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General discussion (archive)January Mac Game Update: 10 New Additions(68 posts)(68 posts)
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Posted January 24, 2013
2 excellent indies and 8 classic titles join GOG.com Mac catalog!

Mac gamers! We've prepared another set of games for you today. GOG.com is now offering almost 100 Mac titles! As for today's additions, we've got some RPGs, some strategies, a point-and-click adventure, an FPS, and even a space fighter combat sim. Most of today's additions are classic titles, but we also have two indies, that should appeal to old-school gamers nonetheless. Let's have a quick look at the new arrivals, shall we?

Starting with the indies, Legend of Grimrock is one of the last year's most celebrated independent games, briliantly reprising the classic dungeon crawler gameplay in modern visual style. The game comes with an intuitive built-in Dungeon Editor. Only $14.99.

Blackwell Bundle is a collection of four old-school point-and-click supernatural investigative adventures, complete with hand-drawn graphics and top-notch voice acting. A must have for adventure gamers longing for a new story to unravel. Only $14.99.

Moving to the classics, Alpha Centauri serves as a great spin-off of the legendary Civilization series, in a refreshing Sci-Fi setting. The game now comes with a very rare addition, the Alien Crossfire expansion. Only $5.99.

Fallout 2, the larger and even more open-ended sequel to Black Isle's smash-hit RPG will have you exploring the nuclear wasteland, potentially for hundreds of hours. If you're an RPG fan, this game is an obligatory addition to your collection. Only $9.99.

Sid Meier's Colonization, the classic turn-based strategy game of conquest and management, lets you play either the French, English, Dutch, or Spanish colonial powers, each with distinct characteristics and political situations. Only $5.99

Postal 2 Complete, the legendary sandbox of sadistic stunts and mindless mayhem witn no political corectness, comes in a form of gory FPS that will have your soul twitching and your mind screaming. Comes packed with the Apocalypse Weekend and Share the Pain expansions, for only $9.99.

Ultima 7: The Complete Edition includes The Black Gate, Forge of Virtue, Ultima 7 Part Two: Serpent Isle, and The Silver Seed, so you can expect many, many hours of masterfully crafted classic isometric fantasy RPG experience. Only $5.99.

Freespace (+Expansion), the cult space combat sim that casts you as a s a pilot for the Galactic Terran Alliance in the war with the ominous alien Shivans. This edition includes the original Freespace and the Silent Threat mission pack. Only $5.99.

Terminal Velocity is an action-packed fast-paced interplanetary fighter sim straight from the depths of 1990s. Check out the 3D Realms classic for only $5.99.

Conquest of the New World, a historical turn-based strategy title that puts you in control of a native civilization or an expeditionary force from one of five European countries. Complete with the Deluxe Edition features, such as the scenario editor. Only $5.99.

That's it for our January Mac selection. We hope you enjoy it. As you surely know by now, we're continuing our work to bring more titles to your Apple computers. For example, the Mac version of Geneforge 1-5, an RPG series for die-hard fans of the genre: hundreds of hours of gameplay, and unique setting, is coming out next Tuesday. Expect even more good news from GOG.com quite soon.
Posted January 24, 2013
Oh how typical.... I bought Alpha Centauri just a few days ago, and spent ages trying to get it working on my new iMac using Winery! I gave up and installed it on my old Windows XP laptop. Hopefully you've sorted out the glitches that I had problems with. Anyway, keep up the good work GOG!
Posted January 24, 2013
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kalirion: Blackwell Bundle? Does that mean there's a stable Mac version of AGS now?
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mxh178: I'd like to know too... from other posts it seems like they're probably just using wine. But either way, shouldn't this mean other AGS games will be on Mac soon as well?
Hmmm ... with a lot of newer/indie titles, those tend to be native versions if they offer it for OS X, but I don't have it myself so I can't say if it is a Wine port or native.
Posted January 24, 2013
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crazy_dave: Holy #&^%$*&#$! You've started using Wine to officially port games over? That's incredible! That's huge news.
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BoxOfSnoo: Totally agreed, except maybe with fewer grawlixes :)
Unfortunately wine ports are not always working well for everybody, e.g. I tried Freespace today on my iMac and what I got was "white mouse tracks on yellow background" instead of screen where you choose pilot (this after initial video, whitch was rendered OK...).
So I have to try different wine versions or something else. But GOG included Wineskin tool inside the package, so it should not be a big problem, as it is working well in linux (http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=13927 )...
Posted January 24, 2013
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BoxOfSnoo: Totally agreed, except maybe with fewer grawlixes :)
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cyboff: Unfortunately wine ports are not always working well for everybody, e.g. I tried Freespace today on my iMac and what I got was "white mouse tracks on yellow background" instead of screen where you choose pilot (this after initial video, whitch was rendered OK...).
So I have to try different wine versions or something else. But GOG included Wineskin tool inside the package, so it should not be a big problem, as it is working well in linux (http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=13927 )...
Well that can happen in Windows too - FS1 is kind of finicky - to be honest your best experience of playing FS1 is to play it through the Freespace Open Engine for FS2 and play the FSport mod. That let's you play Freespace in a native mac engine.

