MAC OS X: App icon doesn’t display on OS X 10.5.8.

[macca8]

The current build of the scummvm.icns file isn’t compatible with OS X 10.5.8, producing an app label accompanied by an invisible icon.

Platform: Intel Mac & PPC Mac (OS X 10.5.8)

This file was updated with the new icon as part of the implementation of the remastered modern theme in April 2019.

In updating the icon, the structure of the file was changed from the old Apple icon image format (consisting solely of 72ppi images) to the newer icon image format (consisting of a mix of 72ppi & 144ppi images) introduced in OS X 10.8 to complement the release of retina displays.

For systems not capable of supporting retina displays (OS X 10.7 and earlier), all 144ppi images are automatically hidden from view, leaving only 72ppi images available for use.

The scummvm.icns file retains only the 256 & 512 pixel images (for some reason, the 128x128 72ppi image (the default) is also hidden) for use with OS X 10.7 or earlier.

These images display correctly on OS X 10.6 & 10.7 (dual boot 32bit/64bit systems), but appear as blank images (0 pixel size) on OS X 10.5.8 (a 32bit-only system).

This behaviour is consistent with other apps that have icon files containing 144ppi images less than 1024x1024 pixels in size.

Ironically, even though the icon is invisible, because the app label is visible, it’s still possible to interact with the icon normally, but this is a poor compromise.

Since the issue is restricted to 32bit systems, the obvious solution is to create a second scummvm.icns file for use in 32bit builds, in the previous format of 72ppi images only… the old logo proved that this format works up to macOS 10.14.

The newer format is really for the benefit of those with retina displays or better, and those users now have the option of 64bit daily & release builds.

As a proof of concept, I’ve attached a new scummvm.icns file for the updated icon in the previous format for testing.

[macca8]

Updated icon in previous 72ppi-only Apple icon image format

[criezy]

Thank you for the report.
I have now updated our scummvm-media repository to allow generating a legacy icns file with only 72ppi icons. And I have also modified the ScummVM build rules to use this legacy file when targeting a Mac OS X version older than 10.6.

[criezy]

Reopening as the icon I used still doesn't work on Mac OS X 10.5. The one attached to this ticket could be used, but if possible I would like to find a way to properly generate it in our scummvm-media repository.

[criezy]

I have attached a new test icon. Could you please check if that one works for you on 10.5?

I am using exactly the same source png images as for the scummvm_legacy.icns I generated yesterday, but instead of using iconutil I used Icon Composer on 10.6 to generate the icons file. This is not ideal as this cannot be scripted, but at least it would indicate I can generate working icons on the same machine I use to generate the PPC builds.

[macca8]

Your test icon works perfectly on 10.5... & 10.6 & 10.11.
The legacy icon displays the same type of structural issues on 10.6 as seen on 10.5 (including the missing 128 pixel image), except that the icon still works on 10.6. If you can get the legacy icon to match the structure of your test icon on 10.6, you can pretty much guarantee that it will work on 10.5.

[criezy]

Thank you for confirming the test icon is fine.
I will close this now as I have a way to generate valid icons manually and have updated the icon in the repository. I will continue to look for a way to automate the icon generation, but that is outside the scope of this ticket.