First of all: the game has been specifically designed to run on Windows. The only reason is the version of the game's engine that has been used to make the game has a better compatibility with that operating system.
There are plans to make ports, but only when the game is complete.
Check THIS TOPIC if you want to know more about ports.That being said, there doesn't seem to be a huge number of Mac OSX users out there, but even if it was just one, I'd like him / her to be able to play the game. On the other hand there seems to be some Linux users, but those guys are usually already aware of the solutions I'm going to share here. The reason is you HAD to find a workaround to play games if you were a Linux user, until recently, cause there never were Linux ports for the games. Now things are slowly changing, though, so it might be possible that some of you still needs help.
(Un)fortunately I don't have anything Mac related to test the game with, but I'll try to set up a Virtual Machine in the near future and see how things go. The only thing I can do so far is to share some info on
possible ways to play the game, taking advantage of my experience with Linux.
Here is a list of possible solutions.
Install the game on a Virtual MachineIt sounds like something fancy and weird, but it's actually quite a simple idea. Virtual machines are a way to simulate (emulate) the existence of another computer inside your current one, through software. Let's pretend you have a PC with a 2 processors, 4GB RAM, 1TB hard-disk with Ubuntu Linux and you have some old Windows games you'd like to play. You can create a Virtual Machine with, let's say, one processor, 1GB RAM, 30GB hard-disk and then install WinXP on it like you'd do with any PC. Then, from Ubuntu Linux you can launch the Virtual machine and have an entire machine+OS running in a window! Of course the virtual hardware you set can't exceed the actual one of your physical machine (nor get too close to that, truth be told).
MacOSXThere are several VM applications compatible with MacOSX. Check
this article for a brief overview. I use VirtualBox, which is free and even has an open source version: I can't complain at all, and as a matter of fact I created Forge almost entirely on a VirtualBox Virtual Machine.
This guide here seems to explain exactly how to create a VM on a Mac and install Windows on it. I recommend installing WinXP instead of Win7, since the former is much lighter and more than enough to run Forge perfectly.
LinuxThis is the guide for you. Of course there are VirtualBox packages also for older Ubuntu and non-Ubuntu distributions. At a very last resource, you might try to download the source code and build the application from there.
Common info1CPU, 600MB of RAM, 64MB graphics card are good enough settings too, meaning you shouldn't have any trouble AT ALL with those. But you can set them to be even lower if you have an old computer.
Use a Windows emulator, like WineIf you don't want or didn't manage to install a VM, using a Windows emulator like Wine is the best and probably fastest solution. Wine is the most renowned application to do this. It basically uses Windows .dll filling the needed dependencies that the Windows application requires.
MacOSXFirst of all,
have a brief overview of Wine itself by checking this wiki. Keep that page open, as it's a great source of info. As a matter of fact it also mentions some 3rd party applications based on Wine that I'm going to recommend as a last resort.
The only two I have some knowledge of are
PlayonMac and
Winebottler. They are supposed to offer a more straightforward experience than Wine itself and be optimized for gaming, but I'd only try those in case using Wine is troublesome for you.
LinuxMost distros have Wine in their repositories, and some of them even have it installed by default. In any case, you can
download the program here if this is not your case.
PlayonLinux is ofr Linux what PlayonMac is for Mac. Still based on Wine, still non recommended unless you have trouble using Wine.
Common infoFirst of all you have to download the program, which is free. Then you install it like a standard application. If you have it in your repositories, you can do both at the same time, of course.
After that, you should be able to run the game by opening it with Wine with no further adjustments.
Attention: some Wine installations have trouble running Forge's Installer, so you're strongly recommended to download the Installer-free version instead.Installer-free version: how to open a .tar archive?Tar is not so uncommon a format as you might think. It's mostly used in Unix systems, but 99% of un-archiving applications are able to open it by default. Why didn't I choose a more common format then, like .zip or .rar?
The reasons would be long and boring to explain, so let's just say I prefer .tar!
MacOSXAnyway, as I stated before, there is a long list of Mac applications that are able to open .tar files, including the Archive Utility (installed by default on your system), and the free
Unarchiver.
LinuxIf you're a Linux user instead, just use the default un-archiving utility that comes with your system. It will surely be able to deal with .tar.
This wiki will be updated and expanded as new feedback / knowledge is gathered. Feel free to use the thread to ask for support, and to report a specific problem / solution. Even more appreciated, if you've managed to play the game on your MacOSX or Linux system, write some brief instructions to help other people do the same!
