Introducing Homeworld Remastered Collection for Mac!

[Aspyr-Blair]

Aspyr in partnership with Gearbox is proud to announce that Homeworld Remastered Collection is now available for Mac!

Mac users can now enjoy both Classic and Remastered versions of Homeworld 1 and Homeworld 2 with all the same features and functionality as their Windows PC counterparts. This includes online multiplayer, mod support, and SHiFT connectivity.

Plus, if you already own the Windows PC version, you can now download and play the Mac version at no extra cost (and vice versa).

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT MULTIPLAYER:

After months of work/research we have determined cross platform to be nearly impossible to support. The reason for this is really quite complicated, but it boils down to math. Homeworld 1 and 2 multiplayer is built on a floating point integer system. We spent months working with our development partners to see if we could find creative workarounds for this issue but nothing resulted in a playable experience. How the different compilers on the different platforms deal with floating point calculations results in a myriad of issues: ships warping across the map suddenly, damage not being calculated properly, match instability, etc… Because the experience of cross-platform multiplayer is unplayable we made the tough decision to keep multiplayer isolated within the respective platforms. Mac users will not be able to see Windows multiplayer matches and vice versa. On the upside, you will only be able to see games you can join, but its important to note that we cannot prevent users from seeing a Steam Friend’s game on a separate platform within the Steam overlay. We understand and share the disappointment in not being able to play Homeworld Remastered against ALL of your friends, but hope you’ll enjoy epic space battles with your Mac friends.

[Doos Ecks]

Ah, well. I only ever play the story missions, I suck at multiplayer and AI skirmishes in general.

[[2o2p] OrDaned]

Thanks for the Mac version! I'm looking forward to diving back into the Homeworld universe in the near future.

[Insurgent]

And... crash! Crashes immediately on launch on Macbook Air 2013. Insta-crash each time, and not even making it to the start screen. Tried various steam library locations, plus redownload but no avail.

For info: *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '*** -[__NSPlaceholderDictionary initWithObjects:forKeys:count:]: attempt to insert nil object from objects[0]'

Needs a fix!

[Aspyr-Blair]

Originally posted by Rocketeer_2015:

And... crash! Crashes immediately on launch on Macbook Air 2013. Insta-crash each time, and not even making it to the start screen. Tried various steam library locations, plus redownload but no avail.

For info: *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '*** -[__NSPlaceholderDictionary initWithObjects:forKeys:count:]: attempt to insert nil object from objects[0]'

Needs a fix!

Your MBA is below the supported CPU minimum BUT I dont think that is what is causing the crash. Have you verified your integrity of game cache?

[DisplacerCpp]

What about linux version?

[DisplacerCpp]

You could probably move to fixed point arithmetic and/or specific libraries such as GMP to resolve floating issues.

[Aspyr-Blair]

Originally posted by DisplacerCpp:

What about linux version?

I'm afraid there are no Linux plans currently.

Originally posted by DisplacerCpp:

You could probably move to fixed point arithmetic and/or specific libraries such as GMP to resolve floating issues.

Sure, writing a new fixed point based engine from the ground up was an option, but that would need to happen on both platforms, and HWR would not have come out on either platform for quite some time.

[DisplacerCpp]

Originally posted by Aspyr-Blair:

I'm afraid there are no Linux plans currently.

Have you seen this topic: http://steamcommunity.com/app/244160/discussions/0/620703493328708948/ ? It seems there is some demand for linux/SteamOS version.

Also, i doubt linux and macos differs greatly in this case. Suppose it is POSIX, OpenGL and/or some cross-platform libraries. Even more, if it is a high quality MacOS port, it should be cross-platform by design already and porting to linux is a matter of recompilation and fixing bugs.

[Aspyr-Blair]

Originally posted by DisplacerCpp:

Have you seen this topic: http://steamcommunity.com/app/244160/discussions/0/620703493328708948/ ? It seems there is some demand for linux/SteamOS version.

Oh believe you me, they wont let me hear the end of this for a while.

Originally posted by DisplacerCpp:

Also, i doubt linux and macos differs greatly in this case. Suppose it is POSIX, OpenGL and/or some cross-platform libraries. Even more, if it is a high quality MacOS port, it should be cross-platform by design already and porting to linux is a matter of recompilation and fixing bugs.

