Can't open Dota2 since Dawnbreaker 7.29 patch (Unable to load module server)

[abinderiya]

Your system information

• System information from steam (Steam -> Help -> System Information) in a gist:
• Have you checked for system updates?: [Yes]
• Are you using the latest stable video driver available for your system? [Yes]
• Have you verified the game files?: [Yes]

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

I'm unable to launch Dota 2 after the patch update. It is throwing this exception:

CAppSystemDict::LoadSystemAndDependencies(CUtlVect or &, ErrorResponse_t)(): CAppSystemDict:Unable to load module server (Dependency of application), error 2

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. Update to 7.29
2. Launch

[Turmfalke2]

This sounds like something verifying the game files should catch, do you have a libserver* or similar file below steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/dota/bin?

[abinderiya]

This sounds like something verifying the game files should catch, do you have a libserver* or similar file below steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/dota/bin?

I have verified the game files countless times and it still does not work. I have seen multiple posts from different people on the dev forum pointing to the same problem so it seems like the problem is not with my computer. I am just wondering if it will ever be fixed by valve or dota 2 on macOS is becoming a thing in the past.

[Turmfalke2]

Can you link the posts? Might be useful for other people encountering the same issue. Also I doubt this is an issue for all macOS user, we would have far more reports of it here.

Did you find something called libserver?

[abinderiya]

Can you link the posts? Might be useful for other people encountering the same issue. Also I doubt this is an issue for all macOS user, we would have far more reports of it here.

Did you find something called libserver?

https://dev.dota2.com/forum/bugs/gameplay-bugs/2258688-can-t-start-the-game. This is just one example. I have seen another one on steam community tab.

I was not able to find libserver. What does it have to do with the problem? Do you work for valve?

[Turmfalke2]

I don't, I just try to help people here as much as I can. In the hope the little time valve employees have for linux & mac osx is spend as efficient as possible.

Back to your issue. I interpret the errors message as a system within the dota 2 client looking for another component (likely in form of an dlopen) and then failing to find it. I suspect the server module is related to running a local dota server as used for the demo mode/local lobby. I don't own a mac so I can only compare it to how my installation here on linux looks like. In ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/dota/bin/linuxsteamrt64 I have files called libclient.so, libhost.so and libserver.so. My suspicion was that libserver.so might be corrupted/missing. If I rename/move away my libserver.so I get an almost identical error message.

I don't think mac osx uses .so files. I think they are using .slo? I am unsure here, but I would suspect there to be a similar file. Do you have an antivirus service running that could be interfering with dota locating that file?

If I remove libserver.so I get the following messages:

followed by

but then steam triggers file cache verification and redownloads the file.

[abinderiya]

I don't, I just try to help people here as much as I can. In the hope the little time valve employees have for linux & mac osx is spend as efficient as possible.

Back to your issue. I interpret the errors message as a system within the dota 2 client looking for another component (likely in form of an dlopen) and then failing to find it. I suspect the server module is related to running a local dota server as used for the demo mode/local lobby. I don't own a mac so I can only compare it to how my installation here on linux looks like. In ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/dota/bin/linuxsteamrt64 I have files called libclient.so, libhost.so and libserver.so. My suspicion was that libserver.so might be corrupted/missing. If I rename/move away my libserver.so I get an almost identical error message.

I don't think mac osx uses .so files. I think they are using .slo? I am unsure here, but I would suspect there to be a similar file. Do you have an antivirus service running that could be interfering with dota locating that file?

If I remove libserver.so I get the following messages:

followed by

but then steam triggers file cache verification and redownloads the file.

Yeah the error is actually identical. So i suspect that steam is somehow failing to locate the missing file on mac because I have verified the game files many times and nothing came out of it. Thanks for your effort.

[Turmfalke2]

do you have similar directory with the client/host files?

[abinderiya]

do you have similar directory with the client/host files?

it turns out that i do have the files. And I even tried deleting one of them to see if steam is able to locate it and trigger download. It is downloading just fine.

[bintang013]

I thought I'm alone!Me too.

I also have libclient.dylib, libhost.dylib, and libserver.dylib but I still have the error message exactly like @abinderiya

I tried verify cache countless time, reinstalling dota 2 and even steam three times and nothing happens :(. meanwhile, my CSGO is doing just fine...

Here's my Imac spec:

OS catalina 10.15.7 memory 32gb ddr4 graphic AMD radeon pro 5500 xt 8gb

I also regularly use cleanMyMac

[Turmfalke2]

you also have that issue since the dawnbreaker update? Do you have anti virus like software running that may prevent dota from accessing libserver?

I guess the next step would be to trace dota using dtrace to check whether it finds the file. However since I don't own a mac I don't think I can explain you how to use dtrace.

Maybe @danginsburg can help you.

[bintang013]

Thanks for your response. Damn, I'm not tech savvy, don't understand dtrace. I'll try to search for it first. And for nope, I don't have any antivirus as far as im concern...

[binjospookie]

Hi! I faced with the same issue but find how to fix and fixed it.

First of all I run dota.sh and what I've got

failed to dlopen "/Users/binjo/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/bin/osx64/dota2.app/Contents/MacOS/libserver.dylib" error=dlopen(/Users/binjo/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/bin/osx64/dota2.app/Contents/MacOS/libserver.dylib, 9): image not found
 failed to dlopen "libserver.dylib" error=dlopen(libserver.dylib, 9): image not found

Yes. In dota2.app/Contents/MacOS/libserver.dylib I had no libclient.dlyb, lib host.dlyb, libserver.dlyb. But! This files are placed in /Users/binjo/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/dota/bin/osx64/

So I copied files from /Users/binjo/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/dota/bin/osx64/ to /Users/binjo/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/dota 2 beta/game/bin/osx64/dota2.app/Contents/MacOS/ and run Dota 2 without errors!

Looks like new patch has an imports errors or some files was copied to the wrong folder.

I hope Dota 2 developers will fix it.

[abinderiya]

This actually works thanks a lot.

[bintang013]

Damn! You are 21st century Messiah indeed @binjospookie ! Super thanks a lot it works!

[Turmfalke2]

@binjospookie nice.

Can you try creating symlinks instead of copying the files using ln -s? Your copy solution is likely to break with the next update that touches those files.

[abinderiya]

@Turmfalke2 Just like you predicted, the new update already broke the fix. To fix it, you need basically need to repeat the steps above and replace the old files.

[Iliketoplaygames2]

Hey all, I'm having similar issues I think to all of you folks. I keep getting these error messages... tried a lot of things like redownloading, verifying the game files etc. No luck.

[Turmfalke2]

That is the same issue, have you tried the steps from https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Dota-2/issues/1918#issuecomment-822049134 ?