Posted September 14, 2024
I am happy to report that, despite the warning, Fallout 4 IS playable on macOS Sonoma and later with an Apple silicon (ARM64) system. However, it's not playable right out of the box as Macs are incapable of opening the .exe file required to install it.
First of all, you will need a Mac application called "Whisky". This is a sort of PC emulator, but it's built upon open source projects including Apple's own Game Porting Tool Kit (GPTK) which was announced alongside macOS Sonoma, and WINE, the infamous Linux "not a Windows emulator" tool to make Windows applications work in Windows. So yes, while you will be setting up your Mac to emulate not only Windows, an operating system completely unrelated to macOS's UNIX roots, but also to emulate an x86-64 computer. Don't worry, it actually works really well (I'm using an M2 Pro Mac mini with 16GB of RAM).
Once Whisky is installed, just tell it to create a new bottle (virtual machine). Default settings should be fine. Have it install its dependencies. Now on the bottom, click on "Open C Drive." It will open a macOS Finder window, but you will see the directories of a freshly installed Windows PC. Copy the Fallout 4 GOTY Edition files you downloaded from GOG over here. Set the Finder window aside for now. Back on Whisky, click "Run..." and run the "setup....exe" file. It should be the only one that ends in .exe that also says fallout_4. This will run inside Whisky. You will see an installer that looks like it's running in Windows, only it will have a macOS title bar with the "street light" buttons on the left. Go do something while it works.
When it's done, press "Run..." again on Whisky, and navigate to C - GOG Games - Fallout 4 - fallout4.exe. The launcher will come up. On mine, it said I could run at Ultra settings. I recommend for a machine similar to mine, changing it to High, then going to Advanced, and on the last tab, disabling lens flare and depth of field. That's up to you, though. The problem I was trying to solve was, the sky was flickering. Reducing it from Ultra to High is probably what did it. But all three resulted in the game looking perfect.
Now, there are a few other things you need to change to actually play the game. You'll need to consult the Whisky game compatibility wiki for the exact settings. First of all, you will be unable to look around in Fallout 4 by default. You can move but you can't change the way you face. Obviously that's a huge problem. Second, you won't have most music or audio. Not as big a deal but a huge inconvenience. Third, apparently gore can crash the game. I don't know why. For the first and third options, you will need to make minor changes to the fallout4.ini file in C - Users - (whatever the user is called) - Documents - Games - Fallout 4. For the audio, you will need to do some trickery with macOS. Hold CMD (the flower looking thing) and hit Space to summon Spotlight Search. Start typing "activity monitor" and open that application. Wait for it to load, then right-click the "wineserver" task, and kill it. Now on Whisky, click on "Winetricks," then under the "DLLs" section, find "faudio." No numbers, just the first one. Install that.
Do all that, and you get Fallout 4 working with no issues that I have found. I played through the first few missions and had no issues that weren't in the base game. There's a part where Preston and Sturges are talking to you and there's this massive wall of text on the screen, and they're saying other things but it doesn't change. That happens on Windows and Xbox as well. As someone with over 1,000 hours in the game on PC and Xbox, I can tell you it plays perfectly on the Mac. If you want better framerate, you can drop down to medium settings. You can also install mods that mitigate some of the game's internal issues, like Buffout.
Lastly, Whisky can be used to play a lot of Windows games on your Mac. Not all of them will work though! I would look on Steam to see if the game is Steam Deck Certified, since a Steam Deck uses Linux and thus, the game would be run under WINE. So the long and short of it is, Windows games can be run if the way the game works with Windows can be emulated by WINE. If not, the game will have issues. Games are certified for Steam Deck by making sure they only do things WINE can emulate. Thus, they will run on Mac as well with or without some minor tweaking. Some games rely on Windows functions that WINE can't emulate, so those games won't be playable. Fortunately, while GOG is doing great work to ensure that older games run great in Windows 10 and 11, Steam is also doing great work to ensure that games work in WINE. You should look up the Whisky game compatibility wiki, see what games you like work on Mac, and try to get them working. I wouldn't try most modern games on a MacBook Air however, as these machines are passively cooled. When they overheat, they slow down, leading to reduced performance. They will still run the games, but you're putting more wear and tear on the components. I'd be real careful with that. A MacBook Pro or any of the desktop Macs (Mac Pro, Mac mini, or Mac studio) should be fine for this kind of thing.
