Troubleshooting the App
Contents
Desktop / Laptop App Installation Mobile / Phone App Installation App Setup Finding the App's Files Have Feedback or Comments?Desktop / Laptop App Installation
Your operating system has checks to prevent malicious software being installed and run on your machine. The Running Reality app is cryptographically signed to assure you of our identity and to meet these requirements. However, the app can still trigger warnings depending on your computer's specific settings. See details below for Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS.

On Windows 10 (and newer), a subsystem of Windows Defender known as the SmartScreen may give a warning for the Running Reality installer. Clicking 'More info' in the warning window makes a button appear to 'Run anyway' which lets you proceed.
![]() |
![]() |
On Windows 7, 8, and 9, Microsoft Defender, known previously as Windows Defender, can give warnings about downloaded software. If you right-click on the installer file, then select 'Properties' from the menu, you will get the window below. You can select the check box to 'unblock' the installer from running.
![]() |

Gatekeeper may be configured to only allow applications from Apple's App Store or to require a second-tier of app review known as notarization. To open an app that you downloaded directly, like Running Reality, right-click on the installer, select "Open" from the pop-up menu, then again select "Open" from the dialog box. We are working as quickly as we can to update Running Reality to meet the notarization requirements so Apple can check the app.
![]() |
![]() |
If your Mac still won't let you open and run the installer, you may have to change a system setting to allow non-App Store apps. See the figure below. Running Reality is an "identified developer."
![]() |
Your web browser downloaded the app's installer file, but did not install it. At more than 100Mb in size, the file might take a minute or five to download. You will need to double-click on the installer file to perform the installation.
MacOS: look in your Downloads folder for our .DMG file.
Windows: look in your Downloads folder for our .EXE file.
Linux: look in your ~ home directory for our .TAR file.

The system requirements are below:
- A laptop or desktop computer
We use Java 8 or higher, but don't require you to have it installed already.
- 4Gb system RAM minimum, 8Gb to run well.
- 600Mb free hard drive space (slightly more may be needed during app installation up to 850Mb)
- Web Browser installed:
Firefox,
Edge,
Safari, or
Chrome
- Operating System:
MacOS,
Windows, or
Linux

You may not have sufficient system resources to run the app, like too little free disk space. The installer may have had an error and quit without completing the installation. This will leave a half-installation in place, with corrupted files. See Finding the App's Files below on this page to find and delete the files of the half-installation.

There are reports that sometimes the window opens behind all your other windows. There is a MacOS Finder bug where DMG windows sometimes open in the back. The easiest thing is to go find the window, using Mission Control, Spaces, or just minimizing windows. Restarting the Finder is the harder fix.

Apple by default only allows apps from the Mac App Store. However, Running Reality is digitally signed by an Apple identified developer certificate and should be able to run.
- Open the System Preferences
- Go to Security & Privacy
- Allow apps from App Store and identified developers
- (You may have to click the lock button at the bottom to allow changes.)

This means that the installer, launcher, or uninstaller can not start. The top causes of this error are:
- Your antivirus software is blocking Running Reality. If this is the problem, you should also be seeing a warning from that software.
- You have a character in your username that is beyond the 26 letters of the western alphabet. If you install the software in a directory other than your home directory, it should run normally.
- You do not have at least 4Gb of RAM installed on your computer or you do not have at least a 2Gb block of free memory available to start the app.

On Windows XP, 7, and 8 machines some web browsers use older 32-bit technology for plug-ins, forcing the 32-bit version of Java to be used. Unlike the 64-bit version of Java, the 32-bit version limits the maximum memory allocation to Java programs about 1.2GB to 1.5GB of memory. We can no longer support the 32-bit version. You may be able to install the normal 64-bit version of Java anyway, along side the 32-bit version that your web browser downloaded by default.
Mobile / Phone App Installation

Yes, to put Running Reality on your phone you can use these manual steps:
- Have Running Reality open in your device's web browser.
- Click the "Share" button in the middle of the toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
- Scroll down and click the "Add to home screen" button near the bottom of the list of share options.
- Running Reality is now available on your device home screen.

Yes, to put Running Reality on your phone you can use these manual steps:
- Have Running Reality open in your device's web browser.
- Click the "Add to Home Screen" button in the header.
- On some versions of the Chrome browser for Android, you have to visit a website at least twice, with visits spaced more than 5 minutes apart, before the button appears in the header.
- Running Reality is now available on your device home screen.
App Setup

The app should first load the low-resolution map, then all the objects (nations, ships, armies, etc.), and then download the high-resolution map in the background. However, sometimes, the objects wait until the high-resolution map has downloaded, which means the software appears to hang for a little while.
Be sure that you are not zoomed in too far to see anything, such as being zoomed in to the center of the ocean so the whole screen is blue.

The higher-resolution maps take longer to load. The rest of the app loads first, then the high-resolution maps appear after the world model is finished loading from disk.
Finding the App's Files

Program Files
or Applications
?
Running Reality is installed into the following directories on your computer:
MacOS:
/Applications/RunningReality.app
Windows:
C:\Program Files\RunningReality
Linux:
~/RunningReality

Running Reality generates a log file every time it runs, recording major steps is is taking and any errors it might encounter. If you are helping tech support with hunting down a bug or problem, they may ask you to find these logs.
MacOS:
~/Documents/RunningReality/logs
Windows:
C:\Users\[Your name]\Documents\RunningReality\logs
Linux:
~/RunningReality/logs
Feedback
If you can not find an answer here, please feel free to ask us for help. Send us an email if you would like us to get back to you with a response:
