What are the options for running FG on a Mac? I remember reading something about a program called wine or something? I'm not a Mac user but one of my friends is and I am hoping to get him set up without a lot of confusion.
Suggestions?
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What are the options for running FG on a Mac? I remember reading something about a program called wine or something? I'm not a Mac user but one of my friends is and I am hoping to get him set up without a lot of confusion.
Suggestions?
I'm not a Mac user; but I've heard people mention Wine, Crossover, and Parallels. I would try searching for those names on the forums.
Regards,
JPG
Here's a quick brain dump of the available and tested ;) methods for running FGII 2.8 or 2.9 on Mac OS X Lion (10.7.x).
- Wine - [OpenSource] - Wine lets you run Windows software on other operating systems including OSX and Linux. With Wine, you can install and run Windows applications just like you would in Windows.
Easiest method for installing Wine on OSX is via MacPorts - a useful step-by-step guide for installing Wine on OSX via MacPorts can be found here.
Latest 1.4 version supports both 2.8 and 2.9.
Guide: How to install Fantasy Grounds II on OS X using Wine- WineBottler - [Freeware] - WineBottler is a convenient OSX based wrapper app to the Wine environment. Simple to install but often tracks behind the latest releases of Wine.
You can grab WineBottler from MacUpdate
Latest 1.2.3 version supports both 2.8 and 2.9.
Guide: How to install Fantasy Grounds II on OS X using WineBottler- CrossOver for Mac - [Commercial] - Similar to WineBottler but backed up with commercial support offerings. Simple to install but tracks one release behind current Wine development releases.
More information on the available software & support packages can be found here.
Versions 10 and 11 support both FGII 2.8 and 2.9.
Guide: How to install Fantasy Grounds II on OS X using CrossOver- Parallels Desktop for Mac - [Commerical] - Parallels for Mac is a virtualisation package that allows you to run Windows (under virtualisation) directly through OSX. An effective method for running anything but the most graphically intensive Windows apps under OS X. Requires a valid MS Windows licence.
More information here.
Latest version 7 supports both 2.8 and 2.9.- VMware Fusion for Mac - [Commercial] - Similar to Parallels Desktop for Mac. a virtualisation package that allows you to run Windows (under virtualisation) directly through OSX. Requires a valid MS Windows licence.
More Information here.
Latest version 4 supports both 2.8 and 2.9.- Bootcamp - [Free aside from Windows License] - Bootcamp is an official Apple tool that enables you to turn your Mac into a dual boot capable system. i.e. Mac can boot into Mac OSX or a Windows based OS.Requires a valid MS Windows licence.
More information here.
Latest version 4 supports both 2.8 and 2.9.
Of all the options, I have found all the Wine based options (Wine, CrossOver, WineBottler) to be effective (and low cost) methods for running FGII on Mac. Pretty simple to setup and the performance during games is better IMHO than most Windows based systems. If your friend is happy to work at the command line - I'd recommend going for the naked Wine option (as its free!), however if he/she feels more comfortable with a GUI based environment go with WineBottler (again, free) unless ongoing support is preferred (in which case, CrossOver). Either way, all three options work well for FGII.
If your friend also has other Windows applications (particularly .NET based apps - which Wine solutions sometimes struggle with), the virtualisation or boot camp methods maybe better option (cost aside).
Hope that helps.
Moving to House of Healing forum and making sticky. Thanks again DrZ.
JPG
Thanks for all the info. Hopefully we won't have any trouble getting him up and running.
I don't mean to be a bother but could anyone jot down a quick step by step for making fg work on a mac. I see a lot of "It works with this" which is good, lets me know where to start but i have some non tech savvy players who only run macs across the country who can't seem to get it to run. I personally am a windows guy and google/forums/youtube can only help so much. We are trying to use winebottler since its free but we seem to be stuck. If anyone can offer an assist it would be much appreciated.
-thanks zabba
I finally helped get a few of my players working on their Macs...It is indeed frustrating as a Windows person to help someone on a Mac. Thank goodness I had a Mac Saavy person to help me. If I had a Mac I would make a tutorial for it.
OK. I have started writing some guides. I have stickied some step-by-step instructions for Wine. I'll also add one for WineBottler and CrossOver. I'll do some of the VM variants later this week assuming I can find an available Windows license.Quote:
Originally Posted by zabbadeuce
Thanks a bunch. This will help those players using systems other than windows in getting up and running :)
Thanks again DrZeuss. I've added links to these directly within the FAQ now.
Many thanks DrZ, I now have FG up and running in a WineBottle in addition to Parallels where it's been running for a while now. I've found my data files and started the process of migrating a test campaign from Parallels. How does one copy over one's community rulesets? I use CT and can't get the WineBottled version of FG to see either that nor the foundations extension which it's based on.
Ruleset files should be placed in the FGII App Data/rulesets folder if the ruleset is unpacked. If packed (.pak file) they need to be placed in the FGII Program folder.
