Origin Doesn't Work On Mac M1 Chip (Apple Silicon)

[HolyNicholas]

Origin doesn't work on Apple Silicon. At the moment it shows a blank screen for the login page.

I found that "Origin for Mac" depends on QTWebEngine 5.8 to render the website. Where as QTWebEngine actually doesn't work on M1 at the moment. [1]  

The solution is either:

1. Recompile framework QTWebEngine 5.8 and replace that in Origin.app, which i have been trying but failed at compiling it's dependency QTWebEngine-Chromium. [2]

2. Upgrade QT frameworks in Origin.app to the latest version - v5.15. That would require EA engineers to do so.

[1] https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-85279

[2] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47100545/how-to-build-qtwebengine-5-10-from-source

[puzzlezaddict]

@HolyNicholas  Origin does in fact work on M1 chips.  I've seen posts from quite a lot of people complaining about how Sims 4 runs on an ARM Mac, and it wouldn't run at all if Origin didn't open.

The blank screen you're seeing is usually related to having a proxy enabled, or to having a corrupt cache file.  For the former, disable any proxy you have:

https://www.linksys.com/us/support-article?articleNum=135932

For the latter, I'm not sure whether the Origin reset tool works on an ARM Mac:

https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/origin/origin/how-to-reset-origin-on-mac/

But if not, you can manually remove the relevant files without uninstalling.

https://bluebellflora.com/how-to-uninstall-origin-on-a-mac/

[HolyNicholas]

Thank you for the reply @puzzlezaddict!

However I have tried them all but there was no luck. I have even re-install the macOS to try.

Crash report can be found in "Console" app and it is attached in this post.

Hope that helps!

[MaxisJoe]

@HolyNicholas, what version of the Origin client are you using? Is it fully up to date (perhaps using Safari to download the most recent release)? Have you tried completely cleaning the Origin caches, eetc using the Origin Cleaner tool? What M1 system are you on?

The Origin client is not currently considered "supported" on this hardware, but it definitely works for a wide number of players (despite the Qt tracker bug you linked to). See the attached screenshot from my own computer. I should note that you and I are both running the same build of Big Sur, macOS 11.1 (20C69).

It CAN work, but there's something different between your computer and mine that makes it not work for you. At a minimum knowing that it CAN work is a good troubleshooting thing. You know you're not chasing something that is unobtainable.

[HolyNicholas]

Hi @MaxisJoe, I am using Apple DTK and it's running Big Sur 11.1 (20C69). I am sorry if A12Z is not counted as an M1 Chip. But yes I think the hardware is a bit different.

While I used this link to download the origin client: 

https://www.dm.origin.com/mac/download

Which redirected to: 

https://origin-a.akamaihd.net/Origin-Client-Download/origin/mac/live/Origin.dmg

I am not able to launch Origin but i am able to pull the version from the Origin.app file: 10.5.90.45798

I have also attached some more crash reports but i reckon they are all crashing for the same reason - QtWebEngineProcess.

And there are more links showing QtWebEngine doesn't work in Rosetta2 in Sept 2020 (before M1 being launched).

• https://github.com/vfxdev/apple-silicon-compatibility#frameworks
• https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-86405
• https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-85279

While from the links below the guys were able to fix Qt 5.12 with chromium page size updated from 4KB to 16KB. I have been trying to recompile Qt5.8 but there are just so many dependencies to resolve.

• https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-86405?focusedCommentId=527803&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.s...
• https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/electron/commit/79a9fa9f4619393b78a44a69f92b32070f473e83
• https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1102194#c10

Much appreciated!

[MaxisJoe]

@HolyNicholas Ah. As you're aware developers with access to the DTKs are prohibited via NDA from publicly discussing performance (and, I think it's implied, other characteristics) of the DTK platform. As such the best I can tell you is that you are using hardware that Apple does not intend to be used by the general public and which no developer can certify the performance of their software.

I CAN tell you that on publicly-released hardware (Mac Mini, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13") the Origin client (with its embedded Qt dependencies) along with TS4 (be sure to enable VSync in the preferences immediately after you first launch it) are known to work via Rosetta 2, but are not yet certified by EA and/or Maxis.

I wish I could offer you better advice than "don't do that," but here we are. I CAN say, with 100% confidence, that I see Origin and TS4 working on the M1 MBPro 13" that is sitting on my desk running the same macOS build you are.

[HolyNicholas]

@MaxisJoe Ah I see, it's unfortunate to hear that.

Sure in that case I will continue on my recompiling quest and hope the new EA Desktop app comes to Mac sooner.

Much appreciated for the support!

[MaxisJoe]

@HolyNicholas I really want to stress that if it doesn't work now it is unlikely to work on that specific unit in any official way in the future. You may be able to hack things together to make them work, but it is extremely unlikely you will ever see Origin or TS4 (or TS3) be certified for this hardware model. I also seem to recall that Apple had a sunset clause buried somewhere in the DTK docs that stipulated that the units would be returned to them at some specified future date.