Too many crashes with DS4 need DS 3 on Macintosh
![barrieM](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/userpics/956/nBR3OX3BSME2E.jpg)
DS 4.22 crashes at random times during launch. It also crashes when selecting menus. Menu disappears between menu items when trying to make selection. Sometimes I get lucky and manage to select a menu item before it disapears and crashes. Downloaded DS 3 from my account but it will not unzip. Is there any way I can revert to DS 3?
Running Mac Mini 2018: OS Sanoma 14.5
Comments
I am pretty sure DS3 will never work on a recent version of MacOS. It is a 32-bit application. The last MacOS to support 32-bit applications is 10.14, Mojave.
As far as crashes during launch, yep they happen. I have an M2 Mac Studio, which I am really happy with, which crashes on startup on some random basis. Some times it starts with no issue, some times it takes two or three or more attempts for it to start. I have not really detected a pattern to the crashes. Just keep trying.
As to the menu issues, no real solution but it is kind of avoidable. After selecting an item in the menu bar don't move the pointer outside the bounds of the drop down menu. Moving it back within the bounds will sometimes bring the items back, but (and this is a big but) it seems to screw things up in the software if you keep going, I have found that I can avoid crashes by going back to the menu bar, selecting something and not moving down the drop down list. Then go back and try again. In the course of a session if it happens more than three or four times I have found it is best to carefully save the work, exit the program and start again. It is a royal pain in the #$@!, but with some care in how the pointer is used in the menus it can be usable.
I really love to use DS and it can generate some very interesting images, just I little frustating some times.
Good luck,
Lloyd
@lloyf Many thanks for taking the time to answer my post. It is very reassuring and interesting to hear that I am not the only one to experience menu problems with DS. In fact I had decided to give up in favour of Blender until now. In my quest to find the problem I deleted DS and re-installed.... that didn't help. I then reset DS to factory default.... That made things worse. None of my assets and files showed up. However, I was so inspired by your comments that I spent a lot of time re-installing files and assets and tried again. Apart from the menu and startup glitches everything seems to work OK. At present I think the menu crash may happen when the menu selection pointer is between two menu items when they vanish leaving the pointer to select something else under the vanished drop down. That would account for the random crashes. I also found that if you move the pointer fast enough, the menu doesn't vanish, but this requires a great deal of precision and dexterity. Maybe there is a way to tweek the mouse parameters. My final thought is that Daz did not optimise DS for Mac Sonoma. Did you get in touch with Daz tech support about this problem? I have had excellent help from them in the past. I will let you know if I discover any improvements.
Exit your browser, the two interact and cause the menus to go bonkers and crash Daz.
Thanks for the suggestion. I quit Safari, quit DS and relaunched but the menu's still go bonkers. DS is usable if the menu selections are handled with a great deal of skill and dexterity........ not to mention the patience and tenacity required when it crashes on startup.![smiley smiley](https://www.daz3d.com/forums/plugins/ckeditor/js/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png)
That is darn strange, my crashes are repeatable, M1 Ultra Studio. Are you up to date on all the OS and program updates?
I believe I do have the latest software. OS Sonoma 14.5 and DS 4.22.0.16. on Mac mini 2018. I am guessing that the problem lurks deep within the DS for Mac code. If the problem gets too bad I will contact Daz tech support,,,,, only had one crash in two days despite the flickering menu's.
It is, I am told, a Qt (the application framework used for DS, not QT which is QuickTime) issue - that means it can't be fixed in DS 4.x.x.x.
Thank you Richard. Now we know the root cause, we will either like it or lump it and stop searching for answers.