be contacting those who emailed us and also posting an update in this thread as well too.

Thanks again!

Where to send MacOS HLC Crash Report?
 

I am happy to send my crash report as well but I do not know to whom I should send it.

Ditto
 

Yep. Exactly the same problem for me as well.

Lone Wolf Development Support support@wolflair.com via lonewolfdevel.com
1:21 PM (7 hours ago)

Hello,

It sounds to me like you're using the latest Mac OS that was released this past week. If that is indeed the case then I am sorry to say that at this point we do not have a solid grasp on the issue although I would mention that it is a known problem.

Apologies for the inconvenience, I hope to have news with an update on the situation ready for you soon. Thanks!

Hero Lab Crash on Launch with latest MAC OS
 

Lone Wolf Team,

I have sent an email as mentioned above to the support team. I am another user that is experiencing the app crashing on launch. Hope ya'll get a fix up soon. Our table has it's game next weekend!

I popped in to make some M&M heroes today, and I have sent you my crash report.
Oddly it doesn't crash when I load up Savage Worlds, only 5e and M&M.

For me it crashes for Pathfinder, but not for Alternity.

Alternity works. Pathfinder crashes.

Pathfinder crashes for me, but not Alternity.

Yeah, I'm also having the crashing issue with HL on Monterey 12.6.

I wonder how many crash reports they need of the same issue?

Crashes for pathfinder 1e for me. On macOS 12.6, worked on 12.5.x previously.

I've the same issue with M&M3 on osx 12.6

Hero Lab + 5E + MacOS 12.6 = another crash
 

I sent my crash report via email as well. Any idea on an ETA for the fix?

LW hasn't issued an update to HLC in over 2 years, to set everyone's expectations. The last update was 8.9e in Jan 2020.

Hero Lab no longer opens since the update to Monterey 12.6.

This is a fully paid for product with hundreds if not more than a $1000 worth of content.

Hey there all,

I just wanted to pop my head in and give something of an update on the situation. We have been in touch with Apple regarding the problem and have been advised that this kind of problem is in fact something that is impacting many other services and Apps as well and that they consider it to be a known problem. We weren't given any more information regarding the topic, provided assurances, or promises that they will have it fixed within any timeframe but, generally speaking, we anticipate that this is something they will be working to address with version/build update to the OS itself.

In short, the problem is something that is not easily overcome because the underlying bug is a particularly sticky one and it's actually baked into the OS version itself rather than our software. I know it's likely not the update any of you were hoping for but I did want to do what I can to help keep you in the loop.

Thanks!

And, for what it's worth, both Wacom and Corel tend to have some more problems with Macintosh updates. At that, both are mildly notorious for just stopping supporting particular versions of their software, forcing people to buy new ones.

It looks like LW created a new update for the Mac Hero Lab Classic. I installed it this morning and the app launches successfully.

Hey there everyone,

As promised I am back again today to provide an update on the situation since I just got off the line with our team who have informed me that as of this morning there is a new Mac version of HLC (8.9i) posted to the servers that will get around the issue introduced by Apple in macOS 12.6. Many of you who contacted us directly via the support email will have already seen a message very similar to this one but given that a fair number of users do not actually either know or perhaps care to deal with the hassle of writing support email messages I wanted to get this information posted here as well for some increased visibility.

This updated version is accessible via the link I'm including below to our Product Download page for this version and it is also available through the HLC Updates download menu where all the other various Updates and game data files are located within the software.
(https://www.lonewolfdevel.com/Submit...p&platform=mac)

Given that this is a new version/build of the software there is a possibility that upon attempting to launch the software after the update you may encounter an OS-generated "malicious software warning" that prevents automatic launch. If this happens you can bypass the problem by doing the following:
Launch Hero Lab > View Error as noted > Click "Show in Finder" > Locate Hero Lab within the Finder Window > Right-Click > Open > View a similar Error window

Once you do this you should see the option to open the software and bypass/ignore the warning, and in so doing it will have your system recall the decision by whitelisting it locally so that the error should no longer appear on any attempt to launch Hero Lab Classic. We do already have plans in motion to get that additional bit of hassle wrapped up and negate any need to use the Finder App workaround fix for the local whitelist, but we were much more focused at this phase on ensuring that we corrected the much bigger problem of the software failing/crashing outright.

Thanks a million for letting us know about the issue promptly, and a special shout-out to all of you wonderful people that sent messages to the support desk and provided detailed crash report logs.

That's great news, Ryan. Thank you for the update. :)

Indeed, excellent news!

Thank you Ryan

I installed HLC for Mac 8.9j this evening and I got it running for Pathfinder RPG. I had to re-download the game system - not a big deal, but it seemed odd since there wasn't a concurrent update for PFRPG. Once I got Hero Lab started, though, it became apparent that the reason I had to redownload the game system is that the new version isn't pulling in the data that the older version used. The game system is loaded and my license is activated, but the Community Pack and World Is Square packages, for example, aren't available. I can try reinstalling them, but before I do, I thought I'd ask if anyone else has seen and solved this problem with a hopefully simple setting change that I'm just too oblivious to see on my own?