First of all, you will need a Mac application called "Whisky". This is a sort of PC emulator, but it's built upon open source projects including Apple's own Game Porting Tool Kit (GPTK) which was announced alongside macOS Sonoma, and WINE, the infamous Linux "not a Windows emulator" tool to make Windows applications work in Windows. So yes, while you will be setting up your Mac to emulate not only Windows, an operating system completely unrelated to macOS's UNIX roots, but also to emulate an x86-64 computer. Don't worry, it actually works really well (I'm using an M2 Pro Mac mini with 16GB of RAM).
Once Whisky is installed, just tell it to create a new bottle (virtual machine). Default settings should be fine. Have it install its dependencies. Now on the bottom, click on "Open C Drive." It will open a macOS Finder window, but you will see the directories of a freshly installed Windows PC. Copy the Fallout 4 GOTY Edition files you downloaded from GOG over here. Set the Finder window aside for now. Back on Whisky, click "Run..." and run the "setup....exe" file. It should be the only one that ends in .exe that also says fallout_4. This will run inside Whisky. You will see an installer that looks like it's running in Windows, only it will have a macOS title bar with the "street light" buttons on the left. Go do something while it works.
When it's done, press "Run..." again on Whisky, and navigate to C - GOG Games - Fallout 4 - fallout4.exe. The launcher will come up. On mine, it said I could run at Ultra settings. I recommend for a machine similar to mine, changing it to High, then going to Advanced, and on the last tab, disabling lens flare and depth of field. That's up to you, though. The problem I was trying to solve was, the sky was flickering. Reducing it from Ultra to High is probably what did it. But all three resulted in the game looking perfect.
Now, there are a few other things you need to change to actually play the game. You'll need to consult the Whisky game compatibility wiki for the exact settings. First of all, you will be unable to look around in Fallout 4 by default. You can move but you can't change the way you face. Obviously that's a huge problem. Second, you won't have most music or audio. Not as big a deal but a huge inconvenience. Third, apparently gore can crash the game. I don't know why. For the first and third options, you will need to make minor changes to the fallout4.ini file in C - Users - (whatever the user is called) - Documents - Games - Fallout 4. For the audio, you will need to do some trickery with macOS. Hold CMD (the flower looking thing) and hit Space to summon Spotlight Search. Start typing "activity monitor" and open that application. Wait for it to load, then right-click the "wineserver" task, and kill it. Now on Whisky, click on "Winetricks," then under the "DLLs" section, find "faudio." No numbers, just the first one. Install that.
Do all that, and you get Fallout 4 working with no issues that I have found. I played through the first few missions and had no issues that weren't in the base game. There's a part where Preston and Sturges are talking to you and there's this massive wall of text on the screen, and they're saying other things but it doesn't change. That happens on Windows and Xbox as well. As someone with over 1,000 hours in the game on PC and Xbox, I can tell you it plays perfectly on the Mac. If you want better framerate, you can drop down to medium settings. You can also install mods that mitigate some of the game's internal issues, like Buffout.
Lastly, Whisky can be used to play a lot of Windows games on your Mac. Not all of them will work though! I would look on Steam to see if the game is Steam Deck Certified, since a Steam Deck uses Linux and thus, the game would be run under WINE. So the long and short of it is, Windows games can be run if the way the game works with Windows can be emulated by WINE. If not, the game will have issues. Games are certified for Steam Deck by making sure they only do things WINE can emulate. Thus, they will run on Mac as well with or without some minor tweaking. Some games rely on Windows functions that WINE can't emulate, so those games won't be playable. Fortunately, while GOG is doing great work to ensure that older games run great in Windows 10 and 11, Steam is also doing great work to ensure that games work in WINE. You should look up the Whisky game compatibility wiki, see what games you like work on Mac, and try to get them working. I wouldn't try most modern games on a MacBook Air however, as these machines are passively cooled. When they overheat, they slow down, leading to reduced performance. They will still run the games, but you're putting more wear and tear on the components. I'd be real careful with that. A MacBook Pro or any of the desktop Macs (Mac Pro, Mac mini, or Mac studio) should be fine for this kind of thing.