Screen Savers broken function on 2+ monitor system in Ventura 13.3 beta (FB12023530)

[xmddmx]

Hijacking the top post, this is FIXED in macOS 13.5.

--

macOS Ventura 13.3 beta 2 seems to severely break screen savers on multimonitor systems.

(This is not specific to Aerial, but describing it here in case others are wondering)

I just reported this issue to Apple as Feedback Case FB12023530:

To reproduce:

• on a M1 MacBook Air with a second monitor connected
• open System Preferences / Screen Saver and select the Message Screen Saver
• click the Preview button
• Expected behavior: screen saver should run on both monitors
• Actual behavior: screen saver runs on 2nd monitor only.
• Actual behavior: the screen’s rectangle seems to be offset by about 100 pixels (as if the NSView is not set to the actual screen coordinates)

Regression:

• this worked fine in 13.2
• this also affects third party screensavers such as iScreensaver and Aerial
• this doesn’t affect all first party Apple screensavers, e.g. “Hello” and “Flurry” work fine, but “Message” does not

[JohnHales]

I installed MacOS 13.3 release version.

Please see my message above. If you have access to macOS Betas, the bug is partially fixed in 13.4beta1, although it seems it doesn't work with 3 monitors (and likely not 4 either).

I figured. I'm not on the Apple Betas as I use it for work, but will update as soon as it is released.

Options via Settings doesn't work, but does via the Companion app.

Yes there's something weird with System Settings, again. Closing and reopening System Settings seems to fix it.

I realized that it works the first time you open it after starting Settings, but if you close the Options window and try and reopen it, it doesn't open. The fi is to close and restart Settings.

[jiclark]

I can confirm that the issue is intermittent. I just opened System Settings and hit Preview, and Aerial showed the laptop-sized image on my 27-inch external, and nothing on the laptop screen. I then quit System Settings and initiated Aerial via a hot corner, and it behaved correctly. Exited Aerial, then re-initiated it via the hot corner, and it was borked again. Hope this might help troubleshoot the issue somehow?

[16-inch M1 Max MacBook Pro, running Ventura 13.3]

[glaphi]

Same here.

If you go to Experimental - Launch settings - Displays and select to only show on Main, it will only show on the external, if you chose external only - you get no screen saver. The laptop screen never shows the screen saver atm. For me, using hot corners didn't change anything

[glouel]

@glaphi @jiclark just in case you missed it in the amount of messages, the bug is in macOS 13.3 specifically, and is partially fixed in macOS 13.4beta1 (at least for 2 monitors, jury is still out on more monitors on latest beta).

See the message I added at the very top of the post here for more details, as much as I'd like to, there's nothing I can do :(

[DSBlackHeart]

On my system, it only appears on 1 display. so not a complete fix

[jiclark]

Thanks @glouel; I did see that above, but wanted you to know that it still works intermittently, in case that helps somehow. I absolutely adore this screensaver, so I can be patient while we wait for Apple to fix the damn bug...

[glouel]

I will add that the bug still occurs even with 2 monitors, some of the time, maybe 5% ? And I still had it in beta2 right now :(

[ahwm]

I just experienced this as well. Ventura 13.3.1 (not beta). I don't usually have a second monitor connected so I didn't see it until today. I also didn't update to Ventura until a couple weeks ago. I went to download an update to Aerial thinking I probably had an outdated version and it had probably been fixed but found this fun thread. I haven't tried it with a beta of macOS.

[arorank]

I have noticed, being on macOS 13.3.1,

When screensavers are coming due to inactivity timeout they are working fine, but when forced using preview or alfred screen saver command they result in this issue.

[JohnHales]

It has not worked for me in any case.

Sent from John's iPad. Please excuse any typos.

---

From: arorank @.> Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2023 4:14:15 AM To: JohnCoates/Aerial @.> Cc: John Hales @.>; Comment @.> Subject: Re: [JohnCoates/Aerial] Screen Savers broken function on 2+ monitor system in Ventura 13.3 beta (FB12023530) (Issue #1286)

I have noticed, being on macOS 13.3.1,

When screensavers are coming due to inactivity timeout they are working fine, but when forced using preview or alfred screen saver command they result in this issue.

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[kenmccann]

I have noticed, being on macOS 13.3.1,

When screensavers are coming due to inactivity timeout they are working fine, but when forced using preview or alfred screen saver command they result in this issue.

Exactly the same for me on 13.3.1 - inactivity screensaver works fine. Any attempt to manually start the screensaver (I use a hotkey which also locks the screen), will result in a broken screensaver.

[gregarios]

I'm running 13.3.1 and it never shows the screensaver video on my main monitor — only the second. It happens whether or not it is initiated by itself (due to inactivity) or if I initiate it manually.

