Preview window is blank; when I remove preferences I get constant crashes

[RachelThorn]

Hello. I am using OBS Studio for Mac OS, 27..4 (64 bit) and never had a major problem until this morning. I opened up OBS and my main window is blank. It's just white. Switching scenes makes no difference. I searched on here and found that LOTS of people have had the same problem over the years, yet there are few responses to queries about the problem, and the few suggestions I've seen (e.g., removing the "obs-studio" folder from the "Application Support" folder in the Library) do not help. In fact, when I remove preferences and start OBS, it very quickly crashes. Pretty much any action causes it to crash.

I tried reinstalling the app, and again it crashed constantly, to the point that I don't even know if the white screen problem is solved. (I don't think it is solved, though, since the window that appears on start up is white.)

I also tried running Disk First Aid on my drive, just in case the problem is not OBS.

Curiously, as long as I have my old "obs-studio" folder in the App Support folder, I can actually record with OBS. I just can't see what I'm recording until after I stopped recording and check the resulting video file.

I am running macOS Monterey 12.3 on a Mac Mini (2018), but I see now that 12.4 is available. After I post this, I'll update the OS and see if that makes any difference. I'll also check to see if OBS is working on my M1 MacBook.

 

[RachelThorn]

Well, updating to macOS 12.4 didn't help. I am running a system with two monitors, and when I just tried to drag my OBS window from the secondary screen to the primary screen, OCS crashed (again). Here is the log file from the crash:

 

[RachelThorn]

Update: I have apparently solved the problem by removing log in items under System Preferences->Users and Groups->Log in items. It may have been the Freedom app (which lets you set times when you can't access social media or other sites), or it may have been CrossOver, which allows you to run some windows apps on Mac OS without a virtual machine.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to others who have this problem.

 

[RachelThorn]

Oh, wait. Never mind. It was only fixed for a moment. When I quit and restarted OBS, it went right back to white. I don't know why it was briefly normal, but I have no log in items open now and makes no difference.

 

[RachelThorn]

Pardon me while I just talk to myself. Actually, the blank screen is hardly the biggest problem here. The biggest problem is that OBS crashes instantly as soon as I try to choose a source, or drag the window to another monitor, or do much of anything. It has become entirely unusable on my Mac Mini, which is a huge problem for me, since I rely on OBS to record and stream my lectures. I am now just praying that the same problems don't happen on my MacBook.