Issues running 32-bit Mac games on macOS 11.4 Big Sur

[ToranRa]

Hey there, been a user for a while but haven't posted for a while. If this is not the place for such a subject, please point me to a place or someone who might know. Sorry if this isn't the right place for this, and if it isn't, feel free to move it. Anyway...

Does assistance in here solely have to do with just Apple products or does it extend to trying to do things like workaround to play 32-bit programs on a M1 Mac? If it does, I would prefer a direct message, but I'm not opposed to general responses here either.

Some things to know off the bat:

- No, I will not use Crossover.

- No, I will not use Parallels.

- Wine doesn't seem to work on macOS Big Sur 11.4 because it's native 32-bit.

- I have tried to use VMWare with Windows 10 and mac0S Mojave with no progress.

- I've had little to uncertain success with Wineskin Winery. That program still confounds me a little.

- I have attempted to use PlayOnMac to no avail. PlayOnMac doesn't seem to work due to a issue mentioning:

"The program vulkandriverquery64.exe has encountered a serious problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

This can be caused by a program or deficiency in Wine. You may want to check http://www.codeweave...m/compatibility for tips about running this application."

I'm at a loss.The reason why I refuse to use Crossover and Parallels is because of how expensive they are and how not worth it those two programs are. To some those programs may not be expensive, but to me it is. I don't really want to pay at minimum $80 a year just to run some 32-bit Steam games. Did I just waste a bunch of money on 32-bit Steam games, or is there a solution that doesn't include overpriced software that I have yet to discover? Please message me if you have any ideas that you can prove work. Thank you, and have a good day!

[Cougar]

I haven’t used Wine in years, but when I did Crossover was by far the most painless way to do so. I’m not sure where you’re getting $80 a year from. The website says it’s $40 which you can use forever, you just don’t get access to new versions. I paid $20 for a license years ago and I still get updates for some reason, but I guess they changed their licensing model at some point.

I suggest posting this in the MacRumors forums. It’s a much more active forum than this. Someone should be able to help you get VMWare working at least.

BTW, Steam will sometimes incorrectly mark games as incompatible, even though they work just fine. (Developers have to manually mark them compatible, and many have failed to do so).

[Tetsuya]

Youre not going to magick up support for 32 bit anything on M1/ARM. Rosetta 2 doesnt/cant translate 32 bit code. End of story pretty much.

[Janichsan]

Crossover and Parallels both do the magic and can run 32bit Windows games.

ToranRa explicitly ruled out both of these options:

- No, I will not use Crossover.

- No, I will not use Parallels.

[Tetsuya]

Crossover and Parallels both do the magic and can run 32bit Windows games.

https://www.applegamingwiki.com/wiki/Category:Games

Through brute-force hard emulation. Which means performance will be whack. Its not like Rosetta 2 at all, which is fairly efficient.

Edit - and what Jan said.

[Janichsan]

Through brute-force hard emulation. Which means performance will be whack. Its not like Rosetta 2 at all, which is fairly efficient.

CrossOver actually uses Rosetta 2 (which of course means it will be useless when Apple inevitably kills Rosetta). Parallels in fact relies on emulation, but on the one in Windows on Arm. Which allegedly is quite decent by now?

[ToranRa]

Whoa, I didn't know I got any responses from my post as I NEVER got any notifications.

Anyway.

I haven't used Wine in years, but when I did Crossover was by far the most painless way to do so. I'm not sure where you're getting $80 a year from. The website says it's $40 which you can use forever, you just don't get access to new versions. I paid $20 for a license years ago and I still get updates for some reason, but I guess they changed their licensing model at some point.

I suggest posting this in the MacRumors forums. It's a much more active forum than this. Someone should be able to help you get VMWare working at least.

BTW, Steam will sometimes incorrectly mark games as incompatible, even though they work just fine. (Developers have to manually mark them compatible, and many have failed to do so).

I would buy a copy of CrossOver if I at least got update/upgrades for a while. But $40 just ensures you have a license and no way in Steve Jobs am I paying $500 for a lifetime license and lifetime upgrades/updates.

Sorry

There is a PortingKit.

https://portingkit.com/

It's using FOSS Crossover release as a engine if that counts.

But it's FREEE and basically WINE.

I might have to try that out.

___________________________

I know this may seem odd to ask, but does anyone here in this thread use Discord. This workaround stuff is very much Green to me and this is the first time since I got my MacBook Air that I have found people who are knowledgeable in this sort of thing. I am, however, very grateful that you all have offered help so far. Thank you!

[ToranRa]

BTW, Steam will sometimes incorrectly mark games as incompatible, even though they work just fine. (Developers have to manually mark them compatible, and many have failed to do so).

I decided to fire up the 32-bit games in question to attempt to see if your theory for my games are correct. None of them worked.

For those who are curious, here are the games I tried:



- CounterStrike

- CounterStrike: Condition Zero

- CounterStrike: Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes

- CounterStrike: Source

- Day of Defeat

- Day of Defeat: Source

- Deathmatch Classic

- Garry’s Mod

- Half-Life

- Half-Life: Deathmatch

- Half-Life: Blue Shift

- Half-Life: Opposing Force

- Half-Life 2

- Half-Life 2: Deathmatch

- Half-Life 2: Episode One

- Half-Life 2: Episode Two

- Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

- Oh…Sir! The Insult Simulator

- Oh…Sir! The Hollywood Roast

- Portal

- Portal 2

- POSTAL

- POSTAL 2

- POSTAL 2: Paradise Lost

- Team Fortress: Classic

[Cougar]

Yeah, Valve never updated any of their stuff. But they should all work well in Wine.

[ToranRa]

Yeah, Valve never updated any of their stuff. But they should all work well in Wine.