My machine, in case it matters: Model Name: iMac Model Identifier: iMac18,3 Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Processor Speed: 4.2 GHz Number of Processors: 1 Total Number of Cores: 4 L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB L3 Cache: 8 MB Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled Memory: 32 GB System Firmware Version: 509.0.0.0.0 OS Loader Version: 577~129 SMC Version (system): 2.41f2

[Daskarzine]

Mac OS Ventura 13.3.1 the screensaver on my primary 4k display stopped working.The screensaver on my secondary 1080 display still works. Glad it's not just me! 2023 MacBook Pro M2

[DSBlackHeart]

It has been a problem for a while, I miss my Aerial.... All 120+ GB of Aerial Videos....

[xmddmx]

13.4beta 3 is out today. Testing on a 2 monitor system (Macbook Air M1) shows what appears to be normal behavior: 20 consecutive HotCorner invocations of Aerial, 100% successful operation on both montiors.

I need to get 13.4 beta 3 installed on a system which can do 3+ monitors for futher testing. Anyone out there have a 3+ monitor system who can test 13.4 beta 3?

Edit: nope, I spoke too soon. Just had one failure when testing an iScreensaver-built screensaver, in the same failure mode as we've seen before (content from 1st monitor shows on 2nd monitor, 1st monitor is blank). I did have the Screen Savers panel open at the time, but I think that was unrelated.

I did another ~30 tests (iScreensaver / using HotCorner) and had one more failure, so I would have to agree with @glouel above that even in 13.4 beta 3, on just 2 monitors, there is still an issue, and we are seeing failures something like 2% to 5% of the time. Bummer.

[glouel]

@xmddmx do you allow your mac to control with mouse keyboard an ipad maybe ? I know that this scenario failed for me with 2 monitor +iPad.

I tried 2 monitors + iPad in extend mode (so kinda 3 monitors) and can confirm it still fails in that case in beta3.

[nickroberts]

3 monitors here...still only on half of one. Maybe some day! (DualUp + 38" Ultrawide + DualUp)

[spawnofbill]

Confirmed still broken with 3 monitors on Beta3

[mysoko]

After upgrading the operating system to 13.3.1, problems began to occur: the extended screen cannot be displayed in full screen (the laptop screen is black and not displayed). However, this situation does not happen every time, sometimes the display is good.

I set a 4k screensaver. I am currently using version 3.2.4beta1 (other versions do not work).

In addition, here are my hardware configurations.

[glouel]

Thanks for the report @mysoko. Per the other messages, the bug is in process of being fixed by Apple in macOS 13.4. For your case, only 2 monitors, the current 13.4 developer beta does (mostly) fix the issue.

To all, I did file again a new bug specific to the 3+ monitor situation (the one that is still not fixed in current betas) with Apple, and am - amongst other unspeakable methods - currently crossing fingers it will be picked up and acted upon 🤞

[xmddmx]

For your case, only 2 monitors, the current 13.4 developer beta does fix the issue.

I'm still seeing occasional (like 1% to 5%) failure rate on a 2 monitor system under 13.4 beta 3, so I would clarify this to say "it's improving" but I hesitate to say it's fixed.

[glouel]

Yeah sorry, I should have expanded on that.

I did report the small failure rate on 2 monitors as part of my aforementionned 3+ monitor bug report too, to be clear.

[nickroberts]

Just updated to 13.4 beta 4...no change. 3 monitors, only visible on a single external (and only part of the bottom of the screen).

All of the built-in screensavers seem to work across all 3 monitors (although they aren't spanned).

[glouel]

Thanks for confirming @nickroberts

Regarding built in, it's not all, but Messages is an example of a built in one that fails (again remember the failure rate is around 80% so it anything can work occasionnally).

[nickroberts]

Thanks for confirming @nickroberts

Regarding built in, it's not all, but Messages is an example of a built in one that fails (again remember the failure rate is around 80% so it anything can work occasionnally).

That may be the case, but I have started (hot corner) the Message screen saver probably at least 50 times, and not once has it failed. It always shows up on all monitors.

That's at least my experience.

Side note: I also tried removing all traces of Aerial, reinstalling the companion and trying again...still, only works on the bottom half of my right monitor (DualUp + 38" Ultrawide + DualUp).

[glouel]

@nickroberts apologies, you are correct, I just tried with beta4 and Messages does work in beta4 unlike previous macOS builds. This is not a particularly good omen for a complete fix if they just fixed their own stuff (again) and not 3rd parties.

(And reinstalling Aerial won't do anything at this point, this is a bug in macOS if that wasn't clear)

[DSBlackHeart]

Did this update today, Still no go.

[DSBlackHeart]

So just curious is anyone after this last update having one of their monitors turn off?

It is not disconnected from the system " If I have a web browser open on it and playing Netflix for example I still hear sound and the monitor shows in the Displays Prefs pane "

If I restart it comes back.

