Fix League of Legends client not launching after champion select on macOS

apfsbug.md

The issue

After fresh install of League of Legends on macOS with case-sensitive APFS volume it's not possible to start League of Legends game, after champion selection the launcher won't open the game client and is stuck with reconnect button.

Solution

Terminal method is probably more reliable as you can see real file names within terminal opposite to Finder which "beautifies" them so you can't be sure what the actual file name is.

Note that League patcher will probably install updates under old filename so it's possible that these steps will need to be taken after every patch until Riot fixes it.

Terminal.app

1. Open Terminal.app from Applications
2. Browse to League contents with cd /Applications/League of Legends.app/Contents/LoL/RADS/solutions/lol_game_client_sln/releases/
3. At this point you need to list this directory's content to find most recent release number with ls
4. Navigate to release's content: cd 0.0.1.49/deploy/. Replace release with the one from step 3
5. Run mv LeagueofLegends.app LeagueOfLegends.app

Finder

1. Open Finder
2. Press Cmd+Shift+G
3. Type /Applications/League of Legends.app/Contents/LoL/RADS/solutions/lol_game_client_sln/releases/
4. Open directory with most recent release
5. Open deploy directory
6. Right click League Of Legends and choose Rename
7. Remove all spaces from the name so it looks like LeagueOfLegends and press Return
8. As mentioned before, Finder doesn't display file's real name so after renaming it will still display the old name. However, real file name should be changed

In-depth description

Turns out it's an issue with Apple's new APFS file system which changes handling of some filenames. Looking into client logs we can find:

000764.943|  ERROR|               lol-gameflow| processSpawn failed:: No such file or directory
000764.943|  ERROR|               lol-gameflow| Failed to launch the game client: processSpawn failed:: No such file or directory
000764.943|  ERROR|               lol-gameflow| Failed to launch reconnect: processSpawn failed:: No such file or directory

This hints that launcher simply cannot find client's app. Few lines above this one we can see what path launcher is looking for:

000764.940|   OKAY|               lol-gameflow| Game launch working directory: /Applications/League of Legends.app/Contents/LoL/RADS/solutions/lol_game_client_sln/releases/0.0.1.49/deploy/
000764.940|   OKAY|               lol-gameflow| Game client launch exe path: /Applications/League of Legends.app/Contents/LoL/RADS/solutions/lol_game_client_sln/releases/0.0.1.49/deploy/LeagueOfLegends.app/Contents/MacOS/LeagueofLegends

The problem lies with client app in deploy directory. Taking a look at deploy contest after fresh install on APFS volume we'll find "LeagueofLegends.app". However, launcher looks for "LeagueOfLegends.app".

Simply renaming app fixes the issue.

came back home from the weekend and having the exact same problem on Mac OSX El Capitan 10.11.6. Just stuck in a reconnect loop after Champ Select. Tried all the solutions and reported the bug to Riot, still doesn't work. Please help! Thank you

I'm on 10.11.6 El Capitan and this just started happening to me, I have a fat leaverbuster penalty now. I have considered upgrading to the newest software but when I have done that in the past it breaks my game. Then I have to spend a day factory resetting my computer back to El Cap. I also reported a bug to Riot. Hope we can find a solution to this!

same issue happen to me!

I’m on OS X and it began happening. I’m not sure that it’s OS related

Please note that the issue described in this gist applies only to case-sensitive volumes. So if the game worked fine without this fix before, there must be some other culprit. Judging by the recent popularity of this gist, there probably is some other issue resulting in the same game behaviour

the same issue was happening to me as of yesterday on macOS el capitan 10.11 but i updated to macOS high sierra 10.13 and it works now!

Hey there,

LEO of NA here from Riot Tech Support flashing in to help!

Thanks for the screenshots. Losing LP as a result of technical issues is without a doubt a really frustrating situation to run into. I truly wish that I could revert that LP loss, unfortunately those values can't be changed at all as we want to protect the integrity of the ranked system, and ensure such a tool wouldn't be abused or corrupt ranked data.

Looks like you're having some issues getting a "reconnect" button after champ select. From what we're seeing it appears to happen to players on mac OS X 10.11. The proper teams are aware of this issue and are actively investigating. I'd recommend updating to a newer version of macOS if you want to get back into some games as quickly as possible.

Here's apple's guide on how to update your OS: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201541

Keep in mind that League only supports up to macOS 10.14 (Mojave), but newer versions generally work without many issues.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Worked for me! I also got the same message and upgraded to High Sierra 10.13 and it works now

it works! i upgraded from El Capitan to Big Sur and I can play now. Thank you

Works, yew!!

it works! I try both "Terminal.app" and "Finder" methods and only "Terminal.app" works for me on OSX Yosemite 10.10.5

thanks bro!

+1

I'm having issues on a MBP 2020 M1 (macOS 11.2.3) thought the issue was the processor but the game stopped working out of the blue

So, as of April 15th, Im currently experiencing the same issues.

I'm able to use the client PERFECTLY, but after I start the game, the client doesn't connect me to the SERVER or the "actual game". It just launches, then immediately shows the screen "reconnect".

