Any news regarding this issue? It's been ages since the problem started. Maybe there's the 64bit version of ActivationUI.app somewhere? Anyone knows?
edit: I've found the solution to go back to Mojave without installing it on other drive (I don't have any other one than the one in my Mac so...)
@Bluebellflora Hi, so I've tried this and two things happened:
I wanted to install El Captain (it was the default OS when I bought my iMac)but it failed due to some unknown error??? which is weird because I've reinstalled it in the past the same way and it worked?
I didn't give up there. Then I've tried to install it on the separate, external drive (500GB) but it failed again. Drive was empty and 100% compatible with my Mac so that was a surprise too.
So... I'm royally screwed. I was aware of the consequences of installing Beta version but I'd never thought in a million years that TS4 wouldn't run. I've read multiple times its 64-bit so it should work since Catalina kills only 32-bit apps ( RIP TS2 Super Collection, I've only played it twice ☹️ ). That's weird that after choosing to play TS4 in 64 bit on Origin (I remember that was an option some time ago), it's not even 64 bit??? Like??? And it's because of one file??? I've tried to search it and download it manually since we had ActivationUI in 64-bit once but no luck.
Now I'm super confused and utterly disappointed since Realm of Magic is coming tomorrow and I CANNOT PLAY IT UNTIL THE END SEPTEMBER or even later ☹️ that's just painful.
I know that there's literally nothing I can do. I signed off the Beta program and there's no option to go back to Mojave. I downloaded it but it didn't want to install since it is older than Catalina.
Also tried to run Windows but it's extremely laggy and I wouldn't even dare to either install or play TS4. The browser crashes and everything is super blurry since I have iMac 5K.
Sorry for the long post. I wanted to share it since I see many people have this problem with their game on Mac.
Thanks for the detailed reply, it's great! Going to answer your main points in order:
- Did you make sure that when you erased both drives you formatted them correctly as bootable Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before attempting to install the OS?
- Aspyr are apparently working on a 64-bit version of TS2 Super Collection - https://support.aspyr.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000214186-MacOS-Catalina-64-bit-32-bit-and-related-Questions
- There has never been an option to play TS4 in 64-bit in Origin for Mac users as the game has only ever been 64-bit. This option is for Windows players
- There is literally no way to fix this issue at the moment. The problem, as you know, is the ActivationUI file.
- Do you have a working Mac at all or access to one running Mojave or earlier? If so you could download Mojave from the Mac App Store and install it on to the properly formatted external. You could also make a bootable USB installer to keep for the future in case you need to install it again.
If I can give a little piece of advice (which you can of course completely ignore), next time install the beta on the external drive rather than your main Mac.