I turned my hot corners off for now

If it continues to do this I will switch the input on the back of my I-Mac to rule out a bad monitor/adapter.

[xmddmx]

Just tested in today's 13.4 (22F62) and see no change - 2 monitors works perhaps 95% to 99% of the time.

3+ monitors fails 100% of the time.

The only noticeable change from earlier is that Apple's Message screensaver now works properly, whereas before it was the one Apple screensaver that also showed the bug.

My prior submission said "If this issue is not resolved for you [...] please file a new feedback report" so I have done so:

New report: FB12179420

[glouel]

Can confirm all the things :

• they only fixed Messages in 13.4beta 4 (and now RC).
• 3+ fails 95%+ of the time
• 2 still fails 2/5% of the time

I updated my bug reports but at this point it's clear we won't get any resolution prior to 13.5beta1 at best.

Again, sorry to everyone affected by this. I'm as frustrated as everyone on this but I'm still confident this will get fixed by Apple.

[xmddmx]

There's a report over on MacRumors about failures using Apple's "Shifting Tiles" screensaver, and I am seeing some weirdness as well. Basically, if you use Shifting Tiles with colors only, it works fine, but if you are using a photo album or folder of pictures, there are strange delays on 2 or 3 monitors.

I don't know if this is the same bug, or perhpas a new bug? However, I think the more bugs we can find which also affect Apple's own screensavers, the better.

If anyone can reproduce problems with Shifting Tiles it would be good to add that to your FB case (or make a new FB case?)

See https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/multimonitor-screensaver-bug-in-ventura-13-3.2384444/post-32155590

[jamesrn]

What I find strange is that this issue only occurred for me once I upgraded Aerials to 3.2.5 today. There was no change to macOS between when it was working well, and when it failed to work on my dual screen setup. MacBook Pro M1 Dual Display. macOS Ventura 13.3.1 (a) If I could figure out how to revert to the previous version, whatever that was I would test.

[glouel]

macOS Ventura 13.3.1 (a) If I could figure out how to revert to the previous version, whatever that was I would test.

@jamesrn you can find every version here : https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial/releases

Make sure you quit Companion if you are running it, close System Settings, and double click the .saver file from the zip you downloaded.

But at this point I'm 100000% confident this issue is not linked to today's release. We got it pretty well documented, we know there's a partial fix in 13.4, and we know how partial it is. We also have good reasons to believe Apple is actilvely working on it.

Also, know that it's not a 100% failure rate, it's more like 80/90% so that could impact your perception too. I wouldn't waste time to try older versions, but if you do, don't just test once, as it usually works the first time anyway.

[DSBlackHeart]

Morning,

Well, I found out that my "Display Turning Off" problem was due to a faulty display, One of my 2 - 27" Thunderbolts finally bit the dust. So I replaced them both with the Apple Studio Display's ....

Beautiful displays. Aerial still does not work ( GRRRRRRRR )

What I have noticed is with the recent update that when My I-Mac wakes from screen saver or sleep it acts as if it has a hang-over. Everything reacts slowly, it takes 15 to 20 seconds for it to catch up. My I-mac is no slouch, I have never seen this thing bogged down by something.

Is anyone else seeing this?

I can't believe this is the same issue with displays & Aerial. ( We have documented this thing to death )

If it is something new is there a documented report already made?

Thanks in advance

Stu

[Fofer]

I came here to report the same with macOS 13.3. I just added a 2nd 4K Dell display to enjoy it with Ventura on my M1 Mac mini. Only once, did I see Aerial display with the video "spanning" across both screens, and now I can't get it to display that way again. I've tried everything, It's only showing up on the left screen, not my primary.

glouel wrote:

@Fofer this is not an Aerial bug, it affects every single 3rd party screen saver and some 1st party screensaver (for example the Message one from Apple). As to why it worked once, the bug happen about 80-90% of the time, so you may see the odd time when everything works.

The bug is in macOS Ventura 13.3 specifically and 13.4 has a (partial for now) fix for the issue.

Yep! Thanks for that response. Just wanted to followup, I upgraded to Ventura 13.4 today and this functionality is working just fine now on my M1 Mac mini setup. Two displays, one horizontal and one vertical, with the "spanning" feature including both nicely. Super cool! Hopefully others with similar setups experience the same, because as far as screensavers go, Aerial is the best.

[DSBlackHeart]

Just curious what build of 13.4 are you on ? I am using 13.4 9 (22F66)

On both my M1 PowerBook & Intel I-Mac

[Fofer]

macOS 13.4 (22F66) on a 2020 M1 Mac Mini. I have one LG display as my primary and a Dell 27" as a secondary, in vertical orientation.

