I’m in love with Good Old Games. They distribute classic PC titles, getting them running on modern operating systems, bundled with extras, and all without DRM.
Inside the Wineskin folder, you'll find 'Steam.app'. Right click it and select 'Show Contents'. A finder window will pop up with a 'Contents' folder. Double click that, then double click the item labeled 'Wineskin.app'.
What I like most about it, though, is that GOG is up there with Valve in its efforts to make Mac gaming less of a wasteland. When it comes to retro computer games, DOS isn’t too much of a hurdle because the hardware requirements are trivial and apps like Boxer make emulation simple, but the Windows ultra-dominance of the late 90s through late 2000s are a dark spot. If you have fond memories of a PC game of that era and it’s not from Blizzard or id, odds are it didn’t get a Mac release.
I recently noticed that GOG was offering Mac versions of PC-only Black Isle RPGs like Planescape: Torment. My curiosity over what witchcraft was enabling this led me to Wineskin, which now has me running stuff like RollerCoaster Tycoon natively in OS X. And it works with basically anything short of the latest and greatest. Here’s how it’s done.
You will need…
- Your PC game
- Wineskin Winery (download)
- Enough hard drive space for the install plus about 150MB
A little background
I’m going to be doing this with the GOG version of RollerCoaster Tycoon. GOG makes it easier because the games are mostly a single installer and have no DRM to worry about, but disc-based games can be done too by copying the contents of the disc to a folder on your computer, so do that first. As long as the game doesn’t require anything newer than DirectX 9.0 or host particularly invasive DRM (e.g. StarForce), chances are it’ll work.
This all works using Wine, with Wineskin bundling the installed game and a Wine compatibility layer in one Mac app. It’s not emulation, strictly speaking, so what you’re getting is a Windows game running at native speed on OS X.
Getting started
Fire up Wineskin Winery. You’ll first need to download an appropriate engine for the game you’re running, but thankfully people will have done the legwork for you. The Wine Application Database is where users document their experiences of running software with different Wine engines, and its entry on Rollercoaster Tycoon notes that the GOG version runs with platinum compatibility (“flawlessly”) on 1.6.2. Therefore that’s the version I’m going to download.
With that downloaded and the latest wrapper downloaded, hit the ‘Create New Blank Wrapper’ button and give your new app a name. In this case, I creatively opt for ‘Rollercoaster Tycoon’.
Let the process run. It may ask you to download a version of Mono and/or the Gecko engine. Old games will almost certainly not need Mono but may use Gecko; use your own judgement, or just go ahead and install them since it’ll ensure a trouble-free conversion.
When it’s finished, click ‘Show Wrapper in Finder’ and you’ll be presented with a generic Wineskin app, ready to be turned into your chosen game.
Installation
Run this new app to be presented with the following window.
Click ‘Install Software’, then ‘Choose Setup Executable’, and point it at the installer from GOG. This is where things start to look interesting.
That looks suspiciously like a Windows installer on a Mac, doesn’t it?
Once the installation process is complete, resist the temptation to play the game for now and click ‘Exit’. You’ll see the following window, which lets you tell your Wineskin which executable it should run on launch. In this case it’s correct and I’ve never seen it need changing, so go ahead and click OK.
The Advanced menu that you can see mentioned can be accessed by right-clicking the newly created app in the Finder, clicking ‘Show Package Contents’, and then double-clicking the Wineskin icon in the resulting folder. Among other things, this allows you to change the app icon; find an appropriate ICNS file from a site like VeryIcon and select it in there to get things looking more official (see right).
Isn’t that a beautiful sight? You end up with a self-contained OS X app (by default located at ~/Applications/Wineskin), created through a process that works on basically any game. No fiddling with Boot Camp or Parallels to run an old favourite that hasn’t been ported, and none of the performance penalty that comes from emulation. Lovely.
Developed by Bethesda Game Studios, Skyrim is a role-playing action game based on an open virtual world. Since the launch of “The Elder Scrolls: Arena” in the year 1994, Bethesda Game Studios are known for developing games that are taking players to the virtual world of Tamriel. Yes, it is something next level!
How To Play Skyrim On Mac : (Updated 2020)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was said to be amongst the most anticipated games since the beginning of the time. Skyrim is the fifth installment of the highly acclaimed “The Elder Scrolls” series. It was launched on 11th November 2011 just after The Elder Scrolls IV: The Oblivion. The game is compatible with Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, but here we will discuss how to play Skyrim on your Mac. On the release of this game, there were many enthusiasts desperate to buy the PC Edition although only a small percentage of them actually owned PCs at that time. However, the fans managed to get through the unauthorized versions and wrappers of Skyrim.
