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Hero Lab on Mac Needs Update for New OS

J

javadragon

Well-known member
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.
 
Tekwych said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.

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.
Click to expand...
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.)
 
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.
 
Last edited:
javadragon said:
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.
Click to expand...
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:

Tekwych said:
Hero lab or hero lab online?
Click to expand...
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
 
randomtone said:
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."
Click to expand...
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.
 
Roadie said:
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).
Click to expand...

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 ***
 
Farganger said:
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:
Click to expand...

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?

Ryan F said:
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.
Click to expand...

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

Farganger said:
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 ***
Click to expand...
Yep. Exactly the same problem for me as well.
 
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