[JohnHales]

I just tried on the GA version of 13.4 and it still doesn’t work on my 4 monitor system.

John

From: Fofer @.> Date: Thursday, May 18, 2023 at 18:30 To: JohnCoates/Aerial @.> Cc: John Hales @.>, Comment @.> Subject: Re: [JohnCoates/Aerial] Screen Savers broken function on 2+ monitor system in Ventura 13.3 beta (FB12023530) (Issue #1286)

macOS 13.4 (22F66) on 2020 M1 Mac Mini

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial/issues/1286#issuecomment-1553740918, or unsubscribehttps://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AQHYMOEBV6F7XIWTAEGANHTXG2PJLANCNFSM6AAAAAAVMG4UTA. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>

[glouel]

To recap again, this is only (kinda) fixed in 13.4 for people with 2 monitors only (it still randomly fails 5% of the time).

Setups with 3 or more screens still fail all the time. Hopes for those are on 13.5 beta now.

Edit : 13.5beta1 shows no progress, sadly.

[Retroghost-X]

To confirm others comments but to add a little.

MacOS 13.4, m1 mac, three monitors, Aerial only displays on one monitor in full screen. Internal Apple screen savers all work across all monitors at once - this is different to 13.3 where Apple screensavers had issues too for me. So this is now Aerial restricted under 13.4. I am not sure 13.5 will actually fix it as it may not be a macOS issue.

[glouel]

@Retroghost-X so yes, they fixed the issue for their own 1st party screensavers (like Messages), we mentioned it above, around beta 4 if I recall correctly. As we pointed at the time, that was disappointing. Precisely because I knew I'd get comments like that.

However, nope this is not an Aerial issue, I can confirm to you that this is an issue with every single 3rd party screen saver (feel free to try any yourself).

The issue is precisely around legacyScreenSaver.appex, which is the macOS bridge that Apple made to run all 3rd party screen savers (and some 1st party, but they changed that to fix their issue) since Catalina. This thing has been the root cause of many many issues, and still is. I've lost countless hours to this thing, reporting bugs to Apple, working around their bugs, or just doing support every time something breaks. This is exhausting.

Apple has a new API for their own screensavers, which we can't use yet. And even they don't use it all the time themselves (they do have other "bridges"). It's a real mess, but there's nothing I can do about it.

[Retroghost-X]

@glouel - many thanks for that reply, that is really helpful for me. Apologies for causing annoyance as a newbie. Your work and effort is really appreciate across the world.

What you describe sounds intensely frustrating and unhelpful on Apple's part.

[glouel]

@Retroghost-X no worries, please don't take this personally, I can assure you my frustration is directed at Apple and their bug report process 😩

I've reported this precise issue the first day of the 13.3 beta cycle in february. Yet we're still here mid may!

[DSBlackHeart]

@glouel I have a curious question? And outside the BOX

What if one were to copy the "legacyScreenSaver.appex" from say Monetry or Catalina and then insert it into Ventura ? Would it work ? I realize to do it you may have to disable SIP to get it done, but has the app changed so much that it would not work or are there other apps that would just cause a crash ?

[glouel]

@DSBlackHeart so as far as I understand, nowadays macOS stores all its files in a read only boot volume. This means you can't replace system files, and disabling SIP won't be enough to get around it. They are reusing what they did with iOS, the system is mounted as read only, you can't modify it, and then it's super easy to handle the upgrades/reinstall. It's pretty good for security, but it's annoying in some instances, like here.

There's more details here : https://superuser.com/questions/1495124/read-only-file-system-when-i-try-to-touch-in-mac-os-catalina

There was a workaround early on but it doesn't seem to work anymore. There might be another workaround but who knows.

To your specific question, even if you could replace (and in this case I would suggest, use the file from 13.2), this may not solve the issue as, as I understand it, there's some new security feature that gets triggered and "blocks" legacyScreenSaver.appex from running on those screens (I have no idea what that security feature is trying to do, it could be just a side effect they didn't anticipate).

[DSBlackHeart]

Ok that is what I thought, I know to do custom ringtones you have to disable SIP & use a hack tool to get around, it is a pain. Not for the timid, average user, you can open the system up to some pretty bad crap.

[DSBlackHeart]

Well Apple is notorious for including things "As Features" that no one will ever use.

[nickroberts]

Still broken on 13.5 Beta (22G5027e) for >= 3 monitors.

Not sure why I even bother anymore. Haha. Hopefully someday we can get a fix! I so miss my Aerial!

[xmddmx]

For those of you with 3+ monitors, please also test using Apple's Sliding Shifting Tiles screensaver, set to use Photo Library -- in our tests, this is behaving strangely on 3+ monitors, suggesting that this is indeed an Apple bug, and not something limited only to third-party screensavers.

[DSBlackHeart]

@xmddmx What am I looking for ?