However, for using the Wine port, before changing the Wine engine, you should try adjusting the FS1 graphical options first - I can't remember which one solved it for me (I think glide was the best, may have had to install a wrapper), but I remember having similar issues.

The thing I'm curious about is the joystick - last I tried Wine and early pre-DirectX (winmm) joystick games did not get along in OS X (Linux-Wine has the appropriate joystick code, OS X - wine does not).
Post edited January 24, 2013 by crazy_dave
Posted January 24, 2013
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jamyskis: Just out of curiosity, how do the GOG versions of the legacy Mac apps like Alpha Centauri work? Apple has pulled Rosetta support and there was no universal binary available for many of these games, so there's no realistic way of getting the PPC binaries to work on modern Macs. Are they Windows versions running off WINE?
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JudasIscariot: Yes, Wine is what we use for Windows versions that are now running on your Macs :D.
HUH. I was not expecting that at all, especially TET's remarks implied that WINE was going to be off the table as an option for Mac ports, at least in the near future. Ultima VII and Freespace I can see, as there have been open source ports of these games for years, though I'll probably check myself to see if GOG has actually used WINE for these games. I'm curious to know what they did; if they either used Wineskin wrappers or a custom solution from CodeWeavers or Transgaming.

What does bother me are the DOS-based games like Conquest of the New World and Terminal Velocity. Boxer can work on a Core Duo Mac, and many of GOG's other Boxer Standalone-based releases can run on a Core Duo as well. Why the sudden need for a 64-bit Core 2 Duo?
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kalirion: Blackwell Bundle? Does that mean there's a stable Mac version of AGS now?
IIRC, AGS doesn't have a Mac version, or at least a production-ready Mac version, as IIRC it relies quite heavily on DirectX. But just about every AGS-based game I know of, including the Blackwell Series, Gemini Rue, Resonance, Primordia, and Ben There, Done That!/Time Gentlemen, Please! all run quite well in WINE in OS X.

And speaking of which, it is still worth nothing that these games still work well in WINE if you roll your own compatibility with either Wineskin or CrossOver, on Macs older than the ones GOG lists in their official system requirements.
Post edited January 24, 2013 by rampancy
Posted January 24, 2013
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BoxOfSnoo: Totally agreed, except maybe with fewer grawlixes :)
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cyboff: Unfortunately wine ports are not always working well for everybody, e.g. I tried Freespace today on my iMac and what I got was "white mouse tracks on yellow background" instead of screen where you choose pilot (this after initial video, whitch was rendered OK...).
So I have to try different wine versions or something else. But GOG included Wineskin tool inside the package, so it should not be a big problem, as it is working well in linux (http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=13927 )...
Please write to Support about that issue with Freespace. Thanks :D
Posted January 24, 2013
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JudasIscariot: Yes, Wine is what we use for Windows versions that are now running on your Macs :D.
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crazy_dave: Holy #&^%$*&#$! You've started using Wine to officially port games over? That's incredible! That's huge news. That'll save me from having to do it myself now. :P

It is a pity about the mac version of Imperial Glory, any chance of news update or bulletin about why it was removed from users' game shelves?
As you already know, we remove games or content due to legal issues. Sorry :(
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JudasIscariot: Yes, Wine is what we use for Windows versions that are now running on your Macs :D.
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rampancy: HUH. I was not expecting that at all, especially TET's remarks implied that WINE was going to be off the table as an option for Mac ports, at least in the near future. Ultima VII and Freespace I can see, as there have been open source ports of these games for years, though I'll probably check myself to see if GOG has actually used WINE for these games. I'm curious to know what they did; if they either used Wineskin wrappers or a custom solution from CodeWeavers or Transgaming.