You wrap up that easy button and send it to us ;) Jokes aside, your not terribly far off. Our lead Linux dev always says the Mac guys get his team 80% of the way with their 20 years of OGL experience.

[DisplacerCpp]

Originally posted by Aspyr-Blair:

You wrap up that easy button and send it to us ;) Jokes aside, your not terribly far off. Our lead Linux dev always says the Mac guys get his team 80% of the way with their 20 years of OGL experience.

If i have sources, i would definitely do that job myself and send you a linux binary along with that easy button :) Without sources we all have only one option to rely on you.

PS: we also have similar floating issues in hedgewars game development (resolved by fixed arithmetic)

[Aspyr-Blair]

Originally posted by DisplacerCpp:

If i have sources, i would definitely do that job myself and send you a linux binary along with that easy button :) Without sources we all have only one option to rely on you.

Hehe...I was waiting for that one ;) Thats why we love the Linux crowd. But back to the Mac discussion at hand...

Originally posted by DisplacerCpp:

PS: we also have similar floating issues in hedgewars game development (resolved by fixed arithmetic)

So true. Another high profile example is the recent release from Feral on Company of Heroes 2.

[Arbitrary007]

Originally posted by Aspyr-Blair:

Originally posted by DisplacerCpp:

If i have sources, i would definitely do that job myself and send you a linux binary along with that easy button :) Without sources we all have only one option to rely on you.

Hehe...I was waiting for that one ;) Thats why we love the Linux crowd. But back to the Mac discussion at hand...

How can you not love us? Whereas Windows uses a window and Mac uses an apple, we're a cuddly penguin! We're just downright adorable! :P

Though with that said, please let us know if Gearbox changes their mind and wants to make a Linux version please? I do so apprecate the work you guys did on Borderlands 2.

[gramathy]

I'm getting the same hard crash that Rocketeer is and I absolutely guarantee is is *not* my CPU being under spec :P Do you want the full crash log? Currently running 10.10.5

Also, that sucks that the FLOP math isn't cooperative. Seems like it's something you'd want in general to have consistent results between platforms, but I guess not :/ Yet another XKCD Standards problem.

[Insurgent]

Hi Aspyr-Blair

Have checked the game integrity - ran the files through Steam - and also have tried running in in Windows 10 on Bootcamp on the same Macbook Air, which works fine. So, am afraid that there really is a hard crash bug that is quitting it on launch.

Same as Gramathy, am running Mac OS X 10.10.5 - problem here?

I can send you the entire crash log, but top bit is:

Process: AppBundleExe [3580]
Path: /Users/USER/Library/Application Support/Steam/*/HomeworldRemastered.app/Contents/MacOS/AppBundleExe
Identifier: com.aspyr.homeworld.steam
Version: 1.0.1 (134308)
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: ??? [1]
Responsible: AppBundleExe [3580]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2015-10-24 11:03:29.587 +0100
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.10.5 (14F1021)
Report Version: 11
Anonymous UUID: EEC40C2A-F3E8-1A88-CC53-33C4282D70AC

Sleep/Wake UUID: 7C15B10B-8C2A-4BA5-9AE3-39E76C4C6220

Time Awake Since Boot: 12000 seconds
Time Since Wake: 2300 seconds

Crashed Thread: 0 MainThrd Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000

Application Specific Information:
*** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '*** -[__NSPlaceholderDictionary initWithObjects:forKeys:count:]: attempt to insert nil object from objects[0]'

--

And my specs are:

Model: MacBookAir6,2, BootROM MBA61.0099.B20, 2 processors, Intel Core i5, 1.3 GHz, 4 GB, SMC 2.13f15
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5000, Intel HD Graphics 5000, Built-In

Hope that helps and there's a patch possible!

Thanks

[Terminator]

Everything is possible. you just not saying that rewriting a netcode will cost you too much. There is a game Warzone2100 is also was a Windows game only, but its works cross-platform now. Devs just rewrite netcode properly.

Just whan you developing a game - keep cross-compile ability in mind.