Starcraft2 (SC2) errors on Big Sur

[jazzneel]

I installed Big Sur on my 16" macbook pro base and now when I open SC2, there is a resolution bug or something where it only shows up on half the screen (bottom half) and the bottom part of the game is cut off. It shows a black screen on the top half of my screen and I can't move my mouse to that area.

I am unable to quit the game and when I hit command/tab to switch out of it (or hit the power button) everything gets really tiny and I can't do anything - I have to force restart my laptop.

When I restart my laptop the game works again, but when I exit the game (after I'm done playing) and go to reopen later, the same issue comes up again - basically I have to restart my laptop every time before playing sc2.

Anyone else having this issue?

 

[Merode]

In general macOS is a train wreck when it comes to gaming, Starcraft 2 included. It's one of the few games I care about and performance is abysmal. Sometimes when I quit Starcraft 2 screen stays black. I can switch windows etc because I see Touch Bar transitioning, but screen stays black until I force shutdown my Mac. There's also hideous bug that was present in Catalina, in both Starcraft 1 and 2: when you click and drag to select units, screen freezes for split second. There's also hideous stutter when panning map that is even more distracting (Starcraft 2 only). It drives me nuts. I've had your bug as well, but it's least of the problems IMO.

When it comes to pure performance, macOS is horrible as well. I run all my tests on Legacy of the Void first mission because it is the most demanding and presents worst case scenario. All settings set to default, 1680x1050p high preset, Metal API. In initial cutscene when spaceship strikes with beam weapon, my 16" MBP with 5300M just freezes. Then when game begins, first battle produces single digit FPS (6-9FPS). Later on it's about 20-30FPS depending on what you see. Far from perfect. When you try the same setup on OpenGL 4.1, you get slightly better results but not much. So much for Metal.

However, when I run this game in Boot Camp on Windows, there's no freeze in that mission. First battle produces 20-30FPS and then mission hovers around 40-60FPS. Basically 2-3 times faster on Windows. Not to mention all bugs I listed earlier are NOT present on Windows. I despise booting in to Windows, but there's just no other choice.

 

[Plutonius]

I despise booting in to Windows, but there's just no other choice.

Hopefully, the problems do not exist on the new M1 Macs since booting to Windows is not an option.

 

[LeeW]

Hopefully, the problems do not exist on the new M1 Macs

Nope, no issues, played it for a couple of hours yesterday on the M1 Mac Mini and it worked fine. Looked good on my 3440x1440 res.

 

[Merode]

Nope, no issues, played it for a couple of hours yesterday on the M1 Mac Mini and it worked fine. Looked good on my 3440x1440 res.

Can you test first mission of LotV and post your results and settings?

 

[jazzneel]

In general macOS is a train wreck when it comes to gaming, Starcraft 2 included. It's one of the few games I care about and performance is abysmal. Sometimes when I quit Starcraft 2 screen stays black. I can switch windows etc because I see Touch Bar transitioning, but screen stays black until I force shutdown my Mac. There's also hideous bug that was present in Catalina, in both Starcraft 1 and 2: when you click and drag to select units, screen freezes for split second. There's also hideous stutter when panning map that is even more distracting (Starcraft 2 only). It drives me nuts. I've had your bug as well, but it's least of the problems IMO.

When it comes to pure performance, macOS is horrible as well. I run all my tests on Legacy of the Void first mission because it is the most demanding and presents worst case scenario. All settings set to default, 1680x1050p high preset, Metal API. In initial cutscene when spaceship strikes with beam weapon, my 16" MBP with 5300M just freezes. Then when game begins, first battle produces single digit FPS (6-9FPS). Later on it's about 20-30FPS depending on what you see. Far from perfect. When you try the same setup on OpenGL 4.1, you get slightly better results but not much. So much for Metal.

However, when I run this game in Boot Camp on Windows, there's no freeze in that mission. First battle produces 20-30FPS and then mission hovers around 40-60FPS. Basically 2-3 times faster on Windows. Not to mention all bugs I listed earlier are NOT present on Windows. I despise booting in to Windows, but there's just no other choice.

Actually before the update, SC2 worked perfectly on my macbook. All the problems only started with Big Sur. I'm still having the issues unfortunately, but I have a workaround that works (with my eGPU).

 

[Saintvino]

I'm on a 2019 16" MacBook Pro with Big Sur. Mine was giving the same glitch and thought I'd come back and see if I could help.

What fixed it for me was going to /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Blizzard/StarCraft II/Variables.txt and switching Displaymode=2 to Displaymode=1.

That's all. Just in case anyone else has the same problem. I was seeing it around the forums as an issue with no solutions when I was struggling.

 

[revzik]

@Saintvino I don't see Variables.txt file in that folder... Do I have to create one?