What does bother me are the DOS-based games like Conquest of the New World and Terminal Velocity. Boxer can work on a Core Duo Mac, and many of GOG's other Boxer Standalone-based releases can run on a Core Duo as well. Why the sudden need for a 64-bit Core 2 Duo?
When TheEnigmaticT made those remarks concerning Wine, there may not have been information gathered by us via testing, bug hunting, testing again, etc. IIRC, that statement concerning Wine may have been made right around the time we officially announced that we are expanding into the Mac side of gaming.
Post edited January 24, 2013 by JudasIscariot
Posted January 25, 2013
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crazy_dave: Holy #&^%$*&#$! You've started using Wine to officially port games over? That's incredible! That's huge news. That'll save me from having to do it myself now. :P

It is a pity about the mac version of Imperial Glory, any chance of news update or bulletin about why it was removed from users' game shelves?
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JudasIscariot: As you already know, we remove games or content due to legal issues. Sorry :(
I know but usually you guys are more communicative about it and as far as I know this one of the few (only?) times a game has actually been removed users' shelves (note I understand that sometimes that has to be done and that we have the ability to backup our purchases on our local machine in a way few sites allow). I'm just curious about the lack of communication about it and the fact that we didn't know it had even happened until someone contacted support about their missing game. Again, usually you guys are more communicative and if something like that happens, even with little to no warning, it's nicer to at least have GOG say something - especially since you are offering refunds for those Mac users affected. I didn't buy the game on GOG, so I'm not personally affected, nor is the game, especially the Mac version, one of your bestsellers. But I imagine that if you had say removed Fallout 2 from everyone's shelves PC and/or Mac and didn't tell anyone until someone contacted support, you'd have a lot of angry forumers. :) Again, it's not that you felt you had to do it, it's the lack of a news post on the front page or even the relevant sub-forum, that kind of bothers me - gives a fly-by-night impression, please don't notice what we did.

Look you know me, I love GOG :) and I feel you guys have great support/have extremely consumer friendly policies and people working there. It's just one instance that bugs me a little.

Anyway, I'm thrilled you guys are adding Wine versions of games for Mac. That's pure awesome. End on an unequivocal positive. :)
Post edited January 25, 2013 by crazy_dave
Posted January 25, 2013
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doglikesparky: Oh how typical.... I bought Alpha Centauri just a few days ago, and spent ages trying to get it working on my new iMac using Winery! I gave up and installed it on my old Windows XP laptop. Hopefully you've sorted out the glitches that I had problems with. Anyway, keep up the good work GOG!
Alpha Centauri works great using Wineskin and CrossOver, and has for a while. What's been giving you trouble? If you look up the entry for SMAC over at the WINEhq AppDB, it'll tell you the two things you need to do. If you need more help, fire off a PM to me.
Posted January 25, 2013
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rampancy: What does bother me are the DOS-based games like Conquest of the New World and Terminal Velocity. Boxer can work on a Core Duo Mac, and many of GOG's other Boxer Standalone-based releases can run on a Core Duo as well. Why the sudden need for a 64-bit Core 2 Duo?
It's always easier to put up higher system requirements for support than what the game actually needs, it makes things easier and by the end of the day support costs money as well. Sure, you can try running the game on lower hardware but it's at your own responsibility and no one guarantees it will work. It's the same reason many games only list Windows as their OS even though they can work well in Wine. As long as thy don't support it officially you're on your own trying to get it to run. Now, when they put it up there officially they also have to guarantee you it will work.

Concerning Ultima VII, it uses Boxer, there is no Windows version of Ultima VII. GoG never include source ports with their games, that would result in support chaos. Again, It's easier to just wrap the game up in DOSBox and ship that. Plus you're not gettign an inferior product or anything, this is what the game would be like if you went back in time and bought it off the shelf.
Posted January 25, 2013
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JudasIscariot: When TheEnigmaticT made those remarks concerning Wine, there may not have been information gathered by us via testing, bug hunting, testing again, etc. IIRC, that statement concerning Wine may have been made right around the time we officially announced that we are expanding into the Mac side of gaming.
This is Judas' nice way of saying I was talking out my butt.

In my defense, I was saying what Product told me. They've clearly changed their minds since then. ;)
Posted January 25, 2013
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crazy_dave: Anyway, I'm thrilled you guys are adding Wine versions of games for Mac. That's pure awesome. End on an unequivocal positive. :)
Our unfortunate loss of Feral's Mac-native port of Imperial Glory aside, this is MASSIVE news for people seeking Linux support. With GOG deploying fully supported and tested (such as they are) WINE-based ports of their games, the last major technical barrier preventing Linux support is gone. It's now up to GOG to sort out the issue of distro support and getting the legal department to sort out selling rights.