By default, in WineBottler, FGII will be installed inside the Applications/Fantasy Grounds II.app file. To access the contents of this file you need to right click and select Show Package Contents). In the new Finder window that will open you need to navigate to
The FGII App Data folder will be created (by default) inCode:Contents/Resources/drive_c/Program Files/Fantasy Grounds II/
Code:~/Library/Application Support/Wine/prefixes/<name of Wine prefix>/drive_c/users/<your user name>/Application Data/Fantasy Grounds II/
With the persistent rumors that Windows 10 was likely to be free, I had hoped that this would basically make Boot Camp the default option for anybody wanting to run any Windows-based software (like Fantasy Grounds) on a Mac.
Sadly, Windows 10 is only a free upgrade for existing Windows license-holders (so if you already run Windows in Boot Camp, you can upgrade that Windows OS to Windows 10 for no cost); Windows 10 Home can be picked up at a Best Buy or from Amazon for about $120 (if you have a MicroCenter or similar tech outlet in your area, you may be able to find an OEM version for $99). The Boot Camp software and drivers are free from Apple (because you already bought a Mac).
Boot Camp thus remains the priciest option for running Fantasy Grounds (if you've got a Mac that's was built in 2013 or later), but it's also the most solid option, IMO, since you're actually running Fantasy Grounds in Windows 'natively' rather than through an emulation layer or wrapper.
--
Pauper
Hi. I have a mac now and am going to try the recommended wine method here.
My question before I do this is: "Has anything changed in the last 3+ years regarding running FG on a Mac?
You can now run it on Steam as a Mac user. If you already have a license key, you can activate a product there and install it.
I have steam installed and I am looking at the add a game screen.
do I choose activate a product? Add a non steam game? Where do I go to make this happen? I have my license handy. No installed FG though. Just steam.
ok I figured out how to get it running.
Now I just need to find where to copy my campaign from my windows machine over to this mac. Can anyone assist here? I am not very mac proficient and cannot seem to find the data directory that fantasy grounds wants to use. It looks to be buried somewhere inside whatever is happening to make this run in steam. How do I find that to copy my campaign over?
nevermind.
I figured that out but trying to get the screen to fit on the screen comfortably is worse than it is in windows.
This isn't going to work for me either.
Thanks for the assistance!
Maximize may not look proper; however, if you restore it to non-maximized view and simply drag the edge of the window, it should scale out properly.
that's what I assumed but I couldnt find any way to get a draggable edge or corner on the windows.
On my Mac, it just shows up on the bottom right corner. Note that if you are in Maximized mode already, you need to right-click in the FG desktop and choose Restore Window first.
Ok, so maybe I'm just having a moment but, how did you get the game added without purchasing the license on steam. I have a license and I have been staring at the steam store page for over an hour trying to figure out how to get the game without purchasing a new license through steam. I'm sure this is a case of "if a snake it would have bit me" but I'm really frustrated at this point. I have the demo on steam but have never gotten it to open.
I'm not in front of my computer, but I believe there's an option to Activate a Key on Steam. Perhaps in the FG standard license details page.
Note: this will only work for keys migrated to Steam from our store, which happens every 4-6 weeks.
Regards,
JPG
You can check this link for more information:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/25269...5530621472814/
The last batch of keys covered all licenses bought outside of Steam through 2-14-2016.
Lol. Thank you for the link and the info about key migrations. Like I said, if it was a snake..... Guess I'll be waiting a bit since I just got my key yesterday. I may end up just running wineskin from my computer so I don't have to wait. Is there an announcement when keys are migrated or should I just give it a shot in a couple weeks if I decide to stick with steam?
Shel
Install the demo, then enter your key you got from Smiteworks in the settings dialog. Then when the next batch gets sent to Valve activate it.
It is likely to be a little while since it can be 2 months in between. If you just bought yesterday, we could do a refund of the purchase here so that you could pick it up on Steam instead. Let me know if that's the route you'd like to take at [email protected]
You can subscribe to that thread on Steam and should get a notice in Steam when it is updated next.
I think the Demo isn't launching for them.
This usually fixes the demo. The non-demo version doesn't seem to have this issue.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/25269...6877319181567/
Has anyone had any luck running two instances of FG on a mac, either with a Wine installation or a Steam install? I keep getting "License Key Conflict"... If I run the same license using a Parallels installation then it works fine. I'd rather run it directly through Mac if possible and not involve Parallels... thoughts?
That's what I've been doing, it doesn't seem to work on a Mac / Wine install. If I do that on a Parallels / Windows 10 installation, it works as intended. I've tried installing via Steam, and from a standalone wine installation, nothing on the Mac works, only the Parallels version. The reason I'm trying to not use Parallels is because of the additional resource usage.
Ive seen it done successfully but I dont have any more info on Im afraid...
I'm on a Macbook Pro Retina, running 10.11.3 (El Capitan), running under Wine perfectly.
I followed the Wine Bottler directions from these forums.
BoomerET
I would hope you get that kind of message.
If you need to run multiple instances, remove the key from the other instances and connect to the master.
That did it! Thanks so much, i've been tearing my hair out trying to get this to work. I don't know why I didn't think of the simplest possible thing first.
FYI, for a windows installation, you don't need to do that, basically you just double click on the same .exe and it loads correctly without any key conflicts. All I had to do for the Mac was copy the winbottler install, open it up, remove the key info in the settings, and it works fine. Thanks Again.
I'll email the tech support invoice later today.
BoomerET
Sure, I accept BitCoins
0xAFE74854B590
thank you dberkompas