Hello,

I'm new here. Just downloaded the SDK to my Mac, installed NVidia Cg 2.2 (man, that was really hard to find!), and launched the Autoupdate.app only to see:

Error loading ShaderTech "Laser" in Shader "".

Help!

Thanks,
Jeff

What kind of gpu do you have?

Typically, you see errors like this when the "engine.pak" file in the Data folder is outdated. I would tell you to try autoupdating, but obviously that won't work.

Re-download the SDK off the website.

I'm running this, currently, on a Mac Mini (Intel) with a NVIDIA GeForce 9400.

Before I read Driklyn's suggestion, I re-downloaded the SDK and tried again (thinking maybe I had data corruption.)

No luck.

What do I look at next?

I really want this to work!

Thanks,
Jeff

I just installed the Esenthel SDK on my laptop (a MacBook Pro), and it works perfectly.

Unfortunately, still no luck on my Mini. :(

GeForce 9400 should handle the shaders no problem, why it doesn't I don't know.
Did you install the same version of CG toolkit? Try this one:
http://www.esenthel.com/download/Librari...ry2010.dmg
Do you have latest Mac updates and opengl drivers?

Esenthel,

Yeah, Software Update says nothing to install, so I should be up to date.

Is this at all helpful?

$ otool -L Autoupdate.app/Contents/MacOS/Autoupdate
Autoupdate.app/Contents/MacOS/Autoupdate:
/System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Carbon (compatibility version 2.0.0, current version 136.0.0)
/System/Library/Frameworks/Cocoa.framework/Versions/A/Cocoa (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 12.0.0)
/System/Library/Frameworks/OpenGL.framework/Versions/A/OpenGL (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1.0.0)
/System/Library/Frameworks/OpenAL.framework/Versions/A/OpenAL (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1.0.0)
/usr/lib/libz.1.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1.2.3)
/usr/lib/libstdc++.6.dylib (compatibility version 7.0.0, current version 7.4.0)
/usr/lib/libgcc_s.1.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 1.0.0)
/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 111.1.4)
/usr/lib/libobjc.A.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 227.0.0)
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/CoreServices (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 32.0.0)
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation (compatibility version 150.0.0, current version 476.19.0)
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/ApplicationServices (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 34.0.0)
/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/C/Foundation (compatibility version 300.0.0, current version 677.26.0)
/System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit (compatibility version 45.0.0, current version 949.54.0)

Really want this to work!

---

Also, any advice you have on how to trace this down would be most appreciated.

I googled for "Error loading ShaderTech," but it seems that's an Esenthel-specific error. There were only 3 hits, 2 on esenthel.com (one of which was this post) and one on Moli's site.

How did I encounter the one problem Google has only 3 hits on?! Just my luck...

Esenthel,

I know you're busy, but I just want you to know there's money in it for you if we can get this fixed...

I'm ready to buy a company license as soon as I get it running on my Mini!

Thanks,
Jeff

Hi! Sorry at the moment I wont be able to investigate this. This looks like some sort of Mac OpenGL driver issue (it can't handle loading some opengl shader). For the moment I recommend using Macbook or Windows

Esenthel,

Bummer. It's easy for me to switch to the laptop; that's not my concern.

Realistically, though, I'm getting ready to spend the next two to three years working on an MMO, and choosing the right engine is an important part of that.

I know the Mac isn't a huge percentage of the market, but to offer a first-rate MMO, I think you have to be there. Warcraft is on the Mac, as is Eve, as is Warhammer Online (and they all run just fine on this computer!)

I want my MMO to have first-class Mac support. So, that's one thing I'm evaluating carefully in my decision.

Since I'm participating in 3DBuzz.com's MMO class, the first engine I evaluated was Unity. They began on the Mac, so obviously their support for the platform is pretty awesome.

I want C++, though. I know how to code, and restricting me to .NET is no fun. So, I kept looking and found Esenthel. I was thrilled to find a beautiful, lean, efficient engine that was available on all of the platforms I care about!

Sadly, though, it doesn't work on my computer. And, sadly, I'm sure I don't own the only Mac on which it doesn't work. If my MMO gets 100,000 users, and 5-10k are Mac users, how many will be emailing my support crew with ShaderTech errors? 500? 1,000?

I understand if you don't have time to look at this, but it does make me feel like Mac users may be second-class citizens with Esenthel... and that's a deal-breaker for me. I want to support as many people as possible in my game!