I tried using WineSkin Winery to no avail and according to Wine's site, there is no 64-bit version. I really do appreciate the suggestions and help so far on here, but when it comes to stuff that is complete Greek to me, I prefer to use a chat client, probably with voice, because of the way I'm able to be guided through something I don't know about. Sorry, this is... difficult to explain. I've never been good at explaining things.

[Cougar]

I tried using WineSkin Winery to no avail and according to Wine's site, there is no 64-bit version. I really do appreciate the suggestions and help so far on here, but when it comes to stuff that is complete Greek to me, I prefer to use a chat client, probably with voice, because of the way I'm able to be guided through something I don't know about. Sorry, this is... difficult to explain. I've never been good at explaining things.

This is why I recommended Crossover. Yes, it costs money, but it's by far the simplest to configure. It sometimes appears discounted in bundles so maybe keep a lookout for that.

In the meantime... haven't vetted this but it might be easier for you to follow: A YouTube video guiding you through a 64-bit Wine installation. The pre-release version of Winery that works under Rosetta with Apple Silicon and has 64-bit support is available here. Click "Assets," then "Wineskin.Winery.txz".

[ToranRa]

This is why I recommended Crossover. Yes, it costs money, but it's by far the simplest to configure. It sometimes appears discounted in bundles so maybe keep a lookout for that.

I wouldn't mind paying for CrossOver... if they had updates/upgrades for at least a year or more with $40. I have seen people say it was cheaper, but I'm sorry, if there are no updates or upgrades at all for $40, the software isn't worth it no matter what it does.

[Cougar]

I wouldn't mind paying for CrossOver... if they had updates/upgrades for at least a year or more with $40. I have seen people say it was cheaper, but I'm sorry, if there are no updates or upgrades at all for $40, the software isn't worth it no matter what it does.

Yeah, I don't blame you, the new licensing system is a bit whack. $40 should at least give you point updates and support until the next major release. I'm not sure why they bothered with that tier with such a ridiculous limitation.

BTW, just in case it applies to you... they do have a 30% discount for EDU customers. It's buried in their licensing page.

[Matt Diamond]

I wouldn't mind paying for CrossOver... if they had updates/upgrades for at least a year or more with $40. I have seen people say it was cheaper, but I'm sorry, if there are no updates or upgrades at all for $40, the software isn't worth it no matter what it does.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here, but of course it's your money and you should only pay for what you find worthwhile.

I personally think $40 is reasonable if it saves you time, and makes all your games runnable.

A year's worth of support: how much is that worth really? All the games you named are old. They either work with the current version, or they don't. (The Crossover free trial will tell you this.) The only thing that might break them after that is if something changes (your hardware, Mac OS, or Crossover itself.) They will probably keep working for quite a while.

Just my opinion. You've already given your reasons so don't feel you have to justify your choice again.

Cougar's youtube video looks promising. I learned winery long ago from a tutorial - this isn't software that is obvious to use. (But even if you know how to use it, some games require trial and error to set up unless someone has posted recommended settings online, like in the WineHQ database.)

[macdude22]

if you are the patient type Codeweavers usually has a significant discount on lifetime for Black Friday. Usually in the 40-50% range. Still not chump change but can confirm I can download the newest version 5 years after purchase.

That said, sometimes Paul the Tall's porting kit works better than crossover and sometimes crossover works better than porting kit. Sometimes neither works. I am mostly interested in old RPGs so usually you can muddle through getting them to work in one or the other.

[ToranRa]

Yeah, I don't blame you, the new licensing system is a bit whack. $40 should at least give you point updates and support until the next major release. I'm not sure why they bothered with that tier with such a ridiculous limitation.

BTW, just in case it applies to you... they do have a 30% discount for EDU customers. It's buried in their licensing page.

I get you. It is absurd that both paid options are either subscription or overpriced. Thank you, though.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here, but of course it's your money and you should only pay for what you find worthwhile.

I personally think $40 is reasonable if it saves you time, and makes all your games runnable.

A year's worth of support: how much is that worth really? All the games you named are old. They either work with the current version, or they don't. (The Crossover free trial will tell you this.) The only thing that might break them after that is if something changes (your hardware, Mac OS, or Crossover itself.) They will probably keep working for quite a while.

Just my opinion. You've already given your reasons so don't feel you have to justify your choice again.

Cougar's youtube video looks promising. I learned winery long ago from a tutorial - this isn't software that is obvious to use. (But even if you know how to use it, some games require trial and error to set up unless someone has posted recommended settings online, like in the WineHQ database.)

Old or not, 32-bit is what I want support for and would like updates for $40, even if it's for a year. A shame unlimited updates is $500.

[ToranRa]

if you are the patient type Codeweavers usually has a significant discount on lifetime for Black Friday. Usually in the 40-50% range. Still not chump change but can confirm I can download the newest version 5 years after purchase.

That said, sometimes Paul the Tall's porting kit works better than crossover and sometimes crossover works better than porting kit. Sometimes neither works. I am mostly interested in old RPGs so usually you can muddle through getting them to work in one or the other.

I'll keep that in mind and might consider it.

[Homy]

Crossover's new update 22.1 offers great news for me personally and others. Many old 32-bit games now work great. My favorite Bioshock Infinite which I barely could play on my iMac 2011 is one so now I can finish it on my M1 Max. Other games now working great are Borderlands 1, Deus Ex HR and Call of Duty 2.

[Matt Diamond]

I think I was on v22.0 when I tried to run Steam on M2. Everything worked except the Library page... you know, the most important page, which was blank and crashed about 10 seconds later. (The workaround is to set Steam to Small Mode.)

So that was disappointing, but I forgave it once I got the Steamworld Build demo running on it.. When Crossover or WINE works it is freaking magic. It's worth playing with sometimes just to get that feeling that you are bending the very laws of nature.