How to Play AoE II HD on Mac using Wine (easy/complete guide)

[hot_gril]

This thread has been closed because I have moved the instructions to a Steam guide here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=247537337

Please do not comment on this thread. Leave comments on the Steam guide.

[TeriTori]

I found out that in Single Player Mode the keyboard doesn't work at all. I have to play the game only with the mouse. That's why scrolling with arrows wouldn't work and that's why I couldn't change the shortcuts from the options menu. I checked it on 3 different computers, all same result: keyboard doesn't work on Single Player Mode. I couldn't find anything to fix this, does anyone have any idea about how to fix this ?

[hot_gril]

seanjenkins729 eredeti hozzászólása:

I dont get what step 5 is asking me to do? I put -nostartup. Then what am i supposed to do exactly after? I have a 15" 2011 macbook pro OSX snow leopard..downloading mavericks RN.

[IMG]http://i43.tinypic.com/2hi9d0p.png[/img]

i dont understand about the home files, and i have changed Launcher.exe and the other one, but cannot figure out

Now, you will have to modify the game files a little. However, I have a report that this is not necessary, but it only works for me if I do this. It's a mystery for now.

If you named your prefix "Steam" when PlayOnMac was setting up Steam, here is the full path for pasting into the CMD+SHIFT+G window in Finder: ~/Library/PlayOnMac/wineprefix/Steam/drive_c/Program Files/Steam/SteamApps/common/Age2HD

Otherwise, go into your home folder (~/). Open the PlayOnMac alias there. Open the Steam prefix folder you made in the folder it takes you to (should be ~/Library/PlayOnMac/wineprefix). Navigate into drive_c, then Program Files, then Steam, then SteamApps, then common, then Age2HD.
"

Did you rename Launcher.exe to Launcher.bak and AoK HD.exe to Launcher.exe? If you did that, step 5 is complete. The bit about the home folder is only for if you didn't name your prefix "Steam".

[TeriTori]

Did you rename Launcher.exe to Launcher.bak and AoK HD.exe to Launcher.exe? If you did that, step 5 is complete. The bit about the home folder is only for if you didn't name your prefix "Steam". [/quote]

I'm sorry I didn't know if that was for me. I did all the steps written in the article.

[hot_gril]

seran47_91 eredeti hozzászólása:

Did you rename Launcher.exe to Launcher.bak and AoK HD.exe to Launcher.exe? If you did that, step 5 is complete. The bit about the home folder is only for if you didn't name your prefix "Steam".

I'm sorry I didn't know if that was for me. I did all the steps written in the article. [/quote]
Oh sorry that wasn't for you. It was for seanjenkins729. I accidentally quoted you before him.

[biscuit]

So I managed (I think) to follow the instructions without any particular problems, until I got to the stage of hitting the"Play" button - at which point I was hit by a D3D9 Object Not Created! error box, followed by "Could not initialize graphics system. Make sure that your video card and driver are compatible with Direct Draw." I'm really a bit of a Luddite, so I'm at a bit of a loss where to go from here - I'm running it on a 2009 MacBook Pro with 2.4ghz, 4GB RAM, and 10.6.8.

thanks!

[hot_gril]

biscuit eredeti hozzászólása:

So I managed (I think) to follow the instructions without any particular problems, until I got to the stage of hitting the"Play" button - at which point I was hit by a D3D9 Object Not Created! error box, followed by "Could not initialize graphics system. Make sure that your video card and driver are compatible with Direct Draw." I'm really a bit of a Luddite, so I'm at a bit of a loss where to go from here - I'm running it on a 2009 MacBook Pro with 2.4ghz, 4GB RAM, and 10.6.8.

thanks!

Maybe you need to install D3D9 or other components manually. Go to step 3, up to

"Now you should have a window with Steam on it and a configure button somewhere. Press Steam, then hit configure."

Instead of clicking the Wine tab in the configuration box, click "Install components". To be honest, since I can't test, I'm not really sure which one to install, but it's most likely d3dx9. Look for "d3dx9" in the list, select it, and hit "install". If that doesn't fix it, try also installing d3dx9_43 and directx9. Hope it works.

[biscuit]

Hopefully not to be too much the pest, but I'm afraid I'm still not having much luck - I did as you suggested, after uninstalling and reinstalling Steam and AOE II HD. A bit of trial and error also reveals that the error comes up after I've switched the launcher.exe to launcher.bak, and AoK HD.exe to Launcher.exe - prior to that, I just get a black screen on start-up.

my apologies, but any other suggestions?

