Aerial not working after Mac migration

[stevehoek]

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Before logging an issue please check that:

• [ x] You have the latest version installed (There may be a beta version that fixes your issue), see here for the latest releases and bug fixes: https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial/releases
• [ x] Your issue isn't already mentioned in our issues. You may find a workaround there or a similar request already made.
• [ x] Your problem isn't mentioned in the troubleshooting page.

If none of this fixes your issue, tell us about the problem you are experiencing or the feature you'd like to request.

Required information

In order to help us sort your issue, we ask that you provide the following information:

• [ x] Mac model: MBP 14" M3 Max
• [x ] macOS version: 14.6.1
• [x ] Monitor setup: Retina display

If appropriate, please enable Debug mode and Log to disk in Advanced tab and replicate your bug, then attach the AerialLog.txt file (You can access this file through the Advanced tab).

Description of issue / Feature request

I recently had to replace my MacBook and used Migration Assistant to transfer from old to new
Following this, Aerial is no longer working (still working on old MBP)
I have reinstalled Aerial and Aerial companion
I have restarted several times
I have 5 spaces, and Aerial is set as the screen saver on one of the spaces
When I use the hot corner to activate it, it is just a black screen showing the clock

• also when doing this there is no entry added to AerialLog.txt (attached)
  Other notes
• Aerial settings and companion crash when clicking the Filters item in the sidebar
• Aerial companion does not show the screensaver either, just a black screen
• No preview is shown in Screensaver Settings
• Options button in Screensaver Settings does not work, but it does from the Companion (gear icon)
• legacyScreenSaver (System Settings) is often hung and needs force quite in Activity Monitor
• I've completely removed the Containers\legacyScreenSaver folder but it did not help (files were re-created)

Any ideas? Or how to do a complete uninstall/reinstall?
AerialUnderCompanionLog.txt

AerialLog.txt

[glouel]

Hi @stevehoek

Some people have reported issues with my latest update, 3.5.0, so it could also be that.

But thanks a LOT for the logs, I've had people report issues but your logs show that I completely messed up something in the update, so I'll rush a point update asap, I think it's likely the culprit for all the issues people have been having.

Really sorry, will keep you posted asap;

[stevehoek]

Hi @glouel

Unfortunately the new version didnt change anything for me. I don't have time right now to reboot or debug further, but will later today

[glouel]

Damn, sorry I thought I had it. When you can try launching them and give me the logs again. No hurry.

[glouel]

Also make sure you restart companion after you updated.

[stevehoek]

I've restarted companion several times (it crashes when going to Filters in the saver's options window

No change in behavior for me with the new version. Still working fine on the old MacBook :(

Logs don't seem to show much to my untrained eye...

AerialLog.txt
AerialUnderCompanionLog.txt

[glouel]

@stevehoek I rolled back the update to 3.3.8, hopefully this fixes things. Can you check ? Really sorry about that one, hard to understand what's happening. It could be Xcode beta that I used to make the new versions does something weird, I'm not sure.

[stevehoek]

@glouel no change for me. I think this is something unique to migration from one mac to another rather than something in the new version because 3.50/3.51 work fine on my old Mac still.
I have to wonder if Aerial is really even getting invoked when I do the saver hot corner on the space where it is configured to use Aerial as the saver. it just goes to a black screen with date/time on it, as if Aerial is not even being launched.

[glouel]

@glouel no change for me. I think this is something unique to migration from one mac to another rather than something in the new version because 3.50/3.51 work fine on my old Mac still. I have to wonder if Aerial is really even getting invoked when I do the saver hot corner on the space where it is configured to use Aerial as the saver. it just goes to a black screen with date/time on it, as if Aerial is not even being launched.

Oh wait, maybe I got confused then and it has nothing to do with the other bug. Maybe the timing got me. Let's start again :

First, what do you have here :

Make sure it DOES NOT SAY show large clock on Screen Saver and Lock Screen. It might hang the screensaver somehow. Make sure it says Lock Screen.

If you can make a screenshot of said panel and let me know how it goes.

[stevehoek]

OK, it was set to "show clock on screen saver and lock screen" so I changed it
Now it shows a blank screen when I try to invoke Aerial

Here is my latest log
AerialLog.txt

[glouel]

Ok, progress I guess. According to the log this is the last time Aerial was invoked : 2024-09-04 09:17:21.811

So assuming that's correct, Aerial seems to be launched but just bugs out for some reason, it's likely related to what you call the filter thing.

Can you open Console on your Mac and look for crashes there for anything screensaver-y ? Look in the left sidebar (may be hidden) in Crash Reports section, and if nothing there, take a quick look at Spin reports too. Might give me a clue.

[stevehoek]

Yes, that was the last time it was invoked. There are no messages after it parses the videos

In the console, I see an Aerial Companion crash from when i click on Filters in the Aerial options
It says in the log it can't get the location so it is using cached location, but in the Aerial options window when I test location it says it works.

crash.txt

[glouel]

Ok thanks, I think I have a rough idea of where it may be coming from. Via the cog in Companion, what does it say where I have the red arrow ? Does your panel look the same ? Are the City names translated ?

