New to QB64 - macOS problem

[tucker]

Hi,

I am new to QB64 though not to QB admittedly away for many years. Came across it a while back and it has been on my list so decided to finally give it a go when I retrieved some of my old QB code. Been a user of PureBASIC, BBC BASIC SDL (long time BBC BASIC user) and experimented with FreeBASIC. Mainly use C and Python these days with some use of Processing for rapid testing and prototyping - something I am thinking QB64 could initially do to get me back into QB.

I am trying to run in macOS 10.14.1. Ran build script and built binary. It launches fine but shows a black screen. Menu appears to respond. I played around a little and when I resize the window I can see the blue QB IDE but it flickers and if I stop resizing it goes black again.

I had a quick look on forum and could not find this issue. Before I go digging more deeply has anyone come across this and discovered a fix? Am I doing something stupid?

Sorry if I have missed something obvious or a FAQ - go easy on me, I am a new user and member!

Thanks in advance.
TJ

[SMcNeill]

It's actually a glitch in MacOS, where they depreciated Open-GL so developers will be forced to use Metal.  The good news is v10.14.2 is supposed to patch the issue.  The bad news is it's currently just a developer build and not fully public.

Hopefully Mac will release the patch soon and the issue will go away.  Until then, you just have to wait.  :(

[Pete]

Or he could rush the Apple Campus and try to claim asylum. He'd probably just get deported to Redmond. :(

Apple is trying to push developers to make new versions based on Metal. Depreciated OpenGL is just a warning that if anything goes FUBAR it won't be fixing it. I recall depreciated HTML codes from years ago that still run in up to date browsers.

Anyway, I'd say the chances of QB64 being re-written to work with Metal are not appreciated one-bit and not one-bit of code will be written to make that happen.

I'm actually working with the people from Flex-Tape to come up with a revolutionary new kind of rug adhesive to prevent this crap from happening to us in the future.

Pete

[tucker]

Thanks for the explanation. At least I know I am not doing something wrong! Being new to QB64 I thought I would ask before staring to have a look at code, compilers and things. My fault for being on the latest patch of macOS!

Is there a development build I can compile to try it?

Another option I could consider is a VM with macOS 10.13 - easy enough to install in VMWare. I am keen to have a look and get started with QB64 having read the documentation and forums!

Thanks again for the help and explanation.

[SMcNeill]

As far as I know (I'm a windows user myself and don't have a Mac which runs anymore), the issue started with 10.14, so you should be good to go with OS 10.13, if you have it running on a second machine or in a VM.

The issue in 10.14 is one which doesn't just affect QB64; it affects any programs which use Open-GL for the rendering layer.  Lots of Fortnight players are losing their minds waiting for them to patch the issue.  (Here's a link where a guy in stackflow is talking about his issue, which is the same one you're having: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53079732/opengl-black-screen )

From all the reading I've did up on the problem, it seems as if Apple already has the issue fixed with v10.14.2, but who knows when they're going to release it to the public??  For now, if you can stick with High Sierra and not upgrade to Mojave yet, you won't have to deal with any of the OpenGL issues.

[tucker]

Thanks for the help. That all makes sense now. I have read up on the OpenGL thing and see it is an ongoing issue for various. It has hit a few things I use including OpenFrameworks. It will be interesting to see how Apple address it if indeed they do. With so many games affected I guess they will need to. The StackOverflow link is very similar to my issues and I see the same issue when I built an OpenFrameworks project I had worked on a while back.

I was never that fussed on OpenGL for programming so never paid much attention to it. I did toy with SFML when I looked into OpenFrameworks but still favour SDL2 to both of them as it suits what I work on. That said the OpenGL issue does seem to restrict some apps and choices for Mac users.

I will keep an eye on things and see what happens next. Hopefully it can be fixed. I suppose I could go down the VM route and maybe even package up a VM with a light Linux such as Alpine or TinyCore just for QB64. Could even bottle it up with Crossover I guess - crack a nut with a jack hammer!

I have been reading up and looking into QB64 and I am fascinated with the project in general and how it works. The compilation to C++ is a very clever idea and makes moving to a new platform easy. I am starting to think about Raspberry PI as it seems an ideal BASIC for the PI.

Thanks again for all the comments - loving QB64 and the community so far!

[FellippeHeitor]

YAY! YAY! Apple fixed the freeglut issue with macOS Mojave 10.14.4!!!