Guide: How to Install FGII on OS X using CrossOver
Here is a short guide for Installing Fantasy Grounds II on OS X using the commercial software tool CrossOver. CrossOver effectively allows you to run Windows applications under Linux and OS X, it is built atop of open-source Wine however includes a number of pre-built prefixes for a growing list of Windows applications, the software is also backed up with commercial support offerings. CrossOver, like the other Wine cvariants works by creating a wrapped runtime environment that mimics common Windows environments. No licenses including operating system (aside from OS X) are required. CrossOver simplifies Wine setup and allows for individual instances of installations (Bottles) to be created, enabling a great variety of Windows applications to be easily installed, operated and managed.
Note: Not all applications at present will work with CrossOver (mainly .NET based applications are problematic) however Fantasy Grounds II works incredibly well.
To get the latest CrossOver release installed onto OS X visit the CodeWeavers site https://www.codeweavers.com/products/
Installing CrossOver 11.1
- Download and open the crossover-11.1.0.zip file to unpack the file CrossOver.app. Move it to Applications
- That's it, nice and simple.
Installing Fantasy Grounds II
- Launch the CrossOver.app from Applications (either from the Dock or Finder)
- Open Safari or another Web browser and download the <a href="https://www.fantasygrounds.com/filelibrary/FGWebInstall.exe">FGWebInstall.exe</a> from the Fantasy Grounds web site (Downloads page). Note the location of the downloaded file (on my systems its ~/Downloads)
- In CrossOver, select Install Software from the Configure menu
- The CrossOver Software Installer dialog window will open, select Other Application under the Unsupported Applications tree
- Open up the Select an Installer tree and click the Choose Installer File entry
- In the dialog that opens, navigate to the FGWebInstall.exe file you downloaded earlier and click Use this Installer
- Open up the Will install into a new winxp bottle 'FGWebInstall.exe' tree and then click New winvista Bottle, name the Bottle Fantasy Grounds II
- Click Install
- A dialog window will appear displaying the FG EULA. Click "I agree" to proceed.
- A second dialog window will open entitled Settings.
- Enter your license/upgrade key information into the appropriate fields - this is not mandatory step as not entering any key information will result in an Unregistered install.
- Make sure the Cross-platform compatibility mode for Linux and Mac option is checked
- If you have a registered account on the FGII forums/store, enter your user name in the User Name field and click the Update button. A small username/password window will appear. On successful verification, you should see a list of FGII products appear in the Products window.
- Make sure the Live option is selected under Mode - this will install the latest general release of Fantasy Grounds II (currently 2.9)
- Click OK, the FGII updater window will open and it should automatically begin downloading the latest updates. The initial setup will take a few mins as all the base rulesets and latest binaries are downloaded.
- Once completed the familiar Fantasy Grounds II Launcher window will appear. Close the window. Do NOT start/create your campaign game or join one. This is because the install process is not quite finished yet.
- After closing the FGII Launcher window, the CrossOver Software Installer window will complete. Once finished installing, Click Done. In addition, a new Finder window will be opened (~/Applications/CrossOver/) containing convenient .app wrappers for FantasyGrounds.exe, the updaters, uninstaller and Char Converter tool.
- You can now access Fantasy Grounds II through CrossOver's Programs Menu or via right-clicking the CrossOver icon in the Dock, or through the Finder (~/Applications/CrossOver/)
- Launching the antasy Grounds II.app thats just been created, will open the Fantasy Grounds II Launcher window from where you can start/create your campaign game or join one.
- FGII will be installed (by default) inside the ~/Applications/Fantasy Grounds II.app file (right click and click Show Package Contents) in Contents/Resources/drive_c/Program Files/Fantasy Grounds II/, the FGII App Data folder will be created (by default) in ~/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/Fantasy Grounds II/drive_c/users/crossover/Application Data/Fantasy Grounds II/
