Farming Simulator 19 for macOS Repeatedly Verifying

[Asparagus Farmer]

I have purchased FS 19 from the Apple App Store but it will not run! When I try running it from the Applications folder it asks for my Apple ID password and then repeatedly says Verifying Farming Simulator 19 as the progress bar moves from left to right, before closing and repeating itself. If I make a copy of FS 19 and try running it from a different drive it asks for my App Store password (as before) and then tells me "Farming Simulator 19 is damaged and can't be opened. Delete Farming Simulator 19 and download it again from the App Store". I have tried this suggestion but it made no difference.

I have also tried to find the log.txt file as described in another post. I got to here okay (/Volumes/Macintosh OS X/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.focus-home.farmingsim2019/Data/Library/Application Support) but the expected FarmingSimulator2019 folder is not present within the Application Support folder.

Can anyone help? Thank you.

[Stegei]

This sounds like a Mac OS or AppStore issue and not an issue of our code, since the application is not even launched.
I know this message from updating free apps when there is no valid payment settings. Maybe the credit card you used to purchase the game is no longer valid?
Maybe this link helps (it's for iOS, but it should be similar for OSX)
http://osxdaily.com/2018/03/18/fix-veri ... ssage-ios/

[Asparagus Farmer]

Thank you for your reply Stegei. Sadly, your suggestion does not solve my issue. As you will know this software is not free, and my Apple account has been charged for the full price. On first trying to run the game my Apple ID and password are accepted, after this the verification of the software starts as I have described above. For clarity I will try to attach a screenshot taken when trying to run the application from its default location in the Applications folder.

If anyone has further suggestions they would be much appreciated.

[michaelr]

Do you have the newest version of macOS? Check here if your Mac supports Catalina, or make sure everything is up-to-date with the version of macOS it does support.

Other things from the top of my head:

• Have you tried restarting your computer?
  I would delete the Farming Simulator 19 app completely, sign out of the Mac App Store and reboot the computer. When it's started up, open Mac App Store, sign back in and reinstall the app.
• Try changing DNS to 8.8.8.8 (Google) or 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) temporally to see if something is blocking the verification.
• Keep the Console app open while you try to launch Farming Simulator 19 and look for an error in system.log regarding the Mac App Store.

If this doesn't help, try contacting Apple since this is a problem with the Mac App Store not allowing your computer to run the app

[Asparagus Farmer]

Thank you for your suggestions michaelr. I tried a complete uninstall. I deleted the game from the Applications folder and emptied the Trash. I also used this find command at the Terminal and then deleted the files and folders listed:
sudo find -x / -name '*farming*'

After this I restarted and logged back into the App Store before downloading the game and trying again. I am sorry to report that this made no difference.

Each time the verification fails an error like this is recorded in the system.log:
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.focus-home.farmingsim2019.44792[770]): Service exited with abnormal code: 173

An internet search yielded results suggesting that this may be a signing problem, and the developer may have had the "Mac App Store Validation" tick-box incorrectly set last time the project was built! This sounds plausible, but if it was true, I would have expected to see more people reporting the same issue!

More help please, anyone?

[michaelr]

Each time the verification fails an error like this is recorded in the system.log:
com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.focus-home.farmingsim2019.44792[770]): Service exited with abnormal code: 173

I remember this problem back in 2016, but it’s weird that you run into it now.

Which version of macOS do you have? Have you tried any other apps from the Mac App Store?

I also bought the game on the Mac App Store and have had no issues like this.

I’d say try contacting Apple and tell them about this error code in your system.log

[Asparagus Farmer]

Thank you for your helpful suggestions michaelr. The problem did not get fixed, but here is a little summary for the record!

After your last post I sent a support request to Apple. They seemed to ignore the specific detail and sent a standard reply telling me to read links that I had already seen, and try things that I had already done. However, they did say try contacting the developer and get back to us if the matter is not resolved.

Next I opened a case with Giants Software customer support. They responded quickly and tried to be helpful although I struggled a little with the broken English. I received 3 or 4 emails and tried a number of things, some at their suggestion. These included:
- Turning off anti-virus software
- Granting some access under the Privacy tab in System Preferences

Customer support's final email ended "I have no new idea how it should works. Did you have tried the MAc Support for this problem before?". At this I went back to Apple as suggested, and asked:
''I am wondering if the error message from the System Log points you in the right direction "com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.focus-home.farmingsim2019.44792[770]): Service exited with abnormal code: 173"? Would it be helpful if I was to provide more information from Console? If this is an issue with the application phoning home to the App Store, then what is the IP address / domain with which it needs to communicate? My internet access works very well and is fast. I have tried running the software while connected using ethernet (my normal method [Device: bond0]) and while connected by WiFi [Device: en2]. No joy with either; although, I did wonder if non-standard device names might be an issue!''

Apple did not answer any of my points, they just sent me another standard response, this one saying that they are refunding the cost of the software to my credit balance on the App Store.

I am now considering a purchase from farming-simulator.com ahead of which I have put a new post on this forum: viewtopic.php?f=964&t=157603#p1228863

[don_apple]

I've done a quick Google search on your problem, and based on the error you get from launchd I found the following page indicating that the issue might be related to a bug in macOS related to Airplay: http://supermegaultragroovy.com/2019/10 ... tion-code/ (see section 'The Workaround' for suggestions on how to avoid the issue)

[Stegei]

Thanks don_apple for this hint. Farming Simulator 19 is definitely is affected by this OS bug. We will check, if we can implement a workaround in a future update. Until then, disabling AirPlay should help.

Also, the version you can buy directly from farming-simulator.com is not affected by this bug.

[Asparagus Farmer]

Thank you don_apple. That pointed me in the right direction. It seems that Giants Software did what Apple said, but the Apple code does not always work! My case does not exactly match the example you gave. I have used channel bonding to make the two wired ethernet ports on my Mac Pro work as one. Having read the link you provided, I did some rooting around. The command "networksetup -getmacaddress bond0" returns the correct MAC address for my wired network connection (as displayed in System Preferences. Apple's code apparently looks for the address at en0, but "networksetup -getmacaddress en0" returns the wrong MAC address (I believe it is the address of one of the two NICs i.e. the 1st, but the system is using the address of the 2nd [en1]).

I will share this information with Apple iTunes Store Support but I don't suppose they will fix it any time soon!