About Porting
About porting:
People who buy Mac’s often do not know that there is not a huge selection of games available. Many people will not buy a Mac because of that. The reason for this has to do with the Operating System of the Mac “OSX” This OS is based on the OS Unix. This OS is very different from Windows, and because Windows dominates the world there are numerous games for it available but not nearly as much exist for Mac or Linux. That’s why I started this site.
People who buy Mac’s often do not know that there is not a huge selection of games available. Many people will not buy a Mac because of that. The reason for this has to do with the Operating System of the Mac “OSX” This OS is based on the OS Unix. This OS is very different from Windows, and because Windows dominates the world there are numerous games for it available but not nearly as much exist for Mac or Linux. That’s why I started this site.
What is porting?
Porting makes it possible to run your Windows games on your Mac without using Windows. I use “Wine” to do that. What is Wine? Wine lets you run Windows software on other operating systems. With Wine, you can install and run these applications just like you would in Windows. Wine is still under active development. Not every program works yet, however there are already several million people using Wine to run their software. Wine is open source, so it’s free to use.
Porting makes it possible to run your Windows games on your Mac without using Windows. I use “Wine” to do that. What is Wine? Wine lets you run Windows software on other operating systems. With Wine, you can install and run these applications just like you would in Windows. Wine is still under active development. Not every program works yet, however there are already several million people using Wine to run their software. Wine is open source, so it’s free to use.
Is wine legal?
Yes of course, Wine has been developed completely independently, with no reverse engineering and no access to Microsoft source code. The Wine source tree, with a complete revision history since the inception of the project, is freely available to the public, and demonstrates that Wine is strictly separate from Microsoft’s proprietary code base.
Yes of course, Wine has been developed completely independently, with no reverse engineering and no access to Microsoft source code. The Wine source tree, with a complete revision history since the inception of the project, is freely available to the public, and demonstrates that Wine is strictly separate from Microsoft’s proprietary code base.
Where to find more info about Wine?
You can find all kind of other info about Wine on the Winehq website, including the application database where info can be found on tested applications and games.
Questions + Answering
You can find all kind of other info about Wine on the Winehq website, including the application database where info can be found on tested applications and games.
Wineskin:
Because wine is quite raw, and some knowledge is required to use it, I use Wineskin to make ready to use wrappers what people can simply use to install their windows games in, in order to play those games on their Mac’s. I made some Wineskin Tutorials on the “Wineskin video Tutorials” page to learn how to use the program. This site contains game pages with ready to use Wrappers/Crossties including videos how to run it on your Mac!
Because wine is quite raw, and some knowledge is required to use it, I use Wineskin to make ready to use wrappers what people can simply use to install their windows games in, in order to play those games on their Mac’s. I made some Wineskin Tutorials on the “Wineskin video Tutorials” page to learn how to use the program. This site contains game pages with ready to use Wrappers/Crossties including videos how to run it on your Mac!
Crossover:
Crossover is an awesome program which has their own Wine developers. The program contains a graphical GUI where you can install your Windows game into and play on your Mac. They use an awesome technology called “CrossTies” which is a script that automaticly configures the “bottle” (=wrapper) with all tweaks and settings needed for that specific game. Besides that Crossover has some advantages that it can run some specific games (DOS games) which Wineskin cannot run. Crossover costs $39 with a 6 months of free updates or $59 with a year of free updates. You can try it 14 days for free to get convinced. Read more about Crossover on the “About Crossover” page up here…
Questions + Answering
Do all games work on the Mac?
No, unfortunately they don’t. Wine is under constant development which brings new working games and improves old ones every (about) two weeks :)
No, unfortunately they don’t. Wine is under constant development which brings new working games and improves old ones every (about) two weeks :)
Help my CD/DVD version crashes on startup or notifies to put the CD/DVD in while I already have it in the drive!
That’s because of DRM (CD Copy protection), in that case you need a crack/no-CD patch in order to get the game moving. Some reliable databases where to get those patches are: www.megagames.com, www.gamecopyworld.com or www.gameburnworld.com. Remember though, that when using a no-CD patch you need to own the game and after patching it keep the game for yourself only!That’s why I recommend Digital versions of the game which can be purchased on GamersGate for example.
Does the ports work on all Mac graphics cards (ATI/Intel/NVidia)?
Unfortunately… Not every card works. NVidia cards works in most cases, AMD Radeon/ATI also in many cases, Intel graphics has the lowest score. So it is game depended if the specific graphics card runs the game yes or no. That’s why check the carefully the game pages to see if the specific game works with NVidia/AMD Radeon/Intel GFX cards. I don’t own an Intel Graphics card Mac, so I rely in those cases on input of other Mac users.
Useful links:
Winehq – The site about everything about wine and the AppDB
Wineskin – The program to make you favorite game/program work.
Crossover – Wine in a nice GUI to get your favorite game/program work.