Skyrim fans claim it to be “The Best Game Ever” as only a very few games can perform as great as Skyrim. You can play the game for endless hours and yet you will discover something new each time. The game is full of adventure as it provides the player with several options to thrive in the land of the Nords. All in all, it makes for an enchanting and overwhelming experience.
How to Play Skyrim on Mac?
Skyrim offers you with tremendous opportunities to explore and witness a fiery experience. The game is open-ended along with being irresistible each time. Although it was launched only for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation3 and Xbox360 yet there is a way in which even the Mac users can fulfil their gaming desire. And this is how you can install the game and play Skyrim on any Mac system.
The Wine Method:
Wine Method is the authorized way to download and play Skyrim on Mac. To begin with, you need to download Steam for Mac. After launching Steam, you would have to buy Skyrim from Steam.
Following the mentioned steps, you will be required to download Wineskin. Once you setup Wine, follow the instructions, wrapper > winetricks > “steam” > run. Do not forget to update the engine in the winery. Further, you would have to change the wrapper in order to use the new engine and then in the wrapper you will have to update the wine tricks. Troubleshoot if you come across minor problems while executing these.
You can also play Dragonborn, Hearthfire, and Dawnguard by using all the Steam Workshop Mods. It is a slightly complicated process but Nexumods can also be used to run the game. If you want, you can watch some the online available tutorials on using Nexusmods for Skyrim to understand the complicated tricks involved.
The Bootcamp Method:
The Bootcamp method is another legal way of enjoying Skyrim on a Mac system. You’ll have to download Bootcamp Assistant on your Mac computer. Run the program from Applications/ Utilities/ Bootcamp Assistant.
It is mandatory for you to buy Microsoft Windows at some additional cost and install the same on your Mac system. Follow the instructions provided by the Bootcamp Assistant with precision. And at the end, buy Skyrim to enjoy the virtual world of Tamriel.
A Brief Comparison
Therefore, it is up to you to figure out the most suitable method and critically analyse the pros and cons of each of those. Bootcamp Assistance is said to perform better as Mac is an Intel-based machine. It delivers impeccable performance, however, there’s an additional cost of Windows and the effort of creating a partition. Though, Bootcamp along with Nexusmods, are said to be easily manageable when compared to the Wine method. The Wine method is free, can be operated via Steam workshop with ease but it somehow lacks the needed performance.
Wineskin method is quick as it does not require purchasing Windows, partitioning and you would be able to play the game within an hour of setup initiation. It basically bluffs Skyrim by creating an artificial environment of the Windows system while saving your time and money. Hence, judge yourself and choose the most suitable method to enjoy Skyrim on your Mac system.
Apart from Wineskin wrapper, there are other wrappers available as well. One of them is the Cider Wrapper of Skyrim, which is super fast but has been reported to keep crashing during the gameplay. Cider doesn’t come along SKSE (Skyrim Script Extender) whereas Wineskin has the SKSE bundle accompanied.
Many of the Skyrim mods use the SKSE (Skyrim Script Extender) tool to expand the capabilities of scripting which provides several additional functions to the game. Being a serious player, it is always advised to choose Wineskin which supports SKSE.
Skyrim, being an unbeatable role-play game, is very demanding when it comes to the hardware requirements. So, to make sure that you enjoy the game, fulfil the minimum requirements mentioned below.
Minimum Requirements
- Graphics Card: 512mb
- Processor: Dual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent processor
- Memory: 2GB System RAM (4 – 6GB of RAM min recommended)
- Hard Disk Space: 6GB free HDD Space
- Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
- OSX9.1 (Mavericks).
Ideal Setup
How To Play Pc Games On Mac With Wine
- Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD CPU
- Memory: 8 – 12 GB System RAM
- Video Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with 1GB of RAM (NVidia GeForce GTX 260 or higher; ATI Radeon 4890 or higher)
- OSX9.1 (Mavericks)
How To Run Steam Games On Wine Mac
Just make sure to upgrade from the Apple website to Mavericks as it brings much of a difference in your gaming as well as the entire Skyrim experience. Most of the games are already added to the Porting Kit but in case if Skyrim isn’t available, then you will have to add it to make all the wrappers compatible with the latest OSX for Mac. And all you’ll have to do is install the game through the Porting Kit in the Library > Server Tab. Simple!