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HiPhish: It's always easier to put up higher system requirements for support than what the game actually needs, it makes things easier and by the end of the day support costs money as well...As long as thy don't support it officially you're on your own trying to get it to run. Now, when they put it up there officially they also have to guarantee you it will work.
I agree, but I just find it a pain, that's all. What continues to baffle me is the GOG Avernum bundle: Avernum 4-6 don't work on my 32-bit Core Duo MacBook, but if I'd buy the game direct from Spiderweb (which are at the same versions as the GOG bundle), they work just fine. What's up with that?
Posted January 25, 2013
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JudasIscariot: When TheEnigmaticT made those remarks concerning Wine, there may not have been information gathered by us via testing, bug hunting, testing again, etc. IIRC, that statement concerning Wine may have been made right around the time we officially announced that we are expanding into the Mac side of gaming.
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TheEnigmaticT: This is Judas' nice way of saying I was talking out my butt.

In my defense, I was saying what Product told me. They've clearly changed their minds since then. ;)
All is forgotten. We are thrilled you guys are doing this. Thank you! :D
Posted January 25, 2013
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rampancy: Our unfortunate loss of Feral's Mac-native port of Imperial Glory aside, this is MASSIVE news for people seeking Linux support. With GOG deploying fully supported and tested (such as they are) WINE-based ports of their games, the last major technical barrier preventing Linux support is gone. It's now up to GOG to sort out the issue of distro support and getting the legal department to sort out selling rights.
Well, no, it's not about getting the games to run. Well, it is, but it is also about being able to provide support. This means if your mum buys a Linux version from GoG it has to work out of the box on her Linux machine without tinkering. If it doesn't she is entitled to a refund or the GoG staff has to put extra ressources into fixing her game. If it was just about getting games to work we would have had Mac support long ago, after all even I can port Windows and DOS games to OS X unsing DOSBox and Wine. The difference is that I cannot provide support.

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rampancy: I agree, but I just find it a pain, that's all. What continues to baffle me is the GOG Avernum bundle: Avernum 4-6 don't work on my 32-bit Core Duo MacBook, but if I'd buy the game direct from Spiderweb (which are at the same versions as the GOG bundle), they work just fine. What's up with that?
No one is say that it won't work, they just don't promise that it will work. If it is the exact same version 8and not some updated version) then there is no reason it shouldn't work, I can hardly imagine GoG staff adding an extra check to make sure your system isn't below the minimum to stop it from working.
Posted January 25, 2013
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HiPhish: Well, no, it's not about getting the games to run. Well, it is, but it is also about being able to provide support.
Yes, but TET's earlier comments in his interview with Inside Mac Games implied that WINE had (at least in the short-term) been ruled out as an option for adding Mac support to GOG, at that point in time at least. Clearly GOG's ability to employ and test WINE has made a lot of progress between then and now.

Using WINE as a means of officially providing support always seemed problematic because it introduced another potential point of failure for a ported game; e.g., if game X didn't work on OS X, was it because of the game, the OS, or because of WINE? - now that they've apparently sorted that out, it makes Linux support a lot easier. In other words, if they can officially support ported games using WINE on OS X, it's now a lot more likely that they can officially support ported games using WINE on Linux too.


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HiPhish: No one is say that it won't work, they just don't promise that it will work. If it is the exact same version 8and not some updated version) then there is no reason it shouldn't work, I can hardly imagine GoG staff adding an extra check to make sure your system isn't below the minimum to stop it from working.
I don't think you understand, or maybe I wasn't clear: I'm comparing the exact same versions of the game on the same machine, running the same OS. And the GOG-distributed versions of the game don't work. They show up with translucent white strike-through overlays and error messages that say that the game "isn't supported on this type of Mac".

On the other hand, the versions of the game I bought from Spiderweb all work perfectly...and again, these are the same versions of the game. The only difference is that the serial number check has been disabled. I can only infer that something was changed in the game's code, and the games were recompiled without the serial checks; in the process, 32-bit compatibility got broken.
Post edited January 25, 2013 by rampancy
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General discussion (archive)January Mac Game Update: 10 New Additions(68 posts)(68 posts)
(68 posts)