Mac OS Version [Archive] - Fantasy Grounds Message Boards

ChrisGormley

October 31st, 2006, 20:07

Is there any thought and or plans for a Mac OS / Linux version of Fantasy Grounds? Or is the ROI not high enough?

I do currently play is a FG group Saturday nights, using my PC.
Most of us have Macs. It would be nice to open Fantasy Grounds to other platforms...

Just curious... Thanks,

richvalle

October 31st, 2006, 21:03

This, of course, has been asked for before and the Devs did express interest in it but it seems a 'back burner' sort of thing.

rv

WolfStar76

October 31st, 2006, 21:34

"Cross-Platform" seems to be the new trendy way to do programming.

I imagine if the FG boys ever wanted to scrap it and start over we'd see it, but I don't think it's something that could be easily ported as it stands.

Of course, I know almost nothing about programming (Learned Basic on an apple IIc if that counts. . . no? Didn't think so) so I could just be talking out my arse. :)

sloejack

October 31st, 2006, 21:39

Worst case maybe just a java client. Doesn't help DMs who are Mac people, but at least it opens up the playing audience some. On the flip side of that, now that Mac OS is running on intel, I wonder if there's a virtual machine that would allow it to run windows based programs. though you'd then need all the happy fun .net and directx stuff so maybe that's not possible.

Cantstanzya

October 31st, 2006, 23:09

"Cross-Platform" seems to be the new trendy way to do programming.

I imagine if the FG boys ever wanted to scrap it and start over we'd see it, but I don't think it's something that could be easily ported as it stands.
FG is being programmed in C so that it can be ported to Mac and Linux in the future. When in the future, who knows.

aberto2k

November 1st, 2006, 00:47

I, for one, would be happy to see FG on Linux - it would make my switch to linux complete. Muhahahahaha! - ahem- sorry, it's halloween.

Seriously, I've tried running it through Wine but no luck - starts then hangs. :(

I guess we'll have to patient - at least I can still install it on my work laptop.

Isn't there a WinXP emulator on Mac - or is that long gone now that there's dual-boot possibilities?

Be seeing you,

AB

devinnight

November 1st, 2006, 03:09

My friend at work had Paralels running on his macpro tower, it was a completely seemless and very fast Windows XP Pro environment running on his MAC, if I can convince him to let me install FG on it I will try it there...
I'll see if he will let me download the demo onto it.
-D

sunbeam60

November 1st, 2006, 09:50

FG is being programmed in C so that it can be ported to Mac and Linux in the future. When in the future, who knows.
True, but there's arguably an enormous amount of Win32 API calls scattered in there and FG uses DirectX. Translating this to OpenGL, which would be the only cross platform choice available, is going to be a lot of work.

Unless, of course, FG2 is a 90% rewrite, written with cross-platform in mind, I would not not hold my breath for a Mac version. Especially now that new Macs run Windows juuuust fine.

ChrisGormley

November 1st, 2006, 16:09

Thank you all for your input. Much appreciated.

With the new Intel-Macs, dual boot machines with Win XP Pro, FG works. I have a member in my group that actually runs the FG client on her Intel-Mac booted under Win XP Pro. I, though, don't have a Intel-Mac. Maybe in 2007, I will get one...

Again, thanks all for the input.

Cantstanzya

November 2nd, 2006, 04:18

Unless, of course, FG2 is a 90% rewrite, written with cross-platform in mind, I would not not hold my breath for a Mac version. They have said in the past, in numerous post, that they plan on porting this to Linux or Mac some day. With the amount of work they put into FG2 I imagine they kept this in mind, which they have indicated in this (https://forums.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4975&highlight=ansi) post. It will take a lot of work, but not a complete re-write to get it to work on a Mac or Linux.

ChrisGormley

November 2nd, 2006, 15:18

They have said in the past, in numerous post, that they plan on porting this to Linux or Mac some day. With the amount of work they put into FG2 I imagine they kept this in mind, which they have indicated in this (https://forums.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4975&highlight=ansi) post. It will take a lot of work, but not a complete re-write to get it to work on a Mac or Linux.

Cool, thx for the info... BTW I cannot access the link you included.

ChrisGormley, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?

Griogre

November 2nd, 2006, 20:48

That's a link to the beta forum. Basically the one of the developers said FG2 was written in C++ and that writing it in .NET would make it unportable.

ChrisGormley

November 3rd, 2006, 14:02

Ah, cool. Thx Griogre

Unfortunately, I missed signing up for FG2 Beta. :(

But, I shall be waiting for FG2 to come out for the general community. :cool:

Griogre

November 3rd, 2006, 22:47

Should be a big upgrade.

cschwally

December 29th, 2006, 11:55

Just discovered this wonderful program through geeklabel.com.
This is the program I've been hoping for and waiting for over a decade.
Now I've found it.

And it doesn't run on my Mac.
(Words can not convey the feelings I have right now.)

No, I will not be able to buy the new dual processor Mac(s) in the near future.
No, an emulater program is not an option.
No, I certainly do not have an extra Windows PC in my house to run this.

Crushing.
Please, do let us know when you move the Mac version off of the back burner.

Malovech

January 10th, 2007, 15:45

Just putting in my 2 cents for a Mac or Linux native version of this program. I definitely won't be upgrading to Vista.

Veelivar

January 15th, 2007, 13:43

I think I asked this once before as I was thinking about getting a mac and I got the same answer...

Now I have a nice shiny Mac :) how ever back on topic.

If I am correct in thinking at a lot of the work for 2.0 has been done in lua then as xplatfrom version may not be be an impossible wish. I'm not going to hold my breath though :)

I do still have a xp install on my desktop and that has a bigger screen so if I use FG I'll use that.

