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General discussion (archive)Playing GOG games on a Mac. HELP(24 posts)(24 posts)
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Posted March 25, 2012
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crazy_dave: Out of curiosity, what's the advantage of using the universal extractor (which is Windows only right? so it has to be run in Wine anyway, yes?) over simply running GOG's .exe installer in Wine?
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Darling_Jimmy: You can skip the EULA. Other than that, nothing, I guess. Just providing the OP as many options as possible.
Ah got it. :)
Posted March 25, 2012
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Darling_Jimmy: Universal Extractor

Other useful links:
CrossOver
VirtualBox
Boxer
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crazy_dave: Out of curiosity, what's the advantage of using the universal extractor (which is Windows only right? so it has to be run in Wine anyway, yes?) over simply running GOG's .exe installer in Wine?
The pros of using Universal Extractor are that it's really, really easy to get at the data files for games like Duke Nukem 3D or Descent/Descent 2 which have open-source ports. You just point it to where the GOG installer is and it spits out a folder with the game's files in it. This also works for GOG games that use DOSBox. Nine times out of ten or so, you can take the folder with the extracted game's files and drop it into Boxer's startup window to import it.

The only problem with this is for games which use DOSBox. As I learned, in some cases (like Wing Commander 1+2, and Little Big Adventure 1/2), the GOG installer creates a custom configuration file which tells DOSBox how and where to mount the virtual disk volumes it needs for the game to work (among other things, like the correct sound settings). Since Universal Extractor circumvents the GOG installer, these settings aren't found and the game doesn't work in Boxer.

I've gotten around this by running the GOG installer in CX/Wineskin, and then getting at the data files for use in Boxer (for CX, go to ~/Library/Application Support/CrossOver/Bottles/<game bottle name>/drive_c/Program Files/GOG.com/<game install folder>).

Oh, and as a PS, I've updated my GOG mix with the latest Windows games I've gotten to work; as before it's at http://www.gog.com/en/mix/mac_friendly_gog_games_4. It's extremely tedious to move all of my latest entries up to the top, so they're all at the bottom of the list...
Post edited March 25, 2012 by rampancy
Posted March 26, 2012
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rampancy: The only problem with this is for games which use DOSBox. As I learned, in some cases (like Wing Commander 1+2, and Little Big Adventure 1/2), the GOG installer creates a custom configuration file which tells DOSBox how and where to mount the virtual disk volumes it needs for the game to work (among other things, like the correct sound settings). Since Universal Extractor circumvents the GOG installer, these settings aren't found and the game doesn't work in Boxer.
That's interesting - I wasn't aware that the configuration files were being generated on-the-fly by the installers, I thought they were just hardcoded and bundled in with the rest of the game's files (I've never encountered a GOG config file that contained absolute file paths). If and when I ever get GOG-installer-unpacking added to Boxer, it'll need to figure out some way to get at the config-file data.

(Boxer is in many cases able to import GOG games correctly even without the configuration file, but if GOG have done some tricky disc-image-naming or changed the soundcard settings from the defaults, which they tend to do nowadays, then the config file will be necessary for Boxer to get it right.)
Post edited March 26, 2012 by Viggles
Posted March 26, 2012
Thank you everyone for your replies, they are appreciated.

Least now I know the best way to accomplish playing them on my Mac.

It's a pity GOG don't offer the files for download as a DMG file (they could offer them with no support).
Posted March 26, 2012
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Viggles: I thought they were just hardcoded and bundled in with the rest of the game's files...
Well, actually, that was what I meant to say. :) I was actually thinking of you when I wrote that, because of a reply you wrote me when I was wondering why on earth DOSBox was throwing up problems with games I'd extracted using Universal Extractor. I'm not entirely sure why, but it seems like the installer's DOSBox config files don't always seem to be extracted with the game when using Universal Extractor. Or maybe they're in another folder that isn't so obvious to me.
Posted March 26, 2012
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rampancy: it seems like the installer's DOSBox config files don't always seem to be extracted with the game when using Universal Extractor. Or maybe they're in another folder that isn't so obvious to me.
After extraction you'll find the extracted conf files in this location, or similar.

{tmp}\default\default\default\default

Move the conf files there into the {app} folder and everything should work as intended.

Some installers will have multiple instances of a conf file with a comma and number after the name ("dosboxULTIMA1,1.conf", "dosboxULTIMA1,2.conf", etc.). These files are identical. You only need one conf per game so use whichever one you want.
Posted March 26, 2012
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rampancy: it seems like the installer's DOSBox config files don't always seem to be extracted with the game when using Universal Extractor. Or maybe they're in another folder that isn't so obvious to me.
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Arkose: After extraction you'll find the extracted conf files in this location, or similar.

{tmp}\default\default\default\default

Move the conf files there into the {app} folder and everything should work as intended.

Some installers will have multiple instances of a conf file with a comma and number after the name ("dosboxULTIMA1,1.conf", "dosboxULTIMA1,2.conf", etc.). These files are identical. You only need one conf per game so use whichever one you want.
Goddammit! Why didn't I realize that! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Posted March 26, 2012
listen to rampancy, he know's what he is talking about!!

i have found it a lot easier to play many good old games on the mac as opposed to windows thanks to boxer (and scummvm although this is basically the same on both platforms). i always struggled with dosbox, but the boxer set up is so pretty and easy to use.
Posted March 26, 2012
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htown1980: i have found it a lot easier to play many good old games on the mac as opposed to windows thanks to boxer (and scummvm although this is basically the same on both platforms). i always struggled with dosbox, but the boxer set up is so pretty and easy to use.
Should you need a Windows DOSBox solution in the future I'd suggest checking out D-Fend Reloaded. It works in a similar way to Boxer, auto-detecting most common games and providing a GUI for all configuration settings.
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General discussion (archive)Playing GOG games on a Mac. HELP(24 posts)(24 posts)
(24 posts)