And does it crash exactly when you click that ? Also what's your locale ?

Again, sorry for all the questions, and thanks a lot for taking the time to help me troubleshoot this.

[stevehoek]

@glouel no problem I'm happy to help.

My Options panel looks like yours, defaults to Location under Now Playing, shows similar videos and the names are translated to my locale (en-US)

When I click Filters in the left side panel the Options window goes away and Aerial Companion crashes (icon goes away from menu bar). No crash messages are displayed, however

[glouel]

Ok, guess my hunch was wrong.

Let's see, same panel, at the bottom, what does the cache size says ? Then go to any City you have selected (make sure you have one at least ?) and press the arrow top right corner, it will show this (you may have to resize a bit to see the middle) :

Click the first video in the list.

• If it's already cached, the video should start playing (and there's a disk icon next to the "4K 240 FPS").
• If it's not cached, press the favorite (star) button (where my arrow points) and bottom left it should start downloading. After it's downloaded, it should start playback.

Does it play there then ? Thanks a lot !

[stevehoek]

Okay... I did not have a city selected so I selected Iceland and favorited the first 2 videos and they downloaded and play. These are 1080p and show no duration so I also downloaded and favorited a 4K video from Florida.

I don't see anything about cache size/usage

When I go to Cache it has a button to go to System Settings... that takes me to the Screensaver category but I thought it would go to General | Storage... doesn't Aerial have its own category for storage usage like Photos, Podcasts, etc.? Maybe I'm remembering wrong...

[stevehoek]

[glouel]

Okay... I didn't follow the part about the 'arrow top right corner'

My bad, but looks like you figured it out so that's ok.

but I did not have a city selected

That's not right in itself. Might be a clue.

so I selected Iceland and favorited the first 2 videos and hey downloaded and play. I have Aerial configured for 4K HDR but these videos are just 1080p I guess.

If you go to "Advanced" (left sidebar), does Video Format says 4K HDR ? If you go to "More videos" (left sidebar) can you tell me which sources are checked ? Is it just macOS 14 ? Is tvOS 16 checked ?

I don't see anything about cache size/usage

At the very bottom of the Now playing there's an info bar.

When I go to Cache it has a button to go to System Settings... that takes me to the Screensaver category but I thought it would go to General | Storage... doesn't Aerial have its own category for storage usage like Photos, Podcasts, etc.? Maybe I'm remembering wrong...

No no that's my bad, avoid this for now.

After you selected Iceland btw, no change on hot corner ?

[stevehoek]

If you go to "Advanced" (left sidebar), does Video Format says 4K HDR ? If you go to "More videos" (left sidebar) can you tell me which sources are checked ? Is it just macOS 14 ? Is tvOS 16 checked ?

It does say 4K HDR in Advanced. Under More Videos the macOS 14 and Michaels/Bergman sources are checked, with the former have 2 video downloaded but none in the latter. I enabled tvOS 16 but it won't refresh to show any videos

[glouel]

You'll need to restart Companion for it to pick it up. Try again maybe hot corner after you enabled tvOS 16 just in case ?

I'll try to reproduce with your configuration, will keep you posted!

[glouel]

If possible can you send me this file from your old mac ? Thanks !

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.ScreenSaver.Engine.legacyScreenSaver/Data/Library/Preferences/com.glouel.Aerial.plist

[stevehoek]

Still same behavior.

Here's my prefs from the working Mac

com.glouel.Aerial.plist.zip

[stevehoek]

I tried that plist on the new Mac and it didn't help, fwiw

[glouel]

ok that's super interesting, I'll try to replicate with that plist, it's really puzzling !

[Smokifred]

This is just a data point that may be applicable to the OP. I updated my 4 computers to 3.5.1. On the 2 Apple silicon ones, no issues. On the Intel ones, the Options button doesn't show next to Aerial in the Screen Saver Settings. Reverting to 3.3.8 restores the button.

Fred

[glouel]

This is just a data point that may be applicable to the OP. I updated my 4 computers to 3.5.1. On the 2 Apple silicon ones, no issues. On the Intel ones, the Options button doesn't show next to Aerial in the Screen Saver Settings. Reverting to 3.3.8 restores the button.

Fred

That's interesting, thanks for that info.

Here's my rough understanding of the issue :

• 3.5.0/3.5.1 didn't work for some people, work perfectly fine for others
• Rolling back to 3.3.8 doesn't work for everyone

@Smokifred you hit part 1 but not part 2, and op here hit at least the second one.

I'm still not sure if the root cause of this is one or two issues at this point. I did check just in case if 3.5.0/3.5.1 were compiled for arm only, but it says x86 and arm. That still doesn't mean it's not an Intel/arm issue, or maybe it's os version related.

Can you tell m ewhich macOS version your 4 macs are running ? Still digging, hopefully I'll understand the root cause soon. This was supposed to be an quick 5 minutes update to bring the 3 new videos before next big version, turned into an apocalyptic mess 😩

[stevehoek]

@glouel I can report that things are working for me now finally! Not sure how... I hadnt rebooted after going back 3.3.8 so maybe that is it because I did restart and now it is working.