I've been a League player since Post Season 2, so I'm no newbie. Using a 2018 macbook pro with the best specs on my laptop. Tried the hextech tool, and did everything thus far: Reinstalled the game 3 times, used the hextech tool a bunch of times to "debug" the client. Removed League FROM ITS CORE to make sure no 2 league programs were conflicting with each other. Internet is PERFECT. Riot doesnt seem to have any issues, and yet I KNOW this affects a LARGE part of their playerbase. Computer is FULLY up to date, currently running MacOS Big Sur, 11.2.3.

Has Riot fallen off mac support for their games??? Need help, as the other solutions seem outdated. Is it just the programs my mac uses to read the game files, aka, do I have to go through the hastle of using a time machine to backup ALL my data, then relaunching my computer from its core??? Please let me know, I'm just a very lost sad little puppy. :ccc

Hi, Im also experiencing the same problems as written above. I was running MacOS Catalina but i even wiped my whole mac and went down to MacOS Mojave to try and solve the issue however im still facing the same issue. I tried renaming the app and everything but even that didnt work. Im very confused and i can see that many people are facing this problem. Does anyone have a solution for this

Found a solution!

Hello, this happened to me today as my game won't launch and I was stuck on reconnect loop.

The solution for me is to open the LOL game client > Setting (beside close button) > In-Game section > Game > under Graphics > Prefer OpenGL Legacy Mode.

There you go. Hope this helps some of you.

Cheers.

Everything was working well on my capitan partition, since two years, and then it stops working, tried your tricks but nathing, why do they propose it to download, and dont tell anything about those issues?
Thanks anyway!

Thank you for your advice. I will try many of them and hope something will help me. Although my friends also told me to reinstall the game, it will start working as it worked before. Most likely, some file was damaged or an error after the last update. I don't even know if I need to reinstall scripts from lol-script.com together with the game, or I can leave it as it is. I will read about this in more detail on the site. Perhaps they will write more accurate and detailed information about it there. But I hope I can move the scripts to another folder for now. That would be great.

Hello,

I got the same reconnect loop problem, after updating my macbook pro 16 (intel) to MacOS Monterrey 12.4 (21F79), my game started to behave like this.

prior to that, it was working perfectly, indeed I tried to delete everything clean the whole riot/league stuff and reinstall, I could play 3 or 4 games, after a break I wanted to play again but I fell into the reconnect loop. another time I tried to delete and reinstall everything and tested with a custom game and it started to work, after that I tried to play a ranked game but I saw the reconnect button again with no clue of what changed.

does anybody found a solution for this? I tried the rename thing but same...

Eu estou com o mesmo problema, após a seleção de campeões, uma tela cinza aparece dizendo que não foi possível conectar ao servidor, me fazendo voltar ao cliente com a opção "reconectar", alguém achou alguma solução?

Eu estou com o mesmo problema, após a seleção de campeões, uma tela cinza aparece dizendo que não foi possível conectar ao servidor, me fazendo voltar ao cliente com a opção "reconectar", alguém achou alguma solução?

If you are using Mac and have installed the mobalitycs app installed, you have to delete it and restart your computer, that was my case, after deleting mobalytics it started to work. The problem was the over screen feature of that app

Eu estou com o mesmo problema, após a seleção de campeões, uma tela cinza aparece dizendo que não foi possível conectar ao servidor, me fazendo voltar ao cliente com a opção "reconectar", alguém achou alguma solução?

If you are using Mac and have installed the mobalitycs app installed, you have to delete it and restart your computer, that was my case, after deleting mobalytics it started to work. The problem was the over screen feature of that app

Removing Mobalitics worked for me too. But I didn't have to restart, only quit the app.

I encountered same problem and managed to fix it.

Error from league logs:

Game client launch exe path: /Applications/League of Legends.app/Contents/LoL/Game/LeagueOfLegends.app/Contents/MacOS/LeagueofLegends
...
ERROR| rcp-be-lol-gameflow| Failed to launch the game client: processSpawn failed:: No such file or directory

Steps to FIX:

1. Go to /Applications/League of Legends.app/Contents/LoL/Game
2. As you see, game expected path .../Game/LeagueOfLegends.app/... but it is actually .../Game/League Of Legends.app/...
3. Rename /Applications/League of Legends.app/Contents/LoL/Game/League Of Legends.app to /Applications/League of Legends.app/Contents/LoL/Game/LeagueOfLegends.app
4. Try running the Practice tool.

I facing same issue, white screen after select champion, i tried too much step but it's doesn't work. rename LOL.app and reinstall, force repatch in hextex tool, remove and install again but it is the same.
Macbook pro 2017 - Macos 13.6.1 - Intel core i7

@huynguyen96419 I'm getting the same issue, looks like it happens on VN client only

@huynguyen96419Tôi gặp vấn đề tương tự, có vẻ như nó chỉ xảy ra trên máy khách VN

Have you tried changing the name of 'League Of Legends' to 'LeagueOfLegends'?

I faced the same issue and didn't find any useful solutions...

Same issue here...

@huynguyen96419Tôi gặp vấn đề tương tự, có vẻ như nó chỉ xảy ra trên máy khách VN

Have you tried changing the name of 'League Of Legends' to 'LeagueOfLegends'?

I tried changing the name of'League Of Legends' to 'LeagueOfLegends' but still doesn't work

You need to re-apply the hack at every update. I ended up creating a 'ew case sensitive disk. Then simply moved LoL there and it worked well.

You need to re-apply the hack at every update. I ended up creating a 'ew case sensitive disk. Then simply moved LoL there and it worked well.

I dont understand u, pls explain more.