How come GOG doesn't offer Dosbox based releases to Mac users? It seems like a fairly easy thing to do (partner with the guy who does Boxer) and it's potentially a big revenue stream.

At the least you could offer ZIP downloads of just the files in your installer, it would make is easier for Linux and Mac users to setup them up on their systems.

As the service moves forward this is the number one thing I'd like to see from it. I understand that Mac compatibility isn't possible for all releases, but for all Dos based games, which seems to about half the catalogue, it seems very possible.

What do other people think?

We've had this discussion before and it comes down to support; they can't offer support for the games running on Mac OS so they won't list the games as Mac OS/Linux compatible.

Not this again... well, I suppose it has been about a month since the last time we had this conversation, so I guess it's about time to say the same things we said last time.

In addition to what AndrewC said, there is also the issue of licensing/distribution rights. GOG very likely does not have the necessary permission to distribute these games for other platforms or in any form other than a Windows installer executable.

BTW - The guy who does Boxer is a long-time GOG member and still shows up on the forums every once in a while. :)

BTW2 - DOSBox based games only make up around a third (at most) of the GOG library

Sorry to rehash what has already been covered. I think GOG is throwing away revenue, but that's just my opinion.

In more practical terms, are there any tools to extract out the files in the GOG installer to use them under other OS' dosbox. I imagine Linux users can you Wine but Wine support under OS X is lacking. Is there a way to extract the files from the installers under OS X?

WINE works fine.

Where are you geting WINE from, Macports or do they have app package now or some other unofficial package (darwine was one but last time I checked it was out of date and no longer being updated.

It has been a while but I think I got it here: http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/
Or you can use CrossOver Games, though it is not free.
I also made myself a GOG extractor based on WINE a couple years ago which is what I normally use. Let me see if I can upload that somewhere.

GOG extractor for Intel Macs: http://gaymeboi.com/GAME_Extractor.zip

1. Rename the installer 'install.exe'
2. Place install.exe in your Applications folder
3. Run the GAME Extractor app
4. Profit

The extracted files will appear in a GOG.com folder on your desktop.

I offer no warranty, use at your own risk, bla, bla, bla. Enjoy.

Ah, interesting! Someone with some programming know-how finally came up with a clever way for OS X users to get at the crunchy gooey goodness inside the installers for GOG's DOSBox-based games.

For a while now, my favourite solution has been to use Universal Extractor with either CrossOver Games or Wineskin (as a disclaimer, I am an Advocate user for Codeweavers, and I prefer Wineskin to WineBottler, as the former users a newer version of WINE and doh123 updates Wineskin on more regular basis). It's awesome that someone's made an app which circumvents the need for a Windows-based installer app.

On a related note, however, in some cases it may be necessary to use the GOG installer, as for some games (notable Ultima Underworld 1+2) the installer apparently executes some config scripts that allow the the game to be run from an included disk image; running an installer extractor app bypasses this, hence preventing some extra files to be installed that require the game to be run in a different DOSBox environment like Boxer.

That's all my scripty app thang does, really. It runs the GOG installer and dumps all the files in a GOG.com folder on your desktop when finished. Which reminds me, click exit when the installer completes. Because the files have all been moved to your desktop the game won't launch from within my app.

Another note: If the folder does not appear on your desktop, it can be manually retrieved from ~/<username>/.wine

Between you and doh123, you two are a true shining light for us Mac users.

Thank you very much.

very cool ... will favorite this thread. I am about to do some more Wine installs to do some testing on new joystick code for Wine on OS X. According to the one who has released a new commit while the joysticks were being read correctly, the commands were not being passed to the Direct Input command queue for the Mac code. Another guy armed with the new code has tested Red Baron 3D (still not fixed) and IL-2 (mostly fixed) and I'm planning on retesting those and maybe testing the Independence Wars as well.

I am also a big fan of Boxer and Wineskin.

I recommend using the community-maintained builds of X11 for OS X here:
http://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/wiki

The builds available there are more up to date with recent developments in the code than Apple's own version.

Nice post, though I have not personally tested with that build, it should work just as well.