[hot_gril]

biscuit eredeti hozzászólása:

Hopefully not to be too much the pest, but I'm afraid I'm still not having much luck - I did as you suggested, after uninstalling and reinstalling Steam and AOE II HD. A bit of trial and error also reveals that the error comes up after I've switched the launcher.exe to launcher.bak, and AoK HD.exe to Launcher.exe - prior to that, I just get a black screen on start-up.

my apologies, but any other suggestions?

No need for apology. WINE is finicky, even worse when you have to launch a game through Steam in it. If you don't get the error if you don't rename the launcher, you can try playing without renaming the launcher:

I get the black screen on startup if I don't rename the files, but I've found a way around that. If you open Steam through PlayOnMac then start the game through Steam, you should get a black window. There should be a Steam icon on the bottom-right of the virtual screen. Click that, and press "Age of Empires II HD". It'll give you the "app already running" error, but when you close that, the buttons on the launcher should appear (though the rest of the launcher window will be messed up) and function.

[biscuit]

I'm afraid I remain unsuccessful - I'm trying to think what could be an issue with my computer specifically. I managed to get to the launcher screen via the workaround that you mentioned, but from there, I simply get the error message (which would imply that the problem never was with the launcher, but simply with running the game). I've reinstalled XQuartz, but I'm at a bit of a loss for other solutions.
update:
I've also tried disabling the NVIDIA graphics card and using only the integrated intel graphics, and vice versa, as well as attempting to install all of the relevant components via the wine configuration.

thanks

[hot_gril]

biscuit eredeti hozzászólása:

I'm afraid I remain unsuccessful - I'm trying to think what could be an issue with my computer specifically. I managed to get to the launcher screen via the workaround that you mentioned, but from there, I simply get the error message (which would imply that the problem never was with the launcher, but simply with running the game). I've reinstalled XQuartz, but I'm at a bit of a loss for other solutions.
update:
I've also tried disabling the NVIDIA graphics card and using only the integrated intel graphics, and vice versa, as well as attempting to install all of the relevant components via the wine configuration.

thanks

All right. Sorry to say, but I can't think of any other solution yet :/ Hope you find something. Until then, you could always use VMWare Fusion or Parallels to play like I used to do.

[Lords Cromulus & Cremus]

Hey Aeneas and everyone on this forum,

So everything installed correctly and I can play single player mode and multiplayer mode against human players...BUT when my friends and I try to play an online multiplayer game against computer players, i sync out after 10 seconds...every time...Any ideas? Is anyone else having this problem?

Thanks

[emhoffman]

Vergil Aeneas eredeti hozzászólása:

Here is a totally Mac-specific guide to running this in WINE. It is meant to be a comprehensive guide for anyone to use, so it is not short, but it should be easy to follow. I've found that following other tutorials, especially ones involving installing WINE from MacPorts or WineBottler or compiling it, have problems. If you want a Linux tutorial, this is the Linux thread: http://steamcommunity.com/app/221380/discussions/2/828935361270250345/

List of tested Mac OS X versions:
Works in 10.6.8 "Snow Leopard"
Works in 10.8.4-5 "Mountain Lion"
Works in 10.9 "Mavericks"

1. Getting WINE
Download PlayOnMac. It walks you through an install process. Even though I have X11 already, I chose to install XQuartz when it asked. Install all the optional libraries and stuff it asks you about; might as well. This is the easiest way to get WINE on the Mac. WineBottler is outdated; don't use it!

2. Installing Steam
I don't remember where, but there's a button to install new software. Press it. You'll get a search. Search for Steam, and install it. Again, it walks you through. Call the prefix (or virtual hard drive, whatever it calls it) "Steam" for convenience.

3. Configuring WINE
Now you should have a window with Steam on it and a configure button somewhere. Press Steam, then hit configure. Go to the Wine tab, and press "Configure Wine". After a delay, a window for configuration should show up. Under the Applications tab, set the Windows version to Windows 7 (not sure if it matters, but do it anyway). Under its Graphics tab, enable "Emulate a virtual desktop", and set it to a resolution a bit lower than your regular Mac screen resolution. I cannot get this game to run full screen, only in a window. For my 1920x1080 screen, I think 1742x980 is good. Press OK.