Dan.

Selfdestruct

July 17th, 2009, 15:43

I WOULD LOVE a MAC CLIENT!!!!!!

Did a search and found this thread so it seemed fitting to post in

I just joined a group with my PC but Im not always at my pc - (tho i may install bootcamp on my laptop) it would be amazing if there was a mac client too

I think i could convince some people to join in our games if there was a mac version

Morgoth Melkor

August 2nd, 2009, 04:15

It would seem that the majority of posts in this thread go back over 3 years. Is there actually a plan in the works to port FG over to the Mac OS X platform or not? My old gaming group from college just started up with FG2 and I'm the only 1 running a Mac.

I'll gladly sign up for a Beta test.

Please let me know.

Thanks,
Morgoth

demonsbane

August 12th, 2009, 13:07

It would seem that the majority of posts in this thread go back over 3 years. Is there actually a plan in the works to port FG over to the Mac OS X platform or not?
Good question. Really I don't know if currently there is some FG development, in this regard (Mac Os compatibility) or in others (requested features).

Ukki

August 18th, 2009, 13:56

For MAC OS X users.... I am running FG2 with iMac 24" (alu) running VMWare Fusion... You can still find free Windows 7 RC from Microsoft site (atleast beta key) thus it costs less than 40 dollars to run... of course previously I ran FG with Windows XP but Windows 7 64-bit seems to run fine (more powerful).

Win 7 also recognize two displays, my 24" iMac and my secondary display too... and memory handling is a lot better with Win 7.

Nowadays VMWare Fusion also supports DirectX 9 shadings... previously (more than year ago) only problem was that dice were blank (sums and results were displayed of course).

Also if you host your game, it might require some knowledge to make your IP displayed correctly to players (as VMWare running in window uses NAT and your Mac might use NAT also...).

But in short: everything works in OS X with VMWare Fusion and of course you can use Boot Camp to dualboot to Windows. I've tested Windows XP (sp1, sp2, sp3), Windows Vista (business and Ultimate) and Windows 7 (ultimate, RC5000 something and 32bit and 64bit).

Ebonfyre

August 23rd, 2009, 16:15

Dupre

August 23rd, 2009, 18:26

Ukki

August 24th, 2009, 11:38

Yeah, even if you can find a copy of the Windows 7 RC software (which is not available from the Microsoft any longer) and apply the beta key that is still available, that "free" software will expire March 1st. Then you are stuck pumping another $50-$320 into it depending on what/how/when you upgrade to it.

That's right... I was just testing few programs that need Windows anyway.

I have also seven different Windows keys from last 20 years so XP itself is no problem (in fact, I have currently XP, Win7 and Ubuntu running in same machine). Boot time from suspend (at disc) to full action is less than 10 seconds.

Unless you have some reason other than FG you need to abuse yourself running Windows and OSX, a native OSX version is a far less expensive and far more attractive option to me. Plus I'd much rather pay SmiteWorks for an upgrade rather than bloat M$ coffers some more.

That is right, however before christmas there seems to be no other option.

Btw: I have couple of times played via Remote Desktop Client, running FG at my work machine and using it via RDC (works beautifully, in fact works better in Mac than in Win) in mac. Hosting is kind of awkward but playing is ok.

mr_h

August 24th, 2009, 15:14

Native binaries for Mac and Linux are in the works....

This would rock my world so much...not to mention greatly increase the number of friends I could get playing on FG.

Ebonfyre

August 24th, 2009, 18:57

I'll happily experiment with Crossover again, I tried it with FGII probably 6 months ago with no luck. Any idea when this test will be available to try?

The upcoming version will support a command line switch, which forces the application to refresh the entire screen. This requires more processing power, but solves the screen flickering issues appearing with Wine based runtime environments. While we have only tested it on Linux so far, Crossover (from CodeWeavers) for Mac should also benefit as well as running Wine on Mac.

Native binaries for Mac and Linux are in the works, but hopefully this next update will help those willing to experiment.

gandb

August 27th, 2009, 22:32

The upcoming version will support a command line switch, which forces the application to refresh the entire screen. This requires more processing power, but solves the screen flickering issues appearing with Wine based runtime environments. While we have only tested it on Linux so far, Crossover (from CodeWeavers) for Mac should also benefit as well as running Wine on Mac.

Native binaries for Mac and Linux are in the works, but hopefully this next update will help those willing to experiment.

Hm, the binary files to Linux its very-very good!

But no is very bizarre WoW, Lineage, and others "heavy games" run in wine and FG not?

I use Ubuntu sice April and stop RPG games in FG because this, I wish good luck for FG team to find a solution!

:)

Dupre

August 28th, 2009, 14:51

Said heavy games are 3D games, which has been the primary development focus for Wine. Regardless of that, the upcoming patch resolves the issues and allows Linux users to run Fantasy Grounds with Wine.

suntzu777

September 1st, 2009, 22:25

just thought people would like to know that FG2 2.5.0 works very well on my imac using crossover games version 8 which is beta at the moment ,
my mac os is 10.5.8 i havent done the snow leopard upgrade yet

here's the link

https://www.codeweavers.com/products/

in fact i would say it loads my 4e rule-set even faster than windows xp

if any of you want any more info pm me

Rob

Jarina

September 3rd, 2009, 01:07

This is the best place that I thought to put this, but just as an FYI I'd absolutely love to beta-test the Mac version of the client. We play probably 2-3 times a week on Fantasy Grounds using Parallels, but I'd much rather play in native format. It's funny that out of our group about 50-60% has to run through Parallels...