4. Starting Steam
Now you're ready to run Steam. Click on it, and press run. It will take unusually long to update, and then because Steam is dumb, it'll check for updates again after it updates, which for some reason takes a while in WINE. Don't worry too much about it because it only takes this long the first time. For the login, for some reason, it has trouble on some systems and gets stuck logging in if you make it remember your password. I found that telling it not to remember the password then the next time telling it to remember it works fine.

5. Making AoE II HD Work Properly in WINE {
Once you've logged in and verified the machine, download AoE II HD from your library like you normally would. This doesn't seem to take any extra time. Right-click the game in Steam, and go to "properties". Set launch options. Add "-nostartup" as a parameter.

Now, you will have to modify the game files a little. However, I have a report that this is not necessary, but it only works for me if I do this. It's a mystery for now.

If you named your prefix "Steam" when PlayOnMac was setting up Steam, here is the full path for pasting into the CMD+SHIFT+G window in Finder: ~/Library/PlayOnMac/wineprefix/Steam/drive_c/Program Files/Steam/SteamApps/common/Age2HD

Otherwise, go into your home folder (~/). Open the PlayOnMac alias there. Open the Steam prefix folder you made in the folder it takes you to (should be ~/Library/PlayOnMac/wineprefix). Navigate into drive_c, then Program Files, then Steam, then SteamApps, then common, then Age2HD.

Rename Launcher.exe to Launcher.bak and AoK HD.exe to Launcher.exe. Thanks to this thread for that: http://steamcommunity.com/app/221380/discussions/2/828935361270250345/
}

6. First Run and Dealing with MSVC
Start the game already (in Steam)! It'll have to install the Microsoft VC whatever junk before it starts, as usual. The game should work fine except for 2 things: There's a slight performance hit, but I always get non-laggy games, and when you type anything, you don't see what you're typing (at least I don't). Once you're done playing, go back into the Age2HD folder mentioned earlier. Delete or rename _CommonRedist. This way, Steam won't reinstall Microsoft VC every time you start the game.

7. Playing Afterwards
You can open PlayOnMac every time you want to play this game, or you can click Steam on it and press "Create a shortcut" to make a script you can open like a normal app to launch it. It takes some extra time launch Steam in WINE, but I find that it's more convenient than running Windows in a VM or booting into Windows.

============================================
KNOWN ISSUES - Please speak up if you know a solution:

1. I may be doing something wrong, and it may have to do with renaming the launcher (which Aquana has said does not need to be done, but I always need to do it), but updating the game sometimes has trouble and requires you to just clear the local game files, re-install, and re-modify the files.

2. The Steam interface and game interface are laggy for me but not too bad usually. The actual game works fine for me despite the unsettlingly high ping that I sometimes get in lobbies.

3. When I type in any text box, I can't see the text as I type. Chances are there's a Winetricks item you can install to fix this, but I don't know how and don't find this that big of a problem.

4. I can't figure out how to make WINE run the game fullscreen, only in a window. But I also like it better in a window.

Best of luck with this process. This thread remains here as the most helpful guide I can put together given my limited time, not a battleground for OS wars, so please do not have OS wars in the comments ;)

First Off Thanks for this,

I cant seem to log into steam. I have configured it with windows 7, a smaller resolution and emulated virtual desktop. I also added the steam hack and disable crash dialogue and its still not working. I can enter my username and password, but once I do it crashes.

Any tips?

[TeriTori]

Hello again,

Apparently there is a steam update or something, and when I run it on playonmac it updates and when the update is complete it gives an error saying "the program steam.exe has encountered a serious problem..." . Does anyone have any idea how to fix this ?

[TeriTori]

Actually it gives that error when logging in to Steam, so the Steam login window appears and after it asks me to type the computer authorization code I press OK and then it says steam working... and then it crashes...

[Bonk]

I've got exactly the same problem as seran47_91.

Following the steps you laid out I got to play one game earlier after downloading, but when I came back to it a few hours later the steam update totally crashed everything.

After going through the debugger tool I got a message along these lines:
unhandled exception 0x00000 write access for 32-bit

Thats not it exactly but i am currently trying to reinstall everything after trying various different fixes (such as deletion of the steam files, except for the .exe and steamapps) and some terminal steps.

I am also getting the error 1 steam message, which I've read is with regards to not closing steam correctly and a file still being run. I tried the terminal find and kill steps but to no avail.

If you have any suggestions on how to work round this I'd really appreciate it, sorry about the long post.

Cheers